A- 


tihmvy  of  Che  t:heolo0ical  ^emmarjD 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


•«^j> 


PRESENTED  BY 


Mrs.    Charles  A.   Aiken 


crr^. 


ISAi^C    &   REBEl&A 


Jf  tvibixio  J  0  ocj)  h  us  ^ 


Tiiumlih  of   Mordecai. 


-JH 


i  e  a  fi 


Q- 


THE  I  ^ 

SEP  28  me 

WORKS 


OF 


^%gg/CILSiHg^ 


FLAVIUS^JOSEPHUS, 

THE  LEARNED  AND  AUTHENTIC  JEWISH  HISTORIAN,  AND  CELEBRATED  WARRIOR, 


CONTAINING 


TWENTY  BOOKS  OF  THE  JEWISH  ANTIQUITIES, 
SEVEN  BOOKS  OF  THE  JEWISH  WAR, 


WRITTEN  BY  HIMSELF. 

TRANSLATED    FROM    THE    ORIGINAL    GREEK,    ACCORDING    TO    HAVERCAMP's 

ACCURATE  EDITION. 

TOGETHER    WITH 

Embellished  with  Elegant  Engravings. 


BY  THE  LATE 

WILLIAM  WHISTON,  A.  M. 

PROFESSOR    OF    MATHEMATICS    IN    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    CAMBRIOOE. 


From  the  last  London  Edition  of  1827. 

COMPLETE  IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 

VOL.  I. 

STEREOTYPED  BY  THOMAS  SEWARD. 

Pu'latfcl^iiw : 

PUBLISHED  BY  J.  GRIGG,  No.  9,  NORTH  FOURTH-ST. 

1829. 


A^ 


THE 

WORKS 

OP 

FLAVIUS    JOSEPHUS 

TO  WHICH  ARE  ADDED, 

THREE   DISSERTATIONS, 

CONCERNING 

JESUS  CHRIST,  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST,  JAMES  THE  JUST,  OOd's  COMMAND 
TO  ABRAHAM,   ETC. 

WITH 

AN  INDEX  TO  THE  WHOLE. 


C5 


PREFACE.* 


§  1.  Those  who  undertake  to  write  histories,  do  not,  I  per- 
ceive, take  that  trouble  on  one  and  the  same  account,  but  for 
many  reasons,  and  those  such  as  are  very  different  one  frotn 
another.  For  some  of  them  apply  themselves  to  this  part  of 
learning,  to  show  their  great  skill  in  composition,  and  that  they 
may  therein  acquire  a  reputation  for  speaking  finely.  Others 
of  them  there  are  who  write  histories  in  order  to  gratify  those 
that  happen  to  be  concerned  in  them ;  and  on  that  account  have 
spared  no  pains,  but  rather  gone  beyond  their  own  abilities  in 
the  performance.  But  others  there  are  who,  of  necessity  and 
by  force,  are  driven  to  write  history,  because  they  were  con- 
cerned in  the  facts,  and  so  cannot  excuse  themselves  from  com- 
mitting them  to  writing,  for  the  advantage  of  posterity.  Nay, 
there  are  not  a  few  who  are  induced  to  draw  their  historical 
facts  out  of  darkness  into  light,  and  to  produce  them  for  the 
benefit  of  the  public,  on  account  of  the  great  importance  of  the 
facts  themselves  with  which  they  have  been  concerned.  Now 
of  these  several  reasons  for  writing  history,  I  must  profess  the 
two  last  were  my  own  reasons  also :  for  since  I  was  myself  in- 
terested in  that  war  which  we  Jews  had  with  the  Romans,  and 
knew  myself  its  particular  actions,  and  what  conclusion  it  had, 
I  was  iorced  to  give  the  history  of  it,  because  I  saw  that  otliers 
perverted  the  truth  of  those  actions  in  their  writings. 

2.  Now  I  have  undertaken  the  present  work,  as  thinking  it 
will  appear  to  all  the  Greeksf  worthy  of  their  study;  for  it  will 

*  Thia  preface  of  Josephus  is  excellent  in  its  kind,  and  highly  worthy  the  re- 
peated  perusal  of  the  reader,  before  he  set  about  the  perusal  of  the  work  itself, 
t  That  is,  all  the  Gentilos,  Ijpth  Greeks  and  Romans. 


vi  PREFACE. 

contain  all  our  antiquities,  and  the  constitution  of  our  govern- 
ment, as  interpreted  out  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  And,  in- 
deed, I  did  formerly  intend,  when  I  wrote  of  the  war,*  to  ex- 
plain who  the  Jews  originally  were,  what  fortunes  they  had  been 
subject  to,  and  by  what  legislator  they  had  been  instructed  in 
piety,  and  the  exercise  of  other  virtues ;  what  wars,  also,  they 
had  made  in  remote  ages,  till  they  were  unwillingly  engaged  in 
this  last  with  the  Romans;  but  because  this  work  would  take 
up  a  great  compass,  I  separated  it  into  a  set  treatise  by  itself, 
with  a  beginning  of  its  own,  and  its  own  conclusion ;  but  in  pro- 
cess of  time,  as  usually  happens  to  such  as  undertake  great 
things,  I  grew  weary,  and  went  on  slowly,  it  being  a  large  sub- 
ject, and  a  difficult  thing  to  translate  our  history  into  a  foreign 
and  to  us  unaccustomed  language.  However,  some  persons 
there  were  who  desired  to  know  our  history,  and  so  exhorted 
me  to  go  on  with  it;  and,  above  all  the  rest,  Epaphroditus,t  a 
man  who  is  a  lover  of  all  kind  of  learning,  but  is  principally 
delighted  with  the  knowledge  of  history;  and  this  on  account 
of  his  having  been  himself  concerned  in  great  affairs,  and  ma- 
ny turns  of  fortune,  and  having  shown  a  wonderful  vigour  of  an 
excellent  nature,  and  an  immovable  virtuous  resolution  in  them 
all.  I  yielded  to  this  man's  persuasions,  who  always  excites 
such  as  have  abilities  in  what  is  useful  and  acceptable  to  join 
their  endeavours  with  his.  I  was  also  ashamed  myself  to  per- 
mit any  laziness  of  disposition  to  have  a  greater  influence  upon 
me  than  the  delight  of  taking  pains  in  such  studies  as  were  ve- 
ry useful :  I  thereupon  stirred  up  myself,  and  went  on  with  my 
work  more  cheerfully.  Besides  the  foregoing  motives,  I  had 
others  which  I  greatly  reflected  on;  and  these  were,  that  our 
forefathers  were  willing  to  communicate  such  things  to  others ; 
and  that  some  of  the  Greeks  took  considerable  pains  to  know 
the  affairs  of  our  nation. 

*  We  may  seasonably  note  here,  that  Josephus  wrote  his  seven  books  of  the 
Jewish  War  long  before  he  wrote  these  his  Antiquities.  Those  books  of  the 
war  were  published  about  A.  D.  75,  and  these  Antiquities,  A.  D.  93,  about 
eighteen  years  later. 

t  This  Epaphroditus  was  certainly  alive  in  the  third  year  of  Trajan,  A.  D. 
100.  See  the  note  on  Antiq.  b.  i.  against  Apion,  sect.  1,  vol.  ii.  Who  he  was 
we  do  not  know ;  for  as  to  Epaphroditus,  the  freedman  of  Nero,  and  afterwards 
Domitian's  secretary,  who  was  put  to  death  by  Domitian  in  the  14th  or  15th 
year  of  his  reign,  he  could  not  be  alive,  in  the  tiiird  of  Trajan. 


PREFACE  y^ 

3.  I  found,  therefore,  that  the  second  of  the  Ptolemies  was  a 
king,  who  was  extraordinary  diligent  in  what  concerned  learn- 
ing, and  the  collection  of  books ;  that  he  was  also  peculiarly 
ambitious  to  procure  a  translation  of  our  law,  and  of  the  con- 
stitution of  our  government  therein  contained,  into  the  Greek 
tongue.  Now  Eleazer  the  high  priest,  one  not  inferior  to  any 
other  of  that  dignity  among  us,  did  not  envy  the  aforenamed 
king  the  participation  of  that  advantage,  which  otherwise  he 
would  for  certain  have  denied  him ;  but  that  he  knew  the  cus- 
tom of  our  nation  was,  to  hinder  nothing  of  what  we  esteemed 
ourselves  from  being  communicated  to  others.  Accordingly  I 
thought  it  became  me,  both  to  imitate  the  generosity  of  our  high 
priest,  and  to  suppose  there  might  even  now  be  many  lovers  of 
learning  like  the  king ;  for  he  did  not  obtain  all  our  writings  at 
that  time  ;  but  those  who  were  sent  to  Alexandria  as  interpre- 
ters gave  him  only  the  books  of  the  law,  while  there  was  a  vast 
number  of  other  matters  in  our  sacred  books.  They  indeed 
contain  in  them  the  history  of  five  thousand  years ;  in  which 
time  happened  many  strange  accidents,  many  chances  of  war, 
and  great  actions  of  the  commanders,  and  mutations  of  the  form 
of  our  government.  Upon  the  whole,  a  man  that  will  peruse 
this  history  may  principally  learn  from  it,  that  all  events  suc- 
ceed well,  even  to  an  incredible  degree,  and  the  reward  of  fe- 
licity is  proposed  by  God;  but  then  it  is  to  those  that  follow  his 
will,  and  do  not  venture  to  break  his  excellent  laws ;  and  that 
so  far  as  men  any  way  apostatize  from  the  accurate  observation 
of  them,*  what  was  practicable  before  becomes  impracticable; 
and  whatsoever  they  set  about  as  a  good  thing  is  converted  into 
an  incurable  calamity.  And  now  I  exhort  all  those  that  peruse 
these  books,  to  apply  their  minds  to  God;  and  to  examine 
the  mind  of  our  legislator,  whether  he  hath  not  understood 
his  nature  in  a  manner  worthy  of  him;  and  hath  not  ever  ascri- 
bed to  him  such  operations  as  become  his  power,  and  hath  not 
preserved  his  writings  from  those  indecent  fables  which  others 
have  framed ;  although,  by  the  great  distance  of  time  when  he 
lived,  he  might  have  securely  forged  such  lies  ;  for  he  lived  two 
thousand  years  ago  :  at  which  vast  distance  of  ages  the  poets 
themselves  have  not  been  so  hardy  as  to  fix  even  the  genera- 

*  Josephus  here  plainly  alludes  to  the  famous  Greek  proverb,  If  God  be  with 
us,  every  thing  iliat  is  impossihtb  becomes  possible. 


PREFACE. 


tions  of  their  gods,  much  less  the  actions  of  their  men,  or  their 
own  laws.  As  I  proceed,  therefore,  I  shall  accurately  describe 
what  is  contained  in  our  records,  in  the  order  of  time  that  be- 
longs to  them;  for  I  have  already  promised  so  to  do  throughout 
this  undertaking;  and  this,  without  adding  any  thing  to  what  is 
therein  contained,  or  taking  away  any  thing  therefrom. 

4.  But  because  almost  all  our  constitution  depends  on  the 
wisdom  of  Moses  our  legislator,  I  cannot  avoid  saying  some- 
what concerning  him  beforehand,  though  I  shall  do  it  briefly ;  I 
mean,  because  otherwise,  those  that  read  my  books  may  won- 
der how  it  comes  to  pass  that  my  discourse,  which  promises  an 
account  of  laws  and  historical  facts,  contains  so  much  of  phi- 
losophy.    The  reader  is  therefore  to  know,  that  Moses  deemed 
it  exceeding  necessary  that  he  who  would  conduct  his  own  life 
well,  and  give  laws  to  others,  in  the  first  place  should  consider 
the  divine  nature ;  and,  upon  the  contemplation  of  God's  ope- 
rations, should  thereby  imitate  the  best  of  all  patterns,  so  far 
as  it  is  possible  for  human  nature  to  do,  and  to  endeavour  to 
follow  after  it;  neither  could  the  legislator  himself  have  a  right 
mind  without  such  a  contemplation ;  nor  would  any  thing  he " 
should  write  tend  to  the  proifiotion  of  virtue  in  his  readers ;    I 
mean,  unless  they  be  taught  first  of  all  that  God  is  the  Father 
and  Lord  of  all  things,  and  sees  all  things ;  and  that  thence  he 
bestows  a  happy  life  upon  those  that  follow  him,  but  plunges 
such  as  do  not  walk  in  the  paths  of  virtue  into  inevitable  mise- 
ries.    Now  when  Moses  was  desirous  to  teach  this  lesson  to  his 
countrymen,  he  did  not  begin  the  establishment  of  his  laws  af- 
ter the  same  manner  that  other  legislators  did ;   I  mean,  upon 
contracts  and  other  rights  between  one  man  and  another;  but 
by  raising  their  minds  upwards  to  regard  God,  and  his  creation 
of  the  world ;  and  by  persuading  them,  that  we  men  are  the 
most  excellent  of  the  creatures  of  God  upon  earth.     Now  when 
once  he  had  brought  them  to  submit  to  religion,  he  easily  per- 
suaded them  to  submit  in  all  other  things;  for  as  to  other  legis- 
lators, they  followed  fables,  and  by  their  discourses  transferred 
the  most  reproachful  of  human  vices  unto  the  gods,  and  so 
afforded  wicked  men  the  most  plausible    excuses   for   their 
crimes ;  but  as  for  our  legislator,  when  he  had  once  demonstra^ 
ted  that  God  was  possessed  of  perfect  virtue,  he  supposed  that 
men  also  ought  to  strive  after  the  participation  of  it ;  and  on 


PREFACE.  ix 

those  who  did  not  so  think,  and  so  believe,  he  inflicted  the 
severest  punishments.  I  exhort,  therefore,  my  readers  to  ex- 
amine this  whole  undertaking  in  that  view;  for  thereby  it  will 
appear  to  them,  that  there  is  nothing  therein  disagreeable  either 
to  the  majesty  of  God,  or  to  his  love  to  mankind;  for  all  things 
have  here  a  reference  to  the  nature  of  the  universe;  while  our 
legislator  speaks  some  things  wisely  but  enigmatically,  and 
others  under  a  decent  allegory,  but  still  explains  such  things  as 
required  a  direct  explication,  plaiidy  and  expressly.  However, 
those  that  have  a  mind  to  know  the  reasons  of  every  thing,  may 
find  here  a  very  curious  philosophical  theory,  which  I  now  in- 
deed shall  wave  the  explication  of;  but  if  God  afford  me  time 
for  it,*  I  will  set  about  writing  it  after  I  have  finished  the  pre- 
sent work.  I  shall  now  betake  myself  to  the  history  before  me, 
after  I  have  first  mentioned  what  Moses  says  of  the  creation  of 
the  world,  which  I  find  described  in  the  sacred  books  after  the 
manner  following. 

*  As  to  this  intended  work  of  Josephus  concerning  the  reasons  of  many  of  the 
Jewish  laws,  and  what  philosophical  or  allegorical  sense  they  would  bear,  the 
loss  of  which  work  is  by  some  of  the  learned  not  much  rcgrcted,  I  am  inclina- 
ble, in  part,  to  Fabricius's  opinion,  ap.  Havercamp.  p.  G3,  G4  :  That  "  we  need 
not  doubt  but,  among  some  vain  and  frigid  conjectures  derived  from  Jewish  ima- 
ginations, Josephus  would  have  taught  us  a  great  number  of  excellent  and  use. 
ful  things,  which  perhaps  nobody,  neither  among  the  Jews  nor  among  the  Chris- 
tians, can  now  inform  us  of;  so  that  I  would  give  a  great  deal  to  find  it  still  ex- 
tant." 


VOL.  I. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


BOOK  I. 


CONTAINING  THE  INTERVAL  OP 
THREE  THOUSAND  EIGHT  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-THREE  YEARS. 

FROM  THE  CREATIOJV  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ISAAC. 


CHAP.  I. 

The  Constitution  of  the  World,  and  the  Disposition  of  the 
Elements, 

§  1 .  J.N  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth.  But  when  the 
earth  did  not  come  into  sight,  but  was  covered  with  thick  darkness,  and  a  wind 
moved  upon  its  surface,  God  commanded  that  there  should  be  light.  And  when 
that  was  made,  he  considered  the  whole  mass,  and  separated  the  light  and  the 
darkness ;  and  the  name  he  gave  to  one  was  Night,  and  the  other  he  called 
Day ;  and  he  named  the  beginning  of  light,  and  the  time  of  rest,  the  Evening 
and  the  Morning,  And  this  was  indeed  the  first  day.  But  Moses  said  it  was 
one  day ;  the  cause  of  which  I  am  able  to  give  everi  now ;  but  because  I  have 
promised  to  give  such  reasons  for  all  things  in  a  treatise  by  itself,  I  shall  put  off 
its  exposition  till  that  time.  After  this,  on  the  second  day,  he  placed  the  heaven 
over  the  whole  world,  and  separated  it  from  the  other  parts,  and  he  determined  it 
should  stand  by  itself.  He  also  placed  a  crystalline  [firmament]  round  it,  and 
put  it  together  in  a  manner  agreeable  to  the  earth,  and  fitted  it  for  giving  mois- 
ture and  rain,  and  for  affording  the  advantage  of  dews.  On  the  third  day  he 
appointed  the  dry  land  to  appear,  with  the  sea  itself  round  about  it ;  and  on  the 
very  same  day  he  made  the  plants  and  the  seeds  to  spring  out  of  the  earth.  On 
the  fourth  day  he  adorned  the  heaven  with  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  other 
stars  ;  and  appointed  them  their  motions  and  courses,  that  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
seasons  might  be  clearly  signified.  And  on  the  fifth  day  he  produced  the  living 
creatures,  both  those  that  swim  and  those  that  fly ;  the  former  in  the  sea,  the 
latter  in  the  air.  He  also  sorted  them  as  to  society  and  mixture  for  procreation, 
and  that  their  kinds  might  increase  and  multiply.  On  the  sixth  day  he  created 
the  four-footed  beasts,  and  made  them  male  and  female.  On  the  same  day  he 
also  formed  man.  Accordingly  Moses  says,  that  in  just  six  days,  the  world, 
and  all  that  is  therein,  was  made ;  and  that  the  seventh  day  was  a  rest,  and  a 
release  from  the  labour  of  such  operations  ;  whence  it  is  that  we  celebrate  direst 
from  our  labours  on  that  day,  and  call  it  the  Sabbath :  which  word  denotes  rest 
in  the  Hebrew  tongue. 

2.  Moreover  Moses,  after  the  seventh  day  was  over,*  begins  to  talk  philoso- 

*  Since  Josephus,  in  his  preface,  sect.  4,  says,  Tiiat  Moses  wrote  some  things  enigmatically,  some  alle- 
srorically,  and  the  rest  in  plain  words  ;  since,  in  his  account  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  the  three 
frrst  verses  of  the  second,  he  gives  us  no  hints  of  any  mystery  at  all ;  but  when  he  here  comes  to  verse  4, 
S^c.  he  says,  that  Moses,  after  the  seventh  day  was  ovci,  began  to  to.\k  philosophically ;  it  is  iiot  very  im 


12  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  I. 

phically ;  and  concerning  the  formation  of  man  says  thus,  That  God  took  dust 
from  the  ground,  and  formed*  man,  and  inserted  in  him  a  spirit  and  a  soul. 
This  man  was  called  Adam,  which  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  signifies  one  that  is 
red,  because  he  was  formed  out  of  red  earth  compounded  together ;  for  of  that 
kind  is  virgin  and  true  earth.  God  also  presented  the  living  creatures,  when  he 
had  made  them  according  to  their  kinds,  both  male  and  female,  to  Adam  ;  and 
he  gave  them  those  names  by  which  they  are  still  called.  But  when  he  sa^w 
that  Adam  had  no  female  companion,  no  society  (for  there  was  no  such  created), 
and  that  he  wondered  at  the  other  animals  which  were  male  and  female,  he  laid 
him  asleep,  and  took  away  one  of  his  ribs,  and  out  of  it  formed  the  woman ; 
whereupon  Adam  knew  her  when  she  was  brought  to  him,  and  acknowledged 
that  she  was  made  out  of  himself.  Now  a  woman  is  called  in  the  Hebrew 
tongue  Issa ;  but  the  name  of  this  woman  was  Eve,  which  signifies  tJie  Mother 
of  all  living, 

3,  Moses  says  farther,  that  God  planted  a  paradise  in  the  East,  flourishing 
with  all  sorts  of  trees ;  and  that  among  them  was  the  T)-ee  of  Life,  and  another 
of  Knowledge,  whereby  was  to  be  known  what  was  Good  and  Evil.  And  that 
when  he  had  brought  Adam  and  his  wife  into  this  garden,  he  commanded  them 
to  take  care  of  the  plants.  Now  the  garden  was  watered  by  one  river,|  wliich  ran 
round  about  the  whole  earth,  and  was  parted  into  four  parts.  And  Phison,  which 
denotes  a  Multitude,  running  into  India,  makes  its  exit  into  the  sea,  and  is  by  the 
Greeks  called  Ganges.  Euphrates  also,  as  well  as  Tigris,  goes  down  into  tlie 
Red  Sea.:}:  Now  the  name  Euphrates,  or  Phrath,  denotes  either  a  Dispersion 
or  a  Flower ;  by  Tigris  or  Diglath,  is  signified  what  is  swift  with  narrowness ;  and 
Geon  runs  through  Egypt^  and  denotes  what  arises  from  the  East,  which  the 
Greeks  call  Nile. 

4.  God  therefore  commanded  that  Adam  and  his  wife  should  eat  of  all  the  rest 
of  the  plants,  but  to  abstain  from  the  Tree  of  Knowledge ;  and  foretold  to  them 
that  if  they  touched  it,  it  would  prove  their  destruction.  But  while  all  the  living 
creatures^  had  one  language  at  that  time,  the  Serpent,  vhich  then  lived  together 
with  Adam  and  his  wife,  showed  an  envious  disposition,  at  his  supposal  of  their 
living  happily  and  in  obedience  to  the  commands  of  God ;  and  imagining  that 
when  they  disobeyed  them,  they  would  fall  into  calamities,  he  persuaded  the 

probable  that  he  understood  the  rest  of  the  second  and  the  third  chapters  in  some  enigmniical  or  alhgoru 
cal  or  philosophical  sense.  Tlie  change  of  the  name  of  God  just  at  this  place,  from  Elohim  to  Jehovah 
Elohim;  from  God  to  Lord  God,  in'the  Hebrew,  Samaritan,  and  Septuagint,  does  also  not  a  little  favour 
some  such  change  in  tiie  narration  or  construction. 

*  We  may  observe  here,  that  Josephus  supposed  man  to  be  compounded  of  spirit,  soul,  an<l  bod}',  with 
St.  Paul,  1  Thess.  v.  23,  and  the  rest  of  the  ancients.  He  elsewhere  sa}'s  also,  That  the  blood  of  ani- 
mals was  forbidden  to  be  eaten,  as  having  in  it  soul  and  spirit.  Antiq.  B.  iii.  chap.  xi.  sect.  2. 

f  Wlience  tiiis  strange  notion  came,  wiiich  yet  is  not  peculiar  to  Josephus,  but,  as  Dr.  Hudson  saj's 
Jiere,  is  derived  from  elder  authors,  as  if  four  of  the  greatest  rivers  in  the  world,  running  two  of  them  at 
vast  distances  from  the  other  two,  by  some  means  or  other  watered  Paradise,  is  hard  to  say.  Only  since 
Josephus  has  already  appeared  to  allegorize  this  history,  and  takes  notice  that  these  four  names  had  a 
particular  signification  :  I'hison  for  Ganges,  a  JJA/Z^/iwrfe.-  Phrath  for  Euphrates,  either  &  Dispersion,  ot 
a  Flower  ,•  Diglath  for  Tigris,  what  is  swift  with  narrowness  ;  and  Geon  for  Nile,  which  arises  from  the 
East  ;  we  perhaps  mistake  him  when  we  suppose  he  literally  means  those  four  rivers,  especially  as  to 
Geon  or  Nile,  which  arises  from  the  East,  while  he  verj'  well  knew  the  literal  Nile  arises  from  the  Sovlh  ; 
though  what  farther  allegorical  sense  he  had  in  view  is  now,  I  fear,  impossible  to  be  determined. 

I  By  the  Red  Sea  is  not  here  meant  the  Arabian  Gulf,  which  alone  we  now  call  by  that  name  ;  hut  all 
that  South  Sea,  which  included  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  Persian  Gulf,  as  far  as  the  East  Indies,  as  Reland 
and  Hudson  here  truly  note,  from  the  old  geographers. 

J  Hence  it  appears,  that  Josephus  thouglit  several  at  least  of  the  brute  animals,  particularly  the  ser- 
pent, could  speak  before  tlie  fall.  And  I  think  few  of  the  more  perfect  kinds  of  those  animals  want  the 
organs  of  speech  at  this  day.  Many  inducements  there  are  also  to  a  notion,  that  the  present  state  they 
are  in  is  not  their  original  state ;  and  that  their  capacities  have  been  once  much  greater  than  we  now  see 
them,  and  are  capable  of  being  restored  to  their  former  condition.  But  as  to  this  most  ancient  and  au- 
thentic and  probably  allegorical  account  of  that  grand  affair  of  the  fall  of  our  first  parents,  I  have  some- 
what more  to  say  in  way  of  conjecture  ;  but  being  only  a  conjecture,  I  omit  it.  Only  thus  far,  that  the 
imputation  of  the  sin  of  our  first  parents  to  their  posterity,  any  farther  than  as  some  way  the  cause  or 
occasion  of  man's  mortality,  seems  almost  entirely  groundless;  and  that  both  man  and  the  other  Fulx)r- 
(dinate  creatures  aie  hereafter  to  be  delivered  from  the  curse  then  brought  upon  them,  and  at  last  to  be 
ieUVtred/rom  that  bondage  of  corruf>tinn,  Rom.  viii.  19—22, 


C.  ir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  13 

woman,  out  of  a  malicious  mtention,  to  taste  of  the  Tree  of  Knoicledge ;  telling 
them,  that  in  that  tree  was  the  Knowledge  of  good  and  evil ;  which  knowledge 
when  they  should  obtain,  they  would  lead  a  happy  life  !  nay,  a  life  not  inferior  to 
Ihat  of  a  god;  by  which  means  he  overcame  the  woman,  and  persuaded  her  to 
despise  the  command  of  God.  Now,  when  she  had  tasted  of  that  tree,  and  was 
pleased  with  its  fruit,  she  persuaded  Adam  to  make  use  of  it  also.  Upon  this 
they  perceived  that  they  were  become  naked  to  one  another  ;  and  being  ashamed 
thus  to  appear  abroad,  they  invented  somewhat  to  cover  them ;  for  the  tree 
sharpened  their  understanding  :  and  they  covered  themselves  with  fig  leaves  ; 
and  tying  these  before  them,  out  of  modest)^,  they  thought  they  were  happier 
than  they  were  before,  as  they  had  discovered  what  they  were  in  want  of.  But 
when  God  came  into  the  garden,  Adam,  who  was  wont  before  to  come  and  con- 
verse  with  him,  being  conscious  of  his  wicked  behaviour,  went  out  of  the  way. 
This  behaviour  surprised  God ;  and  he  asked  what  was  the  cause  of  this  his 
procedure  ?  And  why  he,  that  before  delighted  in  that  conversation,  did  now  fly 
from  it,  and  avoid  it?  When  he  made  no  reply,  as  conscious  to  himself  that  he 
had  transgressed  the  command  of  God ;  God  said,  "  I  had  before  determined 
about  you  both,  how  you  might  lead  a  happy  life,  without  any  affliction,  and 
care,  and  vexation  of  soul ;  and  that  all  things  which  might  contribute  to  your 
enjoyment  and  pleasure  should  grow  up  by  my  providence,  of  their  own  accord, 
without  your  own  labour  and  pains-taking ;  M'hich  state  of  labour  and  pains- 
taking would  soon  bring  on  old  age,  and  death  would  not  be  at  any  remote  dis- 
tance ;  but  now  thou  hast  abused  this  my  good-will,  and  hast  disobeyed  my  com- 
mands ;  for  thy  silence  is  not  the  sign  of  thy  virtue,  but  of  thy  evil  conscience." 
However  Adam  excused  his  sin,  and  entreated  God  not  to  be  angry  at  him,  and 
laid  the  blame  of  what  was  done  upon  his  wife  ;  and  said  that  he  was  deceived 
by  her,  and  thence  became  an  offender ;  while  she  again  accused  the  Serpent. 
But  God  allotted  him  punishment,  because  he  weakly  submitted  to  tiie  counsel 
of  his  wife  ;  and  said,  the  ground  should  not  henceforth  yield  its  fruits  of  its  own 
accord,  but  that  when  it  should  be  harassed  by  their  labour,  it  should  bring 
forth  some  of  its  fruits,  and  refuse  to  bring  forth  others.  He  also  made  Eve  li- 
able to  the  inconveniency  of  breeding,  and  the  sharp  pains  of  bringing  forth 
children  ;  and  this  because  she  persuaded  Adam  with  the  same  arguments  where- 
with the  Serpent  had  persuaded  her,  and  had  thereby  brought  him  into  a  cala- 
mitous condition.  He  also  deprived  the  Serpent  of  speech,  out  of  indignation  at 
his  malicious  disposition  towards  Adam.  Besides  this,  he  inserted  poison  under 
his  tongue,  and  made  him  an  enemy  to  men  ;  and  suggested  to  them,  that  they 
should  direct  their  strokes  against  his  head,  that  being  the  place  wherein  lay  his 
mischievous  design  towards  men,  and  it  being  easiest  to  take  vengeance  on  him 
that  way.  And  when  he  had  deprived  him  of  the  use  of  his  feet,  he  made  him 
to  go  rolling  all  along,  and  dragging  himself  upon  the  ground.  And  when  God 
had  appointed  these  penalties  for  them,  he  removed  Adam  and  Eve  out  of  the 
garden  into  another  place. 


CHAP.  n. 

Concerning  the  Posterity  of  Adam,  and  the  Ten  Generations  from  him  to  tlie  Deluge. 

§  1.  Adam  and  Eve  had  two  sons  ;  the  elder  of  them  was  named  Cain;  which 
name,  when  it  is  interpreted,  signifies  a  Possession ;  the  younger  was  Abel,  which 
signifies  Sorrow.  They  had  also  daughters.  Now  the  two  brethren  were  pleased 
with  different  courses  of  life ;  for  Abel  the  younger  was  a  lover  of  righteousness ; 
and,  believing  that  God  was  present  at  all  his  actions,  he  excelled  in  virtue  ; 
and   his  emplojTnent  was  that  of  a  shepherd.     But  Cain  was  not  07ily  very 


14  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  1. 

wicked  in  other  respects,  but  was  wholly  intent  upon  getting  :  and  he  first  con. 
trived  to  plough  the  ground.  He  slew  his  brother  on  the  occasion  following. 
They  had  resolved  to  sacrifice  to  God.  Now  Cain  brought  the  fruits  of  the 
earth,  and  of  his  husbandry  ;  but  Abel  brought  rnilk,  and  the  first  fruits  of  his 
fiock :  but  God  was  more  delighted  with  the  latter  oblation,*  when  he  was  honoured 
with  what  grew  naturally  of  its  own  accord,  than  he  was  with  the  invention  of  a 
covetous  man,  and  gotten  by  forcing  the  ground  ;  whence  it  was,  that  Cain  was 
very  angry  that  Abel  was  preferred  by  God  before  him  ;  and  he  slew  his  brother, 
and  hid  his  dead  body,  thinking  to  escape  discovery.  But  God,  knowing  what 
had  been  done,  came  to  Cain,  and  asked  him.  What  was  become  of  his  brother  ? 
because  he  had  not  seen  him  of  many  days  ;  whereas  he  used  to  see  them  con- 
versing  together  at  other  times.  But  Cain  was  in  doubt  with  himself,  and  knew 
not  what  answer  to  give  to  God.  At  first  he  said.  That  he  himself  was  at  a  loss 
about  his  brother's  disappearing  ;  but  when  he  was  provoked  by  God,  who 
pressed  him  vehemently,  as  resolving  to  know  what  the  matter  was,  he  replied. 
He  was  not  his  brother's  guardian  or  keeper,  nor  was  he  an  observer  of  what 
he  did.  But,  in  return,  God  convicted  Cain,  as  having  been  the  murderer  of  his 
brother,  and  said,  "  I  wonder  at  thee,  that  thou  knowest  not  what  is  become  of 
a  man  whom  thou  thyself  hast  destroyed."  God  therefore  did  not  inflict  the 
punishment  [of  death]  upon  him,  on  account  of  his  offering  sacrifice,  and  thereby 
making  supplication  to  him  not  to  be  extreme  in  his  wrath  to  him  ;  but  he  made 
him  accursed,  and  threatened  his  posterity  in  the  seventh  generation.  He  also 
cast  him,  together  with  his  wife,  out  of  that  land.  And  when  he  was  afraid,  that 
in  wandering  about  he  should  fall  among  the  wild  beasts,  and  by  that  means 
perish,  God  bid  him  not  to  entertain  such  a  melancholy  suspicion,  and  to  go  over 
all  the  earth  without  fear  of  what  mischief  he  might  suffer  from  wild  beasts  ;  and, 
setting  a  mark  upon  him,  that  he  might  be  known,  he  commanded  him  to  depart. 
2.  And  when  Cain  had  travelled  over  many  countries,  he,  with  his  wife,  built 
a  city  named  Nod,  which  is  a  place  so  called,  and  there  he  settled  his  abode  ; 
where  also  he  had  children.  However  he  did  not  accept  of  his  punishmer.l  in 
order  to  amendment,  but  to  increase  his  wickedness  ;  for  he  only  aimed  to  pro- 
cure every  thing  that  was  for  his  own  bodily  pleasure,  though  it  obliged  him  to 
be  injurious  to  his  neighbours.  He  augmented  his  household  substance  with 
much  wealth,  by  rapine  and  violence  ;  he  excited  his  acquaintance  to  procure 
pleasure  and  spoils  by  robbery,  and  became  a  great  leader  of  men  into  vvicked 
courses.  He  also  introduced  a  change  in  that  way  of  simplicity  wherein  men 
lived  before  ;  and  was  the  author  of  measures  and  weights  ;  and  whereas  they 
lived  innocently  and  generously  while  they  knew  nothing  of  such  arts,  he 
changed  the  world  into  cunning  crafl;iness.  He  first  of  all  set  boundaries  about 
lands  ;  he  built  a  city,  and  fortified  i(  with  walls,  and  he  compelled  his  family  to 
come  together  to  it ;  and  called  that  city  Enoch,  after  the  name  of  his  eldest  son 
Enoch.  Now  Jared  was  the  son  of  Enoch,  whose  son  was  Malaleel,  whose  son 
was  Methusela,  whose  son  was  Lamech,  who  had  seventy-seven  children  by  two 
wives,  Silla  and  Ada.  Of  those  children  by  Ada,  one  was  Jabel ,-  he  erected 
tents,  and  loved  the  life  of  a  shepherd.  But  Jubal,  who  was  born  of  the  same 
mother  with  him,  exercised  himself  in  musicjf  and  invented  the  psaltery  and  the 
harp.  But  Tubal,  one  of  his  children  by  the  other  wife,  exceeded  all  men  in 
strength,  and  was  very  expert  and  famous  in  martial  performances.  He  pro- 
cured what  tended  to  pleasures  of  the  body  by  that  method  ;  and  first  of  all  in- 
vented  the  art  of  making  brass.     Lamech  was  also  the  father  of  a  daughter, 

*  St.  Jolm's  accnniit  of  the  reason  why  God  accepted  the  sacrifice  of  Abel,  and  rejected  that  of  Cain ; 
as  also  wh}-  Cain  slew  Abel,  on  account  of  that  his  acceptance  with  God,  is  much  better  than  this  of 
JoFcpljus.  I  mean,  because  Cain  was  of  the  evil  one,  and  slew  his  brother.  And,  wherefore  slew  he 
him?  Becavse  his  mvn  works  wei-e  evil,  and  his  brother''s  righteous.  1  John,  iii.  12.  Josephub's  rea- 
son seems  to  be  no  better  than  a  Pharisaical  notion  or  tradition. 

•f  From  this  Jubal,  not  improbably,  came  Jobel,  tlie  trumpet  of  Jobel  or  Jubilee,  that  large  and  loud 
niut-ical  instrument,  used  in  proclaiming  the  liberty  at  llie  year  of  Jubilee. 


C.  III.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


15 


whose  name  was  Naamah ;  and  because  he  was  so  skilful  in  matters  of  divine 
revelation,  that  he  knew  he  was  to  be  punished  for  Cain's  murder  of  his  brother, 
he  made  that  known  to  his  wives.  Nay,  even  while  Adam  was  alive,  it  came  to 
pass,  that  the  posterity  of  Cain  became  exceeding  wicked,  every  one  successively 
dying  one  after  another,  more  wicked  than  the  former.  They  were  intolerable 
in  war,  and  vehement  in  robberies  :  and  if  any  one  were  slow  to  murder  people, 
yet  was  he  bold  in  his  profligate  behaviour,  in  acting  unjustly,  and  doing  injuries 
for  gain. 

3.  Now  Adam,  who  was  the  first  man,  and  made  out  of  the  earth  (for  our 
discourse  must  now  be  about  him),  after  Abel  was  slain,  and  Cain  fled  away  on 
account  of  his  murder,  was  solicitous  for  posterity,  and  had  a  vehement  desire 
of  children,  he  being  two  hundred  and  thirty  years  old ;  after  which  time  he 
lived  other  seven  hundred,  and  then  died.  He  had  indeed  many  other  children,* 
but  Seth  in  particular.  As  for  the  rest,  it  would  be  tedious  to  name  them  :  I  will 
therefore  only  endeavour  to  give  an  account  of  those  that  proceed  from  Seth. 
Now  this  Seth,  when  he  was  brought  up,  and  came  to  those  years  in  which  he 
could  discern  what  was  good,  he  became  a  virtuous  man  ;  and,  as  he  was  him- 
self of  an  excellent  character,  so  did  he  leave  childrenf  behind  him,  who  imita- 
ted his  virtues.  All  these  proved  to  be  of  good  dispositions.  They  also  inhabi- 
ted  the  same  countiy  without  dissensions,  and  in  a  happy  condition,  without  any 
misfortunes  falling  upon  them,  till  they  died.  They  also  were  the  inventors  of 
that  peculiar  sort  of  wisdom  which  is  concerned  with  the  heavenly  bodies  and 
their  order.  And,  that  their  inventions  might  not  be  lost  before  they  were  sufli- 
ciently  known,  upon  Adam's  prediction  that  the  world  was  to  be  destroyed  at 
one  time  by  the  force  of  fire,  and  at  another  time  by  the  violence  and  quantity 
o-f  water,  they  made  two  pillars ;:}:  the  one  of  brick,  the  other  of  stone  ;  they  in- 
scribed their  discoveries  on  them  both,  that  in  case  the  pillar  of  brick  should  bo 
destroyed  by  the  flood,  the  pillar  of  stone  might  remain,  and  exhibit  those  disco- 
veries to  mankind  ;  and  also  inform  them  that  there  was  another  pillar  of  brick 
erected  by  them.     Now  this  remains  in  the  land  of  Siriad  to  this  day. 


CHAP.  HI. 

Concerning  tJie  Flood ;  and  after  what  manner  Noah  was  saved  in  an  Arh,  with 
his  Kindred ;  and  afterwards  dwelt  in  the  Plain  of  Shinar. 

§  1.  Now  this  posterity  of  Seth  continued  to  esteem  God  as  the  Lord  of  the 
universe,  and  to  have  an  entire  regard  to  virtue  for  seven  generations  ;  but  in 
process  of  time  they  were  perverted,  and  forsook  the  practices  of  their  fore- 
fathers ;  and  did  neither  pay  those  honours  to  God  which  were  appointed  them, 
nor  had  they  any«concern  to  do  justice  towards  men  ;  but  for  what  degree  of 
zeal  they  had  formerly  shown  for  virtue,  they  now  showed  by  their  actions  a 
double  degree  of  wickedness,  whereby  they  made  God  to  be  their  enemy.     For 

*  The  number  of  Adam's  children,  as  says  the  old  tradition,  was  thirty-three  sons,  and  twenty-three 
daiif^hters. 

t  What  is  here  said  of  Seth  and  his  posterity,  that  they  were  very  good  and  virtuous,  and  at  the  same 
time  very  happy,  without  any  considerable  misfortunes,  for  seven  ^generations  [see  chap.  ii.  sect.  1,  be- 
fore, and  chap.  iii.  sect.  1,  hereafter],  is  exactly  agreeable  to  the  state  of  the  world,  and  the  conduct  of 
Providence  in  all  the  first  ages. 

t  Of  .losephus's  mistake  here,  when  he  took  Seth  the  son  of  Adam  for  Seth  or  Sesostris,  king  of  Egypt, 
the  erector  of  these  pillars  in  the  land  of  Siriad,  see  Essay  on  the  Old  Testament,  Appendix,  p.  159, 160. 
Although  the  main  of  this  relation  might  be  true ;  and  Adam  might  foretell  a  Conflagration  and  a  De- 
luge, which  all  antiquity  witnesses  to  be  an  ancient  tradition  ;  nay,  Scth's  posterity  might  engrave  their 
inventions  in  astronomy  on  two  such  pillars ;  yet,  it  is  no  way  credible  that  they  could  survive  the  fie- 
lugo,  which  has  buried  all  such  pillars  and  edifices  far  under  ground,  in  the  sediment  of  its  waters,  espe- 
cially since  the  like  pillars  of  the  Egyptian  Seth  or  Sesostris  were  extant  after  the  flood,  in  the  land  of 
Siriad,  and  perhaps  in  the  days  of  Josephus  also,  as  is  shown  in  the  place  here  rsferred  to. 


16  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  I. 

manv  angels*  of  God  accompanied  with  women,  and  begat  sons  that  proved 
unjust,  and  despisers  of  all  that  was  good,  on  account  of  the  contidence  they  had 
in  their  own  strength ;  for  the  tradition  is,  that  these  men  did  what  resembled 
the  acts  of  those  whom  the  Grecians  call  Giants.  But  Noah  was  very  uneasy 
at  what  they  did  ;  and,  being  displeased  at  their  conduct,  persuaded  them  to 
change  their  dispositions  and  their  actions  for  the  better ;  but  seeing  they  did 
not  yield  to  him,  but  were  slaves  to  their  wicked  pleasures,  he  was  afraid  they 
would  kill  him  together  with  his  wife  and  children,  and  those  they  had  married  ; 
so  he  departed  out  of  that  land. 

2.  Now  God  loved  this  man  for  his  righteousness.  Yet  he  not  only  condemn- 
ed those  other  men  for  their  wickedness,  but  determined  to  destroy  the  whole 
race  of  mankind,  and  to  make  another  race  that  should  be  pure  from  wickedness, 
and  cutting  short  their  lives,  and  making  their  years  not  so  many  as  they  formerly 
lived,  but  one  hundred  and  twenty  only,f  he  turned  the  dry  land  into  sea ;  and 
thus  were  all  these  men  destroyed ;  but  Noah  alone  was  saved ;  for  God  sug- 
gested to  him  the  following  contrivance  and  way  of  escape  :  That  he  should 
make  an  ark  of  four  stories  high,  three  hundred  cubits  long,:}:  fift)^  cubits  broad, 
and  thirty  cubits  high.  Accordingly  he  entered  mto  that  ark,  and  his  wife,  and 
sons,  and  their  wives,  and  put  into  it  not  only  other  provisions  to  support  their 
w  ants  there,  but  also  sent  in  with  the  rest  all  sorts  of  living  creatures,  the  male 
and  his  female,  for  the  preservation  of  their  kinds,  and  others  of  them  by  sevens. 
Now  this  ark  had  firm  walls,  and  a  roof,  and  was  braced  with  cross  beams,  so 
that  it  could  not  be  any  way  drowned,  or  overborn  by  the  violence  of  the  water. 
And  thus  was  Noah,  with  his  family,  preserved.  Now  he  was  the  tenth  from 
Adam,  as  being  the  son  of  Lamech,  whose  father  was  Methusela  ;  he  was  the 
son  of  Enoch,  the  son  of  Jared  ;  and  Jared  was  the  son  of  Malaleel,  who,  with 
many  of  his  sisters,  were  the  children  of  Cain,  the  son  of  Enos.  Now  Enos 
was  the  son  of  Seth,  the  son  of  Adam. 

3.  This  calamity  happened  in  the  six  hundredth  year  of  Noah's  governmeni 
[age],  in  the  second  month,§  called  by  the  Macedonians  Dius,  but  by  the  He- 
brews MarJiesvan ;  for  so  did  they  order  their  year  in  Egypt.  But  Moses  ap- 
pointed that  Nisan,  which  is  the  same  with  Xanthiciis,  should  be  the  first  month 
of  their  festivals,  because  he  brought  them  out  of  Egypt  in  that  month.  So  that 
this  month  began  the  year  as  to  all  the  solemnities  they  observed  to  the  honour 
of  God,  although  he  preserved  the  original  order  of  the  months  as  to  selling  and 
buying,  emd  other  ordinary  aflairs.  Now  he  says,  that  this  fiood  began  on  the 
twenty-seventh  [seventeenth]  day  of  the  forementioned  month  ;  and  this  was  two 
thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-six  [one  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty-six] 
years  from  Adam  the  first  man  ;  and  the  time  is  written  down  in  our  sacred 
books, II  those  who  then  lived  having  noted  down  with  great  accuracy  both  the 
births  and  the  deaths  of  illustrious  men. 

*  This  notion,  tliat  the  fallen  angels  were  in  some  sense  the  fathers  of  the  old  giants,  was  the  constant 
opinion  of  antiquity. 

t  Josephiis  here  supposes,  that  the  life  of  these  giants  (for  of  them  only  do  I  uijflerstand  him)  was  now 
reduced  to  120 years  ;  which  is  confirmed  by  the  Iragmentof  Enoch,  sect.  10,  in  Authent.  Rec.  part  1, 
p.  268.  For  as  to  the  rest  of  mankind,  Josephus  himself  confesses  their  lives  were  much  longer  than 
120  years,  for  many  generations  after  the  flood,  as  we  shall  see  presently  ;  and  he  says,  they  were  gradu- 
ally shortened  till  the  days  of  Moses,  and  then  fixed  [for  some  time]  at  120,  chap.  vi.  sect.  5.  Nor  in- 
deed need  we  suppose  that  either  Enoch  or  Josephus  meant  to  interpret  these  120  years  for  the  life  of  men 
before  the  flood,  to  be  different  from  the  120  years  of  God's  patience  [perhaps  while  the  ark  was  prepmr- 
iiigl  till  the  deluge  ;  which  I  take  to  be  the  meaning  of  God  when  he  threatened  this  wicked  world,  that 
if  they  so  long  continued  impenitent,  their  days  should  be  no  more  than  120  years. 

t  A  cubit  is  about  21  English  inches. 

{  Josephus  here  truly  determines,  that  the  year  at  the  flood  began  about  the  autumnal  equinox ;  as  to 
wiiat  (lay  of  the  month  the  flood  began,  our  Hebrew  and  Samaritan,  and  perhaps  Josephus'sown  copy, 
more  rightly  placed  it  on  the  17th  day  instead  of  the  27th,  as  here  ;  for  Josephus  agrees  with  them  as  to 
the  distance  of  150  days  to  the  17th  day  of  the  7th  month,  as  Gen.  vii.  ult.  with  viii.  3. 

|(  Josephus  here  takes  notice,  that  these  ancient  genealogies  were  first  set  down  by  those  that  then  liv- 
ed, aiid  from  them  were  transmitted  down  to  posterity  ;  which  I  suppose  to  be  the  true  account  of  that 
matter.  J'or  tiiere  is  no  reason  to  imagine  that  men  were  not  taught  to  7X(id  and  write  soon  after  they 
were  taught  to  .yeak  :  and  perhaps  all  by  the  Messiah  himself,  who,  under  the  Father,  was  the  Crea- 
or  or  Governor  of  inankimi,  ;iiid  who  frequently  in  those  early  days  appeared  to  tiiem. 


C.  II r.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  17 

4.  For  indeed  Seth  was  born  when  Adam  was  in  his  two  hundred  and  thirtieth 
vear,  who  lived  nine  hundred  and  thirty  years.  Seth  begat  Enoch  in  his  two 
hundred  and  fitth  year  ;  who,  when  he  had  lived  nine  hundred  and  twelve  years, 
delivered  the  government  to  Cainan  his  son,  whom  he  had  at  his  hundred  and 
ninetieth  year.  He  lived  nine  hundred  and  five  years.  Cainan,  when  he  had 
lived  nine  hundred  and  ten  years,  had  his  son  Malaleel,  who  was  born  in  his 
hundred  and  seventieth  year.  This  Malaleel,  having  lived  eight  hundred  and 
ninety.five  years,  died,  leaving  his  son  Jared,  whom  he  begat  when  he  was  at 
his  hundred  and  sixty-filth  year.  He  lived  nine  hundred  and  sixty-two  years  ; 
and  then  his  son  Enoch  succeeded  him,  who  was  born  when  his  father  was  one 
hundred  and  sixty-two  years  old.     Now  he,  Avhen  he  had  lived  three  hundred 

■and  sixty.five  years,  departed,  and  went  to  God  ;  whence  it  is  that  they  have  not 
written  down  his  death.  Now  Methusela,  the  son  of  Enoch,  who  was  born  to 
him  when  he  was  one  hundred  and  sixty.five  years  old,  had  Lamech  for  his  son, 
when  he  was  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  years  of  age  ;  to  whom  he  deliver- 
ed the  government,  when  he  had  retained  it  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years. 
Now  Lamech,  when  he  had  governed  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven  years, 
appointed  Noah  his  son  to  be  ruler  of  the  people,  who  was  born  to  Lamech 
when  he  was  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  years  old,  and  retained  the  govern- 
ment nine  hundred  and  fifty  years.  These  years  collected  together  make  up 
the  sum  before  set  down.  But  let  no  one  inquire  into  the  deaths  of  these  men  ; 
for  they  extended  their  lives  all  along,  together  with  their  children  and  grand- 
children ;  but  let  him  have  regard  to  their  births  only. 

5.  When  God  gave  the  signal,  and  it  began  to  rain,  the  water  poured  down 
forty  entire  days,  till  it  became  fifteen  cubits  higher  than  the  earth  ;  which  was 
tlie  reason  why  there  were  no  greater  number  preserved,  since  they  had  no  place 
to  fly  to.  When  the  rain  ceased,  the  water  did  but  just  begin  to  abate  after  one 
hundred  and  fifty  days  ;  that  is,  on  the  seventeenth  day  of  the  seventh  month, 
it  then  ceasing  to  subside  for  a  little  while.  After  this,  the  ark  rested  on  the  top 
of  a  certain  mountain  in  Armenia ;  which,  when  Noah  understood,  he  opened 
it,  and  seeing  a  small  piece  of  land  about  it,  he  continued  quiet,  and  conceived 
some  cheerful  hopes  of  deliverance.  But  a  few  days  afterward,  when  the  wa- 
ter was  decreased  to  a  greater  degree,  he  sent  out  a  raven,  as  desirous  to  learn 
Avhether  any  other  part  of  the  earth  were  left  dry  by  the  water,  and  whether  he 
might  go  out  of  the  ark  with  safety  ;  but  the  raven  returned  not.  And  after  se- 
ven days,  he  sent  out  a  dove,  to  know  the  state  of  the  ground,  which  came  back 
to  him  covered  with  mud,  and  bringing  an  olive  branch.  Hereby  Noah  learned 
that  the  earth  was  become  clear  of  the  flood.  So  after  he  had  stayed  seven 
more  days,  he  sent  the  living  creatures  out  of  the  ark,  and  both  he  and  his  fa- 
mily  went  out,  when  he  also  sacrificed  to  God,  and  feasted  with  his  companions. 
However,  the  Armenians  call  this  place*  ATTo^aT/siov,  the  Place  of  Descent ;  for 
the  ark  being  saved  in  that  place,  its  remains  are  showed  there  by  the  inhabi- 
tants  to  this  day. 

G.  Now  all  the  writers  of  the  barbarian  histories  make  mention  of  this  flood, 
and  of  this  ark ;  among  whom  is  Berossus  the  Chaldean.  For  when  he  was 
describing  the  circumstances  of  the  flood,  he  goes  on  thus :  "  It  is  said,  there 
is  still  some  part  of  this  ship  in  Armenia,  at  the  mountain  of  the  Cordyajans  ;  and 
that  some  people  carry  off  pieces  of  the  bitumen,  which  they  take  away,  and  use 

*  This  a.rrc?>u.riffiov,  or  place  of  descent,  is  tiie  proper  rendering  of  the  Armenian  name  of  this  very 
city.  It  is  called  in  Ptolemy,  JYaxvana,  and  by  Moses  Chorenensis,  the  Armenian  historian,  llshcuan,- 
but  at  the  place  itself,  JVachidsheuan,  which  signifies  the  frst  place  of  descent ;  and  is  »  lasting  monu- 
ment of  tli£  preservation  of  Noah  in  the  ark,  upon  the  top  of  that  mountain,  at  whose  fo6t  it  was  built, 
as  the  first  city  or  town  after  the  flood.  See  Antiq.  B.  xx.  cliap.  ii.  sect.  3,  and  Moses  Cliorenensis,  p. 
71,  72 ;  who  also  says,  p.  19,  that  another  town  was  related  by  tradition  to  have  been  called  Scro)i,_  or 
the  place  of  dispersion,  on  account  of  tiie  dispersion  of  Xisuthrus,  or  Noah's  sons,  from  thence  first 
made.  Whetncr  any  remains  of  this  ark  be  still  preserved,  as  the  people  of  the  country  suppose,  lean- 
not  certainly  tell.  Mons.  Turnefort  had  not  very  long  since  a  mind  to  see  the  place  himself,  but  met 
M-ith  too  great  dangers  and  difficulties  to  venture  through  them. 

VOL.  I.  c 


18  »         A.NTIQLITIKS  OF  THE  JEAVS.  B.  L 

chiefly  as  amulets,  for  the  averting  of  mischiefs." — Hieronj-miis  the  Egyptian 
also,  who  wrote  the  Phenician  antiquities,  and  Manases,  and  a  great  many  more, 
make  mention  of  the  same.  Nay,  Nicholas  of  Damascus,  in  his  ninety. sixth 
book,  hath  a  particular  relation  about  them ;  where  he  speaks  thus  :  "  There  is 
a  great  mountain  in  Armenia,  over  Minyas,  called  Baris,  upon  which  it  is  re- 
ported, that  many  who  fled  at  the  time  of  the  deluge  were  saved ;  and  that  one 
who  was  carried  in  an  ark,  came  on  shore  upon  the  top  of  it ;  and  that  the  re- 
mains of  the  timber  were  a  great  while  preserved.  This  might  be  the  man 
about  Avhom  Moses  the  legislator  of  the  Jews  wrote." 

7.  But  as  for  Noah,  he  was  afraid,  since  God  had  determined  to  destroy  man- 
kind, lest  he  should  drown  the  earth  every  year ;  so  he  offered  burnt  offerings 
and  besought  God  that  nature  might  hereafter  go  on  in  its  former  orderly  course ; 
and  that  he  would  not  bring  on  so  great  a  judgment  any  more,  by  which  the 
whole  race  of  creatures  might  be  in  danger  of  destruction  ;  but  that,  having  now 
punished  the  wicked,  he  would  of  his  goodness  spare  the  remainder,  and  such 
as  he  had  hitherto  judged  fit  to  be  delivered  from  so  severe  a  calamity  ;  for  that 
otherwise  these  last  must  be  more  miserable  than  the  first,  and  that  they  must  be 
condemned  to  a  worse  condition  than  the  others,  unless  they  be  suffered  to  es- 
cape  entirelv;  that  is,  if  they  be  reserved  for  another  deluge,  while  they  must  be 
aftiicted  with  the  terror  and  sight  of  the  first  deluge,  and  must  also  be  destroyed 
by  a  second.  He  also  entreated  God  to  accept  of  his  sacrifice,  and  to  grant, 
that  the  earth  might  never  again  undergo  the  like  effects  of  his  wrath  ;  that  men 
might  be  permitted  to  go  on  cheerfully  in  cultivating  the  same  ;  to  build  cities, 
and  live  happily  in  them  ;  and  that  they  might  not  be  depriv-ed  of  any  of  those 
good  things  which  they  enjoyed  before  the  flood ;  but  might  attain  to  the  like 
length  of  days,  and  old  age,  which  the  ancient  people  had  arrived  at  before. 

8.  When  Noah  had  made  these  supplications,  God,  who  loved  the  man  for 
his  righteousness,  granted  entire  success  to  his  prayers  ;  and  said.  That  it  was 
not  he  who  brought  the  destruction  on  a  polluted  world,  but  that  they  underwent 
that  vengeance  on  account  of  their  OAvn  wickedness  ;  and  that  he  had  not  brought 
men  into  the  world,  if  he  had  himself  determined  to  destroy  them,  it  being  an 
instance  of  greater  wisdom  not  to  have  granted  them  life  at  all,  than,  after  it  was 
granted,  to  procure  their  destruction  ;  but  the  injuries,  said  he,  they  offered  to 
my  holiness  and  virtue  forced  me  to  bring  this  punishment  upon  them.  But  I 
Avill  leave  off' for  the  time  to  come  to  require  such  punishments,  the  effects  of  so 
great  wrath,  for  their  future  wicked  actions,  and  especially  on  account  of  thy 
prayers.  But  if  I  shall,  at  any  time,  send  tempests  of  rain,  in  an  extraordinary 
manner,  be  not  affrighted  at  the  largeness  of  the  showers ;  for  the  water  shall 
no  more  overspread  the  earth.  However,  I  require  you  to  aljstain  from  shed- 
ding the  blood  of  men,  and  to  keep  yourselves  pure  from  murder  ;  and  to  punish 
those  that  commit  any  such  thing.  I  permit  you  to  make  use  of  all  the  other 
living  creatures  at  your  pleasure,  and  as  your  appetites  lead  you ;  for  I  have 
made  you  lords  of  them  all,  both  of  those  that  Avalk  on  the  land,  and  of  those 
that  swim  in  the  waters,  and  of  those  that  fly  in  the  regions  of  the  air  on  high, 
excepting  their  blood,  for  therein  is  the  life.  But  I  will  give  you  a  sign  that  I 
have  left  off  my  anger,  by  my  boiv  (whereby  is  meant  the  rainbow,  for  the}^  de- 
termined that  the  rainhoii)  was  the  how  of  God).  And,  when  God  had  said  aild 
promised  thus,  he  went  away. 

9.  Now  when  Noah  had  lived  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  flood, 
and  that  all  that  time  happily,  he  died,  having  lived  the  number  of  nine  hundred 
and  fifty  years.  But  let  no  one  upon  comparing  the  lives  of  the  ancients  with 
our  lives,  and  v.ith  the  few  years  which  we  now  live,  think,  that  what  we  have 
eaid  of  them  is  false  ;  or  make  the  shortness  of  our  lives  at  present  an  argu- 
ment,  that  neither  did  they  attain  to  so  long  a  duration  of  life,  for  those  ancients 
were  beloved  of  God,  and  [lately]  made  by  God  himself;  and  because  their  food 
was  then  fitter  for  the  prolongation  of  life,  might  well  live  so  great  a  number  of 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  jtj 

years  ;  and  besides,  God  aflbrdcd  them  a  longer  time  of  life  on  account  of  their 
virtue,  and  the  good  use  they  made  of  it  in  astronomical  and  geometrical  disco- 
veries, which  would  not  have  alibrded  the  time  for  foretelling  [the  periods  of  the 
stars],  unless  they  had  lived  six  hundred  years  ,;  for  the  great  year  is  completed 
in  that  interval.  Now  I  have  for  witnesses  to  what  I  have  said,  all  those  that 
have  written  antiquities,  both  among  the  Greeks  and  Barbarians  :  for  even  Ma- 
netho,  who  wrote  the  Egyptian  history,  and  Berossus,  who  collected  the  ChaU 
dean  monuments,  and  Mochus  and  Hestiseus,  and  besides  these  Hieronymus 
the  Egyptian,  and  those  that  composed  the  Phenician  history,  agree  to  what  I 
here  say.  Hesiod  also,  and  Hecata;us,  and  Hellanicus,  and  Acusilaus  ;  and,  be- 
sides these,  Ephorus  and  Nicolaus  relate,  that  the  ancients  lived  a  thousand 
years.     But  as  to  these  matters,  let  every  one  look  upon  them  as  they  think  fit. 


CHAP.  IV. 

Concerning  the  Tower  of  Babylon  and  tJie  Confusion  of  Tongues. 

§  ] .  Now  the  sons  of  Noah  were  three,  Shem,  and  Japhet,  and  Ham,  born  one 
hundred  years  betbre  the  deluge.  These  first  of  all  descended  from  the  moun- 
tains  into  the  plains,  and  fixed  their  habitation  there  ;  and  persuaded  others  who 
were  greatly  afraid  of  the  lower  grounds  on  account  of  the  flood,  and  so  were 
very  loath  to  come  down  from  the  higher  places,  to  venture  to  follow  their  ex- 
amples. Now  the  plain  in  which  they  first  dwelt,  was  called  Shinar.  God  also 
commanded  them  to  send  colonies  abroad,  for  the  thorough  peopling  of  the 
earth,  that  they  might  not  raise  seditions  among  themselves,  but  might  cultivate 
a  great  part  of  the  earth,  and  enjoy  its  fruits  after  a  plentiful  manner.  But  they 
were  so  ill  instructed  that  they  did  not  obey  God  ;  for  which  reason  tLey  fell  in- 
to calamities,  and  were  made  sensible,  by  experience,  of  what  sin  they  had  been 
guilty.  For  when  they  flourished  with  a  numerous  youth,  God  admonished  them 
again  to  send  out  colonies ;  but  they,  imagining  that  the  prosperity  thev  enjoy- 
ed  was  not  derived  from  the  favour  of  God,  but  supposing  that  their  own  power 
was  the  proper  cause  of  the  plentiful  condition  they  were  in,  did  not  obey  him. 
Nay,  they  added  to  this  their  disobedience  to  the  Divine  will,  the  suspicion  that 
they  were  therefoi*e  ordered  to  send  out  separate  colonies,  that  being  divided 
asunder,  they  might  the  more  easily  be  oppressed. 

2.  Now  it  was  Ninfirod  who  excited  them  to  such  an  afiront  and  contempt  of 
God.  He  was  the  grandson  of  Ham,  the  son  of  Noah,  a  bold  man,  and  of  great 
strength  of  hand.  He  persuaded  them  not  to  ascribe  it  to  God,  as  if  it  was 
through  his  means  they  were  happy,  but  to  believe  that  it  was  their  own  cou- 
rage  which  procured  that  happiness.  He  also  gradually  changed  the  govern- 
ment into  tyranny,  seeing  no  other  w  ay  of  turning  men  from  the  fear  of  God,  but 
to  bring  them  into  a  constant  dependence  on  his  own  power.  He  also  said,  "  He 
would  be  revenged  on  God,  if  he  should  have  a  mind  to  drown  the  world  again  ; 
for  that  he  would  build  a  tower  too  high  for  the  waters  to  be  able  to  reach ;  and 
that  he  would  avenge  himself  on  God  for  destroying  their  forefathers." 

3.  Now  the  multitude  were  very  ready  to  follow  the  determination  of  Nimrod,' 
and  to  esteem  it  a  piece  of  cowardice  to  submit  to  God ;  and  they  built  a  tower, 
neither  sparing  any  pains,  nor  being  in  any  degree  negligent  about  the  work. 
And,  by  reason  of  the  multitude  of  hands  employed  in  it,  it  grew  very  high, 
sooner  than  any  one  could  expect ;  but  the  thickness  of  it  was  so  great,  and  it 
was  so  strongly  built,  that  thereby  its  great  height  seemed,  upon  the  view,  to  be 
less  than  it  really  was.  It  was  built  of  burned  brick,  cemented  togetlier  with 
mortar  made  of  fttV^wien,  that  it  might  not  be  liable  to  admit  water.  When  God 
saw  that  they  acted  so  madly,  he  did  not  resolve  to  destroy  them  utterly,  since' 

C2 


20  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS  B.  I. 

they  were  not  grown  wiser  by  the  destruction  of  the  former  sinners,  but  he 
caused  a  tumult  among  them,  by  producing  in  them  divers  languages,  and  cans- 
ing,  that  through  the  multitude  of  those  languages,  they  should  not  be  able  to 
understand  one  another.  The  place  wherein  they  built  the  tower  is  now  called 
Babylon,  because  of  the  confusion  of  that  language  which  they  readily  understood 
before  ;  for  the  Hebrews  mean  by  the  word  Babel  confusion.  The  Sibyl  also 
makes  mention  of  this  tower,  and  of  the  confusion  of  the  language,  when  she  says 
thus  :  "  When  all  men  were  of  one  language,  some  of  them  built  a  high  tower, 
as  if  they  would  thereby  ascend  up  to  heaven,  but  the  gods  sent  storms  of  wind 
and  overthrew  the  tower,  and  gave  every  one  his  peculiar  language ;  and  for 
this  reason  it  was  that  the  city  was  called  Babylon."  But  as  to  the  plain  of 
Shinar,  in  the  country  of  Babylonia,  Hestia^us  mentions  it,  when  he  says  thus: 
"  Such  of  the  priests  as  were  saved  took  the  sacred  vessels  of  Jupiter  Enyalius, 
and  came  to  Shinar  of  Babylonia." 


CHAP.  V. 

After  what  Manner  the  Posterity  of  Noah  sent  out  Colonies^  and  inhabited 

the  whole  Earth. 

§  1.  After  this  they  were  dispersed  abroad,  on  account  of  their  languages, 
and  went  out  by  colonies  every  where  ;  and  each  colony  took  possession  of  that 
land  which  they  lighted  upon,  and  unto  which  God  led  them,  so  that  the  whole 
continent  was  filled  with  them,  both  the  inland  and  the  maritime  countries. 
There  were  some  also  who  passed  over  the  sea  in  ships,  and  inhabited  the 
islands ;  and  some  of  those  nations  do  still  retain  the  denominations  which  Avere 
given  them  by  their  first  founders ;  but  some  have  lost  them  also,  and  some  have 
only  admitted  certain  changes  in  them,  that  they  might  be  the  more  intelligible 
to  the  inhabitants.  And  they  were  the  Greeks  who  became  the  authors  of  such 
mutations  ;  for  when  in  after  ages  they  grew  potent,  they  claimed  to  themselves 
the  glory  of  antiquity  ;  giving  names  to  the  nations  that  sounded  well  [in  Greek], 
that  they  might  be  better  understood  among  themselves  ;  and  setting  agreeable 
forms  of  government  over  them,  as  if  they  were  a  people  derived  from  them- 
selves. 


CHAP.  VI. 

How  every  Nation  was  denominated  from  their  first  Inhabitants. 

§  1.  Now  they  were  the  grandchildren  of  Noah,  in  honour  of  whom  names 
were  imposed  on  the  nations  by  those  that  first  seized  upon  them.  Japhet  the 
son  of  Noah  had  seven  sons.  They  inhabited  so,  that  beginning  at  the  moun- 
tains  Taurus  and  Amanus,  they  proceeded  along  Asia,  as  far  as  the  river  Tanais, 
and  along  Europe  to  Cadiz ;  and  settling  themselves  on  the  lands  they  lighted 
upon,  which  none  had  inhabited  before,  they  called  the  nations  by  their  own 
names.  For  Gomer  founded  those  whom  the  Greeks  now  call  Galatians  [Galls], 
but  were  then  called  Gomerites.  Magog  founded  those  that  from  him  were  na. 
med  Magogites,  but  who  are  by  the  Greeks  called  Scythians.  Now  as  to  Javan 
and  Madai,  the  sons  of  Japhet ;  from  Madai  came  the  Medeans,  which  are  call- 
ed  Medes  by  the  Greeks  ;  but  from  Javan,  Jonia  and  all  the  Grecians  are  de- 
rived.  Thobel  founded  the  Thobelites,  which  are  now  called  Iberes  ,  and  the 
Mosocheni  were  founded  by  Mosoch  ;    now  they  are  Cappadocians.     There  is 


C.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


21 


also  a  mark  of  their  ancient  denominations  still  to  be  showed ;  for  there  is  even 
now  among  them  a  city  called  Mazaca,  which  may  inform  those  that  are  able  to 
understand,  that  so  was  the  entire  nation  once  called.  Thiras  also  called  those 
whom  he  ruled  over  Thirasian;  but  the  Greeks  changed  the  name  into  Thracians. 
And  so  many  were  the  countries  that  had  the  children  of  Japhet  for  their  inha- 
bitants. Of  the  three  sons  of  Gomer,  Aschanaz  founded  the  Aschanasians, 
who  are  now  called  by  the  Greeks  Rheginians.  So  did  Riphath  found  the  Ri- 
pheans,  now  called  Paphlagonians ;  and  Thrugramma  the  Thrugrammeans,  who, 
as  the  Greeks  resolved,  were  named  Phrygians.  Of  the  three  sons  of  Javan 
also,  the  son  of  Japhet,  Elisa  gave  name  to  the  Elisians,  who  were  his  sub- 
jects ;  they  are  now  the  ^Eolians.  Tharsus  to  the  Tharsians,  for  so  was  Cili- 
cia  of  old  called;  the  sign  of  which  is  this,  that  the  noblest  city  they  have,  and 
a  metropolis  also,  is  Tarsus,  the  Tau  being  by  change  put  for  the  Theta.  Ce- 
thimus  possessed  the  island  Cethima  ;  it  is  now  called  Cyprus;  and  from  that 
it  is,  that  all  islands,  and  the  greatest  part  of  the  sea-coasls,  are  named  Cethium 
by  the  Hebrews  ;  and  one  city  there  is  in  Cyprus  that  has  been  able  to  preserve 
its  denomination;  it  is  called  Citius  by  those  who  use  the  language  of  the 
Greeks,  and  has  not,  by  the  use  of  that  dialect,  escaped  the  name  of  Cethium. 
And  so  many  nations  have  the  children  and  grandchildren  of  Japhet  possessed. 
Now  when  I  have  premised  somewhat,  which  perhaps  the  Greeks  do  not  know, 
I  will  return  and  explain  what  I  have  omitted  ;  for  such  names  are  pronounced 
here  after  the  manner  of  the  Greeks,  to  please  my  readers ;  for  our  own  coun- 
try language  does  not  so  pronounce  them.  But  the  names  in  all  cases  are  of 
one  and  the  same  ending ;  for  the  name  we  here  pronounce  Noeas,  is  there 
Noah ;  and  in  every  case  retains  the  same  termination. 

2.  The  children  of  Ham  possessed  the  land  from  Syria  and  Amanus,  and  the 
mountains  of  Libanus ;  seizing  upon  all  that  was  on  its  sea-coasts,  and  as  far  as 
the  ocean,  and  keeping  it  as  their  own.  Some,  indeed,  of  its  names  are  utter- 
ly vanished  away ;  others  of  them  being  changed,  and  another  sound  given 
them,  are  hardly  to  be  discovered,  yet  a  few  there  are,  which  have  kept  their 
denominations  entire.  For  of  the  four  sons  of  Ham,  time  has  not  at  all  hurt 
the  name  of  Chus ;  for  the  Ethiopians,  over  whom  he  reigned,  are  even  at  this 
day,  both  by  themselves  and  by  all  men  in  Asia,  called  Chusites.  The  memory 
also  of  the  Mesraites  is  preserved  in  their  name  ;  for  all  we  who  inhabit  this 
country  [of  Judea]  call  Egypt  Mestre,  and  the  Egyptians  Mesireans.  Phut  also 
was  the  founder  of  Libya,  and  called  the  inhabitants  PhulUcs,  from  himself; 
there  is  also  a  river  in  the  country  of  the  Moors,  which  bears  that  name ; 
whence  it  is  that  we  may  see  the  greatest  part  of  the  Grecian  historiographers 
mention  that  river,  and  the  adjoining  country,  by  the  appellation  of  Phut ;  but 
the  name  it  has  now  has  been  by  change  given  it  from  one  of  the  sons  of  3Ies- 
tpaim,  who  was  called  Lyhyos.  We  will  inform  you  presently  what  has  been 
the  occasion  why  it  has  been  called  Africa  also.  Canaan,  the  fourth  son 
of  Ham,  inhabited  the  country  now  called  Judea,  and  called  from  his  own 
name  Canaan.  The  children  of  these  [four]  were  these :  Sabas,  who  found- 
ed the  Sabeans ;  Evilas,  who  founded  the  Evileans,  who  are  called  Getuli ; 
Sabathes  founded  the  Sabathens;  they  are  now  called  by  the  Greeks  Asta- 
horans ;  Sabactas  settled  the  Sabactens ;  and  Ragmus  the  Ragmeans  ;  and 
he  had  two  sons,  the  one  of  which,  Judadas,  settled  the  Judadeans,  a  nation 
of  the  western  Ethiopians,  and  left  them  his  name  ;  as  did  Sabas,  to  the  Sa- 
beans.  But  Nimrod,  the  son  of  Chus,  stayed  and  tyrannized  at  Babylon,  as 
we  have  already  informed  you.  Now  all  the  children  of  Mesraim,  being 
eight  in  number,  possessed  the  country  from  Gaza  to  Egypt,  though  it  re- 
tained  the  name  of  one  only,  the  Philestim,  for  the  Greeks  called  part  of 
that  country  Palestine.  As  for  the  rest,  Ludiem,  and  Enemim,  and  La-bim, 
who  alone  inhabited  in  Libya,  and  called  the  country  from  himself;  Nedim 
and    Pethrosim,    and    Chesloim,   and    Cephthorim,  we  know  nothing  of  thera 


22  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  1. 

besides  their  names  ;  for  the  Ethiopic  war,*  which  we  shall  describe  hereafter, 
was  the  cause  that  those  cities  were  overthrown.  The  sons  of  Canaan  were 
these  :  Sidonius,  who  also  built  a  city  of  the  same  name  ;  it  is  called,  by  the 
Greeks  Sidon  ;  Amathus  inhabited  in  Amathine,  which  is  even  now  called  Amw 
the  by  the  inhabitants,  although  the  Macedonians  named  it  Epiphania,  from  one 
of  his  posterity  ;  Arudeus  possessed  the  island  Aradus  ;  Arucas  possessed  Acre, 
which  is  in  Libanus.  But  for  the  seven  others  [Eueus],  Chetteus,  Jehuseus, 
Amorreus,  Gerfreseus,  Eudeus,  Sineus,  Samareus,  we  have  nothing  in  the  sa- 
cred books  but  their  names,  for  the  Hebrews  overthrew  their  cities  ;  and  their 
calamities  came  upon  them  on  the  occasion  following. 

3.  Noah,  when  after  the  deluge  the  earth  was  resettled  in  its  former  condition, 
set  about  its  cultivation ;  and  when  he  had  planted  it  with  ^'ines,  and  when  the 
fruit  was  ripe,  and  he  had  gathered  the  grapes  in  their  season,  and  the  wine  was 
ready  for  use,  he  offered  sacrifice,  and  feasted,  and  being  drunk,  he  fell  asleep, 
and  iay  naked  in  an  unseemly  manner.  When  his  youngest  son  saw  this,  he 
came  laughing,  and  showed  him  to  his  brethren  ;  but  they  covered  their  father's 
nakedness.  And  when  Noah  was  made  sensible  of  what  had  been  done,  he 
prayed  for  posterity  to  his  other  sons  ;  but  for  Ham,  he  did  not  curse  him,  by 
reason  of  his  nearness  in  blood,  but  cursed  his  posterity.  And  M'hen  the  rest 
of  them  escaped  that  curse,  God  inflicted  it  on  the  children  of  Canaan.  But  as 
to  these  matters,  we  shall  speak  more  hereafter. 

4.  Shem,  the  third  son  of  Noah,  had  five  sons,  who  inhabited  the  land  that 
began  at  Euphrates,  and  reached  to  the  Indian  Ocean.  For  Elam  left  behind 
him  the  Elamites,  the  ancestors  of  the  Persians.  Ashur  lived  at  the  city  Ni- 
nive  ;  and  named  his  subjects  Assyrians,  who  became  the  most  fortunate  nation 
beyond  others.  Arphaxad  named  the  Arphaxadites,  who  are  now  called  Chal- 
deans. Aram  had  the  Aramites,  which  the  Greeks  call  Syrians  ;  as  Laud  found- 
ed the  Laudites,  which  are  now  called  Lydians.  Of  the  four  sons  of  Aram,  Uz 
founded  Trachonitis  and  Damascus  ;  this  country  lies  between  Palestine  and 
Celosyria.  Ul  founded  Armenia ;  and  Gather  the  Bactrians  ;  and  Mesa  the 
Mesaneans  ;  it  is  now  called  Charax  Spasini.  Sala  was  the  son  of  Arphaxad  ; 
and  his  son  was  Heber,  from  whom  they  originally  called  the  Jewsj-  Hebrews. 
Heber  begat  Joctan  and  Phaleg ;  he  was  called  Phaleg  because  he  was  born  at 
the  dispersion  of  the  nations  to  their  several  countries  ;  for  Phaleg  among  the 
Hebrews  sii^nifies  division.  Now  Joctan,  one  of  the  sons  of  Heber,  had  these 
sons,  Elmodad,  Saleph,  Asermoth,  Jera,  Adoram,  Aizel,  Decla,  Ebal,  Abimael, 
S'abeus,  Ophir,  Euilat,  and  Jobab.  These  inhabited  from  Cophen,  an  Indian 
river,  and  in  part  of  Aria  adjoining  to  it.  And  this  shall  suffice  concerning  the 
sons  of  Shem. 

5.  I  will  now  treat  of  the  Hebrews.  The  son  of  Phaleg,  whose  father  was 
Heber,  was  Regau  ;  Avhose  son  was  Serug,  to  whom  was  born  Nahor ;  his  son 
was  Terah,  who  was  the  father  of  Abram,  who  accordingly  was  the  tenth  from 
Noah,  and  was  born  in  the  two  hundred  and  ninety-second  year  after  the  de- 
luore ;  for  Terah  begat  Abram  in  his  seventieth  year.  Nahor  begat  Haran, 
when  he  was  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  old ;  Nahor  was  born  to  Serug  at 
his  hundred  aud  thirty-second  year ;  Ragau  had  Serug  at  one  hundred  and 

*  One  obcen-ation  ought  not  to  be  here  neglected,  with  regard  to  that  Ethiopic  war,  which  Moses,  as 
pmeral  of  the  Egyptians,  put  an  end  to,  Antiq.  B.  ii.  ch.  x.  and  about  which  our  late  writers  seem  very 
tmconcemed  :  vFi.  that  it  was  a  war  of  that  consequence,  as  to  occasion  the  removal  or  destruction  of 
sis  or  ^even  nations  of  the  posterity  of  Mitzraira,  with  their  cities  ;  which  Josephus  would  not  have  said, 
if  he  had  not  had  ancient  records  to' justify  those  assertions,  though  those  records  be  all  now  lost. 

f  That  the  Jews  were  called  Hebrews  from  this  tlieir  progenitor  Heber,  our  author  Josephus  here 
ri-htlv  affirms  ;  and  not  from  Abram  the  Hebrew,  or  Passenger  over  Euphrates,  as  man}'  of  the  mod- 
em'i  suppose.  Shem  is  also  called  \he  Father  of  all  the  children  of  Heber,  or  of  all  the  Hebrews,  m  a 
l.istorv- long  before  Abiam  passed  over  Euphrates,  Gen.  x.  21,  though  it  must  be  confessed,  that,  Gen. 
xiv.  13,  wlicre  the  ori-'inal  savs,  they  told  Abram  the  Heorew,  the  Septuagmt  renders  it  the  Passenger, 
jr=,:^^5-  but  this  is  spoken  only  of  Abram  himself,  who  had  then  lately  passed  over  Euphrates,  and  is 
another  signification  of  the  Hebrew  word,  taken  as  an  appeUative  and  not  as  a  proper  name. 


C.  VII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  23 

thirty ;  at  the  same  time  also  Phaleg  had  Regau ;  Heber  begat  Phaleg  in  his 
hundred  and  thirty-fourth  year ;  he  himself  being  begotten  by  Sala,  when  he 
was  a  liundred  and  thirty  years  old,  Avhom  Arphaxad  had  for  his  son  at  the  hun- 
dred and  thirty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  Arphaxad  was  the  son  of  Shem  ;  and 
born  twelve  years  after  the  deluge.  Now  Abram  had  two  brethren,  Nahor  and 
Haran  ;  of  these  Haran  left  a  son.  Lot ;  as  also  Sarai  and  Milcha  his  daugh- 
ters  ;  and  died  among  the  Chaldeans,  in  a  city  of  the  Chaldeans  called  Ur ;  and 
his  monument  is  showed  to  this  day.  These  married  their  nieces.  Nahor  mar- 
ried Rlilcha,  and  Abraham  married  Sarai.  Now  Terah  hating  Chaldea,  on  ac- 
count of  his  mourning  for  Haran,  they  all  removed  to  Haran  of  Mesopotamia, 
where  Terah  died,  and  was  buried,  when  he  had  lived  to  be  two  hundred  and 
iivc  years  old  ;  for  the  life  of  man  was  already  by  degrees  diminished,  and  be- 
came shorter  than  before,  till  the  birth  of  Moses  ;  after  whom  the  term  of  hu- 
man life  was  one  hundred  and  twenty  years,  God  determining  it  to  the  length 
that  Moses  happened  to  live.  Now  Nahor  had  eight  sons  by  Milcha  ;  Uz,  and 
Buz,  Kemuel,  Chesed,  Azau,  Pheldas,  Jadelp,  and  Bethuel.  These  were  all 
the  genuine  sons  of  Nahor  ;  for  Teba,  and  Gaam,  and  Tachas,  and  Macha, 
were  born  of  Reuma  his  concubine  ;  but  Bethuel  had  a  daughter  Rebecca,  and 
a  son  Laban. 


CHAP.  vn. 

How  Ahram  our  Forefather  went  out  of  the  Land  of  the  Chaldeans,  and  lived  in 
the  Land  then  called  Canaan,  hut  now  Judea. 

§  1.  Now  Abram,  having  no  son  of  his  own,  adopted  Lot,  his  brother  Haran's 
son,  and  his  wife  Sarai's  brother ;  and  he  left  the  land  of  Chaldea  when  he  was 
seventy-live  years  old,  and  at  the  command  of  God  went  into  Canaan,  and  there- 
in he  dwelt  hinis-elf,  and  left  it  to  his  posterity.  He  was  a  person  of  great 
sagacity,  both  for  understanding  all  things,  and  persuading  his  hearers,  and 
not  mistaken  in  his  opinions ;  for  which  reason  he  began  to  have  higher 
notions  of  virtue  than  others  had,  and  he  determined  to  renew  and  to  change  the 
opinion  all  men  happened  then  to  have  concerning  God ;  for  he  was  the  first 
that  ventured  to  publish  this  notion,  that  there  was  but  One  God,  the  Creator 
of  tlie  Universe  ;  and  that  as  to  other  [gods],  if  they  contributed  any  thing  to 
the  happiness  of  men,  that  each  of  them  afforded  it  only  according  to  his  ap- 
pointment,  and  not  by  their  own  power.  This  his  opinion  was  derived  from  the 
irregular  phenomena  that  were  visible  both  at  land  and  sea,  as  well  as  those  that 
happen  to  the  sun,  and  moon,  and  all  the  heavenly  bodies ;  thus,  "  if  [said  he] 
these  bodies  had  power  of  their  own,  they  would  certainly  take  care  of  their 
own  regular  motions  ;  but  since  they  do  not  preserve  such  regularit)',  they  make 
it  j)lain  that  so  far  as  they  co-operate  to  our  advantage,  they  do  it  not  of  their 
own  abilities,  but  as  they  are  subservient  to  him  that  commands  them,  to  whom 
alone  we  ought  justly  to  offer  our  honour  and  thanksgiving."  For  which  doc- 
trines, when  the  Chaldeans,  and  other  people  of  Mesopotamia,  raised  a  tumult 
against  him,  he  thought  fit  to  leave  that  country  ;  and  at  the  command,  and  by 
the  assistance  of  God,  he  came  and  lived  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  And  when  he 
was  there  settled,  he  built  an  altar,  and  performed  a  sacrifice  to  God. 

2.  Bcrossus  mentions  our  father  Abram  without  naming  him,  when  he  says 
thus  :  "  In  the  tenth  generation  after  the  flood,  there  was  among  the  Chaldeans 
a  man,  righteous  and  great  and  skilful  in  the  celestial  science."  But  Hecateus 
does  more  than  barely  mention  him  ;  for  he  composed,  and  left  behind  him, 
a  book  concerning  him.  And  Nicolaus  of  Damascus,  in  the  fourth  book  of  his 
history,  says  thus ;  "  Abram  reigned  at  Damascus,  being  a  foreigner,  who  came 


24  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  I. 

■with  an  army  out  of  the  land  above  Babylon,  called  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans  j 
but,  after  a  long  tima,  he  got  him  up,  and  removed  from  that  country  also,  with 
his  people,  and  went  into  the  land  then  called  the  land  of  Canaan,  but  now  the 
land  of  J'udea,  and  this  when  his  posterity  were  become  a  multitude  ;  as  to 
v/hich  posterity  of  his,  we  relate  their  history  in  another  work.  Now  the  name 
of  Abram  is  even  still  famous  in  the  country  of  Damascus ;  and  there  is  showed 
a  village  named  from  him,  The  Habitation  of  Abram.'^ 


CHAP.  VIII. 

That  when  there  was  a  Famine  in  Canaan,  Abram  went  thence  into  Egypt ;  and 
after  he  had  continued  there  a  while,  he  returned  hack  again. 

§  1.  Now  after  this,  when  a  famine  had  invaded  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  Abram 
had  discovered  that  the  Egyptians  were  in  a  flourishing  condition,  he  was  dispo- 
sed to  go  down  to  them,  both  to  partake  of  the  plenty  they  enjoyed,  and  to  be- 
come  an  auditor  of  their  priests,  and  to  know  what  they  said  concerning  the 
gods  ;  designing  either  to  follow  them,  if  they  had  better  notions  than  he,  or  to 
convert  them  into  a  better  way,  if  his  own  notions  proved  the  truest.  Now  see- 
ing  he  was  to  take  Sarai  with  liim,  and  was  afraid  of  the  madness  of  the  Egyp- 
tians with  regard  to  women,  lest  the  king  should  kill  him  on  occasion  of  his 
wife's  great  beauty,  he  contrived  this  device  ; — He  pretended  to  be  her  brother, 
and  directed  her  in  a  dissembling  way  to  pretend  the  same  ;  for  he  said  it  would 
be  for  their  benefit.  Now  as  soon  as  they  came  into  Egypt,  it  happened  to 
Abram  as  he  supposed  it  would,  for  the  fame  of  his  wife's  beauty  was  greatly 
talked  of;  for  Avhich  reason  Pharaoh,  the  king  of  Egypt,  would  not  be  satisfied 
with  what  was  reported  of  her,  but  would  needs  see  her  himself,  and  was  pre- 
paring to  enjoy  her  ;  but  God  put  a  stop  to  his  unjust  inclinations,  by  sending 
upon  him  a  distemper,  and  a  sedition  against  his  government.  And  when  he  in- 
quired of  the  priests,  how  he  might  be  freed  from  those  calamities,  they  told  him 
that  his  miserable  condition  was  derived  from  the  wrath  of  God,  upon  account 
of  his  inclinations  to  abuse  the  stranger's  wife.  He  then,  out  of  fear,  asked 
Sarai,  who  she  was  ?  and  who  it  was  that  she  brought  along  with  her  1  And 
when  he  had  found  out  the  truth,  he  excused  himself  to  Abram,  that  supposing 
the  woman  to  be  his  sister,  and  not  his  wife,  he  set  his  afiections  on  her,  as  de- 
siring an  affinity  with  him  by  marrying  her  ;  but  not  as  incited  by  lust  to  abuse 
her.  He  also  made  him  a  large  present  in  money  ;  and  gave  him  leave  to  en- 
ter into  conversation  with  the  most  learned  among  the  Egyptians  ;  from  which 
conversation,  his  virtue  and  his  reputation  became  more  conspicuous  than  they 
had  been  before. 

2.  For  whereas  the  Egyptians  were  formerly  addicted  to  different  customs, 
and  despised  one  another's  sacred  and  accustomed  rites,  and  were  ver)'^  angiy 
one  with  another  on  that  accoimt,  Abram  conferred  with  each  of  them,  and  con- 
futing the  reasonings  they  made  use  of,  every  one  for  their  own  practices,  he 
demonstrated  that  such  reasonings  were  vain,  and  void  of  truth  ;  whereupon  he 
v/as  admired  by  them,  in  those  conferences,  as  a  very  Avise  man,  and  one  of 
great  sagacity  when  he  discoursed  on  any  subject  he  undertook  ;  and  this  not 
only  in  understanding  it,  but  in  persuading  other  men  also  to  assent  to  him.  He 
communicated  to  them  arithmetic,  and  delivered  to  them  the  science  of  astrono- 
my ;  for,  before  Abram  came  into  Egypt,  they  were  unacquainted  with  those 
parts  of  learning ;  for  that  science  came  from  the  Chaldeans  into  Egypt,  and 
from  thence  to  the  Greeks  also. 

3.  As  soon  as  Abram  was  come  back  into  Canaan,  he  parted  the  land  be- 
tween him  and  Lot,  upon  account  of  the  tumultuous  behaviour  of  their  shepherds. 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  Tilt  JEWS.  25 

concerning  Iho  pastures  wherein  they  should  feed  their  flocks.  However,  he 
<r;ive  Lot  his  oi)ti()ii,  or  leave  to  choose  which  lands  he  would  take  :  and  he  took 
iiiniself  uiial  the  other  left,  which  were  the  lower  grounds  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  ;  and  he  himself  dwelt  in  Hebron,  which  is  a  city  seven  years  an- 
cienter  than  Tanis  of  Egypt.  But  Lot  possessed  the  land  of  the  plain,  and  the 
river  Jordan,  not  far  from  the  city  Sodom,  which  was  then  a  fine  city,  but  is  now 
destroyed  by  the  will  and  the  wrath  of  God ;  the  cause  of  which  I  shall  show 
in  its  proper  place  hereafter 


CHAP.  IX. 

The  Destruction  of  the  Sodomites  by  the  Assyrian  War. 

§  L  At  this  time,  when  the  Assyrians  had  the  dominion  over  Asia,  the  people 
of  Sodom  were  in  a  flourishing  condition,  both  as  to  riches  and  number  of  their 
youth.  There  were  live  kings  that  managed  the  affairs  of  this  country,  Eallas, 
Barsas,  Senabar,  and  Sumobor,  with  the  king  of  Bela,  and  each  king  led  on  his 
own  troops.  And  the  Assyrians  made  war  upon  them,  and  dividing  their  army 
into  four  parts,  fought  against  them.  Now  every  part  of  the  army  had  its  own 
commander ;  and  when  the  battle  was  joined,  the  Assyrians  were  conquerors, 
and  imposed  a  tribute  upon  the  kings  of  the  Sodomites,  who  submitted  to  this 
slavery  twelve  years,  and  so  long  they  continued  to  pay  their  tribute  ;  but  on  the 
thirteenth  year  they  rebelled,  and  then  the  army  of  the  Assyrians  came  upon 
them,  under  their  commanders,  Amrephel,  Avioch,  Chodorlaomor,  and  Tidal. 
These  kings  had  laid  waste  all  Syria,  and  overthrown  the  ofispring  of  the  giants. 
And  when  they  were  come  over  against  Sodom,  they  pitched  their  camp  at  the 
vale  called  the  Slimepiis,  for  at  that  time  there  were  pits  in  that  place ;  but  now, 
upon  the  destruction  of  the  city  of  Sodom,  that  vale  became  the  Lake  Asphal- 
tiles,  as  it  is  called  ;  however,  concerning  this  lake  we  shall  speak  more  present. 
]y.  Now  when  the  Sodomites  joined  battle  with  the  Assyrians,  and  the  fight 
was  very  obstinate,  many  of  them  were  killed,  and  the  rest  were  carried  cap- 
tive ;  among  which  captives  was  Lot,  who  had  come  to  assist  the  Sodomites. 


CHAP.  X 

How  Abram  fought  ivith  the  Assyrians,  and  overcame  them,  and  saved  the  Sodomite 
Prisoners,  and  took  from  the  Assyrians  the  Prey  they  had  gotten. 

§  1.  When  Abram  heard  of  their  calamity,  he  Avas  at  once  afraid  for  Lot  his 
kinsman,  and  pitied  the  Sodomites,  his  friends  and  neighbours  ;  and  thinking  it 
proper  to  afford  them  assistance,  he  did  not  delay  it,  but  marched  hastily,  and 
the  fifth  night  fell  upon  the  Assyrians,  near  Dan,  for  that  is  the  name  of  the  other 
spring  of  Jordon  ;  and,  before  they  could  arm  themselves,  he  slew  some  as  they 
were  in  their  beds,  before  they  could  suspect  any  harm ;  and  others  who  were 
not  yet  gone  to  sleep,  but  were  so  drunk  that  they  could  not  fight,  ran  away. 
Abram  pursued  after  them,  till,  on  the  second  day,  he  drove  them  in  a  body  un- 
to  Hoba,  a  place  belonging  to  Damascus  ;  and  thereby  demonstrated,  that  vic- 
tory does  not  depend  on  multitude,  and  the  number  of  hands,  but  the  alacrity 
and  courage  of  soldiers  overcome  the  most  numerous  bodies  of  men,  while  he 
got  the  victory  over  so  great  an  army  with  no  more  than  three  hundred  and 
eighteen  of  his  servants,  and  three  of  his  friends  ;  but  all  those  that  fled  return.  "■ 
ed  home  ingloriously. 
VOL.  I,  D 


2(5  ANTIQUITJES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  ?.    . 

2.  So  Abrani,  v.hcn  he  had  saved  the  captive  Sodomites,  who  had  been  taken  1 
by  the  Assyrians,  and  Lot  also,  his  kinsman,  returned  home  in  peace.  Now  the 
kiiiii;  ofSodom  met  him  at  a  certain  phice,  which  they  called.  The  King's  Dale, 
where  IMeiciiiscdec,  king  of  the  city  Salem,  received  him.  That  name  sig- 
niHes,  The  righleoiis  King  :  and  such  he  v>  as,  without  dispute,  insomuch  that,  on 
this  account,  he  was  made  the  priest  of  God  ;  however,  they  afterward  called  it 
iialetn  Jerusalem.  Now  this  Melchisedec  supplied  Ahram's  army  in  an  hospita- 
ble manner,  and  gave  them  provisions  in  abundance  ;  and  as  they  were  feasting, 
he  beoan  to  praise  him,  and  to  bless  God  for  subduing  his  enemies  under  him. 
And  when  Abram  gave  him  the  tenth  part  of  his  prey,  he  accepted  of  the  gift. 
But  the  King  of  Sodom  desired  Abram  to  take  the  prey ;  but  entreated  that  he 
might  have  those  men  restored  to  him  whom  Abram  had  saved  from  the  Assyri- 
ans,  because  they  belonged  unto  him.  But  Abram  would  not  do  so  ;  nor  would 
make  any  other  advantage  of  that  prey,  than  what  his  servants  had  eaten  ;  but 
still  insisted  that  he  should  afford  a  part  to  his  friends  that  had  assisted  him  in  the 
battle.     The  first  of  them  was  called  Eschol  and  then  Enncr,  and  Mamhre. 

3.  And  God  commended  his  virtue,  and  said,  Thou  shalt  not  however  lose  the 
rewards  thou  hast  deserved  to  receive  by  such  thy  glorious  actions.  He  an- 
swered,  And  what  advantage  will  it  be  to  me  to  have  such  rewards,  when  I  have 
none  to  enjoy  them  after  me  ?  for  he  was  hitherto  childless.  And  God  promised 
that  he  should  have  a  son,  and  that  his  posterity  should  be  very  numerous  ;  in- 
somuch  that  their  number  should  be  like  the  stars.  When  he  heard  that,  he  of- 
fered a  sacrifice  to  God,  as  he  commanded  him.  The  manner  of  the  sacrifice 
was  this  :*  He  took  an  heifer  of  three  years  old,  and  a  she-goat  of  tliree  years 
old,  and  a  ram  in  like  manner  of  three  years  old,  and  a  turtle-dove,  and  a  pi- 
geon ;  and,  as  he  was  enjoined,  he  divided  the  three  former,  but  the  birds  he 
did  not  divide.  After  which,  before  he  built  his  altar,  where  the  birds  of  prey 
flew  about  as  desirous  of  blood,  a  divine  voice  came  to  him,  declaring  that  their 
neighbours  would  be  grievous  to  his  posterity,  when  they  should  be  in  Egypt, 
for  four  hundred  years  ;f  during  w'hich  time  they  should  be  afHicted,  but  after- 
wards should  overcome  their  enemies,  should  conquer  the  Canaanites  in  war, 
and  possess  themselves  of  their  land  and  of  their  cities. 

4.  Now  Abram  dwelt  near  the  oak  called  Ogyges ;  the  place  belongs  to  Ca- 
naan,  not  far  from  the  city  of  Hebron.  But  being  uneasy  at  his  wife's  barren- 
ness, he  entreated  God  to  grant  that  he  might  have  male  issue  ;  and  God  requir- 
ed of  him  to  be  of  good  courage ;  and  said,  that  he  would  add  to  all  the  rest  of 
the  benefits  that  he  had  bestowed  upon  him,  ever  since  he  led  him  out  of" Meso- 
potamia, the  gift  of  children.  Accordingly  Sarai,  at  God's  command,  brought 
to  his  bed  one  of  her  handmaidens,  a  woman  of  Egyptian  descent,  in  order  to 
obtain  children  by  her ;  and  when  this  handmaid  was  with  child,  she  triumphed, 
and  ventured  to  affront  Sarai,  as  if  the  dominion  were  to  come  to  a  son  to  be 
born  of  her.  But  when  Abram  resigned  her  into  the  hands  of  Sarai,  to  punish 
her,  she  contrived  to  fly  away,  as  not  able  to  bear  the  instances  of  Sarai's  seve- 
rity to  her;  and  she  entreated  God  to  have  compassion  on  her.  Now  a  divine 
Angel  met  her,  as  she  was  going  forward  in  the  wilderness,  and  bid  her  return 
to  her  master  and  mistress,  for  if  she  would  submit  to  that  wise  advice,  she 
would  live  better  hereafter  ;  for  that  the  reason  of  her  being  in  such  a  misera- 
ble  case  was  this,  that  she  had  been  ungrateful  and  arrogant  towards  her  mis- 
tress. He  also  told  her,  that  if  she  disobeyed  God,  and  went  on  still  in  her  way, 
she  should  perish  ;  but  if  she  would  return  back,  she  should  become  the  mother 
of  a  son,  who  should  reign  over  that  country.  These  admonitions  she  obeyed, 
and  returned  to  her  master  and  mistress,  and  obtained  forgiveness.     A  little 

*  It  is  worth  noting  here,  that  God  required  no  other  sacrifices  under  the  law  of  Moses  than  wliat 
were  taken  from  these  five  kinds  of  animals  wliich  he  here  required  of  Abrani.  IVor  did  the  Jews  Red 
upon  any  other  domestic  animals  than  the  three  here  iiamed,  as  Reland  observes  on  Antiq.  B.  iv.  oh. 
iv.  sect.  4.  ' 

i  As  to  this  affliction  of  Abraham's  posterity  for  400  years,  see  Antiq.  B.  ii.  ch.  ix.  sect.  1. 


C.  Xr.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  27 

while  afterwards  slie  bare  Ismael,  which  may  be  interpreted,  Heard  of  God,  be- 
cause  God  had  hemrl  his  mother's  prayer. 

5.  Tlie  fore-mentioned  son  was  born  to  Abram,  wlien  he  was  eighty-six  years 
old  ;  but  when  he  was  ninety-nine,  God  appeared  to  him,  and  promised  him, 
that  he  should  have  a  son  by  Sarai,  and  conmianded  that  his  name  should  be 
Isaac  ;  and  showed  him,  that  from  this  son  should  spring  great  nations  and  kings, 
and  that  they  should  obtain  all  the  land  of  Canaan  by  war,  from  Sidon  to  Egypt. 
But  he  charged  him  in  order  to  keep  his  posterity  immixed  with  others,  that  they 
should  be  circumcised  in  the  flesh  of  their  foreskin,  and  that  this  should 
be  done  on  the  eighth  day  after  they  were  born  ;  the  reason  of  which  cir- 
cumcision, I  will  explain  in  another  place.  And  Abram  inquiring  also  con- 
cerning Ismael,  whether  he  should  live  or  not,  God  signified  to  him,  tliat  he 
should  live  to  be  very  old,  and  should  be  the  father  of  great  nations.  Abram 
therefore  gave  thanks  to  God  for  these  blessings ;  and  then  he,  and  all  his  fami- 
ly, and  his  son  Ismael,  were  circumcised  immediately  ;  the  son  being  that  day 
thirteen  years  of  age,  and  he  ninety-nine. 


CHAP.  XL 

How  God  overthrew  the  Nation  of  the  Sodomites,  out  of  his  Wrath  against  them 

for  their  Sins. 

§  1.  About  this  time  the  Sodomites  grew  proud,  on  account  of  their  riches  and 
great  wealth  ;  they  became  unjust  towards  men,  and  impious  towards  God,  inso- 
much that  they  did  not  call  to  mind  the  advantages  they  received  from  him  ;  they 
hated  strangers,  and  abused  themselves  with  sodomitical  practices.  God  was 
therefore  much  displeased  at  them,  and  determined  to  punish  them  for  their  pride, 
and  to  overthrow  their  city,  and  to  lay  waste  their  country,  until  there  should 
neitlier  plant  nor  fruit  grow  out  of  it. 

2.  When  God  had  thus  resolved  concerning  the  Sodomites,  Abraham,  as  he 
sat  by  the  oak  of  Mambre,  at  the  door  of  his  tent,  saw  three  angels  ;  and  think- 
ing them  to  be  strangers,  he  rose  up,  and  saluted  them,  and  desired  they  would 
accept  of  an  entertainment,  and  abide  with  him  ;  to  which,  when  they  agreed, 
he  ordered  cakes  of  meal  to  be  made  presently  ;  and  Avhen  he  had  slain  a  calf, 
he  roasted  it,  and  brought  it  to  them,  as  they  sat  under  the  oak.  Now  they 
made  a  show  of  eating  ;  and  besides,  they  asked  him  about  his  wife  Sarah,  where 
she  was  ?  and  when  he  said,  she  was  within,  they  said,  they  should  come  again 
hereafter,  and  find  her  become  a  mother.  Upon  whicli  the  woman  laughed,  and 
said,  that  it  was  impossible  she  should  bear  children,  since  she  was  ninety  years 
of  age,  and  her  liusband  was  a  hundred.  They  then  concealed  themselves  no 
longer,  but  declared  that  they  were  angels  of  God  :  and  that  one  of  them  was 
sent  to  inform  them  about  the  child,  and  two  of  the  overthrow  of  Sodom. 

3.  When  Abraham  heard  this,  he  was  grieved  for  the  Sodomites;  and  he  rosQ 
vip,  and  besought  God  for  them,  and  entreated  him  that  he  would  not  destroy  the 
rigliteous  with  the  wicked.  And  when  God  had  replied.  That  there  was  no  good 
man  among  the  Sodomites ;  for  if  there  were  but  ten  such  men  among  them,  he 
would  not  punish  any  of  them  for  their  sins,  Abraham  held  his  peace.  And  tlie 
angels  came  to  the  city  of  the  Sodomites  ;  and  Lot  entreated  them  to  accept  of  a 
lodging  whh  him  ;  for  he  was  a  very  generous  and  hospitable  man,  and  one  that 
had  learned  to  imitate  the  goodness  of  Abraham.  Now  when  the  Sodomites  siiw 
the  young  men  to  be  of  beautiful  countenances,  and  this  to  an  extraordinary  de- 
gree, and  that  they  took  up  their  lodgings  with  Lot,  they  resolved  themselves  to 
<mjoy  these  beautiful  boys  by  force  and  violence  ;  and  when  Lot  exhorted  them 
to  sobriety,  and  not  to  offer  any  thing  immodest  to  the  strangers,  but  to  have  re- 

D2 


28  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  1. 

gard  to  their  lodging  in  his  house  ;  and  promised,  that  if  their  incHnations  could 
not  be  governed,  he  would  expose  his  daughters  to  their  lust,  instead  of  these 
strangers  :  neither  thus  were  they  made  ashamed. 

4.  But  God  was  much  displeased  at  their  impudent  behaviour,  so  that  he  both 
smote  those  men  with  blindness,  and  condemned  the  Sodomites  to  universal 
destruction.  But  Lot,  upon  God's  informing  him  of  the  future  destruction  of  the 
Sodomites,  went  away,  taking  with  liim  his  wife  and  daughters,  who  were  two, 
and  still  virgins  ;  for  those  that  were  betrothed*  to  them  were  above  the  thoughts 
of  going,  and  deemed  that  Lot's  words  were  trifling.  God  then  cast  a  thunder- 
bolt upon  the  city,  and  set  it  on  fire,  with  its  inhabitants;  and  laid  waste  the  coun- 
try with  the  like  burning,  as  I  formerly  said  when  I  wrote  the  Jewish  War.f 
But  Lot's  wife  continually  turning  back  to  view  the  city,  as  she  went  from  it, 
ancl  being  too  nicely  inquisitive  what  would  become  of  it,  although  God  had  for- 
bidden her  so  to  do,  was  changed  into  a  pillar  of  salt  ;:j:  for  I  have  seen  it,  and  it 
remains  at  this  day.  Now  he  and  his  daughtei's  fled  to  a  certain  small  place, 
encompassed  v/ith  the  fire,  and  settled  in  it :  It  is  to  this  day  called  Zoa7- ;  for  that 
is  the  word  which  the  Hebrews  use  for  a  small  thing.  There  it  was  that  he  lived  a 
miserable  life,  on  account  of  his  having  no  company,  and  his  want  of  provisions. 

5.  But  his  daughters,  thinking  that  all  mankind  were  destroyed,  approached  to 
their  father,§  though  taking  care  not  to  be  perceived.  This  they  did,  that  man- 
kind might  not  utterly  fail :  and  they  bare  sons ;  the  son  of  the  elder  was  named 
Moah,  which  denotes  one  derived  from  his  father;  the  younger  bare  Ammon, 
which  name  denotes  one  derived  from  a.  linsman.  The  former  of  whom  was  the 
father  of  the  Moabites,  which  is  even  still  a  great  nation ;  the  latter  was  the  father 
of  the  Ammonites  ;  and  both  of  them  are  inhabitants  of  Celosyria.  And  such 
was  the  departure  of  Lot  from  among  the  Sodomites. 


CHAP.  xn. 

Concerning  Ahimelech;  and  concerning  Ismael  tlie  Son  of  Abraham  ;  and 
concerning  the  Arabians,  whicJi  were  his  Posterity. 

§  L  Abraka3i  now  removed  to  Gerar  of  Palestine,  leading  Sarah  along  with 
him,  under  the  notion  of  liis  sister,  using  the  like  dissimulation  that  he  had  used 
before,  and  this  out  of  fear ;  for  he  was  afraid  of  Ahimelech,  the  king  of  that 
country,  who  did  also  himself  fall  in  love  with  Sarah,  and  was  disposed  to  corrupt 

*  These,  xons-in-hw  lo  Lot,  a?  Vlie}'  are  called,  Gen.  xix.  12 — 14.  iTiis,ht  be  so  styled  because  they  wer" 
betrothed  to  Lot's  daughter's,  though  not  yet  married  to  them.  See  the  note  on  Antiq.  B.  xiv.  ch.  xiii. 
sect.  1. 

X  Of  the  War,  R.  iv.  ch.  viii.  sect.  4. 

\  This  pillar  of  salt  was,  we  see  here,  standing  in  the  day?  of  .losephus,  and  he  had  seen  it.  That  it 
was  standing  then  is  also  attested  by  Clement  of  Rome,  contemporary  with  .losephus;  as  also  tliat  it 
\vas  so  in  the  next  century,  is  attested  by  Irenacus,  with  the  addition  of  an  hypothesis  liow  it  came  to 
last  ?-o  long,  with  all  its  members  entire. — Whetlier  the  account  that  some  modern  travellers  give  be  true, 
tliat  it  is  still  standing,  I  do  not  know.  Its  remote  situation,  at  tiie  utmost  southern  point  of  the  sea  of 
.Sodom,  in  the  wild  and  dangerous  deserts  of  Arabia,  nial<es  it  exceeding  difficult  for  inquisitive  travel- 
lers to  examine'lhe  place  ;  and  for  common  reports  of  country  people,  at  a  distance,  they  are  not  very 
satisfactory.  In  the  meantime,  I  have  no  opinion  of  I  e  Cierc's  dissertation  or  hypothesis  about  this 
question,  wliich  can  only  be  determined  by  eye  witnesses.  Wlicn  Christian  princes,  so  called,  lay  aside 
their  foolish  and  unchristian  wars  and  quarrels,  and  send  a  body  of  fit  persons  to  travel  over  tiie  East, 
and  bring  us  failiifiil  accounts  of  all  ancient  monuments,  and  jirocure  us  copies  of  all  ancient  records,  at 
present  lost  among  us,  we  may  hope  for  full  satisfaction  in  siicii  iiKpiirics,  but  hardly  belbre. 

h  I  see  no  proper  wicked  intention  in  these  daughters  of  Lot,  when  in  a  case  which  appeared  to  them 
of  unavoidable  neressitv,  tliev  procured  themselves  to  be  with  chili)  by  tlieir  father.  Without  such  an 
imavoidal)lc  necessitv,  incest  is  a  horrid  crime  ;  but  whether,  in  such  a  case  of  necessity,  as  they  appre- 
henrled  this  to  be,  nrcoi'ding  to  Josephus,  it  was  any  such  crime,  I  a;n  nf)t  satisfied.  In  the  mean  time, 
they  making  their  father  drunk,  and  their  solicitous  concealment  of  what  they  did  from  him,  sliows  and 
tney  despaired  of  persuading  him  to  an  action,  which,  at  the  best,  could  not  but  be  very  suspicious  that 
fhockinz  to  £0  good  a  iran.  ■ 


C.  XII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TFIE  JEWS.  29 

her ;  but  he  was  restrained  from  satisfying  his  lust  by  a  dangerous  distemper 
which  befell  him  from  God.  Now  when  his  physicians  despaired  of  curing  him, 
he  lell  asleep,  and  saw  a  dream  v.arning  him  not  to  abuse  the  stranger's  wife  ; 
and  when  he  recovered,  he  told  his  friends  that  God  had  inllictcd  that  disease  up. 
on  him,  by  way  of  punishment  for  Ins  injury  to  the  stranger,  and  in  order  to  pre- 
serve the  chastity  of  his  wife  ;  for  that  she  did  not  accompany  him  as  his  sister^ 
but  as  his  legitimate  wife  ;  and  that  God  had  promised  to  be  gracious  to  him  for 
the  time  to  come,  if  this  person  be  once  secure  of  his  wife's  cJiaslity.  When  he 
had  said  tliis,  by  the  advice  of  his  friends,  he  sent  ibr  Abraluim,  and  bid  him  not 
be  concerned  about  his  wite,  or  fear  the  corruption  of  her  chastity;  for  that  God 
took  care  of  him,  and  that  it  was  by  his  providence  that  he  received  liis  wife  again, 
without  her  sufiering  any  abuse.  And  he  appealed  to  God,  and  to  his  wife's 
conscience  ;  and  said,  that  he  had  not  any  inclination  at  first  to  enjoy  her,  if  he 
had  known  she  was  his  wife  ;  but  since,  said  he,  thou  ledst  her  about  as  thy  sister, 
I  was  guilty  of  no  offence.  He  also  entreated  him  to  be  at  peace  with  liim  ;  and 
to  make  God  propitious  to  him  ;  and  that  if  he  thought  fit  to  continue  with  him, 
he  should  have  Avhat  he  Avanted  in  abundance ;  but  that  if  he  designed  to  go  away, 
he  should  be  honourably  conducted,  and  have  whatsoever  supply  he  wanted  when 
he  came  thither.  Upon  his  saying  this,  Abraham  told  him,  that  his  pretence  of 
kindred  to  his  wife  was  no  lie,  because  she  was  his  brother's  daughter  ;  and  that 
he  did  not  think  himself  safe  in  his  travels  abroad  without  this  sort  of  dissimula- 
tion ;  and  that  he  was  not  the  cause  of  his  distemper,  but  was  only  solicitous  for  his 
own  safety  ;  he  said  also,  that  he  was  ready  to  stay  with  him.  Whereupon  Abi- 
melech  assigned  him  land  and  money ;  and  they  covenanted  to  live  together 
without  guile,  and  took  an  oath  at  a  certain  well,  called  Beersheba,  which  may  be 
interpreted.  The  well  of  the  oath ;  and  so  it  is  named  by  the  people  of  the  country 
unto  this  day. 

2.  Now  in  a  little  time  Abraham  had  a  son  by  Sarah  as  God  had  foretold  to  him, 
whom  he  named  Isaac,  which  signifies  laughter.  And  indeed  they  so  called  him, 
because  Sarah  laughed  when  God*  said  she  should  bear  a  son,  she  not  expecting 
such  a  thing,  as  being  past  the  age  of  childbearing,  for  she  was  ninety  years  old, 
and  Abraham  a  hundred;  so  that  this  son  was  born  to  them  both  in  the  last 
year  of  each  of  those  decimal  numbers.  And  they  cii^umcised  him  upon  the 
eighth  day ;  and  from  that  time  the  Jews  continue  the  custom  of  circumcising 
tlicir  sons  within  that  number  of  days.  But  as  for  the  Arabians,  they  ciixumcise 
after  the  thirteenth  year,  because  Ismael,  the  founder  of  their  nation,  who  was 
born  to  Abraham  of  the  concubine,  was  circumcised  at  that  age  ;  concerning 
whom  I  will  presently  give  a  particular  account  with  great  exactness. 

3.  As  for  Sarah,  she  at  first  loved  Ismael,  who  was  born  of  her  own  handmaid 
Hagar,  with  an  affection  not  inferior  to  that  of  her  own  son,  for  he  was  brought  up 
in  order  to  succeed  in  the  government ;  but  when  she  herself  had  borne  Isaac,  she 
was  not  willing  that  Ismael  should  be  brought  up  with  him,  as  being  too  old  for 
liiin,  and  able  to  do  him  injuries,  when  their  father  should  be  dead  ;  she  therefore 
persuaded  Abraham  to  send  him  and  his  mother  to  some  distant  country.  Now, 
at  the  first,  he  did  not  agree  to  what  Sarah  was  so  zealous  for,  and  thought  it  an 
instance  of  the  greatest  barbarity  to  send  away  a  young  childf  and  a  woman,  un- 

*  It  is  well  worth  nb?eivation,  that  .Tosephtis  here  calls  that  principal  aimel  wlio  appeared  to  Alira- 
haiM,  and  foretold  the  birth  of  Isaac,  directly  God  ;  which  language  of  .losepluis's  here  prepares  us  to 
Iielieve  those  other  expressions  of  liis,  that  JesK.i  vn.i  a  wise  man,  if  it  he  Inu-ful  to  call  iiim  a  men; 
Anii(|.  |}.  xviii.  chap.  iii.  sect.  ;J,  and  of  God  the  If'ord,  in  his  homily  concerning  Hades,  tnay  be  both 
Pennine.  Mor  is  the  other  ex]iresbion  of  divine  angel,  used  presently,  and  before  also,  of  any  otlier  sig- 
nillcation. 

T  Josepluis  here  calls  Ismael  a  yoi:ng  child  or  infant,  though  he  was  above  thirteen  years  of  age :  as 
.Indas  calls  himself  and  his  l)relhren  young  men,  wiien  thev  were  47,  and  he  had  two  children,  Antiq. 
b.  ii.  chap.  vi.  sect.  H,  and  they  "ere  of  niiich  the  same  age  as  is  a  damsel  of  12  years  old  called  a  tillte 
culd,  Mark,  v.  39 — 12,  five  several  times.  Herod  also  is  said  bv  .loscplms  to  be  a  very  young  man  at 
--).  See  the  note  on  Antic].  b.  xiv.  chap.  i.\'.  sect.  2 ;  and  Of  the  VVar,  b.  i.  cha'p.  x.  And  Anslobnhis  is 
i'i  led  a  very  little  child  at  IG  years  of  age,  Antiq.  b.  xv.  chap.  ii.  sect.  6,  7.     Doiiiiliaii  is  also  called  by 


30  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  I. 

provided  of  necessaries  :  but  at  length  he  agreed  to  it,  because  God  was  pleased 
with  what  Sarah  had  determined  ;  so  he  delivered  Ismael  to  his  mother,  as  not  yet 
able  to  f^o  by  himself;  and  commanded  her  to  take  a  bottle  of.water  and  a  loaf  of 
bread,  and  so  to  depart,  and  to  take  necessity  for  her  guide.  ■*'But  as  soon  as  her 
necessary  provisions  failed,  she  found  herself  in  an  evil  case ;  and  when  the  Mater 
was  almost  spent,  she  laid  the  young  child,  who  was  ready  to  expire,  under  a  fir 
tree,  and  went  on  farther,  that  so  he  might  die  while  she  was  absent.  But  a  divine 
angel  came  to  her,  and  told  her  of  a  fountain  hard  by,  and  bid  her  take  care,  and 
bring  up  the  child,  because  she  should  be  very  happy  by  the  preservation  of 
Ismael.  She  then  took  courage,  upon  the  prospect  of  what  was  promised  her,  and 
meeting  with  some  shepherds,  by  their  care  she  got  clear  of  the  distresses  she 
had  been  in. 

4.  When  the  lad  was  grown  up,  he  married  a  wife,  by  birth  an  Eg3ptian,  from 
whence  the  mother  was  herself  derived  originally.  Of  this  wife  were  born  to  Is- 
mael twelve  sons,  Nabaioth,  Kedar,  Abdeel,  Mabsam,  Idumas,  Masmaos,  Masaos, 
Chodad,  Theman,  Jetur,  Naphesus,  Kadmas.  These  inhabited  all  the  country 
from  Euphrates  to  the  Red  Sea,  and  called  it  Ndbatene.  They  are  an  Arabian  na- 
tion,  and  name  their  tribes  from  these,  both  because  of  their  own  virtue — and 
because  of  the  dignity  of  Abraham  their  father. 


CHAP.  XIII. 

Concerning  Isaac,  the  legitimate  Son  of  Abraham. 

§.  1.  Now  Abraham  greatly  loved  Isaac,  as  being  his  on?^  Je^o/ien,*  and  given  to 
him  at  the  borders  of  old  age,  by  the  favour  of  God.  The  child  also  endeared 
himself  to  his  parents  still  more  by  the  exercise  of  every  virtue,  and  adhering  to 
his  duty  to  his  parents,  and  being  zealous  in  the  worship  of  God.  Abraham  also 
placed  his  own  happiness  in  this  prospect,  than  when  he  should  die,  he  should 
leave  this  his  son  in  a  safe  and  secure  condition ;  which  accordingly  he  obtained 
by  the  will  of  God;  wh9  being  desirous  to  make  an  experiment  of  Abraham's  re- 
ligious disposition  towards  hiniself,  appeared  to  him,  and  enumerated  all  the  bless- 
iuo-s  he  had  bestowed  on  him ;  how  he  had  made  him  superior  to  his  enemies,  and 
that  his  son  Isaac,  who  was  the  principal  part  of  his  present  happiness,  was  deriv- 
ed from  him ;  and  he  said,  that  he  required  this  son  of  his  as  a  sacrifice  and  holy 
oblation.  Accordingly  he  commanded  him  to  carry  him  to  the  mountain  Moriah, 
and  to  build  an  altar,  and  offer  him  for  a  burnt-offering  upon  it ;  for  that  this  would 
best  manifest  his  religious  disposition  towards  him,  if  he  preferred  what  was  plea- 
sing to  God  before  tlie  preservation  of  his  own  son. 

2.  Now  Abraham  thought  that  it  was  not  right  to  disobey  God  in  any  thing,  but 
that  he  was  obliged  to  serve  him  in  every  circumstance  of  life,  since  all  creatures 
that  live  enjoy  their  life  by  his  providence  and  the  kindness  he  bestows  on  them. 
Accordingly  he  concealed  this  command  of  God,  and  his  own  intentions  about 
the  slaughter  of  his  son,  from  his  wife,  as  also  from  every  one  of  his  servants; 
otherwise  he  should  have  been  hindered  from  his  obedience  to  God ;  and  he  took  i 
Isaac,  together  with  two  of  his  servants,  and  laying  what  things  were  necessary 
for  a  sacrifice  upon  an  ass,  he  went  away  to  the  mountain.  Now  the  two  servants 
■went  along  with  him  two  days ;  but  on  the  third  day,  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  moun- 
tain,  he  left  those  servants  that  were  with  him  till  then,  in  the  plain,  and  having  his  \ 

him  a  very  ycmng  child,  wlien  he  went  on  hisGerman  expedition,  at  about  13  years  of  age,  Of  the  War, ; 
b.  vii.  chap.  iv.  sect.  '2.  Samson's  wife,  and  Ruth,  when  they  were  widows,  are  called  children,  Aiitiq.  i 
b.  V.  ch.  viii.  sect.  6,  and  ch.  ix.  sect.  2,  3. 

*  Note,  tliatbotii  here,  and  Heb.  xi.  17,  Isaac  is  called  Abraham's  onZy  begotten  son,  though  he  at  the 
same  time  had  another  son,  Ismael.  The  Septuagint  expresses  the  true  meaning,  by  rendering  the  text 
the  beloved  son. 


i 


C.  XIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  g^ 

son  alone  with  him,  he  came  to  the  mountain.  It  was  that  mountain  upon  which 
Piling  David  afterwards  built  the  temple.*  Now  they  had  brought  with  them  every 
thing  necessary  for  a  sacrifice,  excepting  the  animal  that  was  to  be  ollered  only. 
Now  Isaac  was  twenty-live  years  old.  And  as  he  was  building  the  altar,  he  asked 
his  lather,  "What  he  was  about  to  offer,  since  there  was  no  animal  there  for  an 
oblation  V  To  which  it  was  answered,  "That  God  would  provide  himself  an  ob- 
lation,  he  being  able  to  make  a  plentiful  provision  for  men  out  of  what  they  have 
not,  and  to  deprive  others  of  what  they  already  have,  when  they  put  too  much  trust 
therein ;  that,  therefore,  if  God  pleased  to  be  present  and  propitious  at  this  sacri- 
lice,  he  would  provide  himself  an  oblation." 

3.  As  soo-n  as  the  altar  was  prepared,  and  Abraham  had  laid  on  the  wood,  and 
all  things  were  entirely  ready,  he  said  to  his  son,  "  O  son,  I  poured  out  a  vast  num. 
ber  of  prayers  that  I  might  have  thee  for  my  son  ;  when  thou  wast  come  into  the 
world,  there  was  nothing  that  could  contribute  to  thy  support,  for  which  I  was  not 
greatly  solicitous,  nor  any  thing  wherein  I  thought  myself  happier  than  to  see  thee 
gi'own  up  to  man's  estate,  and  that  I  might  leave  thee  at  my  death  the  successor  to 
my  dominion  ;  but  since  it  was  by  God's  Avill  that  I  became  thy  father,  and  it  is 
now  his  will  that  I  relinquish  thee,  bear  this  consecration  to  God  with  a  generous 
mind ;  for  I  resign  thee  up  to  God,  who  thought  fit  now  to  require  this  testimony  of 
honour  to  himself  on  account  of  the  favours  he  hath  conferred  on  me,  in  being  to 
me  a  supporter  and  defender.  Accordingly  thou,  my  son,  wilt  now  die,  not  in  any 
common  wa)^  of  going  out  of  the  world,  but  sent  to  God  the  P'ather  of  all  men  be- 
forehand, by  thy  own  father,  in  the  nature  of  a  sacrifice.  I  suppose  he  thinks  thee 
worthy  to  get  clear  of  this  world,  neither  by  a  disease,  neither  by  war,  nor  by  any 
other  severe  way,  by  which  death  usually  comes  upon  men,  but  so  that  he  will  re- 
cei\e  thy  soul  with  prayers  and  holy  offices  of  religion,  and  will  place  thee  near 
to  himself,  and  thou  wilt  there  be  to  me  a  succourer,  a  supporter  in  my  old  age ;  on 
Avhich  account  I  principally  brought  thee  up,  and  thou  wilt  thereby  procure  me 
God  for  my  comforter  instead  of  thyself." 

4.  Now  Isaac  was  of  such  a  generous  disposition  as  became  the  son  of  such  a 
father,  and  was  pleased  with  his  discourse  ;  and  said;  "That  he  was  not  worthy 
to  be  born  at  first,  if  he  should  reject  the  determination  of  God  and  of  his  father, 
and  should  not  resign  himself  up  readily  to  both  their  pleasures;  since  it  v/ould 
liave  been  unjust  if  he  had  not  obeyed,  even  if  his  father  alone  had  so  resolved." 
So  he  went  immediately  to  the  altar  to  be  sacrificed.  And  the  deed  had  been  done 
if  God  had  not  opposed  it ;  for  he  called  loudly  to  Abraham  by  his  name,  and  for- 
bade him  to  slay  his  son,  and  said,  "It  was  not  out  of  a  desire  of  human  blood  (hat 
he  was  commanded  to  slay  his  son,  nor  was  he  willing  that  he  should  be  taken 
away  from  him  whom  he  had  made  his  father,  but  to  try  the  temper  of  his  mind, 
whether  he  would  be  obedient  to  such  a  command.  Since,  therefore,  he  now  was 
satisfied  as  to  that  his  alacrity,  and  the  surprising  readiness  he  showed  in  this  his 
piety,  he  was  delighted  in  having  bestowed  such  blessings  upon  him ;  and  that  he 
would  not  be  wanting  in  all  sort  of  concern  about  him,  and  in  bestowing  other 
children  upon  him ;  and  that  his  son  should  live  to  a  very  great  age ;  that  he  should 
live  a  happy  life,  and  bequeath  a  large  principahty  to  his  children,  who  should  be 
good  and  legitimate."  He  foretold  also,  that  his  family  should  increase  into  many 
nations ;  and  that  thosef  patriarchs  should  leave  behind  them  an  everlasting  name ; 

*  Here  is  a  plain  error  in  the  copies,  which  saj",  that  Kin^  David  afterwards  built  tiie  temple  on  tliis 
mount  Moriah,  while  it  was  certainly  no  other  than  Kin^  Solomon  wiio  built  that  temple,  as  indeed  I'ro- 
enpius  cites  it  from  Josephus.  for  it  was  for  certain  David,  and  not  Solomon,  who  l)uilt  ihc first  altar 
lliere,  as  we  learn,  2  Sam.  xxiv.  IB,  &c.  ;  I  Chron.  xxi.  22,  &:c. ;  and  Anti(i.  b.  vii.  chap.  xiii.  sect.  4. 

t  It  seems,  both  here  and  in  God's  parallel  blessin"  to  Jacob,  ch.  xix.  sect.  1,  that  Josephus  had  yet 
no  notion  of  tlie  liidden  nieaninir  of  that  most  important  and  most  eminent  promise,  "  in  thy  seed  shall 
all  the  families  of  tlw  earth  be  blessed.  He  saith  not  of  seeds,  as  of  many,  but  as  of  one  ;  and  to  thy 
secil,  wliich  is  Christ."  Gal.  iii.  IG.  Nor  is  it  any  wonder,  he  beins,  I  think,  as  yet,  not  a  Christian. 
And  Imd  he  been  a  Christiaji,  yet  since  he  was,  to  be  sure,  till  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  no  more  than 
an  Kbionite  Christian,  wiio,  above  all  the  apostles,  rejected  and  dcsj)ited  St.  Faul,  it  would  be  no  great 


32  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  I. 

that  they  should  obtain  the  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  be  envied  by 
al!  men.  When  God  had  said  this,  he  produced  to  them  a  ram,  which  did  not 
appear  before,  for  the  sacrifice.  So  Abraham  and  Isaac,  receiving  each  other 
unexpectedly,  and  having  obtained  the  promises  of  such  great  blessings,  embra- 
ced one  another;  and  when  they  had  sacrificed,  they  returned  to  Sarah,  and  li- 
ved happily  together,  God  atfording  them  his  assistance  in  all  things  they  desired. 


CHAP.  XIV. 

Concerning  Sarah,  Abraham's  Wife,  and  how  she  ended  her  Days. 

§  1.  Now  Sarah  died  a  little  while  after,  having  lived  one  hundred  and  twenty, 
seven  years.  They  buried  her  in  Hebron ;  the  Canaanites  publicly  allowing 
them  a  burying-place  :  which  piece  of  ground  Abraham  bought  for  four  hun- 
dred shekels,  of  Ephron,  an  inhabitant  of  Hebron.  And  both  Abraham  and  his 
descendants  built  themselves  sepulchres  in  that  place. 


CHAP.  XV. 

How  the  Nation  of  the  Troglodytes  were  derived  from  Abraham  by  Keturah. 

§  1.  Abraham,  after  this,  married  Keturah,  by  wtiom  six  sons  were  born  to 
him,  men  of  courage  and  of  sagacious  minds:  Zambran,  and  Jazar,  and  Ma- 
dan,  and  Madian,  and  Josabak,  and  Sous.  Now  the  sons  of  Sous  were,  Saba- 
tlum,  and  Dadan.  The  sons  of  Dadan  were,  Latusim,  and  Assur,  and  Luom. 
The  sons  of  Madian  were,  Ephas,  and  Ophren,  and  Anoch,  and  Ebidas,  and 
Eldas.  Now  for  all  these  sons  and  grandsons  Abraham  contrived  to  settle  them 
in  colonies  ;  and  they  took  possession  of  Troglodytes,  and  the  country  of  Ara- 
bia the  Happy,  as  far  as  it  reaches  to  the  Red  Sea.  It  is  related  of  this  Ophren, 
that  he  made  war  against  Libya,  and  took  it,  and  that  his  grandchildren,  when 
they  inhabited  it,  called  it  from  his  name  Africa.  And  indeed  Alexander  Poly- 
histor  gives  his  attestation  to  what  I  hear  say,  who  speaks  thus  :  "  Cleodemus 
the  prophet,  who  was  also  called  Malchus,  who  wrote  a  history  of  the  Jews,  in 
agreement  with  the  history  of  Moses,  their  legislator,  relates,  that  there  were 
many  sons  born  to  Abraham  by  Keturah :  nay,  he  names  three  of  them,  Apher, 
and  Surim,  and  Japhran.  That  from  Surim  was  the  land  of  Assyria  denomina- 
ted :  and  that  from  the  other  two,  Apher  and  Japhran,  the  country  of  Africa 
took  its  name,  because  these  men  were  auxiliaries  to  Hercules,  when  he  fought 
against  Libya  and  Anta3us  :  and  that  Hercules  married  Aphra's  daughter,  and 
of  her  he  begat  a  son,  Didorus  ;  and  that  Sophon  was  his  son,  from'  whom  that  j 
barbarous  people  called  the  Sophacians  were  denominated."  | 

wonder  if  he  did  not  now  follow  liis  interpretation.  In  the  mean  time,  we  have  in  effect  St.  Paul's  ex-  | 
potition  in  the  testan.cnt  of  Reuben,  .'•cct.  6,  in  Authent.  Ilea,  part  i.  p  302,  who  charjjes  his  sons  "  To 
worship  the  seed  of  Judah,  who  sliould  die  for  them  in  visible  and  invisible  wars;  and  should  be  among 
tiiein  an  eternal  King."  Nor  is  that  observation  of  a  learned  foreigner  of  my  acquaintance  to  be  despi- 
sed, who  talies  notice,  that  as  seeds  in  the  plural  must  siginfy  poslerily,  so  seed,  in  the  singular,  may  sig- 
nify either  posierily  ox  a  single  person  ;  and  that  in  this  promise  of  all  nations  being  happy  in  the  seed 
of  Aliraham,  or  Isaac,  or  Jacob,  &:c.  it  is  always  used  in  the  singular.  To  which  I  shall  add,  that  it  is 
sometimes,  as  it  were,  paraphrased  by  the  so«  of  Abraham,  the  son  of  David,  &c.  which  is  capable  of  no 
Buch  ambiguity. 


C.  XVI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  33 

CHAP.  XVI. 

How  Isaac  iooJc  Reheka  to  viife. 

§  1.  NoAV  when  Abraham,  the  father  of  Isaac,  had  resolved  to  take  Rebeka,  who 
was  granddaughter  to  his  brother  Nahor,  for  a  wife  to  his  son  Isaac,  who  was  then 
about  forty  years  old,  lie  sent  the  ancientest  of  his  servants  to  betroth  her,  after  he 
had  obliged  him  to  give  him  the  strongest  assurances  of  his  fidelity.  Which  assu- 
ranees  were  given  after  the  manner  following:  They  put  each  other's  hands  under 
each  other's  thighs,  then  they  called  upon  God  as  the  witness  of  what  was  to  be 
done.  He  also  sent  sucli  presents  to  those  that  were  there,  as  were  in  esteem, 
on  account  that  they  either  rarely  or  never  were  seen  in  that  country.  This 
servant  got  thither  not  under  a  considerable  time  ;  for  it  requires  much  time  to 
pass  through  Mesopotamia,  in  which  it  is  tedious  travelling,  both  in  winter  for 
the  depth  of  the  clay,  and  in  summer  for  want  of  water;  and  besides  this,  for  the 
robberies  there  committed,  which  are  not  to  be  avoided  by  travellers  but  by 
caution  beforehand.  However,  the  servant  came  to  Haran.  And  when  he  was 
in  the  suburbs,  he  met  a  considerable  number  of  maidens  going  to  the  water ; 
he  therefore  prayed  to  God,  that  Rebeka  might  be  found  among  them,  or  her 
whom  Abraham  sent  him  as  his  servant  to  espouse  to  his  son,  in  case  his  will 
were  that  this  marriage  should  be  consummated  ;  and  that  she  might  be  .made 
known  to  him  by  this  sign,  that  while  others  denied  him  water  to  drink,  she 
might  give  it  him. 

2.  With  this  intention  he  went  to  the  well,  and  desired  the  maidens  to  give 
him  some  water  to  drink ;  but  while  the  others  refused,  on  pretence  that  they 
wanted  it  all  home,  and  could  spare  none  for  him,  one  only  of  the  company  re- 
buked  them  for  their  peevish  behaviour  towards  the  stranger;  and  said,  What  is 
there  that  you  will  ever  communicate  to  any  body,  who  have  not  so  much  as 
given  the  man  some  water  ?  She  then  offered  him  water  in  an  obliging  manner. 
And  now  he  began  to  hope  that  his  grand  affair  would  succeed  ;  but  desiring  still 
to  know  the  truth,  he  commended  her  for  her  generosity  and  good  nature,  that 
she  did  not  scruple  to  afford  a  sufficiency  of  water  to  those  that  wanted  it,  though 
it  cost  her  some  pains  to  draw  it ;  and  asked  who  were  her  parents,  and  wished 
them  joy  of  such  a  daughter ;  and  mayest  thou  be  espoused,  said  he,  to  their  satis- 
faction, into  the  family  of  an  agreeable  husband,  and  bring  him  legitimate  chil- 
dren. Nor  did  she  disdain  to  satisfy  his  inquiries,  but  told  him  her  family. 
They,  says  she,  called  me  ReheJca;  my  father  was  Bethuel,  but  he  is  dead  ;  and 
Laban  is  my  brother,  and,  together  with  my  mother,  takes  care  of  all  our  family 
aflairs,  and  is  the  guardian  of  my  virginity.  When  the  servant  heard  this,  he  was 
very  glad  at  what  had  happened,  and  at  what  was  told  him,  as  perceiving  that 
God  had  thus  plainly  directed  his  journey  ;  and  producing  liis  bracelets  and 
some  other  ornaments,  which  it  was  esteemed  decent  for  virgins  to  wear,  he 
gave  them  to  the  damsel,  by  way  of  acknowledgment,  and  as  a  reward  for  her 
kindness  in  giving  him  v/ater  to  drink ;  saying,  it  was  but  just  that  she  should 
have  them,  because  she  was  so  much  more  obliging  than  any  of  the  rest.  She 
desired  also  that  he  would,  come  and  lodge  with  them,  since  the  approach  of  the 
night  gave  him  not  time  to  proceed  farther.  And  producing  his  precious  orna- 
ments for  women,  he  said,  he  desired  to  trust  them  to  none  more  safely  than  to 
such  as  she  had  showed  herself  to  be  ;  and  that  he  believed  he  might  guess  at  the 
humanity  of  her  mother  and  brother,  that  they  would  not  be  displeased,  from  the 
virtue  he  found  in  her,  for  he  would  not  be  burdensome,  but  would  jiay  the  hire 
for  his  entertainment,  and  spend  his  own  money.  To  which  she  replied,  that 
he  guessed  right  as  to  the  humanity  of  her  parents  ;  but  complained,  that  he 
should  think  them  so  parsimonious  as  to  take  money;  foi"  timt  he  should  have  all 
on  free  cost.  Rut  she  said,  she  would  first  inform  her  brother  Laban,  and,  if  he 
gave  her  leave,  she  would  conduct  him  in. 

VOL.  I.  E 


84  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  I. 

3.  As  soon  then  as  this  was  over,  she  introduced  the  stranger ;  and  for  the  ca- 
mels, the  servants  of  Laban  brought  them  in,  and  took  care  of  them,  and  he  was 
himself  brought  into  supper  by  Laban.  And  after  supper,  he  says  to  him,  and 
to  the  mother  of  the  damsel,  addressing  himself  to  her,  "  Abraham  is  the  son 
of  Terah,  and  a  kinsman  of  yours,  for  Nahor,  the  grandfather  of  these  chil- 
dren, was  the  brother  of  Abraham,  by  both  father  and  mother;  upon  which 
account  he  hath  sent  me  to  you,  being  desirous  to  take  this  damsel  for  his  son  to 
wife.  He  is  his  legitimate  son  ;  and  is  brought  up  as  his  only  heir.  He  could 
indeed  have  had  the  most  happy  of  all  the  women  in  that  countiy  for  him,  but  he 
would  not  have  his  son  marry  any  of  them ;  but  out  of  regard  to  his  own  rela- 
tions he  desired  him  to  match  here,  whose  affection  and  inclination  I  would  not 
have  you  despise  ;  for  it  was  by  the  good  pleasure  of  God,  that  other  accidents 
fell  out  in  my  journey,  and  that  thereby  I  lighted  upon  your  daughter,  and  your 
house  ;  for  when  I  was  near  to  the  city  I  saw  a  great  many  maidens  coming  to 
a  well,  and  I  prayed  that  I  might  meet  with  this  damsel,  which  has  come  to  pass 
accordingly.  Do  you  therefore  confirm  that  marriage,  whose  espousals  have 
been  already  made  by  a  divine  appearance ;  and  show  the  respect  you  have  for 
Abraham,  who  hath  sent  me  with  so  much  solicitude,  in  giving  your  consent  to 
the  marriage  of  this  damsel."  Upon  this  they  understood  it  to  be  the  will  of 
God,  and  greiu'y  approved  of  the  oiler,  and  sent  their  daughter,  as  was  desired. 
Accordingly  Isaac  married  her,  the  inheritance  being  now  come  to  him  ;  for 
the  children  by  Keturah  were  gone  to  their  own  remote  habitations. 


CHAP.  xvn. 

Concerning  the  Death  of  Abraham. 

§  1.  A  LITTLE  while  after  this  Abraham  died.  He  was  a  man  of  incompara- 
ble  virtue,  and  honoured  by  God  in  a  manner  agreeable  to  his  piety  towards 
him.  The  whole  time  of  his  life  was  one  hundred  seventy  and  five  years ;  and 
he  was  buried  in  Hebron,  v.ith  his  wife  Sarah,  by  their  sons  Isaac  and  Ismael. 


CHAP.  xvnr. 

Concerning  tJie  Sons  of  Isaac,  Esau  and  Jacob.     Of  their  Nativity  and 

Education. 

§  1.  Now  Isaac's  wife  proved  with  child,*  after  the  death  of  Abraham ;  and 
when  her  belly  was  greatly  burdened,  Isaac  was  very  anxious,  and  inquired  of 
God,  who  answered,  That  Rebeka  should  bear  twins ;  and  that  two  nations 
should  take  the  names  of  those  sons;  and  that  he  who  appeared  the  second 
should  excel  the  elder.  Accordingly  she,  in  a  little  time,  as  God  had  foretold, 
bare  t\mis ;  the  elder  of  whom,  from  his  head  to  his  feet,  was  very  rough  and 
hairy  ;  but  the  younger  took  hold  of  his  heel  as  they  were  in  the  birth.  Now 
the  lather  loved  the  elder,  who  was  called  Esau,  a  name  agreeable  to  his  rough- 
ness,  for  the  Hebrews  call  such  a  hairy  roiighness-\  (Esau,  or)  Seir ;  but  Jacob, 
the  younger,  was  best  beloved  by  his  mother. 

■t.  When  there  was  a  fa^iine  in  the  land,  Isaac  resolved  to  go  into  Egypt,  the 

*  The  birth  of  Jacoh  and  Ksaii  is  Iv^ro  said  to  he  after  .^brahatn'i  death  ;  it  slioiilcl  have  been  after 
Sarah's  death.  The  order  oft)  e  narration  in  Genesis,  not  always  exactly  according  lo  the  order  of  liine, 
Btenis  to  have  led  Joscphus  hiio  it,'as  Dr.  B'jrnard  oliserves  here. 

••■  Fui  t^clr  ill  Jos-rj'hus,  the  ■^'.  Itciciicc  re(iiiircs  tliat  we  read  Esau  cr  Stir,  which  siyiify  tlie  tair.e  thing. 


C    XVIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


85 


land  there  Ijeing  good;  but  he  went  to  Gerar,  as  God  commanded  him.  Here 
Abimelech  tlie  king  received  him,  because  Abraham  had  formerly  lived  with 
him,  and  had  been  his  friend.  And  as  in  the  beginning  he  treated  him  exceed- 
ing  kindly,  so  he  was  hindered  from  continuing  in  the  same  disposition  Ut  the 
end,  by  his  envy  at  him;  for  when  he  saw  that  God  was  with  Isaac,  and  took 
such  great  care  of  him,  he  drove  him  away  from  him.  But  Isaac,  when  he  saw 
how  envy  had  changed  the  temper  of  Abimelech,  retired  to  a  place  called  T/ie 
Valley,  not  far  from  Gerar;  and  as  he  was  digging  a  well,  tlie  shepherds  fell 
upon  him  and  began  to  fight,  in  order  to  hinder  the  work,  and  because  he  did 
not  desire  to  contend,  the  shepherds  seemed  to  get  the  better  of  him,  so  he  still 
retired,  and  dug  another  well;  and  when  certain  other  shepherds  of  Abimelech's 
began  to  offer  him  violence,  he  left  that  also,  and  still  retired,  thus  purchasing 
security  to  himself  by  a  rational  and  prudent  conduct.  At  length  the  king  gave 
liim  leave  to  dig  a  well  without  disturbance.  He  named  this  well  Rehoboth, 
which  denotes  a  large  space;  but  of  the  former  wells,  one  was  called  Escon, 
which  denotes  strife,  the  other  Sitenna,  which  name  signifies  enmily. 

3.  It  was  now  that  Isaac's  aflairs  increased,  and  his  power  was  in  a  flourish- 
ing condition;  and  this  from  his  great  riches.  Rut  Abimelech  thinking  Isaac 
throve  in  opposition  to  him,  while  their  living  togetlier  made  them  suspicious  of 
each  other,  and  Isaac's  retiring  showing  a  secret  emnity  also,  he  was  afraid  that 
Ids  former  friendship  with  Isaac  did  not  secure  him,  if  Isaac  should  endeavour 
to  revenge  the  injuries  he  had  formerly  offered  him ;  he  therefore  renewed  his 
friendship  with  him,  and  brought  with  him  Piiiloc,  one  of  his  generals.  And 
when  he  had  obtained  every  thing  he  desired,  by  reason  of  Isaac's  good  nature, 
who  preferred  the  earlier  friendship  Abimelech  had  showed  to  himself  and  his 
father  to  his  latter  wrath  against  him,  he  returned  home. 

4.  Now,  when  Esau,  one  of  the  sons  of  Isaac,  whom  the  father  principally 
loved,  was  now  come  to  the  age  of  forty  years,  he  married  Adah,  the  daughter 
of  Helen  and  Aholibamah,  the  daughter  of  Esebeon ;  which  Helon  and  Esebe- 
on  were  great  lords  among  the  Canaanites,  thereby  taking  upon  himself  the  au- 
thority, and  pretending  io  have  dominion  over  his  own  marriages,  without  so 
much  as  asking  the  advice  of  his  father;  for  had  Isaac  been  the  arbitrator,  he 
had  not  given  him  leave  to  marry  thus,  for  he  was  not  pleased  with  contracting 
any  alliance  with  the  people  of  that  country;  but  not  caring  to  be  uneasy  to  his 
son,  by  commanding  him  to  put  away  these  wives,  he  resolved  to  be  silent. 

5.  But  when  he  was  old,  and  could  not  see  at  all,  he  called  Esau  to  him,  and 
told  him,  that  besides  blindness,  and  the  disorder  of  his  eyes,  his  very  old  age 
hindered  him  from  his  worship  of  God  [by  sacrifice]  ;  he  bid  him  therefore  to 
go  out  a  hunting,  and  when  he  had  caught  as  much  venison  as  he  could,  to  pre- 
])are  him  a  supper,*  that  after  this  he  might  make  supplication  to  God  to  be  to 
him  a  supporter  and  an  assister  during  the  whole  time  of  his  life  ;  saying,  that 
it  was  uncertain  when  he  should  die,  and  that  he  was  desirous,  by  prayers  for 
him,  to  procure  beforehand  God  to  be  merciful  to  him. 

G.  Accordingly  Esau  went  out  a  hunting.     But  Rebckaf  thinking  it  proper  to 

*  This  supper  of  s«uoMr?/ mea/,  as  we  call  it,  Gen.  xxvii.  4,  to  he  caiisht  hy  hunting,  was  intended 
plainly  for  a  festival  or  a  sacrifice,  and  upon  the  prayers  that  were  froqufiiit  at  sacrifices,  Isaac  expect- 
ed, as  was  then  usual  in  such  eminent  cases,  that  a  divine  inipidse  would  come  upon  liim,  in  order  to 
the  solemn  blessing  of  his  son  there  present,  and  his  foretelling  his  future  behaviour  and  fortune. 
Whence  it  must  be,  that  when  Isaac  had  unwittingly  blessed  Jacob,  and  was  afterward  made  sensible 
of  his  mistake,  yet  did  lie  not  attempt  to  alter  it,  how  earnesily  soever  liis  afibction  for  Esau  might  incline 
him  to  wish  it  might  be  altered,  because  he  knew  that  tliis  blessing  came  not  from  iiimsclf  but  from  Clod, 
and  that  an  alteration  was  out  of  his  power.  A  second  afOatus  tlicn  came  upon  him,  and  enabled  him 
to  foretell  Esau's  future  behaviour  and  fortune  also. 

+  Whether  Jacob  or  his  mother  Kebeka  were  most  blamablo  in  this  imposition  upon  Isaac  in  his  old 
age,  I  cannot  determine.  However,  tlie  blessing  being  cleliveved  as  a  prediction  of  future  events,  by  a 
divine  impulse,  and  foretelling  things  to  befall  to  tlie  posterity  of  .(acob  and  Esau,  in  future  ages,  was 
for  certain  providential;  and  according  to  wliat  Rebeka  knew  to  be  the  purpose  of  God,  when  he  an- 
swered her  inquiry,  "  before  the  children  were  born,"  Gen.  xxv.  2J,  "  that  one  people  should  be  strong- 
er than  tlie  other  people;  and  that  the  elder,  Esau,  should  serve  the  yoinigcr,  Jacoh."  Wlietlier  haac 
E2 


36  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  I. 

have  the  supplication  made  for  obtaining  the  favour  of  God  to  Jacob,  and  that 
without  the  consent  of  Isaac,  bid  him  kill  Icids  of  the  goats,  and  prepare  a  sup- 
per. So  Jacob  obeyed  his  motlier,  according  to  all  her  instructions.  Now 
when  supper  was  got  ready,  he  took  a  goat's  skin,  and  put  it  about  his  arm,  that 
by  reason  of  its  hairy  roughness  he  might,  by  his  father,  be  beUevedto  be  Esau  ; 
for  they  being  twins,  and  in  all  things  else  ahke,  differed  only  in  this  thing. 
This  was  done  out  of  his^  fear,  that  before  his  father  had  made  his  supplications, 
he  should  be  caught  in  his  evil  practice,  and  lest  he  should,  on  the  contrary, 
provoke  his  father  to  curse  him.  So  he  brought  in  the  supper  to  his  father. 
Isaac  perceiving  by  the  pecuUarity  of  his  voice  who  he  was,  called  his  son  to  him, 
who  gave  him  his  hand,  which  was  covered  with  the  goat's  skin.  When  Isaac 
felt  that,  he  said,  "Thy  voice  is  like  the  voice  of  Jacob,  yet  because  of  the 
thickness  of  thy  hair,  thou  seemest  to  be  Esau."  So  suspecting  no  deceit,  he 
eat  the  supper,  and  betook  himself  to  his  prayers  and  intercessions  with  God ; 
and  said,  "  O  Lord  of  all  ages,  and  Creator  of  all  substance ;  for  it  was  thou 
that  didst  propose  to  my  father  great  plenty  of  good  things,  and  hast  vouchsafed 
to  bestow  on  me  what  I  have  ;  and  hast  promised  to  my  posterity  to  be  their 
kind  supporter,  and  to  bestow  on  them  still  greater  blessings ;  do  thou  therefore 
confirm  these  thy  promises,  and  do  not  overlook  me  because  of  my  present 
weak  condition,  on  account  of  which  I  most  earnestly  pray  to  thee.  Be  gra- 
cious to  this  my  son  ;  and  preserve  and  keep  him  from  eveiy  thing  that  is  evil. 
Give  him  a  happy  life,  and  the  possession  of  as  many  good  things  as  thy  power 
is  able  to  bestow.  Make  him  terrible  to  his  enemies,  and  honourable  and  be- 
loved among  his  friends." 

7.  Thus  did  Isaac  pray  to  God,  thinking  his  prayers  had  been  made  for  Esau. 
He  had  but  just  finished  them.,  when  Esau  came  in  from  hunting.  And  when 
Isaac  perceived  his  mistake,  he  was  silent;  but  Esau  required  that  he  might  be 
made  partaker  of  the  like  blessing  from  his  father  that  his  brother  had  partook 
of ;  but  his  father  refused  it,  because  all  his  prayers  had  been  spent  upon  Ja- 
cob :  so  Esau  lamented  the  mistake.  However,  his  father,  being  grieved  at  his 
weeping,  said.  That  "he  should  excel  in  hunting,  and  strength  of  body;  inarms, 
and  all  such  sorts  of  work ;  and  should  obtain  glory  for  ever  on  those  accounts, 
he  and  his  posterity  after  him ;  but  still  should  serve  his  brother." 

8.  Now  the  mother  delivered  Jacob,  when  he  was  afraid  that  his  brother 
^i^ould  inflict  some  punishment  upon  him,  because  of  the  mistake  about  the 
prayers  of  Isaac  ;  for  she  persuaded  her  husband  to  take  a  wife  for  Jacob  out  of 
Mesopotamia,  of  her  own  kindred.  Esau  having  married  already  Basemmath, 
the  daughter  of  Ismael,  without  his  father's  consent,  for  Isaac  did  not  like  the 
Canaanites,  so  that  he  disapproved  of  Esau's  former  marriages,  which  made 
him  take  Basemmath  to  wife,  in  order  to  please  him  ;  and  indeed  he  had  a  great 
affection  for  her. 


CHAP.  XIX. 

Concerning  JacoVs  FligJii  into  Mesopotamia,  hy  Reason  of  the  Fear  he  was 
in  of  his  Brother. 

§  1.  Now  Jacob  was  sent  by  his  mother  to  Mesopotamia  in  order  to  marry  La- 
knew  or  remembered  this  old  oracle,  delirered  in  our  copies  only  to  Rebeka;  or  whether,  if  he  knew  and 
remembered  it,  he  did  not  endeavour  to  alter  the  Divine  determination,  out  of  his  fondness  for  his  elder 
and  worser  son  Esau,  to  the  damage  of  his  younger  and  better  son  Jacob  ;  as  Joscphus  elsewhere  sup- 
poses, Antiq.  b.  ii.  chap.  vii.  sect.  3,  I  cannot  certainly  say.  If  so,  this  might  tempt  Rebeka  to  contrive, 
and  Jacob  to  put  this  imposition  upon  him.  However,  Josephus  says  here,  that  it  was  Isaac,  and  not 
Rebeka,  who  inquired  of  God  at  first,  and  received  the  forenientioned  oracle,  sect.  1,  which,  if  it  bctlic 
true  reading,  renders  Isaac's  procedure  more  inexcusalile.  Nor  was  it  probably  any  thing  else  that  so 
much  encouraged  Esau  formerly  to  marry  two  Canaanitish  wives,  without  his  parents'  consent,  as 
Isaac's  luihappy  fondness  for  him. 


C.  XIX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TIIE  JEWS.  ^ 

ban's  her  brother's  daughter  (which  marriage  was  permitted  by  Isaac  on  ac- 
count of  his  obsequiousness  to  the  desires  of  his  wife)  ;  and  he  accordingly  jour- 
neyed  through  the  land  of  Canaan ;  and  because  he  hated  the  people  of  that 
country,  he  would  not  lodge  with  any  of  them,  but  took  up  his  lodging  in  the 
open  air,  and  laid  his  head  on  a  heap  of  stones  that  he  had  gathered  together. 
At  wliich  time  he  saw  in  his  sleep  such  a  vision  standing  by  him ;  he  seemed  to 
see  a  ladder  that  reached  from  the  earth  unto  heaven,  and  persons  descending 
down  the  ladder,  that  seemed  more  excellent  than  human ;  and  at  last  God  him- 
self  stood  above  it,  and  was  plainly  visible  to  him,  who,  calling  him  by  his  name, 
spake  to  him  these  words  : 

2.  "  O  Jacob,  it  is  not  fit  for  thee,  who  art  the  son  of  a  good  father,  and 
grandson  of  one  who  had  obtained  a  great  reputation  for  his  eminent  virtue, 
to  be  dejected  at  thy  present  circumstances,  but  to  hope  for  better  times,  for  thou 
slialt  have  great  abundance  of  all  good  things,  by  my  assistance  :  for  I  brought 
Abraham  hither,  out  of  Mesopotamia,  when  he  was  driven  away  by  his  kins- 
men ;  and  I  made  thy  father  a  happy  man ;  nor  will  I  bestow  a  lesser  degree  of 
happiness  on  thyself.  Be  of  good  courage  therefore,  and  under  my  conduct 
proceed  on  this  thy  journey,  for  the  marriage  thou  goest  so  zealously  about  shall 
be  consummated.  And  thou  shalt  have  children  of  good  characters,  but  their 
multitude  shall  be  innumerable  ;  and  they  shall  leave  what  they  have  to  a  still 
more  numerous  posterity,  to  whom,  and  to  whose  posterity,  I  give  the  dominion 
of  all  the  land,  and  their  posterity  shall  fill  the  entire  earth  and  sea,  so  far  as 
the  sun  beholds  them  ;  but  do  not  thou  fear  any  danger,  nor  be  afraid  of  the  many 
labours  thou  must  undergo,  for  by  my  providence  I  will  direct  thee  what  thou 
art  to  do  in  the  time  present,  and  still  much  more  in  the  time  to  come." 

3.  Such  were  the  predictions  which  God  made  to  Jacob.  Whereupon  he  be- 
came very  joyful  at  what  he  had  seen  and  heard,  and  he  poured  oil  on  the  stones, 
because  on  them  the  prediction  of  such  great  benefits  was  made.  He  also  vow- 
ed a  vow  that  he  would  offer  sacrifices  upon  them,  if  he  lived  and  returned  safe ; 
and  if  he  came  again  in  such  a  condition,  he  would  give  the  tithe  of  what  he 
had  gotten  to  God.  He  also  judged  the  place  to  be  honourable,  and  gave  it  the 
name  of  Bethel,  which,  in  the  Greek,  is  interpreted,  The  house  of  God. 

4.  So  he  proceeded  on  his  journey  to  Rlesopotamia,  and  at  length  came  to 
Haran  ;  and  meeting  with  shepherds  in  the  suburbs,  with  boys  grown  up,  and 
maidens  sitting  about  a  certain  well,  he  stayed  with  them,  as  wanting  water  to 
drink ;  and  beginning  to  discoui'se  with  them,  he  asked  them  whether  they 
knew  such  a  one  as  Laban  1  and  whether  he  was  still  alive  ?  Now  they  all  said 
they  knew  him,  for  he  was  not  so  inconsiderable  a  person  as  to  be  imknown  to 
any  of  them ;  and  that  his  daughter  fed  her  father's  flock  together  with  them  ; 
and  that  indeed  they  wondered  that  she  was  not  yet  come ;  for  by  her  means 
thou  mightest  learn  more  exactly  whatever  thou  desirest  to  know  about  that  fa- 
mily. While  they  were  saying  this  the  damsel  came,  and  the  other  shepherds 
that  came  down  along  with  her.  Then  they  showed  her  Jacob,  and  told  her 
that  he  was  a  stranger,  who  came  to  inquire  about  her  father's  afiiiirs.  But  she, 
as  pleased,  after  the  custom  of  children,  with  Jacob's  coming,  asked  him  who 
he  was  ?  and  whence  he  came  to  them  ?  and  what  it  was  he  lacked  that  he  came 
thither  ?  She  also  wished  it  might  be  in  their  power  to  supply  the  wants  he  came 
about. 

5.  But  Jacob  was  quite  overcome,  not  so  much  by  their  kindred,  nor  by  that 
affection  which  might  arise  thence,  as  by  his  love  to  the  damsel,  and  his  surprise 
at  her  beauty,  which  was  so  flourishing  as  few  of  the  women  of  that  age  could 
vie  with.  He  said  then,  "  There  is  a  relation  between  thee  and  me,  elder  than 
either  thy  or  my  birth,  if  thou  be  the  daughter  of  Laban  ;  for  Abraham  was  the 
son  of  Terah,  as  well  as  Haran  and  Nahor.  Of  the  last  of  whom,  Nahor,  Be- 
thuel  thy  grandfather  was  the  son.  Isaac  my  father  was  the  son  of  Abraham, 
and  of  Sarah,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Haran.     But  there  is  a  nearer  and  la- 


68  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  L 

ter  cement  of  mutual  kindred  which  we  bear  to  one  another,  for  my  mother  Re- 
beka  was  sister  to  Laban  thy  father,  both  by  the  same  father  and  mother ;  I 
therefore  and  thou  are  cousin  germans.  And  I  am  now  come  to  salute  you,  and 
to  renew  that  affinity  which  is  proper  between  us."  Upon  this  the  damsel,  at 
the  mention  of  Rebeka,  as  usually  happens  to  young  persons,  wept,  and  that  out 
of  the  kindness  she  had  for  her  father,  and  embraced  Jacob,  she  having  learned 
an  account  of  Rebeka  from  her  father,  and  knew  that  her  parents  loved  to  hear 
her  named ;  and  wlien  she  had  saluted  him,  she  said,  that  "  He  brought  the 
most  desirable  and  greatest  pleasure  to  her  father,  with  all  their  family,  who  was 
always  mentioning  his  mother,  and  always  thinking  of  her,  and  her  alone  ;  and 
that  this  will  make  thee  equal  in  his  eyes  to  any  advantageous  circumstances 
whatsoever."  Then  she  bid  him  go  to  her  father,  and  follow  her  while  she  con- 
ducted him  to  him,  and  not  to  deprive  him  of  such  a  pleasure  by  staying  any 
longer  away  froin  him. 

6.  When  she  had  said  thus,  she  brought  him  to  Laban ;  and  being  owned  by 
his  uncle,  he  was  secure  himself,  as  being  among  his  friends ;  and  he  brought  a 
great  deal  of  pleasure  to  them  by  his  unexpected  coming.  But  a  little  while  af- 
terward Laban  told  him,  that  he  could  not  express  in  Avords  the  joy  he  had  at  his 
coming ;  but  still  he  inquired  of  him  the  occasion  of  his  coming,  and  why  he 
left  his  aged  mother  and  father,  when  they  wanted  to  be  taken  care  of  by  him ; 
and  that  he  would  afford  liim  all  the  assistance  he  wanted.  Then  Jacob  gave 
him  an  account  of  the  whole  occasion  of  his  journey,  and  told  him,  "  That  Isaac 
had  two  sons  that  were  twins,  himself  and  Esau ;  who,  because  he  failed  of  his 
father's  prayers,  which  by  his  mother's  Avisdom  were  put  xip  for  him,  sought  to 
kill  him,  as  deprived  of  the  kingdom*  which  was  to  be  given  him  of  God,  and 
of  the  blessings  for  which  their  father  prayed  ;  and  that  this  was  the  occasion 
of  his  coming  hither,  as  his  mother  had  commanded  him  to  do ;  for  we  are  all 
(says  he)  brethren  one  to  another ;  but  our  motlier  esteems  an  alliance  whh 
your  family  more  than  she  does  one  with  the  families  of  the  country ;  so  I  look 
upon  yourself  and  God  to  be  the  supporters  of  my  travels,  and  think  myself  safe 
in  my  present  circumstances." 

7.  Now  Laban  promised  to  treat  him  with  great  humanity,  both  on  account 
of  his  ancestors,  and  particularly  for  the  sake  of  his  mother,  towards  whom  he 
said,  he  would  show  his  kindness,  even  though  she  were  absent,  by  taking  care 
of  him ;  for  he  assured  him  he  would  make  him  the  head  shepherd  of  his  flock, 
and  gave  him  authority  sufficient  for  that  purpose  ;  and  when  he  should  have  a 
mind  to  return  to  his  parents,  he  would  send  him  back  with  presents,  and  this  in 
as  honourable  a  manner  as  the  nearness  of  their  relation  should  require.  This 
Jacob  heard  gladly  ;  and  said  he  would  willingly,  and  with  pleasure,  undergo 
any  sort  of  pains  while  he  tarried  with  him,  but  desired  Rachel  to  wife,  as  the 
reward  of  those  pains,  who  was  not  only  on  other  accounts  esteemed  by  him, 
but  also  because  she  was  the  means  of  his  coming  to  him  ;  for  he  said  he  was 
forced  by  the  love  of  the  damsel  to  make  this  proposal.  Laban  was  well  pleased 
with  this  agreement,  and  consented  to  give  the  damsel  to  him  as  not  desirous  to 
meet  with  any  better  son-in-law  ;  and  said  he  would  do  this,  if  he  would  stay 
with  him  some  time,  for  he  Avas  not  willing  to  send  his  daughter  to  be  among 
the  Canaanites,  for  he  repented  of  the  alliance  he  had  made  already  by  mar- 
rying his  sister  there.  And  when  Jacob  had  given  his  consent  to  this,  he 
agreed  to  stay  seven  years ;  for  so  many  years  he  had  resolved  to  serve  his 
father-in-law,  that  having  given  a  specimen  of  his  virtue,  it  might  be  better 
known  what  sort  of  a  man  he  was.     And  Jacob  accepting  of  his  terms,  after  the 

*•  Rv  tliis  "  deprivation  of  the  kingdom  that  was  to  be  given  Esau  of  God,"  as  the  firstborn,  it  appears 
that  Jo.scplius  thou;;lit,  that  a  "  kingdom  to  be  derived  from  God"  was  due  to  him  whom  Isaac  sltioidd 
biess  as  his  firstborn,  whicli  I  lake  to  be  tliat  kingdom  which  was  expected  under  the  Messiah,  who  there- 
lore  was  to  be  born  of  liis  posterity  whom  Isaac  should  so  bless.  Jacob  therefor'?,  by  obtaining  this  bless- 
in;.;  of  liie  firstborn,  became  the  genuine  heir  of  that  kingdom,  in  opposition  to  Esau. 


C.  XIX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


39 


time  was  over,  he  made  the  wedding  feast ;  and  when  it  was  night,  witliout 
Jacob's  perceiving  it,  he  put  his  other  daughter  into  bed  to  him,  wlio  was  both 
■ekier  than  Rachel,  and  of  no  comely  countenance.  Jacob  lay  with  her  that 
night,  as  being  both  in  drink  and  in  the  dark.  However,  when  it  was  dav,  lie 
knew  what  had  been  done  to  him  ;  and  he  reproached  Laban  for  his  unfair  pro- 
ceeding with  him  ;  who  asked  pardon  for  that  necessity  which  forced  him  to  do 
what  he  did  ;  for  he  did  not  give  him  Lea  out  of  any  ill  design,  but  as  overcome 
hy  another  greater  necessity  ;  that  notwithstanding  this,  nothing  should  hindei 
him  from  marrying  Rachel ;  but  that  when  he  had  served  another  seven  years, 
he  would  give  him  her  whom  he  loved.  Jacob  submitted  to  this  condition,  for 
his  love  to  the  damsel  did  not  permit  him  to  do  otherwise ;  and  when  another 
seven  years  were  gone,  he  took  Rachel  to  wife. 

8.  Now  each  of  these  had  handmaids,  by  their  father's  donation.  Zilpha  was 
handmaid  to  Lea,  and  Bilha  to  Rachel,  by  no  means  slaves,*  but  however  sub 
ject  to  their  mistresses.  Now  Lea  was  sorely  troubled  at  her  husband's  love  !o 
her  sister,  and  she  expected  she  should  be  better  esteemed  if  she  bare  him  chil- 
dren. So  she  entreated  God  perpetually  ;  and  when  she  had  borne  a  son,  and 
her  husband  was  on  that  account  better  reconciled  to  her,  she  named  her  son 
Reubel,  because  God  had  had  mercy  upon  her  in  giving  her  a  son,  for  that  is  the 
signification  of  this  name.  After  some  time  she  bare  three  more  sons  ;  Simeon, 
wliich  name  signities  that  God  had  hearhenedio  her  prayer.  Then  she  bare  Levi, 
the  confirmer  of  their  friendship.  After  him  was  born  Judah,  which  denotes 
thanksgiving.  But  Rachel,  fearing  lest  the  fruitfulness  of  her  sister  should  make 
herself  enjoy  a  lesser  share  of  Jacob's  affections,  put  to  bed  to  him  her  hand- 
maid Bilha,  by  whom  Jacob  had  Dan.  One  may  interpret  that  name  into  the 
Greek  tongue,  a  divine  judgment.  And  after  him  Nepthalim,  as  it  were  imcon. 
querahle  in  stratagem,  since  Rachel  tried  to  conquer  the  fruitfulness  of  her  sister 
by  this  stratagem.  Accordingly  Lea  took  the  same  method,  and  under  a  counter, 
stratagem  to  that  of  her  sister's  ;  for  she  put  to  bed  to  him  her  own  handmaid. 
Jacol)  therefore  had  by  Zilpha  a  son,  whose  name  was  Gad,  which  may  be  inter- 
prctedybrtoze;  and  after  him  Asher,  which  may  be  called  a  happy  man,  because 
he  added  glory  to  Lea.  Now  Reubel,  the  eldest  son  of  Lea,  brought  apples  of 
mandrakesf  to  his  mother.  When  Rachel  saw  them,  she  desired  that  she  would 
give  her  the  apples,  for  she  longed  to  eat  them ;  but  when  she  refused,  and  bid 
her  be  content  that  she  had  deprived  her  of  the  benevolence  she  ought  to  have 
had  from  her  husband  ;  Rachel,  in  order  to  mitigate  her  sister's  anger,  said,  she 
would  yield  her  husband  to  her  ;  and  he  should  lie  with  her  that  evening.  She 
accepted  of  the  favour,  and  Jacob  slept  with  Lea  by  the  favour  of  Rachel.  She 
bare  then  these  sons,  Issachar,  denoting  one  -born  by  hire ;  and  Zabulon,  one 
born  as  a  jjJedge  of  benevolence  towards  her ;  and  a  daughter  Dina.  After  some 
time  Rachel  had  a  son  named  Joseph,  which  signified  there  should  be  another 
added  to  him. 

9.  Now  Jacob  fed  the  flocks  of  Laban  his  father-in-law,  all  this  time,  being 
twenty  years,  after  which  he  desired  leave  of  his  father-in-law  to  take  his  wives 
and  go  home  ;  but  when  his  father-in-law  would  not  give  him  leave,   he  contri- 

*  Here  wo  have  tlie  difference  between  slaves  for  life  and  servants,  such  as  \vc  now  hire  for  a  time 
a;^rced  upon  on  both  sides,  and  dismiss  again  after  the  time  contracted  for  is  over,  which  are  7io  slaves, 
bui  free  men  And  free  luomcn.  Accordingly,  when  the  Apostolical  Constitutions  forbid  a  clergyman  to 
marry  perpetual  servants  or  slaves,  B.  vi.  ch.  xvii.  it  is  meant  only  of  the  former  sorts,  as  we  learn  clse- 
wliere  from  the  same  Constitutions,  ch.  xlvii.  cap.  Ixxxii.  But  concerning  these  twelve  sons  of  .Jacob ; 
the  reasons  of  their  several  names,  and  the  times  of  their  several  births  iii  the  intervals  here  assigned  : 
their  several  excellent  characters ;  their  several  faults  and  repentance ;  the  several  accidents  of  their 
lives,  with  their  several  prophecies  at  their  deatlis,  see  the  testaments  of  these  twelve  patriarchs,  still  pre- 
served at  large  in  tlie  Authcnt.  Rec.  part.  i.  p.  294 — 443. 

t  I  formerly  explained  these  mandra/ce.t,  as  we  witli  the  Septuagint  and  Josephus  render  the  Hebrew 
word  Dadaiin,  of  the  Syrian  Maux,  with  Ludolphus,  Authent.  Rec.  part,  i  p.  420.  But  have  since 
seen  such  a  very  probable  account  in  Ms.  of  my  learned  friend  Mr.  Samuel  Barker's  of  what  we  still 
call  mandrakes,  and  their  description  by  the  ancient  naturalists  and  physicians,  as  inclines  nic  to  think 
tltcbc  here  mentioned  were  really  mandrakes,  and  no  other. 


40  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  I. 

ved  to  do  it  secretly.  He  made  trial  therefore  of  the  disposition  of  his  wives 
what  they  thought  of  this  journey.  When  they  appeared  glad  and  approved  of 
it,  Rachel  took  along  with  her  the  images  of  the  gods,  which,  according  to  their 
laws,  they  used  to  worship  in  their  own  country,  and  ran  away  together  with  her 
sister.  The  children  also  of  them  both,  and  the  handmaids,  and  Avhat  posses- 
sions they  had,  went  along  with  them.  Jacob  also  drove  away  half  the  cattle, 
without  letting  Laban  know  of  it  beforehand.  But  the  reason  why  Rachel  took 
the  images  of  the  gods,  although  Jacob  had  taught  her  to  despise  such  worship 
of  those  gods,  was  this,  that  in  case  they  were  pursued,  and  taken  by  her  father, 
she  miglrt  have  recourse  to  these  images,  in  order  to  obtain  his  pardon. 

10.  But  Laban,  after  one  day's  time,  being  acquainted  with  Jacob's  and  his 
daughters'  departure,  was  much  troubled,  and  pursued  after  them,  leading  a  band 
of  men  with  him  ;  and  on  the  seventh  day  overtook  them,  and  found  them  rest- 
ing on  a  certain  hill ;  and  then,  indeed,  he  did  not  meddle  with  them,  for  it  was 
eventide  ;  but  God  stood  by  him  in  a  dream,  and  warned  him  to  receive  his  son- 
in-law  and  his  daughters  in  a  peaceable  manner  ;  and  not  to  venture  upon  any 
thing  rashly,  or  in  wrath  to  them,  but  to  make  a  league  with  Jacob.  And  he 
told  him,  that  if  he  despised  their  small  number,  and  attacked  them  in  an  hostile 
manner,  he  would  himself  assist  them.  When  Laban  had  been  thus  forewarned 
by  God,  he  called  Jacob  to  him  the  next  day,  in  order  to  treat  with  him,  and 
showed  him,  what  dream  he  had ;  in  dependence  whereon  he  came  confidently 
to  him,  and  began  to  accuse  him,  alleging  that  he  had  entertained  him  when  he 
was  poor  and  in  want  of  all  things,  and  had  given  him  plenty  of  all  things  which 
he  had  :  "  For,"  said  he,  "  I  have  joined  my  daughters  to  thee  in  marriage,  and 
supposed  that  thy  kindness  to  me  v.^ould  be  greater  than  before  ;  but  thou  hast 
had  no  regard  to  either  thy  own  mother's  relation  to  me,  nor  to  the  affinity  now 
newly  contracted  between  us  ;  nor  to  those  wives  whom  thou  hast  married  ;  nor 
to  those  children,  of  whom  I  am  the  grandfather.  Thou  hast  treated  me  as  an 
enemy,  by  driving  away  my  cattle ;  end  by  persuading  my  daughters  to  run 
away  from  their  father  ;  and  by  carrying  home  those  sacred  paternal  images 
which  were  worshipped  by  my  forefathers,  and  have  been  honoured  with  the  like 
worship  which  they  paid  tiiem,  by  myself.  In  short,  thou  hast  done  this  whilsK 
thou  wert  my  kinsman,  and  my  sister's  son,  and  the  husband  of  my  daughters, 
and  was  hospitably  treated  by  me,  and  didst  eat  at  my  table."  When  Laban 
had  said  this,  Jacob  made  his  defence :  "  That  he  was  not  the  only  person  in 
whom  God  had  implanted  the  love  of  his  native  country,  but  that  he  had  made  it 
natural  to  all  men  ;  and  that  therefore  it  was  but  reasonable  that,  after  so  long  a 
time,  he  should  go  back  to  it.  But  as  to  the  prey,  of  whose  driving  away  thou 
accusest  me,  if  any  other  person  were  the  arbitrator,  thou  wouldst  be  fouud  in 
the  -wrong ;  for  instead  of  those  thanks  I  ought  to  have  had  from  thee,  for  both 
keeping  thy  cattle,  and  increasing  them,  how  is  it  that  thou  art  unjustly  angry 
at  me  because  I  have  taken,  and  have  with  me,  a  small  portion  of  them  ?  But 
tljien,  as  to  thy  daughters,  take  notice,  that  it  is  not  through  any  evil  practices 
of  mine  that  they  follow  me  in  my  return  home,  but  from  that  just  affection  which 
wives  naturally  have  to  their  husbands.  They  follow  therefore  not  so  properly 
myself  as  their  own  children."  And  thus  far  of  his  apology  was  made,  in  order 
to  clear  himself  of  having  acted  unjustly.  To  which  he  added  his  own  com- 
plaint and  accusation  of  Laban  ;  saying,  "  While  I  was  thy  sister's  son,  and  thou 
liadst  given  me  thy  daughters  in  marriage,  thou  hast  worn  me  out  with  thy  harsh 
commands,  and  detained  me  twenty  years  under  them.  That  indeed  which  was 
required  in  order  to  my  marrying  thy  daughters,  hard  as  it  was,  I  own  to  havo 
been  tolerable  ;  but  as  to  those  that  were  ptit  upon  me  after  those  marriages, 
they  were  worse,  and  such  indeed  as  an  enemy  would  have  avoided."  For  cer- 
tainly Laban  had  used  Jacob  very  ill ;  for  when  he  saw  that  God  was  assisting 
to  Jacob  in  all  that  he  desired,  he  promised  him,  that  of  the  young  cattle  which 
should  be  born,  he  should  have  sometimes  what  was  of  a  white  colour,  and  some- 1 


C.  XX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  41 

times  what  should  be  of  a  black  colour  ;  but  when  those  that  came  to  Jacob's 
share  proved  numerous,  he  did  not  keep  his  faitli  with  him  :  but  said  he  would 
give  them  to  him  next  year ;  because  of  his  envying  him  the  multitude  of  his 
possessions.  He  promised  him  as  before,  because  he  thought  such  an  increase 
was  not  to  be  expected ;  but  when  it  appeared  to  be  fact,  he  deceived  him. 

11.  But  then,  as  to  the  sacred  images,  he  bid  them  search  for  them  ;  and  when 
Laban  accepted  of  the  offer,  Rachel  being  informed  of  it,  put  those  images  into 
that  camel's  saddle  on  which  she  rode,  and  sat  upon  it ;  and  said,  that  her  natu- 
ral purgation  hindered  her  rising  up  ;  so  Laban  left  off'  searching  any  farther, 
not  supposing  that  his  daughter  in  such  circumstances  would  approach  those  im- 
ages.  So  he  made  a  league  with  Jacob,  and  bound  it  by  baths,  that  he  would 
not  bear  him  an}^  malice  on  account  of  what  had  happened ;  and  Jacob  made 
the  like  league,  and  promised  to  love  Laban's  daughters.  And  these  leagues 
they  confirmed  with  oaths  also,  which  they  made  upon  certain  mountains, 
whereon  they  erected  a  pillar,  in  the  form  of  an  altar  ;  whence  that  hill  is  called 
Gilead  ;  and  from  thence  they  call  that  land  the  land  of  Gilead  at  this  day.  Now 
when  they  had  feasted  af\er  the  making  of  the  league,  Laban  returned  home. 


CHAP.  XX. 

Concerning  the  Meeting  of  Jacob  and  Esau. 

§  1.  Now  as  Jacob  was  proceeding  on  his  journey  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  angels 
appeared  to  him,  and  suggested  to  him  good  hope  of  his  future  condition  ;  and 
that  place  he  named  The  camp  of  God.  And  being  desirous  of  knowing  what 
his  brother's  intentions  were  to  him,  he  sent  messengers  to  give  him  an  exact 
account  of  every  thing,  as  being  afraid,  on  account  of  the  enmities  between  them. 
He  charged  those  that  were  sent  to  say  to  Esau,  that,  "  Jacob  had  thought  it 
wrong;  to  live  together  with  him  while  he  was  in  anger  against  him,  and  so  had 
gone  out  of  the  country  ;  and  that  he  now,  he  thinking  the  length  of  time  of  his 
absence  must  have  made  up  their  differences,  was  returning ;  that  he  brought 
with  him  his  wives  and  his  children,  with  what  possessions  he  had  gotten ;  and 
delivered  himself,  with  what  was  most  dear  to  him,  into  his  hands  ;  and  should 
think  it  his  greatest  happiness  to  partake,  together  with  his  brother,  of  what  God 
had  bestowed  on  him."  So  these  messengers  told  him  this  message.  Upon 
which  Esau  was  very  glad,  and  met  his  brother  with  four  hundred  men.  And 
Jacob,  when  he  heard  that  he  was  coming  to  meet  him  with  such  a  number  of 
men,  was  greatly  afraid ;  however,  he  committed  his  hope  of  deliverance  to 
God  ;  and  considered  how,  in  his  present  circumstances,  he  might  preserve  him- 
self  and  those  that  were  with  him,  and  overcome  his  enemies  if  they  attacked 
him  injuriously.  He  therefore  distributed  his  company  into  parts;  some  he  sent 
before  the  rest,  and  the  others  he  ordered  to  come  close  behind,  that  so  if  the 
first  were  overpowered,  when  his  brother  attacked  them,  they  might  have  those 
that  followed  as  a  refuge  to  fly  unto.  And  when  he  had  put  his  company  into 
this  order,  he  sent  some  of  them  to  carry  presents  to  his  brother.  The  presents 
were  made  up  of  cattle,  and  a  great  number  of  four-footed  beasts,  of  many  kinds, 
such  as  would  be  very  acceptable  to  those  that  received  them  on  account  of  their 
rarity.  Those  who  were  sent  went  at  certain  intervals  of  space  asunder,  that 
by  following  thick  one  after  another,  they  might  appear  to  be  more  numerous, 
that  Esau  might  remit  of  his  anger,  on  account  of  these  presents,  if  he  were  still 
in  a  passion.  Instructions  were  also  given  to  those  that  were  sent  to  speak  gen- 
tly to  him. 

2.  When  Jacob  had  made  these  appomtments  all  the  day,  and  night  came  on, 
he  moved  on  with  his  company  ;  and  as  they  were  gone  over  a  certain  river 

F 


42  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  I. 

called  Jahboc,  Jacob  was  left  behind  ;  and  meeting  with  an  angel,  he  wrestled 
with  him,  the  angel  beginning  the  struggle  ;  but  he  prevailed  over  the  angel,  who 
used  a  voice  and  spake  to  him  in  words,  exhorting  him  to  be  pleased  with  what 
had  happened  to  him,  and  not  to  suppose  that  his  victory  was  a  small  one,  but 
that  he  had  overcome  a  divine  angel,  and  to  esteem  the  victory  as  a  sign  of 
great  blessings  that  should  come  to  him ;  and  that  his  offspring  should  never  fail ; 
and  that  no  man  should  be  too  hard  for  his  power.  He  also  commanded  him  to 
be  called  Israel,*  which  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  signifies  one  that  struggled  with  a 
divine  angel.  These  promises  were  made  at  the  prayer  of  Jacob  ;  for  when  he 
perceived  him  to  be  the  angel  of  God,  he  desired  he  would  signify  to  him  what 
should  befall  him  hereafter.  And  when  the  angel  had  said  what  is  before  rela- 
ted, he  disappeared ;  but  Jacob  was  pleased  with  these  things,  and  named  the 
place  Phanuel,  which  signifies.  The  face  of  God.  Now  when  he  felt  pain  by  this 
struggling,  upon  his  broad  sinew,  he  abstained  from  eating  that  sinew  himself 
afterward ;  and  for  his  sake  it  is  still  not  eaten  by  us. 

3.  When  Jacob  understood  that  his  brother  was  near,  he  ordered  his  wives  to 
go  before,  each  by  herself,  with  the  handmaids,  that  they  might  see  the  actions 
of  the  men,  as  they  were  fighting,  if  Esau  were  so  disposed.  He  then  went  up 
to  his  brother  Esau,  and  bowed  down  to  him,  who  had  no  evil  design  upon  him, 
but  saluted  him  ;  and  asked  him  about  the  company  of  the  children  and  of  the 
women ;  and  desired,  when  he  had  understood  all  he  wanted  to  know  about 
them,  that  he  would  go  along  with  him  to  their  father  ;  but  Jacob  pretending  that 
the  cattle  were  weary,  Esau  returned  to  Seir,  for  there  was  his  place  of  habita- 
tion, he  having  named  the  place  roughness,  from  his  own  liairy  roughness. 


CHAP.  XXI. 

Concerning  the  Violation  of  Dinars  Chastity. 

§  1 .  Hereupon  Jacob  came  to  the  place,  till  this  day  called  Tents  [Succoth], 
from  whence  he  went  to  Shechem,  which  is  a  city  of  the  Canaanites.  Now  as 
the  Shechemites  were  keeping  a  festival,  Dina,  who  was  the  only  daughter  of 
Jacob,  went  into  the  city  to  see  the  finery  of  the  women  of  that  country.  But 
when  Shechem,  the  son  of  Hamor  the  king,  saw  her,  he  defiled  her  by  violence  ; 
and  being  greatly  in  love  with  her,  he  desired  of  his  father  that  he  would  procure 
the  damsel  to  him  for  a  wife.  To  which  desire  he  condescended,  and  came  to 
Jacob,  desiring  him  to  give  leave  that  his  son  Shechem  might,  according  to  law, 
marry  Dina.  But  Jacob,  not  knowing  how  to  deny  the  desire  of  one  of  such 
gi-eat  dignity,  and  yet  not  thinking  it  lawful  to  marry  his  daughter  to  a  stranger, 
entreated  him  to  give  him  leave  to  have  a  consultation  about  what  he  desired 
hiui  to  do.  So  the  king  went  away,  in  hopes  that  Jacob  would  grant  him  this 
marriage.  But  Jacob  informed  his  sons  of  the  defilement  of  their  sister,  and 
of  tlie  address  of  Hamor  ;  and  desired  them  to  give  him  their  advice,  what  they 
should  do.  Upon  this,  the  greatest  part  said  nothing,  not  knowing  what  advice 
to  give.  But  Simeon  and  Levi,  the  brethren  of  the  damsel,  by  the  same  mother, 
agreed  between  themselves  upon  the  action  following  ;  it  being  now  the  time  of 
a  festival,  when  the  Shechemites  were  employed  in  ease  and  feasting,  they  fell 
upon  the  watch,  when  they  v/ere  asleep,  and  coming  into  the  city,  slew  all  the 
inalesf  ;  as  also  the  king,  and  his  son,  with  them  ;  but  spared  the  women.    And 

*  Perhaps  this  may  he  the  proper  meaning  of  the  word  Israel  by  the  present  and  the  old  Jerusalem 
analnf;y  of  tlic  l{el)revv  toii;;iie.  In  the  meantime,  it  is  certain  that  the  Hellenists  of  the  6rst  century  in 
E^vpi  and  elsewlicre  interpicitd  h-ru-cl,  to  be  a  man  seeing  God,  as  is  evident  from  the  fragment 
l)ufore  cited. 

t  Of  this  slaughter  of  the  SheclRMuites  by  Simeon  and  Levi,  Ece  Authent.  Rcc.  part.  i.  p.  309.  415 


C.  XXII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.'  40 

when  they  had  dono  this  without  their  father's  consent,  thsjy  broui,^lit  uway  thuir 
sister. 

2.  Now  while  Jacob  was  astonished  at  the  greatness  of  this  act,  and  was 
severely  blaming  his  sons  for  it,  God  stood  by  him  and  bid  him  be  of  "•ood  cou- 
rage  ;  but  to  purify  his  tents,  and  to  offer  those  sacrifices  which  he  had  vowed 
to  offer  when  he  went  first  into  Mesopotamia,  and  saw  his  vision.  As  he  was 
thei'efore  purifying  his  followers,  he  lighted  upon  the  gods  of  Laban  (for  he  did 
not  betore  know  they  were  stolen  by  Rachel,)  and  he  hid  them  in  the  earth,  un- 
der  an  oak  in  Shechem.  And  departing  thence,  he  offered  sacrifice  at  Bethel 
the  place  where  he  saw  his  dream,  when  he  first  went  into  Mesopotamia. 

3.  And  when  he  was  gone  thence,  and  was  come  over  against  Ephrata,  he 
there  buried  Rachel,  who  died  in  childbed.  She  was  the  only  one  of  Jacob's 
kindred  that  had  not  the  honour  of  burial  at  Hebron.  And  when  he  had  mourn- 
ed  for  her  a  great  while,  he  called  the  son  that  was  born  of  her  Benjamin,*  be- 
cause  of  the  sorrow  the  mother  had  with  him.  These  are  all  the  children  of 
Jacob,  twelve  males,  and  one  female.  Of  them  eight  were  legitimate,  viz.  six 
of  Lea,  and  two  of  Rachel,  and  four  were  of  the  handmaids,  two  of  each  ;  all 
whose  names  have  been  set  down  already. 


CHAP.  XXH. 

How  Isaac  died,  and  was  buried  in  Hebron. 

From  thence  Jacob  came  to  Hebron,  a  city  situate  among  the  Canaanites ;  and 
there  it  was  that  Isaac  lived  ;  and  so  they  lived  together  for  a  little  while  ;  for 
as  to  Rebeka,  Jacob  did  not  find  her  alive.  Isaac  also  died  not  long  after  the 
coming  of  his  son,  and  was  buried  by  his  sons,  with  his  wife,  in  Hebron,  where 
they  had  a  monument  belonging  to  them  from  their  forefathers.  Now  Isaac  was 
a  man  who  was  beloved  of  God,  and  was  vouchsafed  great  instances  of  provi- 
dence by  God,  after  Abraham  his  father  had  lived  to  be  exceeding  old ;  for 
when  he  had  lived  virtuously  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  years,  he  then  died. 

432 — 439.  But  why  Josephiis  has  omitted  the  circumcision  of  these  Shechemites,  as  the  occasion  of 
their  death ;  and  of  Jacob's  great  grief,  as  in  the  testament  of  Levi,  sect.  5, 1  cannot  tell. 

*  Since  Benoni  signifies  the  son  of  my  sorrow,  and  Benjamin  the  son  of  days,  or  one  born  in  the  fa- 
ther's old  age,  Gen.  xliv.  20, 1  suspect  Josephus's  precent  copies  to  be  here  imperfect ;  and  suppose,  that 
in  correspondence  to  other  copies,  he  wrote,  tliat  Rachel  called  her  son's  name  Benoni,  but  his  father 
called  him  Benjamin,  Gen.  xxxv.  18.  As  for  Benjamin,  as  commonly  explained,  the  son  of  the  right 
harid,  it  makes  no  sense  at  all,  and  seems  to  be  a  gross  modem  error  only.  Tlie  Samaritan  always 
writes  this  name  truly  Benjamin,  which  probably  is  here  of  the  same  sigtiification,  only  with  the  Chal- 
dee  termination  in,  instead  of  im,  in  the  Hebrew,  as  we  pronounce  Clierubin  or  Cherubim  indifierently. 
Accordingly  both  the  testament  of  Benjamin,  sect.  2,  p.  401.  and  Philo  denominum  mntatione,  p.  1059, 
write  the  name  Benjamin,  but  explain  it  not  the  son  of  his  right  hand,  but  the  son  of  days. 

F2 


44  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


BOOK  II. 


CONTAINING 
THE  INTERVAL  OF  TWO  HUNDRED  AND  TWENTY  YEARS. 

'from  THE  DEATH  OF  ISAAC,  TO  THE  EXODUS  OUT  OF  EGYPT. 


CHAP.  I. 

How  Esau  and  Jacob,  the  Sons  of  Isaac,  divided  their  Habitation ;  and  Esau 
•possessed  Idumea,  and  Jacob  Canaan. 

§  1.  After  the  death  of  Isaac,  his  sons  divided  their  habitations  respectively. 
Nor  did  they  retain  what  they  had  before  ;  but  Esau  departed  from  the  city  of 
Hebron,  and  left  it  to  his  brother,  and  dwelt  in  Seir,  and  ruled  over  Idumea.  He 
called  the  country  by  that  name  from  himself,  for  he  was  named  Adorn ;  which 
appellation  he  got  on  the  following  occasion :  One  day  returning  from  the  toil 
of  hunting  very  hungry  (it  was  when  he  was  a  child  in  age,)  he  lighted  on  his 
brother  when  he  was  getting  ready  lentile-pottage  for  his  dinner,  which  was  of 
a  very  red  colour ;  on  which  account  he  the  more  earnestly  longed  for  it,  and 
desired  him  to  give  him  some  of  it  to  eat.  But  he  made  advantage  of  his  bro- 
ther's hunger,  and  forced  him  to  resign  up  to  him  his  birthright,  and  he,  being 
pinched  with  famine,  resigned  it  up  to  him,  under  an  oath.  Whence  it  came, 
that  on  account  of  the  redness  of  this  pottage,  he  was,  in  way  of  jest,  by  his 
contemporaries  called  Adorn,  for  the  Hebrews  call  what  is  red  Adorn;  and  this 
was  the  name  given  to  this  country  ;  but  the  Greeks  gave  it  a  more  agreeable 
pronunciation,  and  named  it  Idumea. 

2.  He  became  the  father  of  five  sons  ;  of  whom  Jaus,  and  Jalomus,  and  Co- 
reus,  were  by  one  wife,  whose  name  Avas  Alibama ;  but  of  the  rest,  Aliphaz  was 
born  to  him  by  Ada,  and  Raguel  by  Basemath ;  and  these  were  the  sons  of  Esau. 
Aliphaz  had  five  legitimate  sons,  Theman,  Omer,  Saphus,  Gotham,  and  Kanaz ; 
for  Amalek  was  not  legitimate,  but  by  a  concubine,  whose  name  was  Thamna. 
These  dwelt  in  that  part  of  Idumea  which  was  called  Gebalitis,  and  that  denom- 
inated from  Amalek,  Amelekitis :  for  Idumea  was  a  large  country,  and  did  then 
preserve  the  name  of  the  whole,  while  in  its  several  parts  it  kept  the  names  of 
its  peculiar  inhabitants. 


CHAP.  II. 


'low  Joseph,  the  youngest  of  JacoVs  Sons,  was  envied  by  his  Brethren,  wlien 
certain  Dreams  had  foreshoiced  his  future  Happiness. 

§  1.  It  happened  that  Jacob  came  to  so  great  happiness  as  rarely  any  other 
person  had  arrived  at.     He  was  richer  than  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  of  that 


C.  ir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  45 

country ;  and  was  at  once  envied  and  admired  for  such  virtuous  sons  :  for  they 
were  deficient  in  nothing,  but  were  of  great  souls,  both  for  labouring  with  their 
hands  and  enduring  of  toil ;  and  shrewd  also  in  understanding.  And  God  exer- 
cised  such  a  providence  over  him,  and  such  a  care  of  his  happiness,  as  to  bring 
him  the  greatest  blessings,  even  out  of  what  appeared  to  be  the  most  sorrowful 
condition  ;  and  to  make  him  the  cause  of  our  forefathers'  departure  out  of  Egypt, 
him  and  his  posterity.  The  occasion  was  this  :  When  Jacob  had  this  son  Jo- 
seph born  to  him  by  Rachel,  his  father  loved  him  above  the  rest  of  his  sons,  both 
because  of  the  beauty  of  his  body  and  the  virtues  of  his  mind,  tor  he  excelled 
the  rest  in  prudence.  This  affection  of  his  father  excited  the  envy  and  the 
hatred  of  his  brethren ;  as  did  also  his  dreams  which  he  saw,  and  related  to  his 
father  and  to  them,  which  foretold  his  future  happiness,  it  being  usual  with  man- 
kind  to  envy  their  very  nearest  relations  such  their  prosperity.  Now  the  visions 
which  Joseph  saw  in  his  sleep  were  these  : 

2.  When  they  were  in  the  middle  of  harvest,  and  Joseph  was  sent  by  his 
father  with  his  brethren  to  gather  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  he  saw  a  vision  in  a 
dream,  but  greatly  exceeding  the  accustomary  appearances  that  come  when  we 
are  asleep ;  which,  when  he  was  got  up,  he  told  his  brethren,  that  they  might 
judge  what  it  portended.  He  said,  "  He  saw  the  last  night,  that  his  wheat  sheaf 
stood  still  in  the  place  where  he  set  it,  but  that  their  sheaves  ran  to  bow  down 
to  it,  as  servants  bow  down  to  their  masters."  But  as  soon  as  they  perceived 
the  vision  foretold  that  he  should  obtain  power  and  great  wealth,  and  that  his 
power  should  be  in  opposition  to  them,  they  gave  no  interpretation  of  it  to  Jo- 
seph, as  if  the  dream  were  not  by  them  understood :  but  they  prayed  that  no 
part  of  what  they  suspected  to  be  its  meaning  might  come  to  pass;  and  they 
bare  a  still  greater  hatred  to  him  on  that  account. 

3.  But  God,  in  opposition  to  their  envy,  sent  a  second  vision  to  Joseph,  which 
was  much  more  wonderful  than  the  former;  for  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  sun 
took  with  him  the  moon,  and  the  rest  of  the  stars,  and  came  down  to  the  earth, 
and  bowed  down  to  him.  He  told  this  vision  to  his  father,  and  that,  as  suspect- 
ing nothing  of  ill  will  from  his  brethren,  when  they  were  there  also,  and  desired 
him  to  interpret  what  it  should  signify.  Now  Jacob  v/as  pleased  with  the  dream ; 
for  considering  the  prediction  in  his  mind,  and  shrewdly  and  wisely  guessing 
at  its  meaning,  he  rejoiced  at  the  great  things  thei-eby  signified,  because  it  de- 
clared the  future  happiness  of  his  son ;  and  that,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  the  time 
should  come  when  he  should  be  honoured,  and  thought  worthy  of  worship  by  his 
parents  and  brethren,  as  guessing  that  the  moon  and  sun  v/ere  like  his  mother 
and  father  ;  the  former  as  she  that  gave  increase  and  nourishment  to  all  things, 
and  the  latter,  he  that  gave  form  and  other  powers  to  them  ;  and  that  the  stars 
were  like  his  brethren,  since  they  were  eleven  in  number,  as  were  the  stars  that 
receive  their  power  from  the  sun  and  moon. 

4.  And  thus  did  Jacob  make  a  judgment  of  this  vision,  and  that  a  shrewd  one 
also.  But  these  interpretations  caused  very  great  grief  to  Joseph's  brethren  ; 
and  they  were  affected  to  him  hereupon  as  if  he  were  a  certain  stranger,  that 
was  to  have  those  good  things  which  were  signified  by  the  dreams,  and  not  as 
one  that  was  a  brother,  with  whom  it  was  probable  they  should  be  joint-parta- 
kers ;  and  as  they  had  been  partners  in  the  same  parentage,  so  should  they  be 
of  the  same  happiness.  They  also  resolved  to  kill  the  lad ;  and  having  fully 
ratified  that  intention  of  theirs,  as  soon  as  their  collection  of  fruits  was  over,  they 
went  to  Shechem,  which  is  a  country  good  for  feeding  of  cattle,  and  for  pastu- 
rage  ;  there  they  fed  their  flocks,  without  acquainting  their  father  with  their  re- 
moval thither :  whereupon  he  had  melancholy  suspicions  about  them,  as  being 
ignorant  of  his  sons'  condition,  and  receiving  no  messenger  from  the  flocks  that 
could  inform  him  of  the  true  state  they  were  in ;  so  because  he  was  in  great  fear 
about  them,  he  sent  Joseph  to  the  flocks,  to  learn  the  circumstances  his  brethren 
were  in,  and  to  bring  him  word  how  they  did. 


46  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  II. 


CHAP.  III. 

How  Joseph  was  thus  sold  by  his  Brethren  into  Egypt,  by  Reason  of  their  hatred  to 

him ;  and  how  he  there  grew  famous  and  illustrious,  and  Jiad 

his  Brethren  tinder  his  Power. 

§  1.  Now  these  brethren  rejoiced  as  soon  as  they  saw  their  brother  coming  to 
them,  not  indeed  as  at  the  presence  of  a  near  relation,  or  as  at  the  presence  of 
one  sent  by  their  father,  but  as  at  the  presence  of  an  enemy,  and  one  tliat  by 
Divine  Providence  was  dehvered  into  their  hands  ;  and  they  ah'eady  resolved  to 
kill  him,  and  not  let  slip  the  opportunity  that  lay  before  them.  But  when  Reu- 
bel  the  eldest  of  them  saw  them  thus  disposed,  and  that  they  had  agreed  together 
to  execute  their  purpose,  he  tried  to  restrain  them,  showing  them  the  heinous 
enterprise  they  were  going  about,  and  the  horrid  nature  of  it ;  that  this  action 
would  appear  wicked  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  impious  before  men,  even  though 
they  should  kill  one  not  related  to  them,  much  more  flagitious  and  detestable 
to  appear  to  have  slain  their  ov/n  brother;  by  which  act  the  father  must  be  trea- 
ted unjustly  in  the  son's  slaughter,  and  the  mother*  also  be  in  perplexity  while 
she  laments  that  her  son  is  taken  away  from  her,  and  this  not  in  a  natural  way 
neither.  So  he  enti-eated  them  to  have  a  regard  to  their  own  consciences,  and 
wisely  to  consider  what  mischief  would  betide  them  upon  the  death  of  so  good 
a  child,  and  their  youngest  brother  ;  that  they  would  also  fear  God,  who  was 
already  both  a  spectator  and  a  witness  of  the  designs  they  had  against  their 
brother ;  that  he  would  love  them  if  they  abstained  from  this  act,  and  yielded  to 
repentance  and  amendment ;  but  in  case  they  proceeded  to  do  the  fact,  all  sorts 
of  punishments  would  overtake  them  from  God  for  this  murder  of  their  brother, 
since  they  polluted  his  providence,  which  was  every  where  present,  and  which 
did  not  overlook  what  was  done,  either  in  deserts  or  in  cities  ;  for  wheresoever  a 
man  is,  there  ought  he  to  suppose  that  God  is  also.  He  told  them  farther,  that 
their  consciences  would  be  their  enemies,  if  they  attempted  to  go  through  so 
wicked  an  enterprise,  which  they  can  never  avoid,  whether  it  be  a  good  con- 
science or  whether  it  be  such  a  one  as  they  will  have  within  them  when  once 
they  have  killed  their  brother.  He  also  added  this  besides  to  what  he  had  be- 
fore  said,  that  it  was  not  a  righteous  thing  to  kill  a  brother,  though  he  had  in- 
jured them  ;  that  it  is  a  good  thing  to  forget  the  actions  of  such  near  friends, 
even  in  things  wherein  they  might  seem  to  have  offended ;  but  that  they  were 
going  to  kill  Joseph,  who  had  been  guilty  of  nothing  that  was  ill  towards  them, 
in  whose  case  the  infirmity  of  his  small  age  should  rather  procure  him  mercy, 
and  move  them  to  unite  together  in  the  care  of  his  preservation.  That  the  cause 
of  killing  him  made  the  act  itself  much  worse,  while  they  determined  to  take 
him  off  out  of  envy  at  his  future  prosperity ;  an  equal  share  of  which  they  would 
naturally  partake  while  he  enjoyed  it,  since  they  were  to  him  not  strangers  but 
the  nearest  relations,  for  they  might  reckon  upon  what  God  bestowed  upon  Jo- 
seph as  their  own  ;  and  that  it  was  fit  for  them  to  believe  that  the  anger  of  God 
would  for  this  cause  be  more  severe  upon  them,  if  they  slew  him  who  was  judged 
by  God  to  be  worthy  of  that  prosperity  which  was  to  be  hoped  for ;  and  while 
by  murdering  him,  they  made  it  impossible  for  God  to  bestow  it  upon  him. 

2.  Reubel  said  these,  and  many  other  things,  and  used  entreaties  to  them, 
and  thereby  endeavoured  to  divert  them  from  the  murder  of  their  brother.  But 
when  he  saw  that  his  discourse  had  not  mollified  them  at  all,  and  that  they  made 
haste  to  do  the  fact,  he  advised  them  to  alleviate  the  wickedness  they  Avere  go- 

*  We  may  here  observe,  that  in  corresponrlencn  to  Joseph's  second  dream,  which  implied  that  his 
mother,  who  was  then  alive,  as  well  as  his  father,  should  come  and  bow  down  to  him,  Josephus  repre- 
sents her  here  as  still  alive  after  she  was  dead,  for  the  decorum  of  the  dream  that  foretold  it,  as  the  hi- 
lerpreJation  of  thai  dream  does  also  in  all  our  copies,  Gen.  xxxvii.  10. 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  '  47 

ing  about  in  the  manner  of  taking  Joseph  off;  for  as  he  had  exhorted  them  first, 
when  they  were  going  to  revenge  themselves,  to  be  dissuaded  from  doing  it ;  so 
since  the  sentence  for  kilhng  their  brother  had  prevailed,  he  said  that  they  would 
not  however  be  so  grossly  guilty,  if  they  would  be  persuaded  to  follow  his  pre- 
sent advice,  which  would  include  what  they  were  so  eager  about,  but  was  not  so 
very  bad,  but  in  the  distress  they  were  in,  of  a  lighter  nature.  He  begged  of  them 
therefore  not  to  kill  their  brother  with  their  own  hands,  but  to  cast  him  into  the 
pit  that  was  hard  by,  and  so  to  let  him  die  :  by  which  they  would  gain  so  much, 
that  they  would  not  defile  their  own  hands  with  his  blood.  To  this  the  young 
men  readily  agreed  ;  so  Reubel  took  the  lad  and  tied  him  to  a  cord,  and  let  him 
down  gently  into  the  pit,  for  it  had  no  water  at  all  in  it ;  who,  when  he  had  done 
this,  went  his  way  to  seek  for  such  pasturage  as  was  fit  for  feeding  their  flocks. 

3.  But  Judas,  being  one  of  Jacob's  sons  also,  seeing  some  Arabians,  of  the 
posterity  of  Ismael,  carrying  spices  and  Syrian  wares  out  of  the  land  of  Gilead 
to  the  Egyptians,  after  Reubel  was  gone,  advised  his  brethren  to  draw  Joseph 
out  of  the  pit,  and  sell  him  to  the  Arabians  ;  for  if  he  should  die  among  stran- 
gers a  great  way  ofi',  they  should  be  freed  from  this  barbarous  action.  This, 
therefore,  was  resolved  on  ;  so  they  drew  Joseph  up  out  of  the  pit,  and  sold  him 
to  the  merchants  for  twenty  pounds.*  He  was  now  seventeen  years  old.  But 
Reubel,  coming  in  the  night  time  to  the  pit,  resolved  to  save  Joseph,  without  the 
privity  of  his  brethren  ;  and  when  upon  his  calling  to  him  he  made  no  answer, 
he  was  afraid  that  they  had  destroyed  him  after  he  was  gone  ;  of  which  he  com- 
])lained  to  his  brethren ;  but  when  they  had  told  him  what  they  had  done,  Reu- 
bel  left  off  his  mourning. 

4.  When  Joseph's  brethren  had  done  this  to  him,  they  considered  what  they 
should  do  to  escape  the  suspicions  of  their  father.  Now  they  had  taken  away 
from  Joseph  the  coat  which  he  had  on  when  he  came  to  them,  at  the  time  they 
let  him  down  into  the  pit ;  so  they  thought  proper  to  tear  that  coat  to  pieces, 
and  to  dip  it  into  goat's  blood,  and  then  to  carry  it  and  show  it  to  their  father, 
that  he  might  believe  he  was  destroyed  by  wild  beasts.  And  when  they  had  so 
done,  they  came  to  the  old  man,  but  this  not  till  what  had  happened  to  his  son 
had  already  come  to  his  knowledge.  Then  they  said  that  they  had  not  seen  Jo- 
seph, nor  knew  what  mishap  had  befallen  him,  but  that  they  had  found  his  coat 
bloody  and  torn  to  pieces,  whence  they  had  a  suspicion  that  he  had  fallen  among 
wild  beasts,  and  so  perished,  if  that  was  the  coat  he  had  on  when  he  came  from 
home.  Now  Jacob  had  before  some  better  hopes  that  his  son  was  only  made  a 
captive  ;  but  now  he  laid  aside  that  notion,  and  supposed  that  this  coat  was  an 
evident  argument  that  he  was  dead,  for  he  well  remembered  that  this  was  the 
coat  he  had  on  when  he  sent  him  to  his  brethren  ;  so  he  hereafter  lamented  the 
lad  as  now  dead,  and  as  if  he  had  been  the  father  of  no  more  than  one,  without 
taking  any  comfort  in  the  rest ;  and  so  he  was  also  affected  with  his  misfortune 
before  he  met  with  Joseph's  brethren,  when  he  also  conjectured  that  Joseph  was 
destroyed  by  wild  beasts.  He  sat  down  also  clothed  in  sackcloth,  and  in  heavy 
affliction,  insomuch  that  he  found  no  ease  when  his  sons  comforted  him,  neither 
did  his  pains  remit  by  length  of  time 


CHAP.  IV. 

Concerning  the  signal  Chastity  of  Joseph. 
§  1.  Now  Potiphar,  an  Egyptian,  who  was  chief  cook  to  king  Pharaoh,  bought 

*  Tlic  Sepliiagint  have  twenty  pieces  of  f;old  ;  the  Testament  of  Gad,  30 ;  the  Hebrew  and  the  Sama- 
ritan, 20,  of  silver ;  aad  the  vulgar  Latin,  30.  What  was  the  true  number,  and  true  sum,  cannot  there- 
lore  now  ba  known. 


48  ANTIQUITIES  CF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IL 

Joseph  of  the  merchants,  who  sold  him  to  liim.  He  had  hhn  in  the  greatest 
honour,  and  taught  him  the  learning  that  became  a  free  man,  and  gave  him 
leave  to  make  use  of  a  diet  better  than  was  allotted  to  slaves.  He  entrusted 
also  the  care  of  his  house  to  him.  So  he  enjoyed  these  advantages  ;  yet  did 
not  he  leave  that  virtue  which  he  had  before,  upon  such  a  change  of  his  condi- 
tion,  but  he  demonstrated  that  wisdom  was  able  to  govern  the  uneasy  passions 
of  life,  in  such  as  have  it  in  reality,  and  do  not  only  put  it  on  for  a  show,  under 
a  present  state  of  prosperity. 

2.  For  when  his  master's  wife  was  fallen  in  love  with  him,  both  on  account 
of  his  beauty  of  body  and  his  dexterous  management  of  affairs,  and  supposed, 
that  if  she  should  make  it  known  to  him,  she  should  easily  persuade  him  to  come 
and  lie  with  her,  and  that  he  would  look  on  it  as  a  piece  of  happy  fortune  that 
his  mistress  should  entreat  him,  as  regarding  that  state  of  slaveiy  he  was  in,  and 
not  his  moral  character,  which  continued  after  his  condition  was  changed.  So 
she  made  known  her  naughty  inclinations,  and  spake  to  him  about  lying  with 
her.  However,  he  rejected  her  entreaties,  not  thinking  it  agreeable  to  religion 
to  yield  so  far  to  her  as  to  what  would  tend  to  the  atiront  and  injury  of  him 
that  purchased  him,  and  had  vouchsafed  him  so  great  honours.  He,  on  the  con- 
tvary^,  exhorted  her  to  govern  that  passion ;  and  laid  before  her  the  impossibihty 
of  her  obtaining  her  desires,  vv'hich  he  thought  might  be  conquered,  if  she  had 
no  hope  of  succeeding ;  and  he  said  that,  as  to  himself,  he  would  endure  any 
thing  whatever  before  he  would  be  persuaded  to  it ;  for  although  it  was  fit  for  a 
slave,  as  he  was,  to  do  nothing  contrary  to  his  mistress,  he  might  well  be  excu- 
sed in  a  case  where  the  contradiction  was  to  such  sort  of  commands  only.  But 
this  opposition  of  Joseph's,  when  she  did  not  expect  it,  made  her  still  more  vio- 
lent in  her  love  to  him  ;  and  as  she  was  sorely  beset  with  this  naughty  passion, 
so  she  resolved  to  compass  her  design  by  a  second  attempt. 

3.  When  therefore  there  was  public  festival  coming  on,  in  which  it  was  the 
custom  for  women  to  come  to  the  public  solemnity,  she  pretended  to  her  bus- 
band  that  she  was  sick,  as  contriviug  an  opportunity  for  solitude  and  leisure, 
that  she  might  entreat  Joseph  again.  Which  opportunity  being  obtained,  she 
used  more  kind  words  to  him  than  before  ;  and  said,  that  it  had  been  good  for 
him  to  have  yielded  to  her  first  solicitation,  and  to  have  given  her  no  repulse, 
both  because  of  the  reverence  he  ought  to  bear  to  her  dignity  who  solicited  him, 
and  because  of  the  vehemency  of  her  passion,  by  which  she  was  forced,  though 
she  were  his  mistress,  to  condescend  beneath  her  dignity  ;  but  that  he  may  now, 
by  taking  more  prudent  advice,  wipe  oft'  the  imputation  of  his  former  folly ;  for 
whether  it  were,  that  he  expected  the  repetition  of  her  solicitations  she  had  now 
made,  and  that  with  greater  earnestness  than  before,  for  that  she  had  pretended 
sickness  on  this  very  account,  and  had  preferred  his  conversation  before  the 
festival  and  its  solemnity ;  or  v/hcther  he  opposed  licr  former  discourses,  as  not 
believing  she  could  be  in  earnest,  she  now  gave  him  sufficient  security,  by  thus 
repeating  her  application,  that  she  meant  not  in  the  least  by  fraud  to  impose 
upon  him  ;'and  assured  him,  that  if  he  complied  with  her  affections,  he  might 
expect  the  enjoyment  of  the  advantages  he  already  had;  and  if  he  were  submis- 
sive to  her,  he  should  have  still  greater  advantages ;  but  that  he  must  look  for 
revenge  and  hatred  from  her,  in  case  he  rejected  her  desires,  and  preferred  the 
reputation  of  chastity  before  his  mistress  ;  for  that  he  would  gain  nothing  by  such 
procedure,  because  then  she  would  become  his  accuser,  and  would  falsely  pre- 
tend to  her  husband  that  he  attempted  her  chastity  ;  and  that  Potiphar  would 
heniken  to  her  words  rather  than  to  his,  let  his  be  ever  so  agreeable  to  the 
trull). 

4.  Wbejr  the  woman  had  said  thus,  and  even  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  neither  did 
pity  dissuade  Joseph  from  his  chastity,  nor  did  fear  compel  him  to  a  compliance . 
with  her ;  but  he  opposed  her  solicitations,  and  did  not  jield  to  her  threatenings, 
and  was  afraid  to  do  an  ill  thing;  and  chose  to  undergo  the  sharpest  punishment, 


.  C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  49 

rather  than  to  enjoy  his  present  advantages,  by  doing  what  his  own  conscience 
knew  would  justly  deserve  that  he  should  die  for  it.  He  also  put  her  in  mind 
that  she  was  a  married  woman,  and  that  she  ought  to  cohabit  with  her  husband 
only  ;  and  desired  her  to  suffer  these  considerations  to  have  more  weight  with 
her  than  the  short  pleasure  of  lustful  dalliance,  which  would  bring  her  to  repent- 
ance afterwards  ;  would  cause  trouble  to  her,  and  yet  would  not  amend  what  had 
been  done  amiss.  He  also  suggested  to  her  the  fear  she  would  be  in,  lest  they 
should  be  caught ;  and  that  the  advantage  of  concealment  was  uncertain,  and 
that  only  while  the  wickedness  was  not  known  [would  tliere  be  any  quiet  for 
them]  ;  but  that  she  might  have  the  enjoyment  of  her  husband's  company  with . 
out  any  danger  :  And  he  told  her,  that  in  the  company  of  her  husband  she  might 
have  great  boldness,  from  a  good  conscience,  both  before  Cod  and  before  men. 
Nay,  that  she  would  act  better  like  his  mistress,  and  make  use  of  her  authority 
over  him  better,  while  she  persisted  in  her  chastity,  than  when  they  were  both 
ashamed  for  what  wickedness  they  had  been  guilty  of;  and  that  it  is  much  better 
to  depend  on  a  good  life,  well  acted,  and  known  to  have  been  so,  than  upon  the 
hopes  of  the  concealment  of  evil  practices. 

5.  Joseph,  by  this,  and  more,  tried  to  restrain  the  violent  passion  of  the  wo- 
man,  and  to  reduce  her  afiection  within  the  rules  of  reason  ;  but  she  grew  more 
ungovernable  and  earnest  in  the  matter,  and  since  she  despaired  of  persuading 
him,  she  laid  her  hands  upon  him,  and  had  a  mind  to  force  him.     But  as  soon 
as  Joseph  had  got  away  from  her  anger,  leaving  also  his  garment  with  her,  for 
he  left  that  to  her,  and  leaped  out  of  her  chamber,  she  was  greatly  afraid  lest 
he  should  discover  her  lev/dness  to  her  husband,  and  greatly  troubled  at  the 
affront  he  had  offered  her,  so  she  resolved  to  be  beforehand  with  him,  and  to 
accuse  Joseph  falsely  to  Potiphar,  and  by  that  means  to  revenge  herself  on  him 
for  his  pride  and  contempt  of  her  ;  and  she  thought  it  a  wise  thing  in  itself,  and 
also  becoming  a  woman,  thus  to  prevent  his  accusation.     Accordingly  she  sat 
sorrowful  and  in  confusion,  framing  herself  so  hypocritically  and  angrily  that  the 
sorrow,  which  was  really  for  her  being  disappointed  of  her  lust,  might  appear 
to  be  for  the  attempt  upon  her  chastity ;  so  that  when  her  husband  came  home, 
and  was  disturbed  at  the  sight  of  her,  and  inquired  what  was  the  cause  of  the 
disorder  she  was  in,  she  began  to  accuse  Joseph  :   and,  "  O  husband"  said  she, 
"  mayst  thou  not  live  a  day  longer,  if  thou  dost  not  punish  the  wicked  slave  who 
has  desired  to  defile  thy  bed ;  ^\'ho  has  neither  minded  who  he  was  when  he 
came  to  our  house,  so  as  to  behave  himself  v.  uh  modesty ;    nor  has  he  been 
mindful  of  what  favours  he  had  received  from  thy  bounty  (as  he  must  be  an  un- 
grateful  man  indeed,  unless  he  in  every  respect  carry  himself  in  a  manner  agree- 
able  to  us)  ;  this  man,  I  say,  laid  a  private  design  to  abuse  thy  wife,  and  this  at 
the  time  of  a  festival,  observing  when  thou  wouldst  be  absent.     So  that  it  now  is 
clear,  that  his  modesty,  as  it  appeared  to  be  formerly,  was  only  because  of  tlio 
restraint  he  was  in  out  of  fear  of  thee,  but  that  he  was  not  really  of  a  good  dis- 
position.     This  has  been  occasioned  by  his  being  advanced  to  honour  beyond 
what  he  deserved,  and  what  he  hoped  for,  insomuch  that  he  concluded,  that  he 
who  was  deemed  lit  to  be  trusted  with  thy  estate,  and  the  government  of  thy 
fomily,  and  was  preferred  above  thy  eldest  servants,  might  be  allowed  to  touch 
thy  wife  also."     Thus  when  she  had  ended  her  discourse,  she  sliowcd  him  his 
garment,  as  if  he  then  left  it  with  her  when  he  attempted  to  force  her.     But  Po. 
liphar,  not  being  able  to  disbelieve  what  his  wife's  tears  showed,   and  what  his 
wife  said,  and  what  he  saw  himself,  and  being  seduced  by  his  love  to  his  wife, 
did  not  set  himself  about  the  examination  of  the  truth,  but  taking  it  for  granted 
that  his  wife  was  a  modest  woman,  and  condemning  Joseph  as  a  wicked  man, 
he  threw  him  into  the  malefactor's  prison  ;  and  had  a  still  higher  opinion  of  his 
wife,  and  bare  her  witness,  that  she  was  a  v/oman  of  a  becoming  modesty  and 
chastity. 
VOL.  I.  G 


50  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  11. 

CHAP.  V. 

What  Things  befell  Joseph  in  Prison. 

§  1.  Now  Joseph,  commending  all  his  affairs  to  God,  did  not  betake  himself  to 
make  his  defence,  nor  to  give  an  account  of  the  circumstances  of  the  fact,  but 
silently  underwent  the  bonds  and  the  distress  he  was  in,  firmly  believing  that 
God,  who  knew  the  cause  of  his  affliction  and  the  truth  of  the  fact,  would  be 
more  powerful  than  those  that  inflicted  the  punishments  upon  him  ;  a  proof  of 
whose  providence  he  quickly  received;  for  the  keeper  of  the  prison,  taking  notice 
of  his  care  and  fidelity  in  the  affairs  he  had  set  him  about,  and  the  dignity  of  his 
countenance,  relaxed  his  bonds,  and  thereby  made  his  heavy  calamity  fighter 
and  more  supportable  to  him  ;  he  also  permitted  him  to  make  use  of  a  diet  better 
than  that  of  the  rest  of  the  prisoners.  Now,  as  his  fellow-prisoners,  v/hen  their 
hard  labours  were  over,  fell  to  discoursing  one  among  another,  as  is  usual  in 
such  as  are  equal  sufferers,  and  to  inquire  one  of  another,  what  were  the  occa- 
sions of  their  being  condemned  to  a  prison.  Among  them  the  king's  cupbearer, 
and  one  that  had  been  respected  by  him,  was  put  in  bonds  upon  the  king's  anger 
at  him.  This  man  was  under  the  same  bonds  Mdth  Joseph,  and  grew  more 
familiar  with  him  ;  and  upon  his  observing  that  Joseph  had  a  better  understand- 
ing than  the  rest  had,  he  told  him  of  a  dream  he  had,  and  desired  he  would 
interpret  its  meaning ;  complaining  that,  besides  the  afflictions  he  underwent 
from  the  king,  God  did  also  add  to  him  trouble  from  his  dreams. 

2.  He  therefore  said,  That  in  his  sleep  he  saw  three  clusters  of  grapes  hang, 
ing  upon  three  branches  of  a  vine,  large  already  and  ripe  for  gathering,  and  that 
he  squeezed  them  into  a  cup,  which  the  king  held  in  his  hand  ;  and  when  he  had 
strained  the  wine,  he  gave  it  to  the  king  to  drink,  and  that  he  received  it  from 
him  with  a  pleasant  countenance.  This,  he  said,  was  what  he  saw  ;  and  he  de- 
sired  Joseph,  that  if  he  had  any  portion  of  understanding  in  such  matters,  he 
would  tell  him  what  this  vision  foretold  :  who  bid  him  be  of  good  cheer,  and 
expect  to  be  loosed  from  his  bonds  in  three  days  time,  because  the  king  desired 
his  service,  and  was  about  to  restore  him  to  it  again  ;  for  he  let  him  know  that 
God  bestows  the  fruit  of  the  vire  upon  men  for  good ;  which  wine  is  poured  out 
to  him,  and  is  the  pledge  of  fidelity  and  mutual  confidence  among  men ;  and 
puts  an  end  to  their  quarrels,  takes  away  passion  and  grief  out  of  the  minds  of 
them  that  use  it,  and  makes  them  cheerful.  Thou  sayest  that  thou  didst  squeeze 
this  wine  from  three  clusters  of  grapes  with  thine  hands,  and  that  the  king 
received  it ;  know,  therefore,  that  this  vision  is  for  thy  good,  and  foretells  a 
release  from  thy  present  distress,  within  the  same  number  of  days  as  the  branches 
had  whence  thou  gatheredst  thy  grapes  in  thy  sleep.  However,  remember 
what  prosperity  I  have  foretold  thee  when  thou  hast  found  it  true  by  experience : 
and  when  thou  art  in  authority,  do  not  overlook  us  in  this  prison,  wherein  thou 
wilt  leave  us,  when  thou  art  gone  to  the  place  we  have  foretold ;  for  we  are  not 
in  prison  for  any  crime,  but  for  the  sake  of  our  virtue  and  sobriety  are  we  con- 
demned  to  suffer  the  penalty  of  malefactors,  and  because  we  are  not  willing  to 
injure  him  that  has  thus  distressed  us,  though  it  were  for  our  own  pleasure.  The 
cupbearer,  therefore,  as  was  natural  to  do,  rejoiced  to  hear  such  an  interpreta- 
tion  of  his  dream,  and  waited  the  completion  of  what  had  been  thus  showed  him 
beforehand. 

3.  But  another  servant  there  was  of  the  king's,  who  had  been  chief  baker, 
and  was  now  bound  in  prison  with  the  cupbearer ;  he  also  was  in  good  hope, 
upon  Joseph's  interpretation  of  the  other's  vision,  for  he  had  seen  a  dream  also; 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  52 

so  he  desired  that  Joseph  would  tell  him  what  the  visions  he  had  seen  the  night 
before  might  mean.  They  were  these  that  follow  :  "  Methought,"  says  he,^'  I 
carried  three  baskets  upon  my  head,  two  were  full  of  loaves,  and  the  third  full 
of  sweetmeats  and  other  eatables,  such  as  are  prepared  for  kings  ;  but  that  the 
fowls  came  flying,  and  ate  them  all  up,  and  had  no  regard  to  my  attempt  to  drive 
them  away."  And  he  expected  a  prediction  like  to  that  of  the  cupbearer's. 
But  Joseph,  considering  and  reasoning  about  the  dream,  said  to  him,  that  ho 
would  willingly  be  an  interpreter  of  good  events  to  him,  and  not  of  such  as  his 
dream  denounced  to  him  ;  but  he  told  him,  that  he  had  only  three  days  in  all  to 
live,  for  that  the  [three]  baskets  signify,  that  on  the  third  day  he  should  be  cruci- 
tied,  and  devoured  by  fowls,  while  he  was  not  able  to  help  himself.  Now  both 
these  dreams  had  the  same  several  events  that  Joseph  foretold  they  should  have, 
and  this  to  both  the  parties  ;  for  on  the  third  day  beforementioned,  when  the  king 
solemnized  his  birthday,  he  crucified  the  chief  baker,  but  set  the  butler  free  from 
his  bonds,  and  restored  him  to  his  foi'mer  ministration. 

4.  But  God  freed  Joseph  from  his  confinement,  after  he  had  endured  his 
bonds  two  years,  and  had  received  no  assistance  from  the  cupbearer,  who  did 
not  remember  what  he  had  said  to  him  formerly ;  and  God  contrived  this  method 
of  deliverance  for  him.  Pharaoh  the  king  had  seen  in  his  sleep  the  same  evening 
two  visions  ;  and  after  them  had  the  interpretations  of  them  both  given  him.  He 
liad  forgotton  the  latter,  but  retained  that  of  the  dreams  themselves.  Being 
therefore  troubled  at  what  he  had  seen,  for  it  seemed  to  him  to  be  all  of  a  melan- 
choly  nature,  the  next  day  he  called  together  the  wisest  men  among  the  Egyp- 
tians, desiring  to  learn  from  them  the  interpretation  of  his  dreams.  But  when 
they  hesitated  about  them,  the  king  was  so  much  the  more  disturbed.  And  now 
it  was  that  the  memory  of  Joseph,  and  his  skill  in  dreams,  came  into  the  mind  of 
the  king's  cupbearer,  when  he  saw  the  confusion  that  Pharoah  was  in  ;  so  he 
came  and  mentioned  Joseph  to  him,  as  also  the  vision  he  had  seen  in  prison, 
and  how  the  event  proved  as  he  had  said ;  as  also,  that  the  chief  baker  was 
crucified  on  the  very  same  day  ;  and  that  this  also  happened  to  him,  according  to 
the  interpretation  of  Joseph.  That  Joseph  himself  was  laid  in  bonds  by  Potiphar, 
who  was  his  head  cook,  as  a  slave ;  but  he  said  he  was  one  of  the  noblest  of  the 
stock  of  the  Hebrews  ;  and  said  further,  his  father  lived  in  great  splendour. 
If  therefore  thou  wilt  send  for  him,  and  not  despise  him  on  the  score  of  his  mis- 
fortunes, thou  wilt  learn  what  thy  dreams  signif}''.  So  the  king  commanded  that 
they  should  bring  Joseph  into  his  presence ;  and  those  who  received  the  command 
came  and  brought  him  with  them,  having  taken  care  of  his  habit,  that  it  might 
be  decent,  as  the  king  had  enjoined  them  to  do. 

5.  But  the  king  took  him  by  the  hand  ;  and,  "  O  young  man,"  says  he,  "  for 
my  servant  beai's  v/itness  that  thou  art  at  present  the  best  and  most  skiful  person 
I  can  consult  with,  vouchsafe  me  the  same  favours  which  thou  bestowedest  on 
tins  servant  of  mine,  and  tell  me  what  events  they  are,  which  the  visions  of  my 
dreams  foreshow  ;  and  I  desire  thee  to  suppress  nothing  out  of  fear,  nor  to  flatter 
me  with  lying  words,  or  with  what  may  please  me,  although  the  truth  should  bo 
of  a  melancholy  nature.  For  it  seemed  to  me  that,  as  I  walked  by  the  river,  I  saw 
kine  fat  and  very  large,  seven  in  number,  going  from  the  river  to  the  marshes  ; 
and  other  kine,  of  the  same  number  like  them,  met  them  out  of  the  marshes, 
exceeding  lean  and  ill  favoured,  which  ate  up  the  fat  and  the  large  kine,  and 
yet  were  no  better  than  before,  and  not  less  miserably  pinched  with  famine. 
After  I  had  seen  this  vision,  I  awaked  out  of  my  sleep  ;  and  being  in  disorder, 
and  considering  with  myself  what  this  appearance  should  be,  I  fell  asleep  again 
and'  saw  another  dream,  much  more  wonderful  than  the  foregoing,  which  still 
did  more  affright  and  disturb  me  :  I  saw  seven  ears  of  corn  growing  out  of  one 
root,  having  their  heads  borne  dov/n  by  the  weigiit  of  the  grains,  and  bending 
down  with  the  fruit  which  was  now  ripe,  and  fit  lor  reaping  ;  and  near  these  I 
saw  seven  other  ears  of  corn,  meagre  and  weak  for  want  of  rain,  which  fell  to 


52  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  H. 

eating  and  consuming  those  that  were  fit  for  reaping,  and  put  me  into  great 
astonishment. 

G.  To  which  Joseph  rephed  :  "This  droam,"  said  he,  "O  king,  ahhough  seen 
under  two  forms,  signifies  one  and  the  same  event  of  things ;  for  when  thou 
sawest  the  kine,  Avhich  is  an  animal  made  for  the  plough  and  for  labour,  devour- 
ed by  the  worser  kine,  and  the  ears  of  corn  eaten  up  by  the  smaller  ears,  they 
foretell  a  famine,  and  want  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  for  the  same  number  of 
years  and  equal  with  those  Vhen  Egypt  was  in  a  happy  state ;  and  this  so  far  that 
the  plenty  of  these  years  will  be  spent  in  the  same  number  of  years  of  scarcity, 
and  that  scarcity  of  necessary  provisions  will  be  very  difficult  to  be  corrected  ; 
as  a  sign  whereof,  the  ill  favoured  kine,  wlien  they  had  devoured  the  better  sort, 
could  not  be  satisfied.  But  still  God  foreshows  what  is  to  come  upon  men,  not  to 
grieve  them,  but  that  when  they  know  it  beforehand,  they  may  by  prudence  make 
the  actual  experience  of  what  is  foretold  the  more  tolerable.  If  thou,  therefore 
carefully  dispose  of  the  plentiful  crops  which  will  come  in  the  former  jears, 
thou  wilt  procure  that  the  future  calamity  will  not  be  felt  by  the  Egyptians." 

7.  Hereupon  the  king  wondered  at  the  discretion  and  wisdom  of  Joseph  ;  and 
asked  him  by  what  means  he  might  so  dispense  the  foregoing  plentiful  crops,  in 
the  happy  years,  as  to  make  the  miserable  crops  more  tolerable.  Joseph  then 
added  this  his  advice  :  To  spare  the  good  crops,  and  not  permit  the  Egyptians 
to  spend  them  luxuriously,  but  tO  reserve  what  they  would  have  spent  in  luxury 
beyond  tlieir  necessitj^,  against  the  time  of  want.  He  also  exhorted  him  to  take 
the  corn  of  the  husbandmen,  and  give  them  only  so  much  as  would  be  sufficient 
for  their  food.  Accordingly  Pharaoh,  being  surprised  at  Joseph,  not  only  for 
his  interpretation  of  the  dream,  but  for  the  counsel  he  had  given  him,  intrusted 
him  with  dispensing  the  corn,  with  power  to  do  what  he  thought  would  be  for  the 
benefit  of  the  people  of  Egypt,  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  king,  as  believing  that 
he  who  first  discovered  this  method  of  acting  would  prove  the  best  overseer  ef 
it.  But  Josepli  having  this  power  given  him  by  the  king,  with  leave  to  make 
use  of  his  seal,  and  to  wear  purple,  drove  in  his  chariot  through  all  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  took*  the  corn  of  the  husbandmen,  allotting  as  much  to  every  one  as 
Avould  be  sufficient  for  seed  and  for  food,  but  without  discovering  to  any  one  the 
reason  why  he  did  so. 


CHAP.  VI. 

How  Joseph,  when  he  was  become  famous  in  Egypt,  had  his  Brethren  in 

Subjection. 

§  1.  Joseph  was  now  grown  up  to  thirty  years  of  age,  and  enjoyed  great  hon- 
ours  from  the  king,  who  called  him  Psothom  Phanech,  out  of  regard  to  his  pro- 
dio-ious  degree  of  wisdom ;  for  that  name  denotes  the  revealer  of  secrets.  He  also 
married  a  wife  of  very  high  quality  ;  for  he  married  the  daughter  of  Petephres,! 
one  of  the  priests  of  Heliopolis  ;  she  was  a  virgin,  and  her  name  was  Asenath. 
By  her  he  had  children  before  the  scarcity  came  on,  Manasseh,  the  elder,  which 
signifies  forgetful,  because  his  present  happiness  made  him  forget  his  former 
misfortunes  :  and  Ephraim,  the  younger,  which  signifies  restored,  because   lie 

*  Tliat  is,  bought  it  for  Pharaoh  at  a  very  low  price. 

■\  Tliis  Polipliai;  or  as  in  Josepinis,  Peiephrcs,  wlio  was  now  a  priest  of  On,  or  Heliojiohs,  is  the  sanie 
iKinic  in  Josephiis,  and  jierhaps  in  Moses  also,  with  him  wlio  is  before  called  the  head  cook,  or  capiuhi. 
of  the  guard,  and  to  wliom  Joseph  was  sold,  see  Gen.  xxxii.  3G  ;  xxxix.  1 ;  witli  xli.  50.  Thev  iiie 
.  also  affirmed  to  be  one,  and  the  same  person  in  the  testament  of  Joseph,  sect.  18,  for  he  is  there  said  lo 
have  married  the  daugliter  of  his  master  and  mistress.  Nor  is  tiiis  a  notion  peculiar  to  that  TestHineni ; 
hut,  as  Dr  Bernard  confesses,  note  on  Antic|.  I),  ij.  chaj).  iv.  sect.  1,  common  to  Josephus,  to  the  SepUi- 
a^int  interpreters,  and  to  other  learned  Jews  of  (jld  lime. 


C.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  53 

was  restored  to  the  freedom  of  his  forefathers.  Now,  after  Egypt  had  happily 
j)assed  over  seven  years,  according  to  Joseph's  interpretation  of  the  dreams,  the 
famine  came  upon  them  in  the  eighth  year;  and  because  this  misfortune  fell 
upon  tliem  when  they  had  no  sense  of  it  beforehand,*  they  were  all  sorely  afflict- 
ed by  it,  and  came  running  to  the  king's  gates  ;  and  he  called  upon  Joseph,  who 
sold  the  corn  to  them,  being  become  confessedly  a  saviour  to  the  whole  multitude 
of  the  Egyptians.  Nor  did  he  open  this  market  of  corn  for  the  people  of  that 
country  only,  but  strangers  had  liberty  to  buy  also,  Joseph  being  willing  that  all 
men,  who  are  naturally  akin  to  one  another,  should  have  assistance  from  those 
tliat  lived  in  happiness. 

2.  Now  Jacob  also,  when  he  understood  that  foreigners  might  come,  sent  all 
his  sons  into  Egypt  to  buy  corn  ;  for  the  land  of  Canaan  was  grievously  afflicted 
with  the  famine  ;  and  this  great  misery  touched  the  whole  continent.  He  only 
retained  Benjamin,  who  was  born  to  him  by  Rachel,  and  was  of  the  same  mother 
with  Joseph.  These  sons  of  Jacob  then  came  into  Egypt,  and  applied  them- 
selves  to  Joseph,  wanting  to  buy  corn  ;  for  nothing  of  this  kind  was  done  with- 
out his  approbation,  since  even  then  only  was  the  honour  that  was  paid  the  king 
himself  advantageous  to  the  person  that  paid  it,  when  they  took  care  to  honour 
Joseph  also.  Now  when  he  well  knew  his  brethren,  they  thought  nothing  of  him ; 
for  he  was  but  a  j-outh  v.hen  he  left  them,  and  was  now  come  to  an  age  so  much 
greater  that  the  lineaments  of  his  face  were  changed,  and  he  was  not  known  by 
them;  besides  this,  the  greatness  of  the  dignity  wherein  he  appeared  suffered 
them  not  so  much  as  to  suspect  it  was  he.  He  now  made  trial  what  sentiments 
they  had  about  affairs  of  the  greatest  consequence ;  for  he  refused  to  sell  them 
corn,  and  said  they  were  come  as  spies  of  the  king's  affairs ;  and  that  they  came 
from  several  countries,  and  joined  themselves  together,  and  pretended  that  they 
were  of  kin,  it  not  being  possible  that  a  private  man  should  breed  up  so  many  sons, 
and  those  of  so  great  beauty  of  countenance  as  they  were ;  such  an  education  of 
so  many  chfldren  being  not  easily  obtained  by  kings  themselves.  Now  this  he  did 
in  order  to  discover  what  concerned  his  father,  and  what  happened  to  him  after  his 
own  departure  from  him,  and  as  desiring  to  know  what  was  become  of  Benjamin 
his  brother ;  for  he  was  afraid  that  they  had  ventured  on  the  like  wicked  enterprise 
against  him  that  they  had  done  to  himself,  and  had  taken  him  ofi:'also. 

3.  Now  these  brethren  of  his  were  under  distraction  and  terror,  and  thought 
that  very  great  danger  hung  over  them;  yet  not  at  all  reflecting  upon  their 
brother  Joseph;  and  standing  firm  under  the  accusations  laid  against  them, 
they  made  their  defence  by  Reubel,  the  eldest  of  them,  who  now  became 
their  spokesman :  "  We  come  not  hither,"  said  he,  "with  any  unjust  design,  nor  in 
order  to  bring  any  harm  to  the  king's  affairs ;  we  only  want  to  be  preserved,  as 
supposing  your  humanity  might  be  a  refuge  for  us  from  the  miseries  which  our 
country  labours  under,  we  having  heard  that  you  proposed  to  sell  corn,  not  only  to 
your  own  countrymen,  but  to  strangers  also,  and  that  you  determined  to  alloAv  that 
corn  in  order  to  preserve  all  that  want  it ;  but  that  we  are  brethren,  and  of  the 
same  common  blood,  the  peculiar  lineaments  of  our  faces,  and  those  not  so  much 
different  from  one  another,  plainly  show.  Our  father's  name  is  Jacob,  an  Hebrew 
man,  who  had  twelve  of  us  for  his  sons  by  four  Avives;  which  twelve  of  us 
while  we  Avere  all  alive  were  a  happy  family ;  but  when  one  of  our  brethren,  whose 
name  was  Joseph,  died,  our  aflfairs  changed  for  the  worse ;  for  our  father  could  not 
forbear  to  make  a  long  lamentation  for  him,  and  we  are  in  aflliction,  both  by  the 
calamity  of  the  death  of  our  brother,  and  the  miserable  state  of  our  aged  father. 
We  are  now  therefore  come  to  buy  corn,  having  entrusted  the  care  of  our  fixther, 
and  the  provision  for  our  family,  to  Benjamin,  our  youngest  brother ;  and  if  thou 

*  This  entire  ignorance  of  the  Egyptians  of  these  years  of  famine  before  they  came,  told  us  before  as 
well  as  here,  chap.  v.  sect.  7,  by  Josephus,  seenis  to  be  almost  incredible.  It  js  in  no  other  copy  that  i 
know  of. 


54  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  ■  B.  H. 

sendest  to  our  house,  thou  mayst  leam  whether  we  are  guilty  of  the  least  falsehood 
in  what  we  say." 

4.  And  thus  did  Reubel  endeavour  to  persuade  Joseph  to  have  a  better  opinion 
of  them.  But  when  he  had  learned  from  them  that  Jacob  was  alive,  and  that 
his  brother  was  not  destroyed  by  them,  he  for  the  present  put  them  in  prison,  as 
intending  to  examine  more  into  their  affairs  when  he  should  be  at  leisure.  But  on 
the  third  day  he  brought  them  out,  and  said  to  them,  "  That  since  you  constantly 
affirm  that  you  are  not  come  to  do  any  harm  to  the  king's  affairs ;  that  you  are 
brethren,  and  the  sons  of  the  father  whom  you  named,  you  will  satisfy  me  of  the 
truth  of  what  you  saj',  if  you  leave  one  of  your  company  with  me,  who  shall  suffer 
no  injury  here ;  and  if,  when  ye  have  carried  corn  to  your  father,  you  will  come  to 
me  again,  and  bring  your  brother,  whom  you  say  you  left  there  along  with  you : 
for  this  shall  be  by  me  esteemed  an  assurance  of  the  truth  of  what  you  have  told 
me."  Hereupon  they  were  in  greater  grief  than  before  ;  they  wept,  and  perpe- 
tually deplored  one  among  another  the  calamity  of  Joseph ;  and  said,  "They 
were  fallen  into  this  misery  as  a  punishment  inflicted  by  God  for  what  evil  con- 
trivances they  had  against  him."  And  Reubel  was  large  in  his  reproaches  of 
them  for  their  too  late  repentance,  whence  no  profit  arose  to  Joseph  ;  and  earn- 
estly exhorted  them  to  bear  with  patience  whatever  they  suffered,  since  it  was 
done  by  God  in  way  of  punishment  on  his  account.  Thus  they  speak  to  one 
another,  not  imagining  that  Joseph  understood  their  language.  A  general  sad- 
ness also  seized  on  them  at  Reubel's  words,  and  a  repentance  for  what  they  had 
done  ;  and  they  condemned  the  wickedness  they  had  perpetrated,  for  which  they 
judged  they  were  justly  punished  by  God.  Now  when  Joseph  saw  that  they 
were  in  this  distress,  he  was  so  affected  at  it  that  he  fell  into  tears,  and  not  being 
willing  that  they  should  take  notice  of  him,  he  retired ;  and  after  a  while  came  to 
them  again,  and  taking  Symeon,*  in  order  to  his  being  a  pledge  for  his  brethren's 
return,  he  bid  them  take  the  corn  they  had  bought,  and  go  their  way.  He  also 
commanded  his  steward  privily  to  put  the  money  which  they  had  brought  with 
them  for  the  purchase  of  corn  into  their  sacks,  and  to  dismiss  them  therewith ;  who 
did  what  he  was  commanded  to  do. 

5.  Now  when  Jacob's  sons  were  come  into  the  land  of  Canaan,  they  told 
their  father  what  had  happened  to  them  in  Egypt,  and  that  they  were  taken 
to  have  come  thither  as  spies  upon  the  king;  and  how  they  said  they  were 
brethren,  and  had  left  their  eleventh  brother  with  their  father,  but  were  not 
believed;  and  how  they  had  left  Symeon  with  the  governor,  until  Benjamin 
should  go  thither,  and  be  a  testimonial  of  the  truth  of  what  they  had  said. 
And  they  begged  of  their  father  to  fear  nothing,  but  to  send  the  lad  along 
with  them.  But  Jacob  was  not  pleased  with  any  thing  his  sons  had  done ;  and  he 
took  the  detention  of  Symeon  heinously,  and  thence  thought  it  a  foolish  thing  to 
give  up  Benjamin  also.  Neither  did  he  yield  to  Reubel's  persuasion,  though  he 
begged  it  of  him ;  and  gave  leave  that  the  grandfather  might,  in  way  of  requital, 
kill  his  own  sons,  in  case  any  harm  came  to  Benjamin  in  the  journey.  So  they 
were  distressed,  and  knew  not  what  to  do.  Nay,  there  was  another  accident  that 
still  disturbed  them  more,  the  money  that  was  found  hidden  in  their  sacks  of  corn. 
Yet  M'hen  the  corn  they  had  brought  failed  them,  and  when  the  famine  still  afflict- 
ed them,  and  necessity  forced  them,  Jacob  did  [notf]  still  resolve  to  send  Benja- 
min with  his  brethren,  allhougli  there  was  no  returning  into  Egypt  unless  they 
came  ^vith  what  they  had  promised.  Now  the  misery  growing  every  day  worse, 
and  his  sons  begging  it  of  him,  he  had  no  other  course  to  tali^e  in  his  present  cir- 
cumstances.    And  Judas,  who  was  of  a  bold  temper  upon  other  occasions,  spake 

*  The  reason  why  Symeon  might  be  selected  out  of  the  rest  for  Joseph's  prisoner,  is  plain  in  the  Tes- 
tament of  Symeon,  viz.  that  he  v\-as  one  of  tlie  bitterest  of  all  Josepli's  brethren  against  him,  sect.  2, 
vrhich  appears  also  in  part  by  the  Testament  of  Zabulon,  sect.  3. 

+  Tiie  coherence  seems  to  me  to  show,  that  the  negative  particle  is  here  wanting  which  I  have  supplied 
m  brackets,  and  I  vvoiuIit  none  have  hitherto  suspected  it  ought  to  be  supplied. 


C.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  55 

his  mind  very  freely  to  him :  "  That  it  did  not  become  him  to  be  afraid  on  account 
of  his  son,  nor  to  suspect  the  worst,  as  he  did ;  for  nothing  could  be  done  to  his 
son  but  by  the  appointment  of  God,  which  must  also  for  certain  come  to  pass 
though  he  were  at  home  with  him ;  that  he  ought  not  to  condemn  them  to  such 
mainfest  destruction ;  nor  deprive  them  of  that  plenty  of  food  they  might  have 
from  Pharaoh,  by  his  unreasonable  fear  about  his  son  Benjamin,  but  ought  to  take 
care  of  the  preservation  of  Symeon,  lest  by  attempting  to  hinder  Benjamin's  jour- 
ney, Symeon  should  perish.  He  exhorted  him  to  trust  God  for  him,  and  said  he 
would  either  bring  his  son  back  to  him  safe,  or,  together  with  his,  lose  his  own 
life."  So  that  Jacob  was  at  length  persuaded,  and  delivered  Benjamin  to  them, 
with  the  price  of  corn  doubled  ;  he  also  sent  presents  to  Joseph,  of  the  fruits  of 
the  land  of  Canaan,  balsam,*  and  rosin,  as  also  turpentine,  and  honey.  Now 
their  father  shed  many  tears  at  the  departure  of  his  sons,  as  well  as  themselves. 
His  concern  was,  that  he  might  receive  them  back  again  safe  after  their  journey  ; 
and  their  concern  was,  that  they  might  find  their  father  well,  and  no  way  afflicted 
with  grief  for  them.  And  this  lamentation  lasted  a  whole  day ;  so  that  the  old 
man  was  at  last  tired  with  grief,  and  stayed  behind ;  but  they  went  on  their  way 
for  Egypt,  endeavouring  to  mitigate  their  grief  for  their  present  misfortunes  with 
the  hopes  of  better  success  hereafter. 

6.  As  soon  as  they  came  into  Egypt,  they  were  brought  down  to  Joseph.  But 
here  no  small  fear  disturbed  them,  lest  they  should  be  accused  about  the  price  of 
the  corn,  as  if  they  had  cheated  Joseph.  They  then  made  a  long  apology  to  Jo- 
seph's steward  ;  and  told  hirn,  that  when  they  came  home  they  found  the  money 
in  their  sacks,  and  that  they  had  now  brought  it  along  with  them.  He  said  he  did 
not  know  what  they  meant ;  so  they  were  delivered  from  that  fear.  And  when 
he  had  loosed  Symeon,  and  put  him  into  a  handsom.e  habit,  he  suffered  him  to  be 
with  his  brethren  ;  at  which  time  Joseph  came  from  his  attendance  on  the  king. 
So  they  offered  him  their  presents ;  and  upon  his  putting  the  question  to  them 
about  their  father,  they  answered  that  they  found  him  well.  He  also,  upon  his 
discovery  that  Benjamin  was  alive,  asked  whether  this  was  their  younger  brother? 
for  he  had  seen  him.  Whereupon  they  said  he  was  ;  he  replied,  that  the  God 
over  all  was  his  protector.  But  when  his  alTection  to  him  made  him  shed  tears,  he 
retired,  desiring  he  might  not  be  seen  in  that  plight  by  his  brethren.  Then  Joseph 
took  them  to  supper,  and  they  were  set  dov/n  in  the  same  order  as  they  used  to  sit 
at  their  father's  table.  And  although  Joseph  treated  them  all  kindly,  yet  did  he 
send  a  mess  to  Benjamin  that  was  double  what  the  rest  of  the  guests  had  for 
their  shares. 

7.  Now  when  after  supper  they  had  composed  themselves  to  sleep,  Joseph 
commanded  his  steward  both  to  give  them  their  measures  of  corn,  and  to  hide  its 
price  again  in  their  sacks  ;  and  that  withal  they  should  put  into  Benjamin's  sack 
the  golden  cup  out  of  which  he  loved  himself  to  drink.  Which  things  he  did  in 
order  to  make  trial  of  his  brethren,  whether  they  would  stand  by  Benjamin  when 
he  should  be  accused  of  having  stolen  the  cup,  and  should  appear  to  be  in  danger; 
or  whether  they  would  leave  him,  and  depending  on  their  own  innocency,  go  to 
their  father  without  him.  When  the  servant  had  done  as  he  was  bidden,  the  sons 
of  Jacob,  knowing  nothing  of  all  this,  went  their  way,  and  took  Symeon  along 
with  them,  and  had  a  double  cause  of  joy,  both  because  they  had  received  him 
again,  and  because  they  took  back  Benjamin  to  their  father,  as  they  had  promi- 
sed. But  presently  a  troop  of  horsemen  encompassed  them,  and  brought  with 
them  Joseph's  servant,  who  had  put  the  cup  into  Benjamin's  sack.  Upon  which 
unexpected  attack  of  the  horsemen  they  Avere  much  disturbed,  and  asked  what 
the  reason  was  that  they  came  thus  upon  men  who,  a  little  before,  had  been  by 
tlieir  lord  thought  worthy  of  an  honourable  and  ho.spitable  reception?  They 
replied  by  calling  them  wicked  wretches,  wlio  had   forgot  that  very  hospitable 

*  Of  the  piocioub  balsam  of  Judea,  and  the  turpcntiue,  acu  Uic  note  on  Antic].  B.  viii.  chap.  vi.  sect.  6. 


56  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IT.    ■ 

and  kind  treatment  v/hich  Joseph  had  given  them,  and  did  not  scruple  to  be  inju- 
rious to  him,  and  to  carry  ofTthat  cup  out  of  which  he  had,  in  so  friendly  a  man- 
ner, drunk  to  them  ;  and  not  regarding  their  friendship  with  Joseph,  no  more  than 
the  danger  they  should  be  inif  they  were  taken,  in  comparison  of  the  unjust  gain. 
Hereupon  he  threatened  that  they  should  be  punished  ;  for,  though  they  had  es- 
caped the  knowledge  of  him  who  was  but  a  servant,  yet  they  had  not  escaped 
the  knowledge  of  God,  nor  had  gone  off  with  what  they  had  stolen ;  and,  after 
all,  asked  why  we  come  upon  them  ]  as  if  they  knew  nothing  of  the  matter ;  and 
he  told  them  that  they  should  immediately  know  it  by  their  punishment.  This, 
and  more  of  the  same  nature,  did  the  servant  say,  in  way  of  reproach  to  them  : 
but  they,  being  wholly  ignorant  of  any  thing  here  that  concerned  them,  laughed 
at  what  he  said,  and  wondered  at  the  abusive  language  which  the  servant  gave 
them,  when  he  was  so  hardy  as  to  accuse  those  who  did  not  before  so  much  as 
retain  the  price  of  their  corn,  which  was  found  in  their  sacks,  but  brought  it 
again,  though  nobody  else  knew  of  any  such  thing ;  so  far  were  they  from  offer- 
ing any  injury  to  Joseph  voluntarily.  But  still,  supposing  that  a  search  would 
be  a  more  sure  justification  of  themselves  than  their  own  denial  of  the  fact,  they 
bid  him  search  them,  and  that  if  any  of  them  had  been  guilty  of  the  theft,  to  pun- 
ish them  all ;  for,  being  no  way  conscious  to  themselves  of  any  crime,  they  spake 
with  assurance,  and,  as  they  thought,  without  any  danger  to  themselves  also.  The 
servants  desired  there  might  be  a  search  made ;  but  they  said,  the  punishment 
should  extend  to  him  alone  who  should  be  found  guilty  of  the  theft.  So  they  made 
the  search;  and  having  searched  all  the  rest,  they  came  last  of  all  to  Benjamin, 
as  knowing  it  was  Benjamin's  sack  in  which  they  had  hidden  the  cup ;  they  having 
indeed  searched  the  rest  only  for  a  sjiow  of  accuracy  :  so  the  rest  were  out  of 
fear  for  themselves,  and  were  now  only  concerned  about  Benjamin,  but  still  were 
well  assured  that  he  would  also  be  found  innocent ;  and  they  reproached  those  that 
came  after  them  for  their  hindering  them,  while  they  might,  in  the  meanwhile, 
have  gotten  a  good  way  on  their  journey.  But,  as  soon  as  they  had  searched  Ben- 
jamin's  sack,  they  found  the  cup,  and  took  it  from  him,  and  all  was  changed  into 
mourning  and  lamentation.  They  rent  their  garments,  and  wept  for  the  punish, 
ment  which  their  brother  was  to  undergo  for  his  tksft,  and  for  the  delusion  they 
had  put  on  their  father  when  they  promised  they  would  bring  Benjamin  safe  to 
him.  What  added  to  their  misery  was,  that  this  melancholy  accident  came  un- 
fortunately at  a  time  when  they  thought  they  had  gotten  off  clear ;  but  they  con- 
fessed that  this  misfortune  of  their  brother,  as  well  as  the  grief  of  their  father  for 
him,  was  owing  to  themselves,  since  it  was  they  that  forced  their  father  to  send 
him  with  them,  when  he  was  averse  to  it. 

8.  The  horsemen  therefore  took  Benjamin  and  brought  him  to  Joseph,  his 
brethren  also  following  him  ;  who,  when  he  saw  him  in  custody,  and  them  in  the 
habit  of  mourners,  said,  "How  came  you,  vile  w^retches  as  you  are,  to  have  such 
a  strange  notion  of  my  kindness  to  you,  and  of  God's  providence,  as  impudently 
to  do  thus  to  your  benefactor,  who  in  such  an  hospitable  manner  had  entertained 
you  ?"  Whereupon  they  gave  up  themselves  to  be  punished,  in  order  to  save 
Benjamin  ;  and  called  to  mind  what  a  wicked  enterprise  they  had  been  guilty 
of  against  Joseph.  They  also  pronounced  him  more  happy  than  themselves,  if 
he  were  dead,  in  being  freed  from  the  miseries  of  this  life;  and  if  he  were  alive, 
that  he  enjoyed  the  pleasure  of  seeing  God's  vengeance  upon  them.  They  said* 
farther,  that  they  were  the  plague  of  their  father,  since  they  should  now  add  to 
his  former  affliction  for  Joseph  this  other  affliction  for  Benjamin.  Reubel  also 
was  large  in  cutting  them  upon  tliis  occasion.  But  Joseph  dismissed  them  ;  for 
he  said,  they  had  been  guiltjr  of  no  offence,  and  that  he  would  content  himself 
with  the  lad's  punishment ;  for  he  said,  it  was  not  a  fit  thing  to  let  him  go  free, 
for  tlie  sake  of  those  who  had  not  offended ;  nor  was  it  a  fit  thing  to  punish  them 
together  with  him  who  had  been  guilty  of  stealing.  And  when  he  promised  to 
give  them  leave  to  go  away  in  safety,  the  vest  of  Uiem  were  under  great  conster- 


C.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TIIE  JEWS. 


S7 


nation,  and  were  able  to  say  nothing  on  the  sad  occasion.     But  Judas,  who  had 
persuaded  their  father  to  send  the  lad  from  him,  being  otherwise  also  a  very  bold 
and  active  man,  determined  to  hazai-d  himself  for  the  preservation  of  his  brother. 
"  *It  is  true,"  said  he  "  O  governor,  that  we  have  been  very  wicked  with  reo-ard 
to  thee,  and  on  that  account  deserve  punishment;  even  all  of  iis  may  justly  be 
punished,  although  the  theft  were  not  committed  by  all,  but  only  by  one  of  us,  and 
he  the  youngest  also  ;  but  yet  there  remains  some  hope  for  us,  who  otherwise 
must  be  under  despair  on  his  account,  and  this  from  thy  goodness,  which  pro- 
mises us  a  deliverance  out  of  our  present  danger.     And  now  I  beg  thou  wilt  not 
look  at  us,  or  at  that  great  crime  we  have  been  guilty  of,  but  at  thy  own  excel- 
lent nature,  and  take  advice  of  thine  own  virtue,  instead  of  that  wrath  thou  hast 
against  us  ;  which  passion  those  that  otherwise  are  of  a  low  character  indulo-e, 
as  they  do  their  strength,  and  that  not  only  on  great,  but  also  on  very  triflino- 
occasions.     Overcome,  sir,  that  passion,  and  be  not  subdued  by  it,  nor  suffer  it 
to  slay  those  that  do  not  otherAvise  presume  upon  their  own  safety,  but  are  desi- 
rous to  accept  it  from  thee ;  for  this  is  not  the  first  time  that  thou  wilt  bestow  it 
on  us,  but  before,  when  we  came  to  buy  corn,  thou  affordedst  us  great  plenty  of 
food,  and  gavest  us  leave  to  carry  so  much  home  to  our  family  as  has  preserved 
them  from  perishing  by  famine.     Nor  is  there  any  difference  between  not  over- 
looking  men  that  were  perishing  for  want  of  necessaries,  and  not  punishing  those 
that  seem  to  be  oflenders,  and  have  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  lose  the  advantage 
of  that  glorious  benefaction  which  they  received  from  thee.     This  will  be  an  in- 
stance of  equal  favour,  though  bestowed  after  a  different  manner;  for  thou  wilt 
save  those  this  way  whom  thou  didst  feed  the  other;  and  thou  wilt  hereby  preserve 
alive,  by  thy  own  bounty,  those  souls  which  thou  didst  not  suffer  to  be  distressed 
by  famine ;  it  being,  indeed,  at  once  a  wonderful  and  a  great  thing  to  sustain  our 
lives  by  corn,  and  to  bestow  on  us  that  pardon,  whereby,  now  we  are  distressed, 
we  may  continue  those  lives.     And  I  am  ready  to  suppose  that  God  is  wilhng  to 
afford  thee  this  opportunity  of  showing  thy  virtuous  disposition  by  bringing  us 
into  this  calamity,  that  it  may  appear  thou  canst  forgive  the  injuries  that  are  done 
to  thyself;  and  mayst  be  esteemed  kind  to  others,  besides  those  who,  on  other 
accounts,  stand  in  need  of  thy  assistance  ;  since  it  is  indeed  a  right  thing  to  do 
well  to  those  who  are  in  distress  for  want  of  food,  but  still  a  more  glorious  thing 
to  save  those  who  deserve  to  be  punished,  when  it  is  on  account  of  heinous  offen- 
ces against  thyself;  for  if  it  be  a  thing  deserving  commendation  to  forgive  such 
as  have  been  guilty  of  small  offences,  that  tend  to  a  person's  loss,  and  this  be 
praiseworthy  in  him  that  overlooks  such  offences  ;  to  restrain  a  man's  passion  as 
to  crimes  which  are  capital  to  the  guilty  is  to  be  like  the  most  excellent  nature  of 
God  himself.     And  truly,  as  for  myself,  had  it  not  been  that  we  had  a  father,  who 
had  discovered,  on  occasion  of  the  death  of  Joseph,  how  miserably  he  is  always 
afflicted  at  the  loss  of  his  sons,  I  had  not  made  any  words  on  account  of  the  saving 
of  our  own  lives  ;  I  mean,  any  farther  than  as  that  would  be  an  excellent  charac- 
ter for  thyself,  to  preserve  even  those  that  would  have  nobody  to  lament  them 
when  they  were  dead  ;  but  we  would  have  yielded  ourselves  up  to  suffer  whatso- 
ever thou  pleasedest :  but  now  (for  we  do  not  plead  for  mercy  to  ourselves,  though, 
indeed,  if  we  die,  it  will  be  while  we  are  youfng,  and  before  we  have  had  the  en- 
joyment of  life)  have  regard  to  our  father,  and  take  pity  of  his  old  age,  on  wliose 
account  it  is  that  we  make  these  supplications  to  thee.     We  beg  thou  wilt  give  us 
those  lives,  which  this  wickedness  of  ours  has  rendered  obnoxious  to  thy  j)unish- 
ment ;  and  this  for  his  sake  who  is  not  himself  wicked,  nor  does  his  being  our 
father  make  us  wicked.     He  is  a  good  man,  and  not  worthy  to  have  such  trials  of 
his  patience ;  and  now  we  are  absent,  is  he  afflicted  with  care  for  us.     But  if  he 

*  This  oration  seems  to  me  too  large,  and  too  unusual  a  digression,  to  have  bsen  composed  by  Jiidas 
on  this  occasion.  It  seems  to  me  a  speech  or  declamation  compoFe(i  formerly,  in  the  person  of  Judas, 
and  in  the  way  of  oratory,  tiiat  lay  by  him,  and  which  he  thou;;lit  fit  to  insert  on  this  occasion.  See 
two  more  such  speeches  or  declamations,  Aiitiq.  B.  vi.  ch.  xiv.  sect.  4. 

Vol.  I.  II 


58  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  11. 

hear  of  our  deaths,  and  what  was  the  cause  of  it,  he  will  on  that  account  die  an 
immatui'e  death;  and  the  reproachful  manner  of  our  ruin  will  hasten  his  end, 
and  will  directly  kill  him,  nay,  vill  bring  him  to  a.miserable  death,  while  he  will 
make  haste  to  rid  himself  of  the  world,  and  bring  himself  to  a  state  of  insen- 
sibility, before  the  sad  story  of  our  end  come  abroad  to  the  rest  of  the  world. 
Consider  things  in  this  manner,  although  our  wickedness  does  now  provoke  thee 
with  a  just  desire  of  punishing  that  wickedness,  and  forgive  it  for  our  father's 
sake ;  and  let  thy  commiseration  of  him  weigh  more  with  thee  than  our  wicked- 
ness. Have  regard  to  the  old  age  of  our  father,  who,  if  Ave  perish,  will  be  very 
lonely  while  he  lives,  and  will  soon  die  himself  also.  Grant  this  boon  to  the 
name  of  fathers,  for  thereby  thou  wilt  honour  him  that  begat  thee,  and  will  grant 
it  to  thyself  also,  who  enjoyest  already  that  denomination ;  thou  wilt  then,  by 
that  denomination,  be  preserved  of  God,  the  Father  of  all,  by  showing  a  pious 
retrai'd  to  which,  in  the  case  of  our  father,  thou  wilt  appear  to  honour  him  who 
is  styled  by  the  same  name  ;  I  mean,  if  thou  wilt  have  this  pity  on  our  father, 
upon  this  consideration,  how  miserable  he  will  be  if  he  be  deprived  of  his  sons. 
It  is  thy  part,  therefore,  to  bestow  on  us  what  God  has  given  us,  when  it  is  in 
thy  power  to  take  it  away,  and  so  to  resemble  him  entirely  in  charity  ;  for  it  is 
good  to  use  that  power,  which  can  either  give  or  take  away,  on  the  merciful  side  ; 
and  when  it  is  in  thy  power  to  destroy,  to  forget  that  thou  ever  hadst  that  power, 
and  to  look  on  thyself  as  only  allowed  power  for  preservation  ;  and  that  the  more 
any  one  extends  this  power,  the  greater  reputation  does  he  gain  to  himself. 
Now,  by  forgiving  our  brother  what  he  has  unhappily  committed,  thou  wilt  pre- 
serve us  all ;  for  we  cannot  think  of  living  if  he  be  put  to  death,  since  we  dare 
not  show  ourselves  alive  to  our  father,  without  our  brother,  but  here  must  we  par. 
take  of  one  and  the  same  catastrophe  of  his  life.  And  so  far  we  beg  of  thee,  O 
governor,  that  if  thou  condemnest  our  brother  to  die,  thou  wilt  punish  us  together 
with  him,  as  partakers  of  his  crime  ;  for  we  shall  not  think  it  reasonable  to  be 
reserved  to  kill  ourselves  for  grief  of  our  brother's  death,  but  so  to  die  rather  as 
equally  guilty  with  him  of  this  crime.  I  will  only  leave  with  thee  this  one  con- 
sideration, and  then  will  s-ay  no  more,  viz.  that  our  brother  committed  his  fault 
when  he  was  young,  and  not  yet  of  confirmed  wisdom  in  his  conduct,  and  that 
men  naturally  forgive  such  young  persons.  And  I  end  here,  without  adding 
what  more  I  have  to  say,  that  in  case  thou  condemnest  us,  that  omission  may  be 
supposed  to  have  hurt  us,  and  permitted  thee  to  take  the  severer  side.  But  in 
case  thou  settest  us  free,  that  this  may  be  ascribed  to  thy  own  goodness,  of  which 
thou  art  inwardly  conscious,  that  thou  freest  us  from  condemnation  ;  and  that  not 
by  barely  preserving  us,  but  by  granting  us  such  a  favour  as  will  make  us  appear 
more  righteous  than  we  really  are,  and  by  representing  to  thyself  more  motives 
for  our  deliverance  than  we  are  able  to  produce  ourselves.  If,  therefore,  thou 
resolvest  to  slay  him,  I  desire  thou  wilt  slay  me  in  his  stead,  and  send  him  back 
to  his  father ;  or  if  thou  pleasest  to  retain  him  with  thee  as  a  slave,  I  am  fitter  to 
labour  for  thy  advantage  in  that  capacity,  and,  as  thou  seest,  am  better  prepared 
lor  either  of  these  suflerings."*  So  Judas  being  very  willing  to  undergo  any 
thing  whatever  for  the  deliverance  of  his  brother,  cast  hiniself  down  at  Joseph's 
feet,  and  earnestly  laboured  to  assuage  and  pacify  his  anger.  All  his  brethren 
also  fell  down  before  him  weeping  ;  and  delivering  themselves  up  to  destruction 
for  the  preservation  of  the  life  of  Benjamin. 

10.  But  Josepli,  as  overcome  now  v/ith  his  affections,  and  no  longer  able  to  per- 
sonate an  angry  man,  commanded  all  that  were  present  to  depart,  that  he  might 
make  himself  known  to  his  brelhren,  when  they  were  alone.  And  when  tlic  rest 
v/ero  gone  out,  he  made  himself  known,  to  his  brethren,  and  said,  "I  commend 
you  for  your  virtue  and  your  kindness  toourbrother  ;  I  fmd  you  bettermen  than  I 
could  have  expected  from  what  you  contrived  about  me.     Indeed,  I  did  all  this  to 

•  In  all  this  f  peech  of  Judas  we  rnay  observe,  that  Josephus  still  supposed  that  death  was  the  punish- 
ment ol'  theft  ill  li^^pt,  ia  the  daj-s  of  Joseph,  though  it  never  was  so  among  the  Jews  by  the  law  of  JWoser. 


C.  VII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  59 

try  your  love  to  your  brolher  ;  so  I  believe  you  wei'o  not  ^\  Icked  by  nature  in  v,hat 
you  did  in  my  case,  but  that  all  has  happened  according  to  God's  will,  Avho  has 
hereby  procured  our  enjoyment  of  what  good  things  we  have,  and,  if  he  continue  in 
a  favourable  disposition,  of  what  we  hope  for  hereafter.  Since,  therefore,  I  know 
that  our  father  is  safe  and  well,  beyond  expectation,  and  I  see  you  so  well  dis- 
posed  to  your  brother,  I  will  no  longer  remember  what  guilt  you  seem  to  have  had 
about  me,  but  will  leave  off  to  hate  you  for  that  your  wickedness,  and  do  rather 
return  you  my  thanks,  that  you  have  concurred  with  the  intentions  of  God  to  bring 
things  to  their  present  state.  I  would  have  )'ou  also  rather  to  forget  the  same, 
since  that  imprudence  of  yours  is  come  to  such  a  happy  conclusion,  than  to  be 
uneasy  and  blush  at  those  your  offences.  Do  not  therefore  let  your  evil  inten- 
tions,  when  j'ou  condemned  me,  and  that  bitter  remorse  which  might  follow,  be 
a  grief  to  you  now,  because  those  intentions  were  frustrated.  Go,  therefore,  your 
way,  rejoicing  in  what  has  happened  by  the  divine  providence,  and  inform  your 
father  of  it,  lest  he  should  be  spent  with  cares  for  you,  and  deprive  me  of  the  most 
agreeable  part  of  my  felicity  ;  I  mean,  least  he  should  die  before  he  comes  into  my 
sight,  and  enjoys  the  good  things  that  we  now  have.  Bring,  therefore,  with  you 
our  father,  and  your  wives  and  children,  and  all  your  kindred,  and  remove  your 
habitations  hither ;  for  it  is  not  proper  that  the  persons  dearest  to  me  should  live 
remote  from  me,  now  my  affairs  are  so  prosperous,  especially  when  they  must 
endure  five  more  years  of  famine."  AVhen  Joseph  had  said  this,  he  embraced 
his  brethren,  who  were  in  tears  and  sorrow.  But  the  generous  kindness  of  their 
brother  seemed  to  leave  among  them  no  room  for  fear,  lest  they  should  be  pun- 
ished on  account  of  what  they  had  consulted  and  acted  against  him.  And  they 
were  then  feasting.  Now  the  king,  as  soon  as  he  heard  that  Joseph's  brethren 
were  come  to  him,  was  exceeding  glad  of  it,  as  if  it  had  been  a  part  of  his  own 
good  fortune ;  and  gave  them  wagons  full  of  corn,  and  gold,  and  silver,  to  be 
conveyed  to  his  father.  Now  when  they  had  received  more  of  their  brother, 
part  to  be  carried  to  their  father,  and  part  as  free  gifts  to  every  one  of  them- 
selves, Benjamin  having  still  more  than  the  rest,  they  departed. 


CHAP.  VII. 

The  Removal  of  JosepKs  Father,  ivith  all  his  Family,  to  him,  on  Account  of  the 

Famine. 

§  1.  As  soon  as  Jacob  came  to  know,  by  his  sons  returning  home,  in  what  state 
Joseph  was,  that  he  had  not  only  escaped  death,  for  which  yet  he  lived  all  along 
in  mourning,  but  that  he  lived  in  splendour  and  happiness,  and  ruled  over  Egypt 
jointly  with  the  king,  and  had  intrusted  to  his  care  almost  all  his  affairs ;  he  did 
not  think  any  thing  lie  was  told  to  be  incredible,  considerihg  the  greatness  of 
the  works  of  God,  and  his  kindness  to  him;  ahhough  that  kindness  had,  for 
some  late  times,  been  intermitted :  so  he  immediately  and  zealously  set  out 
upon  his  journey  to  him. 

2.  When  he  came  to  the  well  of  the  oath  (Beersheba)  he  offered  sacrifice  to 
God ;  and  being  afraid  that  the  happiness  there  was  in  Egypt  might  tempt  his 
posterity  to  fall  in  love  with  it,  and  settle  in  it,  and  no  more  think  of  removing 
into  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  possessing  it,  as  God  had  promised  them ;  as  also 
being  afraid,  lest  if  this  descent  into  Egypt  were  made  without  the  will  of  God, 
his  family  might  be  destroyed  there ;  out  of  fear  withal,  lest  he  should  depart 
this  life  before  he  came  to  the  sight  of  Joseph,  he  fell  asleep,  revolving  these 
doubts  in  his  mind. 

3.  But  God  stood  by  him,  and  called  to  him  twice  by  his  name  ;  and  when  he 
asked,  who  he  was  ?  God  said,  "No,  sure,  it  is  not  just  that  thou  Jacob  shouldst 


(^  a:;tiqlities  cf  the  jews.  b.  il 

be  unacquainted  with  that  God  who  has  been  ever  a  protector  and  a  helper  to 
thy  forefathers,  and  after  them  to  thyself:  for  when  thy  father  Avould  have  depri- 
ved thee  of  the  dominion,  I  gave  it  thee  ;  and  by  my  kindness  it  was,  that  when 
thou  wast  sent  into  Mesopotamia  all  alone,  thou  obtainedst  good  wives,  and 
returnedst  with  many  children  and  much  wealth.  Thy  whole  family  also  has 
been  preserved  by  my  providence  ;  and  it  was  I  who  conducted  Joseph,  thy  son, 
whom  thou  gavest  up  for  lost,  to  the  enjoyment  of  great  prosperity.  I  also 
made  him  lord  of  Egypt,  so  that  he  differs  but  little  from  a  king.  Accordingly 
I  come  now  as  a  guide  to  thee  in  this  journey ;  and  foretell  to  thee  that  thou 
shalt  die  in  the  arms  of  Joseph  ;  and  I  inform  thee,  that  thy  posterity  shall  be 
many  ages  in  authority  and  glory,  and  that  I  will  settle  them  in  the  land  which 
I  have  promised  them." 

4.  Jacob,  encouraged  by  this  dream,  went  on  more  cheerfully  for  Egypt,  with 
his  sons,  and  all  belonging  to  them.  Now  they  were  in  all  seventy.  I  once 
indeed  thought  it  best  not  to  set  down  the  names  of  this  family,  especially  be- 
cause of  their  difficult  pronunciation  (by  the  Greeks)  ;  but  upon  the  whole,  I 
think  it  necessary  to  mention  those  names,  that  I  may  disprove  such  as  believe 
that  we  came  originally  not  out  of  Mesopotamia,  but  are  Egyptians.  Now 
Jacob  had  twelve  sons,  of  these  Joseph  was  come  thither  before.  We  will 
therefore  set  down  the  names  of  Jacob's  children  and  grandchildren.  Reubel 
had  four  sons,  Anoch,  Phallu,  Assaron,  Charmi.  Symeon  had  six,  Jamuel, 
Jamin,  Avod,  Jachin,  Soar,  Saul.  Levi  had  three  sons,  Gersom,  Caath,  Merari. 
Judas  had  three  sons,  Sala,  Phares,  Zcrah  ;  and  by  Phares  two  grandchildren, 
Esrom,  and  Amur.  Issachar  had  four  sons,  Thola,  Phua,  Jasub,  Samaron. 
Zabulon  had  with  him  three  sons,  Sared,  Helen,  Jalel.  So  far  is  the  posterity 
of  Lea ;  with  whom  went  her  daughter  Dinah.  These  are  thirty-three.  Rachel 
had  two  sons,  the  one  of  which,  Joseph,  had  two  sons  also,  Manasseh  and 
Ephraim.  The  other,  Benjamin,  had  ten  sons,  Bolau,  Bacchar,  Asabel,  Geras, 
Naaman,  Jes,  Ros,  Memphis,  Opphis,  Arad.  These  fourteen  added  to  the  thirty- 
three  before  enumerated  amount  to  the  number  forty-seven.  And  this  was  the 
legitimate  posterity  of  Jacob.  He  had  beside  by  Bilha,  the  handmaid  of  Rachel, 
Dan  and  Nephthali,  which  last  had  four  sons  that  followed  him,  Jessel,  Guni, 
Issari,  and  Sellim.  Dan  had  an  only  begotten  son,  U si.  If  these  be  added  to 
those  before  mentioned,  they  complete  the  number  fifty-four.  Gad  and  Aser 
were  the  sons  of  Zilpha,  who  was  the  handmaid  of  Lea.  These  had  with  them, 
Gad  seven,  Saphoniah,  Augis,  Sunis,  Azabon,  Aerin,  Eroed,  Ariel.  Aser  had 
a  daughter  Sarah,  and  six  male  children,  whose  names  were  Jomne,  Isus,  Isoui, 
Baris,  Abar,  and  Melchiel.  If  we  add  these,  which  are  sixteen,  to  the  fifty-four, 
the  forementioned  number  [70]  is  completed,  Jacob  not*  being  himself  included 
in  that  number. 

5.  When  Joseph  understood  that  his  father  was  coming,  for  Judas  his  brother 
was  come  before  him,  and  informed  him  of  his  approach,  he  went  out  to  meet 
him  ;  and  they  met  together  at  Heroopolis.  But  Jacob  almost  fainted  away  at 
this  unexpected  and  great  joy :  however,  Joseph  revived  him,  being  yet  not 
himself  able  to  contain  from  being  affected  in  the  same  manner,  at  the  pleasure 
he  now  had,  yet  was  he  not  wholly  overcome  with  his  passion,  as  his  father  was. 
After  this,  he  desired  Jacob  to  travel  on  slowly  ;  but  he  himself  took  five  of  his 
brethren  with  him,  and  made  haste  to  the  king,  to  tell  him  that  Jacob  and  his 
family  were  come  ;  which  was  a  joyful  hearing  to  him.  He  also  bid  Joseph  tell 
him  what  sort  of  life  his  brethren  loved  to  lead,  that  he  might  give  them  leave  to 
follow  the  same  :  who  told  him  they  were  good  shepherds,  and  had  been  used 
to  follow  no  other  employment  but  this  alone.     Whereby  he  provided  for  them, 

*  All  the  Greek  copies  of  Josephus  have  the  negative  particle  here,  that  Jacob  himself  was  not  reckoned 
one  of  the  70  souls  that  came  into  Egypt ;  but  the  old  Latin  copies  want  it,  and  directly  assure  us  he  joas 
one  of  them.  It  is  therefore  hardly  certain  whicli  of  tlicse  was  Josepluis's  true  reading,  since  the  number 
70  is  made  up  without  him,  if  we  reckon  Leoli  for  one,  but  if  she  be  not  i-eckoned,  Jacob  must  himself  be 
one,  to  complete  the  number.  .      ^  ,  .. , 


C.  VUI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  61 

that  they  should  not  be  separated,  but  live  in  the  same  place,  and  take  care  of 
their  father  ;  as  also  hereby  he  provided,  that  they  might  be  acceptable  to  the 
Egyptians,  by  doing  nothing  that  would  be  common  to  them  with  the  Egyptians  ; 
for  the  Egyptians  are  prohibited*  to  meddle  whh  feeding  of  sheep. 

6.  When  Jacob  was  come  to  the  king,  and  saluted  him,  and  wished  all  pros- 
perity  to  his  government,  Pharaoh  asked  him  how  old  he  now  was  ?  Upon 
whose  answer,  that  he  was  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  old,  he  admired  Jacob  on 
account  of  Ihe  length  of  his  life.  And  when  he  had  added,  that  still  he  had  not 
lived  so  long  as  his  forefathers,  he  gave  him  leave  to  live  with  his  children  in 
Heliopolis ;   for  in  that  city  the  king's  shepherds  had  their  pasturage. 

7.  However,  the  famine  increased  among  the  Egyptians ;  and  this  heavy 
judgment  grew  more  oppressive  to  them,  because  neither  did  the  river  overflow 
the  ground,  for  it  did  not  rise  to  its  former  height,  nor  did  God  send  rainf  upon 
it ;  nor  did  they  indeed  make  the  least  provision  for  themselves,  so  ignorant 
were  they  what  was  to  be  done  ;  but  Joseph  sold  them  corn  for  their  money. 
But  when  their  money  failed  them,  they  bought  corn  with  their  cattle  and  their 
slaves  ;  and  if  any  of  them  had  a  small  piece  of  land,  they  gave  up  that  to  pur- 
chase  them  food,  by  which  means  the  king  became  the  owner  of  all  their  sub- 
stance :  and  they  were  removed  some  to  one  place,  and  some  to  another,  that 
so  the  possession  of  their  country  might  be  firmly  assured  to  the  king ;  except- 
ing the  lands  of  the  priests,  for  their  country  continued  still  in  their  own  posses- 
sion. And  indeed  this  sore  famine  made  their  mmds,  as  v/ell  as  their  bodies, 
slaves;  and  at  length  compelled  them  to  procure  a  sufficiency  of  food  by  such 
dishonourable  means.  But  when  this  misery  ceased,  and  the  river  overflowed 
the  ground,  and  the  ground  brought  forth  its  fruits  plentifully,  Joseph  came  to 
every  city,  and  gathered  the  people  thereunto  belonging  together,  and  give  them 
back  entirely  the  land  which,  by  their  own  consent,  the  king  might  have  possessed 
alone,  and  alone  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  it.  He  also  exhorted  them  to  look  on  it 
as  every  one's  own  possession ;  and  to  fall  to  their  husbandry  with  cheerful- 
ness ;  and  to  pay  as  a  tribute  to  the  king,  the  fifth  partij:  of  the  fruits  for  the 
land  which  the  king,  when  it  was  his  own,  restored  to  them.  These  men  rejoi- 
ced upon  their  becoming  unexpectedly  owners  of  their  lands,  and  diligently 
observed  what  was  enjoined  them.  And  by  this  means  Joseph  procured  to  him- 
self a  greater  authority  among  the  Egyptians,  and  greater  love  to  the  king  from 
them.  Now  this  law,  that  they  should  pay  the  fifth  part  of  their  fruits  as  tribute, 
continued  until  their  later  kings. 


CHAP.  vni. 

Of  ihe  Death  of  Jacob  and  Joseph. 

§  1.  Now  when  Jacob  had  lived  seventeen  years  in  Egypt,  he  fell  into  a  disease, 
and  died  in  the  presence  of  his  sons ;  but  not  till  he  had  made  his  prayers  for 

*  Josephus  thought  that  the  Egyptians  hated  or  despised  the  employment  of  a  shepherd  in  the  days  of 
Joseph  ;  whereas  Bishop  Cumberland  has  shown  tliat  they  rather  hated  such  Phoenician  or  Canaanite 
shepherds  as  had  long  enslaved  the  Egyptians  of  old  time.     See  his  Sanclioniatho,  p.  3G1,  3U-2. 

f  Reland  here  puts  the  question,  How  Josephus  could  complain  of  its  not  raining  in  Egypt  during 
this  famine,  while  the  ancients  aflirni,  that  it  never  docs  naturally  rgiin  there  ^  His  answer  is,  that  when 
the  ancients  deny  that  it  never  rains  in  Egypt,  they  only  mean  the  Upper  Ixgy])t  above  the  Delta,  which 
is  called  Egypt  in  the  strictest  sense  ;  but  that  in  the  Delta  [and  by  consequence  in  the  Lower  Ei;ypt  ad- 
joining to  it]  it  did  of  old,  and  still  docs  rain  sometimes.     See  the  note  on  Antiq.  13.  iii.  ch.  1.  sect.  G. 

t  Josephus  supposes,  that  Joseph  now  restored  the  Egyptians  their  lands  again,  u])ou  the  payment  of 
a  fifth  part  as  a  tribute.  It  seems  to  me  rather  that  the  land  was  now  considered  as  Pharaoh's  land, 
and  this  fifth  part  as  its  rent,  to  be  paid  to  him,  as  he  was  their  landlord,  and  they  his  tenants ;  and  that 
the  lands  were  not  properly  restored,  and  his  tilth  part  reserved  as  tribute  only,  till  the  days  of  Sesos- 
iris.    See  Essa^r  on  the  Old  Testament,  Append.  148, 149. 


62  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IT. 

their  enjoying  prosperity,  and  till  he  had  foretold  to  them  prophetically  how  eve- 
ly  one  of  them  was  to  dwell  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  But  this  happened  many 
years  afterward.  He  also  enlarged  upon  the  praises  of  Joseph'*' ;  how  he  had 
not  remembered  the  evil  doings  of  his  brethren  to  their  disadvantage  ;  nay,  on 
the  contrary,  was  kind  to  them,  bestowing  upon  them  so  many  benefits,  as 
seldom  are  bestowed  on  men's  own  benefactors.  He  then  commanded  his  own 
sons  that  they  should  admit  Joseph's  sons,  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  into  their 
number,  and  divide  the  land  of  Canaan  in  common  with  them;  concerning 
whom  we  shall  treat  hereafter.  However,  he  made  it  his  request,  that  he  might 
be  buried  at  Hebron.  So  he  died,  when  he  had  lived  full  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  three  only  abated,  having  not  been  behind  any  of  his  ancestors  in  piety 
towards  God ;  and  having  such  a  recompense  for  it  as  it  was  fit  those  should 
have  who  were  so  good  as  these  were.  But  Joseph,  by  the  king's  permission, 
cai-ried  his  father's  dead  body  to  Hebron,  and  there  buried  it  at  a  great  expense. 
Now  his  brethren  were  at  first  unv/illing  to  return  back  with  him,  because  they 
were  afraid,  lest,  now  their  father  was  dead,  he  should  punish  them  for  their 
secret  practices  against  him,  since  he  was  now  gone  for  whose  sake  he  had  been 
so  gracious  to  them.  But  he  persuaded  them  to  fear  no  harm,  and  to  entertain 
no  suspicions  of  him  ;  so  he  brought  them  along  with  him,  and  gave  them  great 
possessions,  and  never  left  off  his  particular  concern  for  them. 

2.  Joseph  also  died  v/hen  he  had  lived  a  hundred  and  ten  years  ;  having  been 
a  man  of  admirable  virtue,  and  conducting  all  his  afiairs  by  the  rules  of  reason ; 
and  used  his  authority  v.ith  moderation,  which  was  the  cause  of  his  so  great 
felicity  among  the  Egyptians,  even  when  he  came  from  another  country,  and 
that  in  such  ill  circumstances  also  as  we  have  already  described.  At  length  his 
brethren  died,  after  they  had  lived  happily  in  Egypt.  Now  the  posterity  and 
sons  of  these  men,  after  some  time,  carried  their  bodies,  and  buried  them  at 
Hebron ;  but  as  to  the  bones  of  Joseph,  they  carried  them  into  the  land  of  Ca- 
naan  afterward,  when  the  Hebrews  went  out  of  Egypt ;  for  so  had  Joseph  made 
them  promise  him  upon  oath.  But  what  became  of  every  one  of  these  men, 
and  by  what  toils  they  got  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  shall  be  showed 
hereafter,  when  I  have  first  explained  upon  what  account  it  was  that  they  left 
Egypt. 


CHAP.  IX. 

Concerning  the  Afflictions  that  befell  the  Hebrews  in  Egypt  during  Four 
Hundred  Years. -f 

§  1.  Now  it  happened  that  the  Egyptians  grew  delicate  and  lazy,  as  to  painstak- 
ing,  and  gave  themselves  up  to  other  pleasures,  and  in  particular  to  the  love 
of  gain.  Thev  also  became  very  ill  atfected  towards  the  Hebrews,  as  touched 
with  envy  at  their  prosperity ;  for  when  they  saw  how  the  nation  of  the  Israel- 
ites flourished,  and  v/ere  become  eminent  already  in  plenty  of  wealth,  which 
they  had  acquired  by  their  virtue  and  natural  love  of  labour,  they  thought  their 
increase  was  to  their  own  detriment.  And  having  in  length  of  time  forgotten  the 
benefits  they  had  received  from  Joseph,  particularly  the  crown  being  now  come 
into  another  family,  they  became  very  abusive  to  the  Israelites,  and  contrived  many 

*  As  to  this  encomium  upon  Joseph,  so  preparatory  to  Jacob's  adopting  Epliraim  and  Manasseh  into 
his  own  family,  and  to  be  admitted  for  two  tribes,  which  Josephus  here  mentions,  all  our  copies  of 
Genesis  omit  it,  ch.  xlviii.  nor  do  we  know  whence  he  took  it,  or  whether  it  be  not  his  own  embellish- 
ment only. 

t  As  to  the  afHiction  of  Abraham's  posterity  for  400  years,  see  Antiq.  B.  i.  ch.  x.  sect.  3.  And  as  to 
what  cities  they  built  in  Egyjit  under  FharaohScsostris,  and  of  Pharaoh  Sesostris's  drowning  in  the  Red 
Sea  see  Essay  on  the  Old  Test.  Append,  p.  139 — 162. 


C.  IX.  ANTIQIHTIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


63 


ways  of  afflicting  them ;  for  they  enjoined  them  to  cut  a  great  number  of  chan. 
nels  for  the  river,  and  to  build  walls  for  their  cities  and  ramparts,  that  thev  mio-ht 
restrain  the  river,  and  hinder  its  waters  from  stagnating  upon  its  runninV  over 
its  own  banks  ;  they  set  them  also  to  build  pyramids,*  and  by  all  this  wore  them 
out ;  and  forced  them  to  learn  all  sorts  of  mechanical  arts,  and  to  accustom 
themselves  to  hard  labour.  And  four  hundred  years  did  they  spend  under  these 
afflictions  ;  for  they  strove  one  against  the  other  which  should  get  the  master}-, 
the  Egyptians  desiring  to  destroy  the  Israelites  by  these  labours,  and  the  Israel, 
ites  desiring  to  hold  out  to  the  end  under  them. 

2.  While  the  affairs  of  the  Hebrews  were  in  this  condition,  there  was  this 
occasion  offered  itself  to  the  Egyptians,  which  made  them  more  solicitous  for 
the  extinction  of  our  nation.  One  of  those  sacred  scribesf  who  were  very  sa^^a- 
cious  in  foretelling  future  events  truly,  told  the  king,  that  about  this  time  there 
would  a  child  be  born  to  the  Israelites,  who,  if  he  were  reared,  would  bring  the 
Egyptian  dominion  low,  and  would  raise  the  Israelites  ;  that  he  would  excel  all 
men  in  virtue,  and  obtain  a  glory  that  would  be  remembered  through  all  ages. 
Which  thing  was  so  feared  by  the  king,  that  according  to  this  man's  opinion,  he 
commanded  that  they  should  cast  every  male  child  which  was  born  to  the  Israel- 
ites into  the  river,  and  destroy  it ;  that  besides  this  the  Egyptian  midwives:}: 
should  watch  the  labours  of  the  Hebrew  women,  and  observe  what  was  born,  for 
those  were  the  women  who  were  enjoined  to  do  the  office  of  midwives  to  them ; 
and  by  reason  of  their  relation  to  the  king,  would  not  trangress  his  commands. 
He  enjoined  also,  that  if  <iny  parents  should  disobey  him,  and  venture  to  save 
their  male  children  alive,§  they  and  their  families  should  be  destroyed.  This 
was  a  severe  affliction  indeed  to  those  that  suffered  it,  not  only  as  they  were  de- 
prived of  their  sons,  and  while  they  were  the  parents  themselves,  they  were 
obliged  to  be  subservient  to  the  destruction  of  their  own  children,  but  as  it  was 
to  be  supposed  to  tend  to  the  extirpation  of  their  nation,  while  upon  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  children,  and  their  own  gradual  dissolution,  the  calamity  would 
become  very  hard  and  inconsolable  to  them.  And  this  was  the  ill  state  they 
were  in.  But  no  one  can  be  too  hard  for  the  purpose  of  God,  though  he  con- 
trive ten  tlitousand  subtile  devices  for  that  end  ;  for  this  child,  whom  the  sacred 
scribe  foretold,  was  brought  up  and  concealed  from  the  observers  appointed  by 
the  king  ;  and  he  that  foretold  him  did  not  mistake  in  the  consequences  of  his 
preservation,  which  were  brought  to  pass  after  the  manner  following. 

3.  A  man  whose  name  was  Amram,  one  of  the  nobler  sort  of  the  Hebrews, 
WPS  afraid  of  his  whole  nation  lest  it  should  fail,  by  the  want  of  5^oung  men  to 
be  brought  up  hereafter,  and  was  very  uneasy  at  it,  his  wife  being  then  with 
child,  and  he  knew  not  what  to  do.  Hereupon  he  betook  himself  to  prayer  to 
God ;  and  entreated  him  to  have  compassion  on  those  men  who  had  no  ways 
transgressed  the  laws  of  his  worship,  and  to  afford  them  deliverance  from  the 
miseries  they  at  that  time  endured,  and  to  render  abortive  their  enemies'  hopes 

*  Of  this  building  of  tlie  pyramids  of  Eg}'pt  by  the  Israelites,  see  Peiizonius  Orig.  EgyptisK,  cliap.  xxi. 
It  is  not  impossible  they  might  build  one  or  more  of  the  small  ones,  but  the  large  one  seems  iinich  later. 
Only,  if  tliey  bo  all  built  of  stone,  this  docs  not  so  well  agree  with  the  Israelites'  labours,  which  are  said 
to  have  been  in  brick,  and  not  in  stone,  as  Mr.  Sandys  observes  in  his  Travels,  p.  127,  128. 

f  Dr.  Bernard  informs  us  here,  that,  instead  of  this  single  priest  or  propl)et  of  the  Egyptians,  without 
a  name  in  Josephus,  the  Targum  of  Jonathan  names  the  two  famous  antagonists  of  Moses,  Jannes  and 
Jambrcs.  Nor  is  it  at  all  unlikely  that  it  might  be  one  of  these  who  foreboded  so  much  misery  to  the 
Egyptians,  and  so  much  happiness  to  tlie  Israelites  from  the  rearing  of  Moses. 

f  Josephus  is  clear  that  tliese  midwives  were  Egyptians,  and  not  Israelites,  as  in  our  other  copies; 
wiiich  is  very  probable,  it  not  being  easy  to  be  supnosed,  that  Pharaoh  could  trust  the  Isri  s:lite  midwives 
to  excc'ite  so  barbarous  a  command  against  their  own  nation.  Consult  tlicrefore  and  co'ii,<,t  hen  c  our 
ordinary  copies.  Exod.  i.  15 — 22.  And  indeed  Josepiuis  seems  to  have  liad  much  completer  copies  of 
the  Pentateuch,  or  other  authentic  records  now  lost,  about  the  birth  and  actions  of  Moses,  than  either 
our  Hebrew,  Samaritan,  or  Greek  bibles  afford  us,  which  enabled  him  to  be  so  large  and  particular 
about  him. 

{  Of  this  grandfather  of  Sesostris  P.aniestes  the  Great,  who  slew  the  Israelite  infants,  and  of  the  in- 
scription on  his  obelisk,  containing,  in  my  ojjinion,  one  of  the  oldest  records  of  mankind,  see  Essay  on 
the  Old  Test.  Append,  p.  139,  145,  147,  217,  220. 


64  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XL 

of  the  destruction  of  their  nation.  Accordingly  God  had  mercy  on  him,  and 
was  moved  by  his  suppHcation.  He  stood  by  him  in  his  sleep,  and  exhorted  him 
not  to  despair  of  his  future  favours.  He  said  farther,  that  he  did  not  forget  their 
piety  toAvards  him,  and  would  always  reward  them  for  it,  as  he  had  formerly 
granted  his  favour  to  their  forefathers,  and  made  them  increase  from  a  few  to  so 
great  a  multitude.  He  put  him  in  mind,  that  when  Abraham  was  come  alone 
out  of  Mesopotamia  into  Canaan,  he  had  been  made  happy,  not  only  in  other 
respects,  but  that  when  his  wife  was  at  first  barren,  she  was  afterwards  by  him 
enabled  to  conceive  seed,  and  bear  him  sons.  That  he  left  to  Ismael  and  to  his 
posterity  the  country  of  Arabia ;  as  also  to  his  sons  by  Ketura,  Troglodytes  ; 
and  to  Isaac,  Canaan.  That  by  my  assistance,  said  he,  he  did  great  exploits  in 
war,  which,  unless  you  be  yourselves  impious,  you  must  still  remember.  As  for 
Jacob  he  became  well  known  to  strangers  also,  by  the  greatness  of  that  pros- 
perity in  which  he  lived,  and  left  to  his  sons,  who  came  into  Egypt  with  no  more 
than  seventy  souls,  while  you  are  now  become  above  six  hundred  thousand. 
Know,  therefore,  that  I  shall  provide  for  you  all  in  common  what  is  for  your 
good,  and  particularly  for  thyself  what  shall  make  thee  famous  ;  for  that  child, 
out  of  dread  of  whose  nativity  the  Egyptians  have  doomed  the  Israelite  children 
to  destruction,  shall  be  this  child  of  thine,  and  shall  be  concealed  from  those 
who  watch  to  destroy  him  ;  and  when  he  is  brought  up  in  a  surprising  way,  he 
shall  deliver  the  Hebrew  nation  from  the  distress  they  are  under  from  the  Egyp- 
tians. His  memory  shall  be  famous  while  the  world  lasts ;  and  this  not  only 
among  the  Hebrews,  but  foreigners  also.  All  which  shall  be  the  effect  of  my 
favour  to  thee  and  to  thy  posterity.  He  shall  also  have  such  a  brother  that  he 
shall  himself  obtain  my  priesthood,  and  his  posterity  shall  have  it  after  him  to 
the  end  of  the  world. 

4.  Wlien  the  vision  had  informed  him  of  these  things,  Amram  awaked  and 
told  it  to  Jochebed,  who  was  his  wife.  And  now  the  fear  increased  upon  them 
on  account  of  the  prediction  in  Amram's  dream  ;  for  they  were  under  concern, 
not  only  for  the  child,  but  on  account  of  the  great  happiness  that  was  to  come 
to  him  also.  However  the  mother's  labour  was  such  as  afforded  a  confirmation 
to  what  was  foretold  by  God ;  for  it  was  not  known  to  those  that  watched  her, 
by  the  easiness  of  her  pains,  and  because  the  throes  of  her  delivery  did  not  fall 
ujpon  her  with  violence.  And  now  they  nourished  the  child  at  home  privately 
for  three  months  ;  but  after  that  time  Amram  fearing  he  should  be  discovered, 
and  by  falling  under  the  king's  displeasure,  both  he  and  his  child  should  perish, 
and  so  he  should  make  the  promise  of  God  of  none  effect,  he  determined  rather 
to  entrust  the  safety  and  care  of  the  child  to  God,  than  to  depend  on  his  own 
concealment  of  him,  which  he  looked  upon  as  a  thing  uncertain,  and  whereby 
both  the  child,  so  privately  to  be  nourished,  and  himself  should  be  in  imminent 
danger  ;  but  he  believed  that  God  would  some  way  for  certain  procure  the  safety 
of  the  child  in  order  to  secure  the  trutli  of  his  own  predictions.  When  they 
had  thus  determined,  they  made  an  ark  of  bulrushes,  after  the  manner  of  a 
cradle,  and  of  a  bigness  sufficient  for  an  infant  to  be  laid  in,  without  being  too 
much  straitened  ;  they  then  daubed  it  over  with  slime,  which  would  naturally 
keep  out  the  water  from  entering  between  the  bulrushes,  and  put  the  infant  into 
if,  and  setting  it  afloat  upon  the  river,  they  left  its  preservation  to  God;  so  the 
river  received  the  child,  and  carried  him  along.  But  Miriam,  the  child's  sister, 
passed  along  upon  the  bank  over  against  him,  as  her  mother  had  bid  her,  to  see 
whither  the  ark  would  be  carried  ;  where  God  demonstrated,  that  human  wisdom 
was  nothing,  but  that  the  supreme  Being  is  able  to  do  whatsoever  he  pleases  ; 
lliat  those  who,  in  order  to  their  own  security,  condemn  others  to  destruction, 
and  use  great  endeavours  about  it,  fail  of  their  purpose  ;  but  that  others  are  in 
a  surprising  manner  preserved,  and  obtain  a  prosperous  condition  almost  from 
the  verv  midst  of  their  calamities  ;  those,  I  mean,  whose  dangers  arise  by  the 


C.  IX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  65 

appointment  of  God.     And  indeed  such  a  providence  was  exercised  in  the  case 
of  this  child  as  showed  the  power  of  God. 

5.  Thermuthis  was  the  king's  daughter.  She  was  now  diverting  herself  by 
the  banks  of  the  river ;  and  seeing  a  cradie  borne  along  by  the  current,  she 
sent  some  that  could  swim,  and  bid  them  bring  the  cradle  to  her.  When  those 
that  were  sent  on  this  errand  came  to  her  with  the  cradle,  and  she  saw  the  little 
child,  she  was  greatly  in  love  with  it,  on  account  of  its  largeness  and  beauty  ; 
for  God  had  taken  such  great  care  in  the  formation  of  Moses,  that  he  caused 
him  to  be  thought  worthy  of  bringing  up,  and  providing  for  by  all  those  that  had 
talien  the  most  fatal  resolutions,  on  account  of  their  dread  of  his  nativity,  for  the 
destruction  of  the  rest  of  the  Hebrew  nation.  Thermuthis  bid  them  bring  her  a 
woman  that  might  alibrd  her  breast  to  the  cliild  ;  yet  would  not  the  child  admit 
of  her  breast,  but  turned  away  from  it,  and  did  the  like  to  many  other  women. 
Now  Miriam  was  by  when  this  happened,  not  to  appear  to  be  there  on  purpose, 
but  only  as  staying  to  see  the  child  ;  and  she  said,  "  It  is  in  vain  that  thou,  O 
queen,  callest  for  these  women  for  the  nourishing  of  the  child,  who  are  no  way 
of  kin  to  it ;  but  still  if  thou  wilt  order  one  of  the  Hebrew  women  to  be  brought, 
perhaps  is  may  admit  the  breast  of  one  of  its  own  nation."  Now  since  she 
seemed  to  speak  v/ell,  Thermuthis  bid  her  procure  such  a  one,  and  to  bring  one 
of  those  Hebrew  women  that  gave  suck.  So  when  she  had  such  authority  given 
her,  she  came  back  and  brought  the  mother,  who  was  known  to  nobody  there. 
And  now  the  child  gladly  admitted  the  breast,  and  seemed  to  stick  close  to  it ; 
and  so  it  was  that,  at  the  queen's  desire,  the  nursing  of  the  child  was  entirely 
entrusted  to  the  mother. 

G.  Hereupon  it  was  that  Thermuthis  imposed  this  name  Blouses  upon  him, 
from  v/hat  had  happened  when  he  was  put  into  the  river ;  for  the  Egyptians  call 
water  by  the  name  of  3Io,  and  such  as  are  saved  out  of  it  by  the  name  of  Uses : 
so  by  putting  these  two  words  together,  they  imposed  this  name  upon  him.  And 
ho  was  by  the  confession  of  all,  according  to  God's  prediction,  as  well  for  his 
greatness  of  mind,  as  for  his  contempt  of  difficulties,  the  best  of  all  the  Hebrews  ; 
for  Abraham  was  his  ancestor  of  the  seventh  generation  ;  for  Moses  was  the 
Ron  of  Amram,  v/ho  was  tlie  son  of  Caath,  whose  father  Levi  was  the  son  of 
Jacob,  who  was  the  son  of  Isaac,  who  was  the  son  of  Abraham.  Now  Moses's 
understanding  became  superior  to  his  age,  nay,  far  beyond  that  standard  ;  and 
when  he  was  taught,  he  discovered  greater  quickness  of  apprehension  than  was 
usual  at  his  age  :  and  his  actions  at  that  time  pi'omised  greater,  when  he  should 
come  to  the  age  of  a  man.  God  did  also  give  him  that  tallness  when  he  was 
but  three  years  old,  as  was  wonderful.  And  as  for  his  beauty,  there  was  nobody 
so  unpolite  as,  when  they  saw  Moses,  they  were  not  greatly  surprised  at  the 
beauty  of  his  countenance  ;  nay,  it  happened  frequently,  that  those  that  met  him, 
as  he  was  carried  along  the  road,  were  obliged  to  turn  again  upon  seeing  the 
child ;  that  they  left  what  they  were  about  and  stood  still  a  great  while  to  look 
on  him ;  for  the  beauty  of  the  child  vv^as  so  remarkable  and  natural  to  him,  on 
many  accounts,  that  it  detained  the  spectators,  and  made  them  stay  longer  to 
look  upon  him. 

7.  Thermuthis  therefore  perceiving  him  to  be  so  remarkable  a  child,  adopted 
him  for  her  son,  having  no  child  of  her  own.  And  when  one  time  she  had 
carried  Moses  to  her  father,  she  showed  him  to  him,  and  said,  she  thought  to 
make  him  her  father's  successor,  if  it  should  please  God  she  should  have  no 
legitimate  child  of  her  own  ;  and  said  to  him,  "  I  have  brought  up  a  child  ^^ho  is 
of  a  divine  form*  and  of  a  generous  mind  ;  and  as  I  have  received  him  from  the 
bounty  of  the  river,  in  a  wonderful  manner,  I  thought  proper  to  adopt  him  for 
my  son,  and  the  heir  of  thy  kingdom."     And  when  she  had  said  this,  she  put 

*  What  Josephiis  here  says  of  the  beauty  of  Moses,  that  he  was  of  a  divine  form,  is  yerj-  liko  what 
St  Stephen  says  of  the  same  beauiv,  that  Moses  was  bca-uitful  in  (he  sight  of  God,  Acts,  vii.  20 
^OL.  I.  I 


CO  AiNTlQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  II. 

Ihe  infant  into  her  father's  hands  ;  so  he  took  him,  and  hugged  him  close  to  his 
breast ;  and,  on  his  daughter's  accomit,  in  a  pleasant  way  put  his  diadem  upon 
his  head ;  but  Moses  threw  it  down  to  the  ground,  and  in  a  puerile  mood,  he 
wreathed  it  round,  and  tread  upon  it  with  his  feet,  which  seemed  to  bring  along 
with  it  an  evil  presage  concerning  the  kingdom  of  Egypt.  But  when  the  sacred 
scribe  saw  this  (he  was  the  same  person  who  foretold  that  his  nativity  would 
bring  the  dominion  of  that  kingdom  low,)  he  made  a  violent  attempt  to  kill  him  , 
and,  crying  out  in  a  frightful  manner,  he  said,  "  This,  O  king  !  this  child  is  he  of 
wliom  God  foretold,  that  if  we  kill  him  we  shall  be  in  no  danger  ;  he  himself 
affords  an  attestation  to  the  prediction  of  the  same  thing,  by  his  trampling  upon 
thy  government  and  treading  upon  thy  diadem.  Take  him  therefore  out  of  ihe 
way,  and  deliver  the  Egyptians  from  the  fear  they  are  in  about  him;  and  de- 
prive the  Hebrews  of  the  hope  they  have  of  being  encouraged  by  him."  But 
Tiierniuthis  prevented  him,  and  snatched  the  child  away.  And  the  king  was  not 
hasty  to  slay  him  ;  God  himself,  whose  providence  protected  Moses,  inclining  the 
king  to  spare  him.  He  was  therefore  educated  with  great  care.  So  the  He- 
brews depended  upon  him,  and  were  of  good  hopes  that  great  things  would  be 
done  by  him  ;  but  the  Egyptians  were  suspicious  of  what  would  follow  such  his 
education.  Yet  because,  if  Moses  had  been  slain,  there  was  no  one,  either  akin 
or  adopted,  that  had  any  oracle  of  his  side  for  pretending  to  the  crown  of  Egypt, 
and  likely  to  be  of  greater  advantage  to  them,  they  abstained  from  killing  him. 


CHAP.  X. 

How  Biases  made  War  with  tJie  Ethiopians. 

§  1.  MosEs  therefore  when  he  was  born,  and  brought  up  in  the  foregoing  mar* 
ner,  and  came  to  the  age  of  maturity,  made  his  virtue  manifest  to  the  Egyptians, 
and  showed  that  he  was  born  for  the  bringing  them  down,  and  raising  the  Israel- 
ites. And  the  occasion  he  laid  hold  of  was  this :  The  Ethiopians  who  are  the 
next  neighbours  to  the  Egyptians,  made  an  inroad  into  their  country,  which  they 
seized  upon,  and  carried  off  the  effects  of  the  Egyptians,  who,  in  their  rage, 
fought  against  them,  and  revenged  the  affronts  they  had  received  from  them ; 
but  being  overcome  in  battle,  some  of  them  were  slain,  and  the  rest  ran  away  in 
a  shameful  manner,  and  by  that  means  saved  themselves  ;  whereupon  the  Ethi- 
opians  followed  after  them  in  the  pursuit,  and  thinking  that  it  would  be  a  mark 
of  cowardice  if  they  did  not  subdue  all  Egypt,  they  went  on  to  subdue  the  rest 
with  greater  vehemence ;  and  when  they  had  tasted  the  sweets  of  the  country, 
they  never  left  off  the  prosecution  of  the  war :  and  as  the  nearest  parts  had  not 
courage  enough  at  first  to  fight  with  them,  they  proceeded  as  far  as  Memphis, 
and  the  sea  itself,  while  not  one  of  the  cities  were  able  to  oppose  them.  The 
Egyptians,  under  this  sad  oppression,  betook  themselves  to  their  oracles  and 
prophecies  ;  and  when  God  had  given  them  this  counsel,  to  make  use  of  Moses 
the  Hebrew,  and  take  his  assistance,  the  king  commanded  his  daughter  to  pro- 
duce him,  that  he  might  be  the  general  of  their  army.*  Upon  which,  when  she 
had  made  him  swear  he  would  do  him  no  harm,  she  delivered  him  to  the  king, 
and  supposed  his  assistance  would  be  of  great  advantage  to  them.     She  withal 

*  Tills  histoiy  of  l^To?es,  as  general  of  the  Etiyptians  against  the  Ethiopians,  is  wholly  omitted  in  our 
Bibles,  but  is  thus  cited  b}'  Irenteiis,  from  Josephus,  and  that  soon  after  his  own  age  :  "  Josephus  says, 
that  when  Moses  was  nourished  in  the  king's  palace,  he  was  appointed  general  of  the  army  against  the 
Ethiopians,  and  conquered  them  ;  when  he  married  that  king's  daughter,  because  out  of  her  alfeciion  for 
him,  she  delivered  the  city  up  to  him."  See  the  Fragments  oi'  henxus,  ah  edit.  Grab.  p.  472.  Nor  per 
haps  did  St.  Stephen  refer  to  any  thing  else,  when  he  said  of  Moses,  before  he  was  sent  by  God  to  th« 
Israelites,  that  he  was  not  only  karnedin  all  the  wisdom  of  ihe  Egyptians,  but  was  al  a  migldy  in  words 
and  ill  deeds.    Acts,  vii  22. 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  ffj 

reproached  the  priest ;  who,  when  they  had  before  admonished  the  Egyptians  to 
kill  him,  was  not  ashamed  now  to  own  their  want  of  his  iielp. 

2.  So  Moses,  at  the  persuasion  both  of  Thermuthis,  and  the  king  himself, 
cheerfully  undertook  the  business  ;  and  the  sacred  scribes  of  both  nations  were 
glad  ; — those  of  the  Egyptians,  that  they  should  at  once  overcome  their  enemies 
by  his  valour,  and  that  by  the  same  piece  of  management  Moses  would  be  slain  ; 
but  those  of  the  Hebrews,  that  they  should  escape  from  the  Egyptians,  because 
Moses  was  to  be  their  general.  But  Moses  prevented  the  enemies,  and  took 
and  led  this  army  before  those  enemies  were  apprised  of  his  attacking  them ; 
for  he  did  not  march  by  the  river,  but  by  land,  where  he  gave  a  wonderful  de- 
monstration of  his  sagacity  ;  for  when  the  ground  was  difficult  to  be  passed  over, 
because  of  the  multitude  of  serpents,  which  it  produces  in  vast  numbers,  and 
indeed  is  singular  in  some  of  those  productions  which  other  countries  do  not 
breed,  and  yet  such  as  are  worse  than  others  in  power  and  mischief  and  an 
unusual  fierceness  of  sight,  som»e  of  which  ascend  out  of  the  ground  unseen, 
and  also  fly  in  the  air,  and  so  come  upon  men  at  unawares,  and  do  them  a  mis- 
cliief;  Moses  invented  a  wonderful  stratagem  to  preserve  the  army  safe,  and 
v.'ithout  hurt ;  for  he  made  baskets  like  unto  arks,  of  sedge,  and  filled  them  with 
Ibes,*  and  carried  them  along  with  them ;  which  animal  is  the  greatest  enemy 
to  serpents  imaginable,  for  they  fly  from  tViem  when  they  come  near  them,  and 
as  they  ^y  they  are  caught  and  devoured  by  them,  as  if  it  were  done  by  the 
harts  ;  but  the  ibes  are  tame  creatures,  and  only  enemies  to  the  serpentine  kind. 
But  about  these  ibes  I  say  no  more  at  present,  since  the  Greeks  themselves  are 
not  unacquainted  v,ith  this  sort  of  bird.  As  soon  therefore  as  Moses  was  come 
to  the  land  which  was  the  breeder  of  these  serpents,  he  let  loose  the  ibes,  and 
by  their  means  repelled  the  serpentine  kind,  and  used  them  for  his  assistants  before 
the  army  came  upon  that  ground.  When  he  had  thereibre  proceeded  thus  on  his 
journey,  he  came  upon  the  Ethiopians  before  they  expected  him ;  and  joining 
battle  with  them,  he  beat  them,  and  deprived  them  of  the  hopes  they  had  of  sue- 
cess  against  the  Egyptians,  and  went  on  in  overthrowing  their  cities,  and  indeed 
made  a  great  slaughter  of  these  Ethiopians.  Now  when  the  Egyptian  army  had 
once  tasted  of  this  prosperous  success,  by  the  means  of  Moses,  they  did  not  slacken 
their  diligence,  insomuch  that  the  Ethiopians  were  in  danger  of  being  reduced  to 
slavery  and  all  sorts  of  destruction.  And  at  length  they  retired  to  Saba,  which 
was  a  royal  city  of  Ethiopia,  which  Cambyses  afterwards  named  Meroe,  after  the 
name  of  his  own  sister.  The  place  was  to  be  besieged  with  very  great  difhcully, 
since  it  was  both  encompassed  by  the  Nile  quite  round,  and  the  other  rivers  Asta- 
pus  and  Astaborus  made  it  a  very  difficult  thing  for  such  as  attempted  to  pass  over 
them ;  for  the  city  was  situate  in  a  retired  place,  and  was  inhabited  after  the  man- 
ner of  an  island,  being  encompassed  with  a  strong  wall,  and  having  the  rivers  to 
guard  them  from  their  enemies,  and  having  great  ramparts  between  the  wall  and 
the  rivers,  insomuch,  that  when  the  waters  come  with  the  greatest  violence  it  can 
never  be  drowned;  which  ramparts  make  it  next  to  impossible  for  even  such  as  are 
gotten  over  the  rivers  to  take  the  city.  However,  while  Moses  was  uneasy  at  the 
army's  lying  idle  (for  the  enemies  durst  not  come  to  a  battle)  this  accident  hap. 
pened :  Tharbis  was  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  Ethiopians ;  she  happened  to 
see  Moses  as  he  led  the  army  near  to  the  walls,  and  fought  with  great  courage,  and 
admiring  the  subtility  of  his  undertakings,  and  believing  him  to  be  the  author  of 
the  Egyptians'  success,  when  they  had  before  despaired  of  recovering  their 
liberty,  and  to  be  the  occasion  of  the  greater  danger  the  Ethiopians  were  in, 
when  they  had  before  boasted  of  their  great  achievements,  she  fell  deeply  in 
love  with  him  ;  and  upon  the  prevalency  of  that  passion,  sent  to  him  the  most 
faithful  of  all  her  servants  to  discourse  with  him  about  their  marriage.  He  there 

*  Pliny  speaks  of  these  birds  called /fcw,  a"'lsa)'s,  "The  Egyptians  invoked  them  against  the  ser- 
pents." Hist.  Nat.  Book  x.  ch.  28.  .Strabo  speaks  of  this  island  Meroc,  and  these  rivers  Attaphw  and 
Astaborus,  Book  xvi.  p.  771,  786,  and  Book  xvii.  p.  821 


68  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEW!  B.  TL 

upon  accepted  the  offer,  on  condition  she  would  procure  the  delivering  up  of  the 
city;  and  gave  her  the  assurance  of  an  oath  to  take  her  to  his  wife,  and  that 
when  he  had  once  taken  possession  of  the  city,  he  would  not  break  his  oaih  to 
her.  No  sooner  was  the  agreement  made,  but  it  took  eflect  immediately  ;  and 
when  Moses  had  cut  off  the  Ethiopians,  he  gave  thanks  to  God,  and  consum- 
mated bis  marriage,  and  led  the  Egyptians  back  to  their  own  land. 


CHAP.  XI. 

How  Moses  jled  out  of  Egypt  to  Midian. 

§  1.  Now  the  Egyptians,  after  they  had  been  preserved  by  Moses,  entertained 
a  hatred  to  him,  and  were  very  eager  in  compassing  their  designs  against  him, 
as  suspecting  that  he  would  take  occasion  from  his  good  success,  to  raise  a  se- 
dition,  and  bring  innovations  into  Egypt ;  and"  told  the  king  he  ought  to  be  slain. 
The  king  had  also  some  intentions  of  himself  to  the  same  purpose,  and  this  as 
well  out  of  envy  at  his  glorious  expedition  at  the  head  of  his  army,  as  out  of  fear 
of  being  brought  low  by  him;  and  being  instigated  by  the  sacred  scribes,  he  was 
ready  to  undertake  to  kill  Moses.  But  when  he  had  learned  beforehand  what 
plots  there  were  against  him,  he  went  away  privately  ;  and  because  the  public 
roads  were  watched,  he  took  his  flight  through  the  deserts,  and  where  his  enemies 
could  not  suspect  he  would  travel ;  and  though  he  was  destitute  of  food,  he  went 
on,  and  despised  that  difficulty  courageously.  And  when  he  came  to  the  city 
Midian,  which  lay  upon  the  Red  Sea,  and  was  so  denominated  from  one  of 
Abraham's  sons  by  Keturah,  he  sat  upon  a  certain  well,  and  rested  himself  there 
after  his  laborious  journey  and  the  affliction  he  had  been  in.  It  was  not  far  from 
the  city ;  and  the  time  of  the  day  was  noon,  where  he  had  an  occasion  offered 
him  by  the  custom  of  the  country  of  doing  what  recommended  his  virtue  and 
afibrded  him  an  opportunity  of  bettering  his  circumstances. 

2.  For  that  country  having  but  Utile  water,  the  shepherds  used  to  seize  on  the 
wells  before  others  came,  lest  their  liocks  should  want  water,  and  lest  it  should 
be  spent  by  others  before  they  came.  There  were  now  come  therefore  to  this 
well  seven  sisters  that  were  virgins,  the  daughters  of  Raguel,  a  priest,  and  one 
thought  worthy  by  the  people  of  the  country  of  great  honour.  These  virgins, 
who  took  care  of  their  father'^  flocks,  which  sort  of  work  it  was  customaiy  and 
very  familiar  for  v/omen  to  do  in  the  country  of  the  Troglodytes,  they  came  first 
of  all,  aad  drew  water  out  of  the  well  in  a  quantity  sufficient  for  their  flocks,  into 
troughs,  which  were  made  for  the  reception  of  that  water.  But  when  the  shep- 
herds came  upon  the  maidens,  and  drove  them  away,  that  they  might  have  the 
command  of  the  waters  themselves,  l\Ioses  thinking  it  would  be  a  terrible  re- 
proach upon  him  if  he  overlooked  the  young  women  under  unjust  oppression, 
and  should  suffer  the  violence  of  the  men  to  pi-evail  over  the  right  of  the  maidens, 
he  drove  away  the  men  who  had  a  mind  to  more  than  their  share,  and  afforded 
a  proper  assistance  to  the  women ;  who,  wlien  they  had  received  such  a  benefit 
from  him,  came  to  their  father,  and  told  him  how  they  had  been  affronted  by  the 
shepherds,  and  assisted  by  a  stranger,  and  entreated  that  he  would  not  let  this 
generous  action  be  done  in  vain,  nor  go  without  a  reward.  Now  the  father  took 
it  well  from  his  daughters  that  they  were  so  desirous  to  reward  their  benefactor, 
and  bid  them  bring  Moses  into  his  presence,  that  he  might  be  rewarded  as  he 
deserved.  And  when  Moses  came,  he  told  him  what  testimony  his  daughters 
bare  to  him,  that  he  had  assisted  them  ;  and  that,  as  he  admired  him  for  his 
virtue,  he  said,  that  Moses  had  bestowed  such  his  assistance  on  persons  not  in- 
sensible of  benefits,  but  where  they  were  both  able  and  willing  to  return  the 
kindness,  and  even  to  exceed  the  measure  of  his  generosity.     So  he-made  him  his 


C  XTI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  69 

son,  and  gave  him  one  of  his  daughters  in  marriage  ;  and  appointed  him  to  be  the 
guardian  and  superintendant  over  his  cattle  ;  for  of  old  all  the  wealth  of  the  bar- 
barians  was  in  those  cuttle. 


CHAP.  XII. 

Concerning  the  httrning  Bush,  and  the  Rod  of  Moses. 

§  1.  Now  Moses,  when  he  had  obtained  this  favour  of  Jethro,  for  that  was  one 
of  the  names  of  Raguel,  stayed  there,  and  fed  his  flock ;  but  some  time   after- 
ward,  taking  his  station  at  the  mountain  called  Sinai,  he  drove  his  flock  thither 
to  feed  them.     Novv^  this  is  the  highest  of  all  the  mountains  thereabouts,  and  the 
best  for  pasturage,  the  herbage  being  there  good  ;  and  it  had  not  been  before 
fed  upon,  because  of  the  opinion  men  had  that  God  dwelt  there,  the   shepherds 
not  daring  to  ascend  up  to  it.     And  here  it  was  that  a  wonderful  prodigy  hap- 
pened to  Moses ;  for  a  fire  fed  upon  a  thorn-bush,  yet  did  the  green  leaves  and 
the  flowers  continue  untouched,  and  the  fire  did  not  at  all  consume  the   fruit- 
branches,  although  the  flame  was  great  and  fierce.     Moses  was   affi'ighted   at 
this  strange  sight,  as  it  was  to  him  ;  but  he  was  still  more  astonished  when  the 
fire  uttered  a  vo'ce,  and  called  to  him  by  name,   and  spake  words  to  him,  by 
which  it  signified  to  him  how  bold  he  had  been  in  venturing  to  come  into  a  place 
whither  no  man  had  ever  come  before,  because  the  place  was  divine  :  and  advi- 
sed him  to  remove  a  great  way  from  the  flame,  and  to  be  contented  with  what  he 
had  seen ;  and  though  he  were  himself  a  good  man,  and  the  offspring  of  great 
men,  yet  that  he  should  not  pry  any  farther  ;  and  he  foretold  to  him,  that  he  should 
have  glory  and  honour  among  men,  by  the  blessing  of  God  upon  him.     He  also 
commanded  him  to  go  away  thence  with  confidence  to  Egypt,  in  order  to  his 
beino-  the  commander  and  conductor  of  the  body  of  the  Hebrews,  and  to  his  de- 
livering his  oAvn  people  from  the  injuries  they  suffered  there  :  "  For,"  said  God, 
"  they  shall  inhabit  this  happy  land  which  your  forefather  Abraham  inhabited, 
and  shall  have  the  enjoyment  of  all  sorts  of  good  things ;  and  thou  by  thy  pru- 
dence  shalt  guide  them  to  those  good  things."     But  still  he  enjoined  him,  when 
he  had  brought  the  Hebrews  out  or  the  land  of  Egypt,  to  come  to  that  place,  and 
to  offer  sacrifices  of  thanksgiving  there.     Such  were  the  divine  oracles  which 
were  delivered  out  of  the  fire. 

2.  But  Moses  was  astonishea  at  what  he  saw,  and  much  more  at  what  he 
heard  ;  and  he  said,  "  I  think  it  would  be  an  instance  of  too  great  madness,  O 
Lord,  for  one  of  that  regard  I  bear  to  thee,  to  distrust  thy  power,  since  I  myself 
adore  it,  and  know  that  it  has  been  made  manifest  to  my  progenitors ;  but  I  am 
still  in  doubt  how  I,  who  am  a  private  man,  and  one  of  no  abilities,  should  eitlier 
persuade  my  own  countrymen  to  leave  the  country  they  now  inhabit,  and  to 
follow  me  to  a  land  whither  I  lead  them  ;  or  if  they  should  be  persuaded,  how 
can  I  force  Pharaoh  to  permit  them  to  depart,  since  they  augment  their  own 
wealth  and  prosperity  by  the  labours  and  works  they  put  upon  them  V 

3.  But  God  persuaded  him  to  be  courageous  on  all  occasions,  and  promised  to 
be  with  him,  and  to  assist  him  in  his  words  when  he  was  to  persuade  men,  and  in 
his  deeds  when  he  was  to  perform  v/onders.  He  bid  him  also  to  take  a  signal 
of  the  truth  of  what  he  said,  by  throwing  his  rod  upon  the  ground  ;  which,  when 
he  had  done,  it  crept  along,  and  was  become  a  serpent,  and  rolled  itself  round 
in  its  folds,  and  erected  its  head,  as  ready  to  revenge  itself  on  such  as  should 
assault  it,  after  which  it  became  a  rod  again  as  it  was  before.  After  this  God 
bid  Moses  to  put  his  right  hand  into  his  bosom ;  he  obeyed,  and  when  he  took  it 
out  it  was  white,  and  in  colour  like  to  chalk,  but  afterward  it  returned  to  its 
wonted  colour  again.     He  also,  upon  God'$  command,  took  some  of  the  water 


70  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IL 

that  was  near  him,  and  poured  it  upon  the  ground,  and  saw  the  colour  was  that 
of"  blood.  Upon  the  wonder  that  Moses  showed  at  these  signs,  God  exhorted  him 
to  be  of  good  courage,  and  to  be  assured  he  would  be  the  greatest  support  to 
him  ;  and  bid  him  make  use  of  those  signs  in  order  to  obtain  belief  among  all 
men,  that  thou  art  sent  by  me,  and  dost  all  things  according  to  my  commands. 
Accordingly  I  enjoin  thee  to  make  no  more  delays,  but  to  make  haste  to  Egypt, 
and  to  travel  night  and  day,  and  not  to  draw  out  the  time,  and  so  make  the 
slavery  of  the  Hebrews  and  their  sufferings  to  last  the  longer. 

4.  Moses,  having  now  seen  and  heard  these  wonders,  that  assured  him  of  the 
truth  of  these  promises  to  God,  had  no  room  left  him  to  disbelieve  them  ;  so  he 
entreated  him  to  grant  him  that  power  when  he  should  be  in  Egypt ;  and  besought 
him  to  vouchsafe  him  the  knowledge  of  his  own  name,  and  since  he  had  heard  and 
seen  him,  that  he  would  also  tell  him  his  name,  that  when  he  offered  sacrifices  he 
might  invoke  liim  by  such  his  name  in  his  oblations.  Whereupon  God  declared  to 
him  his  holy  name,  which  had  never  besn  discovered  to  men  before  ;  concerning 
which  it  is*  not  lawful  for  me  to  say  any  more.  Now  these  signs  accompanied 
Moses,  not  then  only,  but  always  when  he  prayed  for  them.  Of  all  which  signs 
he  attributed  the  firmest  assent  to  the  fire  in  the  bush ;  and  believing  that  God 
would  be  a  gracious  supporter  to  him,  he  hoped  he  should  be  able  to  deliver  his 
own  nation,  and  bring  calamities  on  the  Egyptians. 


CHAP.  xni. 

How  Moses  and  Aaron  returned  to  Egypt  to  Pharaoh. 

§  1 .  So  Moses,  when  he  understood  that  the  Pharaoh  in  whose  reign  he  fled  away 
was  dead,  asked  leave  of  Raguel  to  go  to  Egypt,  for  the  benefit  of  his  own  people. 
And  he  took  with  him  Zipporah,  the  daughter  of  Raguel,  whom  he  had  married, 
and  the  children  he  had  by  her,  Gersom  and  Eleasar,  and  made  haste  into  Egypt. 
Now  the  former  of  those  names,  Gersom,  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  signifies,  that  he 
was  in  a  strange  land :  and  Eleasar,  that  by  the  assistance  of  the  God  of  his  fathers, 
he  had  escaped  from  the  Egyptians.  Now  when  they  were  near  the  borders, 
Aaron  his  brother,  by  the  command  of  God,  met  him,  to  whom  he  declared  what 
had  befallen  him  at  the  mountain,  and  the  commands  that  God  had  given  him.  But 
as  they  were  going  forward,  the  chief  men  among  the  Hebrews  having  learned 
that  they  were  coming,  met  them ;  to  whom  Moses  declared  the  signs  he  had  seen ; 
and  while  they  could  not  believe  them,  he  made  them  see  them.  So  they  took 
courage  at  these  surprising  and  unexpected  sights,  and  hoped  well  of  their  entire 
deliverance,  as  believing  now  that  God  took  care  of  their  preservation. 

2.  Since,  then,  Moses  found  that  the  Hebrews  would  be  obedient  to  whatsoever 
he  should  direct,  as  they  promised  to  be,  and  were  in  love  with  liberty,  he  came  to 
the  king,  who  had  indeed  but  lately  received  the  government,  and  told  him  how 
much  he  had  done  for  the  good  of  the  Egyptians,  when  they  were  despised  by  the 
Ethiopians,  and  their  country  laid  waste  by  them:  and  how  he  had  been  the  com- 
mander of  their  forces,  and  had  laboured  for  them,  as  if  they  had  been  his  own 
people  ;  and  he  informed  him  in  what  danger  he  had  been  during  that  expedition, 
without  having  any  proper  returns  made  him,  as  he  had  deserved.  He  also  inform- 

*  This  superstitions  fear  of  discovering  the  name  luith  four  letters,  which  of  late  we  have  been  used 
falsely  to  pronounce  JeAowaA,  but  seems  to  have  been  originally  pronounced  Jahoh,  or  Jao,  is  never,  I 
think,  heard  of  till  this  passa2;e  of  Josephus  ;  and  this  superstition,  in  not  pronouncing  that  name,  has 
continued  among  the  Rabbinical  Jews  to  this  day  (though  whether  the  Samaritans  and  Caraites  observed 
it  so  early,  does  not  appear.)  Josephus  also  durst  not  set  down  the  very  words  of  the  ten  command- 
ments, as  we  shall  see  heieafier,  Antiq.  B.  iii.  ch.  v.  sect  4,  which  superstitious  silence,  I  think,  has  yet 
not  been  continued,  even  by  the  Rabbins.  It  is,  however,  no  doubt  but  both  these  cautious  concejilments 
were  taught  Josephus  by  the  Fharisees,  a  body  of  men  at  once  very  wicked  and  very  superstitious, 


C  TOIL  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS."  7j 

ed  him  distinctly,  what  things  happened  to  him  at  Mount  Sinai ;  and  what  God  saia 
to  him ;  and  the  signs  that  were  done  by  God,  in  order  to  assure  him  of  the  autho- 
rity of  those  commands  which  he  had  given  him.  He  also  exhorted  him  not  to 
disbeheve  what  he  told  him,  nor  to  oppose  the  will  of  God. 

3.  But  when  the  king  derided  Moses,  he  made  him  in  earnest  to  see  the  signs 
that  were  done  at  Mount  Sinai.  Yet  was  the  king  very  angry  with  him,  and  called 
him  an  ill  man,  who  had  formerly  run  away  from  his  Egyptian  slavery,  and  came 
now  back  with  deceitful  tricks,  and  wonders,  and  magical  arts,  to  astonish  him. 
And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  commanded  the  priests  to  let  him  see  the  same 
wonueiful  sights,  as  knowing  that  tne  Egyptians  were  skilful  in  this  kind  of 
learning,  and  that  he  was  not  the  only  person  who  knew  them  and  pretended 
them  to  be  divine ;  as  also  he  told  him,  that  when  he  brought  such  wonderful 
sights  before  him,  he  would  only  be  believed  by  the  unlearned.  Now  when  the 
priests  threw  down  their  rods,  they  became  serpents.  But  Moses  was  not  daunted 
at  it ;  and  said,  "O  king,  I  do  not  myself  despise  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians, 
but  I  say,  that  what  I  do  is  so  much  superior  to  what  these  do  by  magic  arts  and 
tricks  as  divine  power  exceeds  the  power  of  man.  But  I  will  demonstrate,  that 
what  I  do  is  not  done  by  craft,  or  counterfeiting  what  is  not  really  true,  but  that 
they  appear  by  the  providence  and  power  of  God."  And  when  he  had  said  this, 
he  cast  his  rod  down  upon  the  ground,  and  commanded  it  to  turn  itself  into  a 
serpent.  It  obeyed  him,  and  went  all  round,  and  devoured  the  rods  of  the 
Egyptians,  which  seemed  to  be  dragons,  until  it  had  consumed  them  all ;  it  then 
returned  to  its  own  form,  and  Moses  took  it  into  his  hand  again. 

4.  However,  the  king  was  no  more  moved  when  this  was  done  than  before ; 
and  being  very  angry,  he  said,  "That  he  should  gain  nothing  by  this  his  cun- 
ning and  shrewdness  against  the  Egyptians."  And  he  commanded  him  that 
was  the  chief  task-master  over  the  Hebrews,  to  give  them  no  relaxation  from 
their  laboui-s,  but  to  compel  them  to  submit  to  greater  oppressions  than  before. 
And  though  he  allowed  them  chaff  before  for  the  making  their  bricks,  he  would 
allow  it  them  no  longer  ;  but  he  made  them  to  work  hard  at  brick  making  in  the 
daytime,  and  to  gather  chaff  in  the  night.  Now  when  their  labour  was  thus 
doubled  upon  them,  they  laid  the  blame  upon  Moses,  because  their  labour  and  their 
misery  were  on  his  account  become  more  severe  to  them.  But  Moses  did  not 
let  his  courage  sink  for  the  king's  threatenings,  nor  did  he  abate  of  his  zeal  on 
account  of  the  Hebrews'  complaints,  but  he  supported  himself,  and  set  his  soul 
resolutely  against  them  both,  and  used  his  own  utmost  diligence  to  procure  liberty 
to  his  countrymen.  So  he  went  to  the  king,  and  persuaded  him  to  let  the  He- 
brews go  to  Mount  Sinai,  and  there  to  sacrifice  to  God,  because  God  had 
enjoined  them  so  to  do.  He  persuaded  him  also,  not  to  counterwork  the  designs 
of  God,  but  to  esteem  his  favour  above  all  things,  and  to  permit  them  to  depart, 
lest,  before  he  be  aware,  he  lay  an  obstruction  in  the  way  of  the  divine  com- 
mands,  and  so  occasion  his  own  suffering  such  punishments  as  it  was  probable 
any  one  that  counterworked  the  divine  commands  should  undergo,  since  the 
severest  afflictions  arise  from  every  object  to  those  that  provoke  the  divine  wrath 
against  them ;  for  such  as  these  have  neither  the  earth  nor  the  air  lor  their 
friends ;  nor  are  the  fruits  of  the  womb  according  to  nature,  but  every  thing  is 
unfriendly  and  adverse  towards  them.  He  said  farther,  that  the  Egyptians  should 
know  this  by  sad  experience ;  and  that  besides,  the  Hebrew  people  should  go 
out  of  their  country  without  their  consent. 


72  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  It " 

CHAP.  XIV. 

Concerning  the  Ten  Plagues  which  came  upon  the  Egyptians. 

§  1.  Bur  when  the  king  despised  the  words  of  Moses,  and  had  no  regard  at  all 
to  them,  grievous  plagues  seized  the  Egyptians,  eveiy  one  of  which  I  will  de- 
scribe, both  because  no  such  plagues  did  ever  happen  to  any  other  nation  as  the^ 
Egyptians  now  felt ;  and  because  I  would  demonstrate  that  Moses  did  not  fail  in 
any  one  thing  that  he  foretold  them ;  and  because  it  is  for  the  good  of  mankind, 
that  they  may  learn  this  caution,  not  to  do  any  thing  that  may  displease  God., 
lest  he  be  provoked  to  wrath,  and  avenge  their  iniquities  upon  them.  For  the 
Egyptian  river  ran  with  bloody  water,  at  the  command  of  God,  insomuch  that  it 
could  not  be  drunk,  and  they  had  no  other  spring  of  water  neither :  for  the 
water  was  not  only  of  the  colour  of  blood,  but  it  brought  upon  those  that  ven- 
fured  to  drink  of  it  great  pains  and  bitter  torment.  Such  was  the  river  to  the 
Egyptians  ;  but  it  was  sweet  and  fit  for  drinking,  to  the  Hebrews,  and  no  way 
dirt'erent  from  what  it  naturally  used  to  be.  As  the  king,  therefore,  knew  not 
what  to  do  in  these  surprising  circumstances,  and  was  in  fear  for  the  Egyptians, 
he  gave  the  Hebrews  leave  to  go  away;  but  when  the  plague  ceased,  he  changed 
his  mind  again,  and  would  not  suffer  them  to  go. 

2.  But  when  God  saw  that  he  was  ungrateful,  and  upon  the  ceasing  of  the 
calamity  would  not  grow  wiser,  he  sent  another  plague  upon  the  Egyptians  ;  an 
mnumerable  multitude  of  frogs  consumed  the  fruit  of  the  ground ;  the  river  was 
also  full  of  them,  insomuch  that  those  who  drew  water  had  it  spoiled  by  the 
blood  of  these  animals,  as  they  died  in,  and  were  destroyed  by  the  water ;  and 
the  country  was  full  of  filthy  slime,  as  they  were  born  and  as  they  died  ;  they 
also  spoiled  their  vessels  in  their  houses,  which  they  used,  and  were  found  among 
what  they  ate  and  what  they  drank,  and  came  in  great  numbers  upon  their  beds. 
There  was  also  an  ungrateful  smell  and  stink  arose  from  them,  as  they  were 
born  and  as  they  died  therein.  Now,  when  the  Egyptians  were  under  the 
oppression  of  these  miseries,  the  king  ordered  Moses  to  take  the  Hebrews  with 
him,  and  be  gone.  Upon  which  the  whole  multitude  of  the  frogs  vanished  away; 
and  both  the  land  and  the  river  returned  to  their  former  natures.  But  as  soon 
as  Pharaoh  saw  the  land  freed  from  this  plague,  he  forgot  the  cause  of  it,  and 
retained  the  Hebrews  ;  and,  as  though  he  had  a  mind  to  try  the  nature  of  more 
such  judgments,*  he  would  not  yet  suffer  Moses  and  his  people  to  depart,  having 
granted  that  liberty  rather  out  of  fear  than  out  of  any  good  consideration. 

3.  Accordingly  God  punished  his  falseness  with  another  plague  added  to  the 
former  ;  for  there  arose  out  of  the  bodies  of  the  Egyptians  an  innumerable  quan- 
tity of  lice,  by  Avhich,  wicked  as  they  were,  they  miserably  perished,  as  not 
able  to  destroy  this  sort  of  vermin,  either  with  washes,  or  with  ointments.  At 
which  terrible  judgment  the  king  of  Egypt  was  in  disorder,  upon  the  fear  into 
which  he  reasoned  himself,  lest  his  people  should  be  destroyed,  and  that  the 
manner  of  this  death  was  also  reproachful,  so  that  he  was  forced  in  part  to 
recover  himself  from  his  wicked  temper  to  a  sounder  mind,  for  he  gave  leave  for 
the  Hebrews  themselves  to  depart.  But  when  the  plague  thereupon  ceased, 
he  thought  it  proper  to  require,  that  they  should  leave  their  children  and  wives 
behind  them,  as  pledges  of  their  return;  whereby  he  provoked  God  to  be  more 

"^vehemently  angry  at  him,  as  if  he  thought  to  impose  on  his  providence,  and 
as  if  it  were  only  Moses,  and  not  God,  who  punished  the  Egyptians  for  the 
sake  of  the  Hebrews ;  for  he  filled  that  country  full  of  various  sorts  of  pcsti- 
lential  creatures,  with  their  various  properties,  such  indeed  as  had  never  come 
into  the  sight  of  men  before,  by  whose  means  the  men  perished  themselves,  and 

*  Of  this  judicial  hrirrlening  the  hearts,  and  blinding  the  eyes  of  wicked  men,  or  infatiiatins;  them,  as  a 
just  punishiiieiU  forthoir  other  wilful  sir.s,  to  their  own  destruction,  see  the  note  on  Antiq.  Hook  vii.  cb. 
X,  sect.  6. 


C.  XIV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  73 

the  land  Vt^as  destitute  of  husbandmen  for  its  cultivation ;  but  if  any  thing  escaped 
destruction  from  them,  it  was  killed  by  a  distemper,  which  the  men  underwent 
also. 

4.  But  when  Pharaoh  did  not  even  then  yield  to  the  will  of  God  ;  but  while 
he  gave  leave  to  the  husbands  to  take  their  wives  with  them,  yet  insisted  that  the 
children  should  be  left  behind,  God  presently  resolved  to  punish  his  wickedness 
with  several  sorts  of  calamities,  and  tliose  worse  than  the  foregoing,  which  yet 
had  so  generally  afflicted  them ;  for  their  bodies  had  terrible  biles,  breaking 
forth  with  blains,  while  they  were  already  inwardly  consumed  ;  and  a  great  part 
of  the  Egyptians  perished  in  tliis  manner.  But  when  the  king  was  not  brought 
to  reason  by  this  plague,  hail  was  sent  down  from  heaven;  and  such  hail  it  was 
as  the  climate  of  Egypt  had  never  suflered  before,  nor  was  it  like  to  that  which 
falls  in  other  climates  in  winter  time,*  but  larger  than  that  which  falls  in  the 
middle  of  the  spring  to  those  that  dwell  in  the  northern  and  north-western 
regions.  This  hail  broke  down  their  boughs  laden  with  fruit.  After  this,  a 
tribe  of  locusts  consumed  the  seed  which  was  not  hurt  by  the  hail,  so  that  to  the 
Egyptians  all  the  hopes  of  future  fruits  of  the  ground  were  entirely  lost. 

5.  One  would  think  the  forementioned  calamities  might  have  been  sufficient 
for  one  that  was  only  foolish,  without  wickedness,  to  make  him  wise,  and  to  make 
him  sensible  what  was  for  his  advantage.  But  Pharaoh,  led  not  so  much  by  his 
folly  as  by  his  wickedness,  even  when  he  saw  the  cause  of  his  miseries,  he  still 
contested  with  God,  and  wilfully  deserted  the  cause  of  virtue;  so  he  bid  Moses 
take  the  Hebrews  away,  with  their  wives  and  children,  but  to  leave  their  cattle 
behind,  since  their  own  cattle  were  destroyed.  But  when  Moses  said,  that  what 
he  desired  was  unjust,  since  they  were  obliged  to  offer  sacrifices  to  God  of  those 
cattle  ;  and  the  time  being  prolonged  on  this  account,  a  thick  darkness,  without 
the  least  light,  spread  itself  over  the  Egyptians,  whereby  their  sight  being  ob- 
structed, and  their  breathing  hindered  by  the  thickness  of  the  air,  they  died 
miserably,  and  under  a  terror  lest  they  should  be  swallowed  up  by  the  dark 
cloud.  Beside  this,  when  the  darkness,  after  three  days  and  as  many  nights, 
was  dissipated,  and  when  Pharaoh  did  not  still  repent,  and  let  the  Hebrews  go, 
Moses  came  to  him  and  said,  "  How  long  wilt  thou  be  disobedient  to  the  com- 
mand of  God  ?  for  he  enjoins  thee  to  let  the  Hebrews  go  ;  nor  is  there  any  other 
way  of  being  freed  from  tlie  calamities  you  are  under,  unless  you  do  so."  But 
the  king  was  angry  at  what  he  said,  and  threatened  to  cut  off  his  head  if  he 
came  any  more  to  trouble  him  about  these  matters.  Hereupon  Moses  said,  he 
would  not  speak  to  him  any  more  about  them,  for  that  he  himself,  together 
with  the  principal  men  among  the  Egyptians,  should  desire  the  Hebrews  to  go 
away.     So  when  Moses  had  said  this,  he  went  his  way. 

G.  But  when  God  had  signified,  that  with  one  more  plague  he  would  compel 
the  Egyptians  to  let  the  Hebrews  go,  he  commanded  Moses  to  tell  the  people, 
that  they  should  have  a  sacrifice  ready,  and  that  they  should  prepare  themselves 
on  the  tenth  day  of  the^nonth  Xanthicus,  against  the  fourteenth  (which  month 
is  called  by  the  Egyptians  Pharmuiki,  and  Nisan  by  the  Hebrews  ;  but  the  Ma- 
cedonians call  it  Xanthicus,)  and  that  he  should  carry  away  the  Hebrews  with 
aJ'  they  had.  Accordingly,  he  having  got  the  Hebrews  ready  for  their  depart- 
ure, and  having  sorted  the  people  into  tribes  he  kept  them  together  in  one  place ; 
but  when  the  fourteenth  day  was  com.o,  and  all  were  ready  to  depart,  they  of- 
fered the  sacrifice,  and  purified  their  houses  with  the  blood,  using  bunches  of 
hyssop  for  that  purpose ;  and  when  they  had  supped,  they  burned  the  remainder 
of  the  flesh,  as  just  ready  to  depart.  Whence  it  is  that  we  do  still  offer  this 
sacrifice  in  like  manner  to  this  day,  and  call  this  festival  Pasclia,  which  signifies 
the  fepst  of  the  passover,  because  on  that  day  God  passed  us  over,  and  sent  tho 
plague  upon  the  Egyptians  ;  for  the  destruction  of  the  first-born  came  upon  tho 

«  As  to  this  winter  or  spring  hail  near  Egypt  and  Judea,  see  the  like  on  thunder  and  lightning  there,  in 
the  note  on  Antiq.  B,  vi.ch.v,  sect.  6. 
VOL.  I.  K 


74  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Tl. 

Egyptians  that  night,  so  that  "many  of  the  Egyptians,  which  lived  near  the  king's 
palace,  persuaded  Pharaoh  to  let  the  Hebrews  go.  Accordingly  he  called  for 
Moses,  and  bid  them  be  gone ;  as  supposing,  that  if  once  the  Hebrews  were 
gone  out  of  the  country,  Egypt  should  be  freed  from  its  miseries.  They  also 
honoured  the  Hebrews  with  gifts  ;'''  some  in  order  to  get  them  to  depart  quickly, 
and  others  on  account  of  their  neighbourhood,  and  the  friendship  they  had 
with  them. 


CHAP.  XV. 

How  the  Hebrews,  under  the  conduct  of  Moses,  left  Egypt. 

§  1.  So  the  Hebrews  went  out  of  Egypt,  while  the  Egyptians  wept,  and  repented 
tl.at  they  had  treated  them  so  hardly.  Now  they  took  their  journey  by  Letopo- 
Ii«,  a  place  at  that  time  deserted,  but  where  Babylon  was  built  afterward,  when 
Cambyses  laid  Egypt  waste  ;  but  as  they  went  away  hastily,  on  the  third  day 
they  came  to  a  place  called  Baahephon  on  the  Red  Sea  ;  ■  and  when  they  had  no 
food  out  of  the  land,  because  it  was  a  desert,  they  ate  of  loaves  kneaded  of  flour, 
only  warmed  by  a  gentle  heat ;  and  this  food  they  made  use  of  for  thirty  days  ; 
for  what  they  brought  with  them  out  of  Egypt  would  not  suffice  them  any  longer 
time  ;  and  this  only  while  they  dispensed  it  to  each  person,  to  use  so  much  only 
as  would  serve  for  necessity,  but  not  for  satiety.  Whence  it  is,  that,  in  memory 
of  tlie  want  we  were  then  in,  we  keep  a  feast  for  eight  days,  which  is  called  tlie 
feast  of  unleavened  bread.  Now  the  entire  multitude  of  those  that  went  out,  in- 
cluding the  women  and  children,  was  not  easy  to  be  numbered,  but  those  that 
were  of  an  age  fit  for  war  were  six  hundred  thousand. 

2.  They  left  Egypt  in  the  month  Xanthicus,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  lunar 
month,  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  after  our  forefather  Abraham  came  into 
Canaan,"!"  but  two  hundred  and  fifteen  years  only  after  Jacob  removed  into 
Egypt.  It  was  the  eightieth  year  of  the  age  of  Moses,  and  of  that  of  Aaron 
three  more.  They  also  carried  out  the  bones  of  Joseph  with  them,  as  he  had 
cliarged  his  sons  to  do. 

3.  But  the  Egyptians  soon  repented  that  the  Hebrews  were  gone  ;  and  the 
king  also  was  mightily  concerned  that  this  had  been  procured  by  the  magic  arts 
of  Moses ;  so  they  resolved  to  go  after  them.  Accordingly  they  took  their 
weapons  and  other  warlike  furniture,  and  pursued  afi;er  them,  in  order  to  bring 
them  back,  if  once  they  overtook  them,  because  they  would  now  have  no  pre- 
tence to  pray  to  God  against  them,  since  they  had  already  been  permitted  to  go 
out ;  and  they  thought  they  should  easily  overcome  them,  as  they  had  no 
annour,-  and  would  be  weary  with  their  journey ;  so  they  made  haste  in  their 
jjursuit,  and  asked  of  every  one  they  met  which  way  they  were  gone  ;  and,  in- 
deed, that  land  was  diflicult  to  be  travelled  over,  not  only  by  armies,  but  by 

*  These  large  presents  made  to  ttie  Israelites,  of  vessels  of  silver,  and  vessels  of  gold,  and  raiment,  were, 
;is  Josephus  truly  calls  them,  gifts  really  given  them,  not  lent  them,  as  om-  English  falsely  renders  them. 
^J'hey  were  spoils  required,  nox  borrowed  oi  them,  Gen.  xv.  14;  Exod.  iii.  22;  xi.  2.  Psalm  cv.  37,  as 
the  same  version  falsely  renders  the  Mebrevv  word  here  used,  Exod.  xii.  35,  36.  God  had  ordered  the 
.lews  to  demand  these  as  their  pay  and  reward,  during  their  long  and  bitter  slavery  in  Egypt,  as  atone- 
:iients  for  the  lives  of  the  Egyptians,  and  as  the  condition  of  the  Jews'  departure,  and  of  the  Egyptian 
(lelivL-raiice  from  these  terrible  judgments,  which,  had  they  not  now  ceased,  they  had  soon  been  all  dtad 
PKn,  as  they  themselves  confess,  ch.  xii.  33.  Kor  was  there  any  sense  in  borrowing  or  lending,  when 
the  Israe-litps  were  finally  departing  out  of  the  land  for  ever. 

f  Why  our  Wasorete  copy  so  groundlessly  abridges  this  account  in  Exod.  xii.  40,  as  to  ascribe  420 
years  to  the  sole  peregrination  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt,  when  it  is  clear,  even  by  that  Masorcte  chro- 
nology elsewhere,  as  well  as  from  ihe  express  text  itself,  in  the  Samaritan  Septuagint,  and  Jnsephus, 
that  they  sojourned  in  Ecypt  but  /ia{/'that  time  ;  and  that  by  consequence,  the  other  half  of  their  pere- 
griiK'.tioii  was  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  before  they  came  into  Egypt,  is  hard  to  say.  See  Essay  on  the 
Old  Testament,  p.  G-,  G3. 


C.  XV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  75 

single  persons.  Now  Moses  led  the  Hebrews  tliis  way,  that  in  case  the  Egyp- 
tians should  repent  and  be  desirous  to  pursue  after  them,  they  miglit  undergo  ihe 
punishment  of  their  wickedness,  and  of  the  breach  of  those  promises  they  iiad 
made  to  them.  As  also  he  led  them  this  way  on  account  of  the  Philistines,  who 
had  quarrelled  with  them,  and  hated  them  of  old,  that  by  all  means  they  might 
not  know  of  their  departure,  for  their  country  is  near  to  that  of  Egypt ;  and 
thence  it  was  that  Moses  led  them  not  along  the  road  that  tended  to  the  land  of 
the  Philistines,  but  he  was  desirous  that  they  should  go  through  the  desert,  that 
so  after  a  long  journey,  and  after  many  aiiiictions,  they  might  enter  upon  the 
land  of  Canaan.  Another  reason  of  this  was,  that  God  had  commanded  him  to 
bring  the  people  to  Mount  Sinai,  that  there  they  miglit  ofl'er  him  sacrifices.  Now 
when  the  Egyptians  had  overtaken  the  Hebrews,  they  prepared  to  fight  them, 
and  by  their  multitude  they  drove  them  into  a  narrow  place ;  for  the  number 
that  pursued  after  them  was  six  hundred  chariots,  with  fifty  thousand  horsemen, 
and  two  hundred  thousand  footmen,  all  armed.  They  also  seized  on  the  passages 
by  which  they  imagined  the  Hebrews  might  fly,  shutting  them  up  between  inac- 
cessible precipices*  and  the  sea ;  for  there  was  [on  each  side]  a  [ridge  of] 
mountains  that  terminated  at  the  sea,  which  were  impassable  by  reason  of  their 
roughness,  and  obstructed  their  flight ;  wherefore  they  there  pressed  upon  the' 
Hebrews  with  their  army,  where  the  [ridges  of]  the  mountains  were  closed  with 
the  sea,  which  army  they  placed  at  the  chops  of  the  mountains,  that  so  they 
might  deprive  them  of  any  passage  into  the  plain. 

4.  When  the  Hebrews,  therefore,  were  neither  able  to  bear  up,  being  thus  as 
it  were  besieged,  because  they  wanted  provisions,  nor  sav^  any  possible  way  of 
escaping ;  and  if  they  should  have  thought  of  fighting,  they  had  no  weapons, 
they  expected  a  universal  destruction,  unless  they  delivered  themselves  up  vo- 
luntarily to  the  Egyptians.  So  they  laid  the  blame  on  Moses,  and  forgot  all  the 
signs  that  had  been  wrought  by  God  for  the  recovery  of  their  freedom ;  and  this 
so  far  that  their  incredulity  prompted  them  to  throw  stones  at  the  prophet,  v/hile 
he  encouraged  them,  and  promised  them  deliverance  ;  and  they  resolved  that 
they  would  deliver  themselves  up  to  the  Egyptians.  So  there  was  sorrow  and 
lamentation  among  the  women  and  children,  who  had  nothing  but  destruction 
before  their  eyes,  while  they  were  encompassed  with  mountains,  the  sea,  and 
their  enemies,  and  discerned  no  way  of  flying  from  them. 

5.  But  Moses,  though  the  multitude  looked  fiercely  at  him,  did  not,  however, 
give  over  the  care  of  them,  but  despised  all  dangers,  out  of  his  trust  in  God ; 
who,  as  he  had  atlbrded  them  the  several  steps  already  taken  for  the  recovery 
of  their  liberty,  which  he  had  foretold  them,  he  would  not  now  suffer  them  to  be 
subdued  by  their  enemies,  to  be  either  made  slaves,  or  be  slain  by  them.  And 
standing  in  the  midst  of  them,  he  said,  "  It  is  not  just  for  us  to  distrust  even 
men,  when  they  have  hitherto  well  managed  our  aflairs,  as  if  they  would  not  be 
the  same  men  hereafter ;  but  it  is  no  better  than  madness  at  this  time  to  despair 
of  the  providence  of  God,  by  whose  power  all  those  things  have  been  performed 

*  Take  the  main  part  of  Reland's  excellent  note  here,  wliich  greatly  illustrates  Josephiis,  and  Iho 
scripture,  in  this  history,  as  follows :  "  [A  traveller,  says  Reland,  whose  name  was]  Eneinan,  when  he 
returned  out  of  Egypt,  told  nie  that  he  went  the  same  way  from  Egypt  to  Mount  Sinai,  wliich  lie  sup- 
posed the  Israelites  of  old  travelled  ;  and  that  he  found  several  mountainous  tracts,  that  ran  down 
towards  the  Red  Sea.  He  thought  the  Israelites  had  proceeded  as  far  as  the  desert  of  Ktham,  Exod. 
xiii.  20,  when  they  were  commanded  by  God  to  return  back,  ICxod.  xiv.  2,  and  to  pitch  their  camp 
between  Migdol  and  the  sea  ;  and  that  when  they  were  not  able  to  fly,  unless  by  sea,  they  were  shut  in  on 
eacii  side  by  mountains.  He  also  thought  we  might  evidently  learn  hence,  iiow  it  might  be  said,  tliat 
the  Israelites  were  2,-?,  Etham  before  they  went  over  the  sea,  and  yet  niig)it  be  said  to  have  come  into 
Etham  after  they  had  passed  over  the  sea  also.  Besides,  he  gave  an  account  how  he  passed  over  a  river 
in  a  boat,  near  the  city  Sues,  wliich  he  says  must  needs  be  the  Heropolis  of  the  ancients,  since  that  city 
could  not  be  situate  any  where  else  in  that  neighbouriiood." 

As  to  the  famous  passage  produced  here  by  Dr.  Bernard,  out  of  Herodotus,  as  the  most  ancient  heathen 
testimony  of  the  Israelites  coining  from  the  Red  Sea  into  Palestine,  Bisliop  Cumberland  has  showed  that 
it  belongs  to  the  old  Canaanite  or  Threnician  shepherds,  and  their  retiring  out  of  Egypt  into  Canaan  01 
Phoenicia,  long  before  the  days  of  Moses.     Sanchoniatho,  p.  374,  &c 


76  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  II. 

which  he  promised,  when  you  expected  no  such  things  ;  I  mean  all  that  I  have 
teen  concerned  in  for  your  deliverance  and  escape  from  slavery.  Nay,  when 
we  are  in  the  utmost  distress,  as  you  see  we  nov/  are,  we  ought  the  rather  to 
hope  that  God  will  succour  us,  by  whose  operations  it  is  that  we  are  now  en- 
compassed  within  this  narrow  place,  that  he  may  deliver  us  out  of  such  difficul- 
ties as  are  otherwise  insurmountable,  and  out  of  which  neither  you  nor  your 
enemies  expect  you  can  be  delivered,  and  may  at  once  demonstrate  his  own 
power,  and  his  providence  over  us.  Nor  does  God  use  to  give  his  help  in  small 
difficulties  to  those  whom  he  favours,  but  in  such  cases  Avhere  no  one  can  see 
how  any  hope  in  man  can  better  their  condition.  Depend,  therefore,  upon  such 
a  protector  as  is  able  to  make  small  things  great,  and  to  show  that  this  mighty 
force  against  you  is  nothing  but  weakness.  And  be  not  affrighted  at  the  Egyp- 
tian army ;  nor  do  you  despair  of  being  preserved,  because  the  sea  before,  and 
the  mountains  behind,  afford  you  no  opportunity  for  flying ;  for  even  these  moun- 
tains,  if  God  so  please,  may  be  made  plain  ground  for  you,  and  the  sea  become 
dry  land." 


CHAP.  XVI. 

How  the  Sea  was  divided  asunder  for  the  Hebrews,  while  they  were  pursued  by  the 
Egyptians,  and  so  gave  tliem  an  opportunity  of  escaping  from  them. 

§  1.  When  Moses  had  said  this,  he  led  them  to  the  sea,  while  the  Egyptians 
looked  on,  for  they  were  within  sight.  Now  these  wei'e  so  distressed  by  the 
toil  of  their  pursuit,  that  they  thought  proper  to  put  off  fighting  till  next  the  day 
But  when  Moses  was  come  to  the  seashore,  he  took  his  rod,  and  made  suppli- 
cation to  God,  and  called  upon  him  to  be  their  helper  and  assistant ;  and  said, 
"  Thou  art  not  ignorant,  O  Lord,  that  it  is  beyond  human  strength  and  human 
contrivance  to  avoid  the  difficulties  we  are  now  under,  but  it  must  be  thy  work 
altogether  to  procure  deliverance  to  this  army,  which  has  left  Egypt  at  thy  ap- 
pointment. We  despair  of  any  other  assistance  or  contrivance,  and  have  re- 
course  only  to  that  hope  we  have  in  thee  ;  and  if  there  be  any  method  that  can 
promise  us  an  escape  by  thy  providence,  we  look  up  to  thee  for  it.  And  let  it 
come  quickly,  and  manifest  thy  power  to  us  ;  and  do  thou  raise  up  this  people 
unto  good  courage  and  hope  of  deliverance,  who  are  deeply  sunk  into  a  discon- 
solate  state  of  mind.  We  are  in  a  helpless  place,  but  still  it  is  a  place  that  thou 
possessest ;  but  still  the  sea  is  thine,  the  mountains  that  enclose  us  are  thine :  so 
that  these  mountains  wilt  open  themselves  if  thou  commandest  them,  and  the  sea 
also,  if  thou  commandest  it,  will  become  dry  land.  Nay,  we  might  escape  by 
a  flight  through  the  air,  if  thou  shouldst  determine  we  should  have  that  way  of 
salvation." 

2.  When  Moses  had  thus  addressed  himself  to  God,  he  smote  the  sea  with 
his  rod,  which  parted  asunder  at  the  stroke,  and  receiving  those  waters  into  it- 
self, left  the  ground  dry,  as  a  road,  and  place  of  flight  for  the  Hebrews.  Now 
when  Moses  saw  this  appearance  of  God,  and  that  the  sea  went  out  of  its  own 
place,  and  left  dry  land,  he  went  first  of  all  into  it,  and  bid  the  Hebrews  to  follow 
him  along  that  divine  road,  and  to  rejoice  at  the  danger  their  enemies  that  fol- 
lowed them  were  in  ;  and  gave  thanks  to  God  for  this  so  surprising  a  deliver- 
ance which  appeared  from  him. 

3.  Now  while  these  Hebrews  made  no  stay,  but  went  on  earnestly,  as  led  by 
God's  presence  with  them,  the  Egyptians  supposed  at  first  that  they  were  dis- 
tracted,  and  were  going  rashly  upon  manifest  destruction.  But  when  they  saw 
that  they  were  gone  a  great  way  without  any  harm,  and  that  no  obstacle  or  diffi- 
culty fell  in  their  journey,  they  made  haste  to  pursue  them,  hoping  that  the  sea 


C.  XVI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  77' 

would  be  calm  for  them  also.  They  put  their  horse  foremost,  and  went  down 
themselves  into  tlie  sea.  Now  the  Hebrews,  while  these  were  putting  on  their 
armour,  and  therein  spending  their  time,  were  belbrelumd  with  them,  and  escaped 
them,  and  got  iirst  over  to  the  land  on  the  other  side,  without  any  hurt.  Whence 
the  others  were  encouraged,  and  more  courageously  pursued  them,  as  h(jping  no 
harm  would  come  them  neither:  but  the  Egyptians  were  not  aware  that  they 
went  into  a  road  made  for  the  Hebrews,  and  not  for  others ;  that  this  road  was 
ade  for  the  deliverance  of  those  in  danger,  but  not  for  those  that  were  earnest  to 
make  use  of  it  for  the  others'  destruction.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  ever  the  whole 
Egyptian  army  was  within  it,  the  sea  flowed  to  its  own  place,  and  came  down 
with  a  torrent  raised  by  storms  of  wind,*  and  encompassed  the  Egyptians.  Show- 
ers of  rain  also  came  down  from  the  sky,  and  dreadful  thunders,  and  lightning, 
and  flashes  of  fire.  Thunderbolts  also  were  darted  upon  them.  I\or  was  there 
any  thing  which  used  to  be  sent  by  God  upon  men,  as  indications  of  his  wrath, 
which  did  not  happen  at  this  time,  for  a  dark  and  dismal  night  oppressed  them. 
And  thus  did  all  these  men  perish,  so  that  there  was  not  one  man  left  to  be  a  mes- 
senger of  this  calamity  to  the  rest  of  the  Egyptians. 

4.  But  the  HebrcAVs  were  not  able  to  contain  themselves  for  joy  at  their  v/on- 
derful  deliverance,  and  destruction  of  their  enemies ;  now  indeed  supposing  them- 
selves firmly  delivered,  when  those  that  would  have  forced  them  into  slavery  were 
destroyed,  and  when  they  found  they  had  God  so  evidently  for  their  protector. 
And  now  these  Hebrews  having  escaped  the  danger  they  were  in,  after  this  man- 
ner, and  besides  that,  seeing  their  enemies  punished  in  such  a  way  as  is  never 
recorded  of  an}^  other  men  whomsoever,  were  all  the  night  employed  in  singing 
of  hymns  and  in  mirth. "j"  Moses  also  composed  a  song  unto  God,  containing  his 
praises,  and  a  thanksgiving  for  his  kindness,  in  Hexameter  verse.:]: 

5.  As  for  myself,  I  have  delivered  every  part  of  this  history  as  I  found  it  in  the 
sacred  books.  Nor  let  any  one  wonder  at  the  strangeness  of  the  nai'ration,  if  a 
way  were  discovered  to  those  men  of  old  time,  who  were  free  from  the  wickedness 
of  the  modern  ages,  whether  it  happened  by  the  will  of  God,  or  whether  it  hap- 
pened of  its  own  accord ;  v/hile,  for  the  sake  of  those  that  accompanied  Alexander, 
king  of  Macedonia,  who  yet  lived  comparatively  but  a  little  while  ago,  the  Pam- 
phylian  Sea§  retired  and  afforded  them  a  passage  through  itself,  when  they  had 

*  Of  these  storms  of  wind,  thunder,  and  lightning,  at  this  drowning  of  Pharaoh's  army,  ahhough  want- 
ing in  oMr  copies  of  Exodus,  l:)ut  fully  extant  in  that  of  David,  Psalm  Ixxvii.  16,  17,  13,  and  in  that  of 
Josephus  here,  see  Essay  on  the  Old  Test.  Append,  p.  154, 15.5. 

f  What  some  have  here  ohjected  against  this  passage  of  the  Israelites  over  the  Red  Sea,  in  this  one 
night,  from  the  common  maps,  viz.  that  this  sea  being  here  about  30  miles  broad,  so  great  an  army  could 
not  pass  over  it  in  so  short  a  time,  is  a  great  mistake.  Mons.  Thevenot,  an  authentic  eyewitness,  in- 
forms us,  that  this  sea,  for  about  five  days' journey,  is  no  where  more  tlian  about  eight  or  nine  miles 
over-cross,  and  in  one  place  but  four  or  five  miles,  according  to  De  Lisle's  map,  which  is  made  from  the 
best  travellers  themselves,  and  not  copied  from  others.  WHiat  has  been  further  objected  against  this  pas- 
sage of  the  Israelites,  and  drowning  of  the  Egyptians  being  miraculous  also,  viz.  tiiat  INIoses  might  carry 
the  Israelites  over  at  a  low  tide,  witiiout  any  miracle,  while  yet  the  Egyptians,  not  knowing  the  tide  so 
well  as  he,  might  be  drowned  upon  the  return  of  the  tide,  is  a  strange  story  indeed  :  tliat  Moses,  who 
never  had  lived  here,  should  know  the  quantity  and  time  of  the  flux  and  reflux  of  tlie  Red  Sea,  better 
than  the  Egyptians  themselves  in  its  neighbourhood  !  Yet  does  Artapanus,  an  ancient  iieathcn  historian, 
inform  us,  that  this  was  what  the  more  ignorant  Menophites,  who  lived  at  a  great  distance,  pretended  ; 
though  he  confesses  that  the  more  learned  Jleliopolitans,  who  lived  much  nearer,  owned  the  destruction 
of  the  Egyptians  and  tlie  deliverance  of  the  Israelites  to  have  been  miraculous.  And  Dc  Castro,  a  ma- 
thematician, who  surveyed  this  sea  with  great  exactness,  informs  us,  that  there  is  no  great  flux  or  reflux 
in  tiiis  part  of  the  Red  Sea  to  give  a  colour  to  this  hypothesis ;  nay,  that  the  elevation  of  the  tide  there 
is  little  above  half  the  height  of  a  man.  '  See  Essay  on  the  Old  Test.  Append,  p.  239,  2-10.  So  vain  and 
groundless  are  these  and  the  like  evasions  and  subterfuges  of  our  modern  sceptics  and  unbelievers  !  and 
so  certainly  do  thorough  inquiries  and  authentic  evidence  disprove  and  confute  such  evasions  and  sub- 
terfuges upon  all  occasions. 

X  What  that  He  lamater  verse,  in  which  Moses's  triumphant  song  is  here  said  to  be  written,  distinctly 
means,  our  present  ignorance  of  the  old  Hebrew  metre  or  measure  will  not  let  us  determine.  Nor  does 
it  appear  to  me  certain,  that  even  Josephus  himself  had  a  distinct  notion  of  it,  though  he  speaks  of 
several  sorts  of  that  metre  or  measure,  both  here  and  elsewhere,  Antiq.  Rook  iv.  ch.  viii.  sect.  44,  and 
Book  vii.  ch.  xii.  sect.  3. 

§  Take  here  the  original  passages  of  the  four  old  authors  that  still  remain,  as  to  this  transit  of  Alex- 
)Bnder  the  Great  over  the  Pamphylian  Sea ;  I  mean,  of  Callisthenes,  Strabo,  Arian,  and  Appian.    As  to 


78  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  '  B.  U. 

no  other  way  to  go  ;  I  mean,  when  it  was  the  will  of  God  to  destroy  the  monarchy 
of  the  Persians.  And  this  is  confessed  to  be  true  by  all  that  have  written  about 
the  actions  of  Alexander.  But  as  to  these  events,  let  every  one  determine  as 
he  pleases. 

6.  On  the  next  day  Moses  gathered  together  the  weapons  of  the  Egyptians, 
which  were  brought  to  the  camp  of  the  Hebrews  by  the  current  of  the  sea  and  the 
force  of  the  winds  assisting  it ;  and  he  conjectured  that  this  also  happened  by 
Divine  Providence,  that  so  they  might  not  be  destitute  of  weapons.  So  when  he 
had  ordered  the  Hebrews  to  arm  themselves  with  them,  he  led  them  to  Mount 
Sinai,  in  order  to  offer  sacrifices  to  God,  and  to  render  oblations  for  the  salvation 
of  the  multitude,  as  he  was  charged  to  do  beforehand. 

Callistlienes,  who  himself  accompanied  Alexander  in  this  expedition,  Eustath.'us,  in  his  notes  upon  the 
third  Iliad  of  Homer,  (as  Dr.  Bernard  here  informs  us,)  says,  that  "  this  Callistlienes  wrote  how  the 
Pamphylian  Sea  did  not  only  open  a  passage  for  Alexander,  but  by  rising  and  elevating  its  waters,  did 
pay  him  homage  as  its  king."  Strabo's  account  is  this,  Geog.  Book  xiv.  p.  666  :  "  Now  about  I'haselis 
is  that  narrow  passage  by  the  seaside  through  which  Alexander  led  his  army.  There  is  a  mountain 
called  Climax,  which  adjoins  to  the  sea  of  Pamphylia,  leaving  a  narrow  passage  on  the  shore,  which  in 
calm  weather  is  bare,  so  as  to  be  passable  by  travellers,  but  when  the  kja.  overflows,  it  is  covered  to  a 
great  degree  by  the  waves.  Now,  then,  the  ascent  by  the  mountains  being  round  about,  and  steep,  in 
still  weather  they  make  use  of  the  road  along  the  coast.  But  Alexander  fell  into  the  winter  season,  and 
committing  himself  chiefly  to  fortune,  he  marched  on  before  the  waves  retired,  and  so  it  happened  that 
they  were  a  whole  day  in  journeying  over  it,  and  were  under  water  up  to  the  navel."  Arian's  account 
is  this,  Book  i.  p.  72,  73  :  "  When  Alexander  removed  from  Phaselis,  he  sent  some  part  of  his  army 
over  the  mountains  to  Perga,  which  road  the  Thracians  showed  him.  A  difficult  way  it  was,  but  short. 
However,  he  himself  conducted  those  that  were  with  him  by  the  seashore.  This  road  is  impassable  at 
any  other  time  than  when  the  north  wind  blows  ;  but  if  the  south  wind  prevail,  there  is  no  passing  by  the 
shore.  Now  at  this  time,  after  strong  south  winds,  a  north  wind  blew  ;  and  that  not  without  the  Divine 
Providence,  (as  both  he  and  they  that  were  with  him  supposed,)  and  afforded  him  an  easy  and  quick 
passage."  Appian,  when  he  compares  Ca?sar  and  Alexander  together  (De  Bel.  Civil  Book  ii.  p.  522,) 
says,  "  That  they  both  depended  on  tlieir  boldness  and  fortune,  as  much  as  on  their  skill  in  war.  As 
an  instance  of  which,  Alexander  journeyed  over  a  country  witliout  water  in  the  heat  of  summer,  to  the 
oracle  of  [.Jupiter]  Hammon,  and  quickly  passed  over  the  Bay  of  Pamphylia,  when  by  Divine  Pi-ovi- 
Jewce,  the  sea  was  cut  off;  thus  ProiHiZence  restraining  the  sea  on  his  account,  as  it  had  sent  him  rain 
when  he  travelled  [over  the  desert]." 

N.  B.  Since,  in  the  days  of  Josephus,  he  assures  us,  all  the  more  numerous  original  historians  of 
Alexander  gave  the  account  he  has  here  set  down,  as  to  the  providential  going  back  of  the  waters  of  the 
Pamphylian  Sea,  when  he  was  going  with  his  army  to  destroy  the  Persian  monarchy,  which  the  fore- 
iianied  authors  now  remaining  fiilly  confirm,  it  is  without  all  just  foundation  that  Josej)hus  is  here 
blamed,  by  some  late  writers,  for  quoting  tlioso  ancient  authors  upon  the  present  occasion.  Nor  can  the 
refit'ctions  of  Plutarch,  or  any  other  author  later  than  Joseplius,  be  in  the  least  here  alleged  to  contradict 
him.  Josephus  went  by  all  the  evidence  he  then  had,  and  that  evidence  of  the  most  authentic  sort-also. 
So  that  whatever  the  moderns  may  think  of  the  thing  itself,  there  is  hence  not  the  least  colour  for  finding 
fault  with  Josephus;  he  v.ould  rather  have  been  much  to  blame  had  he  omitted  these  quotations. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  79 


BOOK  III. 


CONTAINING  THE  INTERVAL  OF  TWO  TEAKS. 

FROM  THE  EXODUS  OUT  OF  EGYPT  TO  THE  REJECTIOJ^  OF  THAT 
GEJSTERATIOJV. 


CHAP.  I. 

How  Moses,  when  he  had,  hrovght  the  People  out  of  Egypt,  led  them  to  Mount 
Sinai,  but  not  till  they  had  suffered  much  in  their  Journey. 

§  1.  When  the  Hebrews  had  obtained  such  a  wonderful  deliverance,  the  coun- 
try was  a  great  trouble  to  them,  for  it  was  entirely  a  desert,  and  without  all 
Sustenance  for  them ;  and  also  had  exceeding  little  water,  so  that  it  not  only  was 
not  at  all  sufficient  for  the  men,  but  not  enough  to  feed  any  of  the  cattle,  for  it 
was  parched  up,  and  had  no  moisture  that  might  alford  nutriment  to  the  vege 
tables ;  so  they  were  forced  to  travel  over  this  country,  as  having  no  othei 
country  but  this  to  travel  in.  They  had  indeed  carried  water  along  with  them 
from  the  land  over  which  they  had  travelled  before,  as  their  conductor  had  bid- 
den them  ;  but  when  that  was  spent  they  were  obliged  to  draw  water  out  of  wells, 
with  pain,  by  reason  of  the  hardness  of  the  soil.  Moreover,  what  water  they 
found  was  bitler,  and  not  fit  for  drinking,  and  this  in  small  quantities  also.  And 
as  they  thus  travelled,  they  came  late  in  the  evening  to  a  place  called  Marah,* 
which  had  this  name  from  the  badness  of  its  water,  for  Mar  denotes  bitterness. 
Thither  they  came  atllicted,  both  by  the  tediousness  of  theirjourney,  and  by  their 
want  of  food,  for  it  entirely  failed  them  at  that  time.  Now  here  was  a  well, 
which  made  them  choose  to  stay  in  tlie  place,  which,  although  it  were  not  suf- 
ficient to  satisfy  so  great  an  army,  did  yet  afford  them  some  comfort,  as  found  in 
such  desert  places  ;  for  they  heard  from  those  who  had  been  to  search,  that  there 
was  nothing  to  be  found  if  they  travelled  farther.  Yet  was  this  water  bitter,  and 
not  fit  for  men  to  drink ;  and  not  only  so,  but  it  was  intolerable  even  to  the  cattle 
themselves. 

2.  When  Moses  saw  how  much  the  people  were  cast  down,  and  that  the  occa- 
sion  of  it  could  not  be  contradicted,  for  the  people  were  not  in  the  nature  of  a 
complete  army  of  men,  who  might  oppose  a  manly  fortitude  to  the  necessity  that 
distressed  them  ;  the  multitude  of  the  children,  and  of  the  women  also,  being  of 
too  weak  capacities  to  be  persuaded  by  reason,  blunted  the  courage  of  the  men 
themselves.  Moses,  therefore,  was  in  great  difficulties,  and  made  every  body's 
calamity  to  be  his  own.  For  they  ran  all  of  them  to  him,  and  begged  of  him ;  the 
women  begged  for  their  infants,  and  the  men  for  the  women,  that  he  would  not 
overlook  them,  but  procure  some  way  or  other  for  their  deliverance.  He  there- 
fore betook  himself  to  prayer  to  God,  that  he  would  cliange  the  water  from  i's 
present  badness,  and  make  it  fit  for  drinking.     And  when  God  had  granted  him 

*  Dr.  Bernard  takes  notice  here,  that  this  place  Mar,  where  the  waters  were  bitter,  is  called  liy  the 
Syrians  anil  Arabians  Muriri,  and  by  the  Syrians  sometimes  Morath,  all  derived  from  the  Hebrew  Mar. 
He  also  takes  notice,  that  it  is  called' the  hiilcr fountain  by  iMiny  liiniself.  Wliich  waters  remain  there 
to  this  day,  and  are  still  bitter,  as  Tlievetiot  assures  us ;  and  that  tlrere  are  also  abundance  of  palm  trees. 
See  his  Travels,  part  i.  chap.  xxvi.  p.  166. 


^  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  III.      • 

that  favour,  he  took  the  top  of  a  stick  that  lay  clown  at  his  feet,  and  divided  it  in 
the  middle,  and  made  the  section  lengthways.  He  then  let  it  down  into  the  well, 
and  persuaded  the  Hebrews  that  God  had  hearkened  to  his  prayers,  and  had 
promised  to  render  the  water  such  as  they  desired  it  to  be,  in  case  they  would 
be  subservient  to  him  in  what  he  should  enjoin  them  to  do ;  and  this  not  after  a 
remiss  or  negligent  manner.  And  when  they  had  asked  what  they  were  to  do 
in  order  to  have  the  water  changed  for  the  better,*  he  bid  the  strongest  men 
among  them  that  stood  there,  to  draw  up  water ;  and  told  them,  that  when  the 
greatest  part  was  drawn  up,  the  remainder  would  be  fit  to  drink  ;  so  they  laboured 
at  it  till  the  Avater  was  so  agitated  and  purged  as  to  be  fit  to  drink. 

3.  And  now,  removing  from  thence  they  came  to  Elim  ;  which  place  looked 
well  at  a  distance,  for  there  was  a  grove  of  palm-trees ;  but  when  they  came 
near  it,  it  appeared  to  be  a  bad  place,  for  the  palm-trees  were  no  more  than 
seventy  ;  and  they  were  ill  grown  and  creeping  trees,  by  the  want  of  water,  for 
the  country  about  was  all  parched,  and  no  moisture  sufficient  to  water  them,  and 
make  them  hopeful  and  useful,  was  derived  to  them  from  the  fountains,  which 
were  in  number  twelve  ;  they  were  rather  a  few  moist  places  than  springs,  which, 
not  breaking  out  of  the  ground  nor  running  over,  could  not  sufficiently  water  the 
trees.  And  when  they  dug  into  the  sand,  they  met  with  no  water  ;  and  if  they 
took  a  few  drops  of  it  into  their  hands,  they  found  it  to  be  useless,  on  account 
of  its  mud.  The  trees  also  were  too  weak  to  bear  fruit,  for  want  of  being  suffi- 
ciently cherished  and  enlivened  by  the  water.  So  they  laid  the  blame  on  their 
conductor,  and  made  heavy  complaints  against  him ;  and  said,  that  this  their 
miserable  state,  and  the  experience  they  had  of  adversity,  were  owing  to  him  ; 
for  that  they  had  then  journeyed  an  entire  thirty  days,  and  had  spent  all  the  pro- 
visions  they  had  brought  with  them,  and  meeting  with  no  relief,  they  were  in  a 
very  desponding  condition.  And  by  fixing  their  attention  upon  nothing  but  their 
present  misfortunes,  they  were  hindered  from  remembering  what  deliverances 
they  had  received  from  God,  and  those  by  the  virtue  and  wisdom  of  Moses  also ; 
so  they  were  very  angry  at  their  conductor,  and  were  zealous  in  their  attempt 
to  stone  him,  as  the  direct  occasion  of  their  present  miseries. 

4.  But  as  for  Moses  himself,  vfhile  the  muUitude  were  irritated  and  bitterly 
set  against  him,  he  cheerfully  relied  upon  God,  and  upon  his  consciousness  of 
the  care  he  had  taken  of  these  his  own  people ;  and  he  came  into  the  midst  of 
them,  even  while  they  clamoured  against  him,  and  had  stones  in  their  hands  in 
order  to  despatch  him.  Nov/  he  was  of  an  agreeable  presence,  and  very  able 
to  persuade  the  people  by  his  speeches  ;  accordingly  he  began  to  mitigate  their 
anger,  and  exhorted  them  not  to  be  overmindful  of  their  present  adversities,  lest 
they  should  thereby  suffer  the  benefits  that  had  formerly  been  bestowed  on  them 
to  slip  out  of  their  memories ;  and  he  desired  them,  by  no  means,  on  account 
of  their  present  uneasiness,  to  cast  those  great  and  wonderful  favours  and  gifts, 
which  they  had  obtained  of  God,  out  of  their  minds,  but  to  expect  deliverance 
out  of  those  their  present  troubles  which  they  could  not  free  themselves  from, 
and  this  by  the  means  of  that  Divine  Providence  which  watched  over  them. 
Seeing  it  is  probable  that  God  tries  their  virtue,  and  exercises  their  patience  by 

*  The  additions  here  to  Moses'  account  of  the  sweetening  the  waters  at  Marah  seem  derived  from 
some  ancient  profane  author,  and  he  such  an  author  also  as  looks  less  authentic  than  are  usually  fol- 
lowed by  Josephus  Fhilo  has  not  a  syllable  of  these  additions,  nor  any  other  ancienter  writer  that  we 
know  of.  Had  Josephus  written  these  his  Antiquities  for  the  use  of  Jews,  he  would  hardly  have  given 
them  these  very  improbable  circumstances  ;  but  writing  to  Gentiles,  that  they  might  not  complain  of  his 
omission  of  any  accounts  of  such  miracles,  derived  from  Gentiles,  he  did  not  think  proper  to  conceal 
what  he  had  jiiet  with  there  about  this  matter  ;  which  procedure  is  perfectly  agreeable  to  the  character 
and  usage  of  Josephus  upon  many  occasions.  This  note  is,  I  confess,  barely  conjectural;  and  since 
Josephus  never  tells  ns  when  his  own  copy,  taken  out  of  the  temple,  had  such  additions,  or  when  any 
ancient  notes  supplied  them,  or,  indeed,  when  they  were  derived  from  Jewish,  and  when  from  Gentile 
antiquity,  we  can  go  no  farther  than  bare  conjectures  in  such  cases;  only  the  notions  of  Jews  were 
gei.erally  so  dilTerent  from  those  of  Gentiles,  that  we  may  sometimes  make  no  improbable  conjectures  to 
which  sort  such  additions  belo.ig.  See  also  somewhat  like  these  additions,  in  Josephus'  account  of 
Elislm's  making  sweet  the  bitter  and  barren  spring  near  Jericho.    Of  the  War,  B.  iv.  oh.  viii.  sect.  3. 


C.  I.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


81 


these  adversities,  that  it  may  appear  what  fortitude  they  have,  and  what  memory 
they  retain  of  his  former  wonderful  works  in  their  favour,  and  M^iether  they  will 
not  think  of  them  upon  occasion  of  the  miseries  they  now  feel.  He  told  them, 
it  appeared  they  were  not  really  good  men,  either  in  patience,  or  in  remember, 
ing  what  had  been  successfully  d(;ne  for  them,  sometimes  by  contemning  God 
and  his  commands,  when  by  those  commands  they  left  the  land  of  Egypt ;  and 
sometimes  by  behaving  themselves  ill  towards  him  who  was  the  servant  of  God, 
and  this  when  he  had  never  deceived  them  either  in  what  he  said,  or  had  ordered 
them  to  do  by  God's  command.  He  also  put  them  in  mind  of  all  that  had 
passed :  how  the  Egyptians  were  destroyed  when  they  attempted  to  detain  them 
contrary  to  the  command  of  God ;  and  after  what  manner  the  very  same  river 
was  to  the  others  bloody  and  not  fit  for  drinking,  but  was  to  them  sweet  and  fit 
for  drinking ;  and  how  they  went  a  new  road  through  the  sea,  which  fled  a  long 
way  from  them,  by  which  very  means  they  were  themselves  preserved,  but  saw 
their  enemies  destroyed ;  and  that  Avhen  they  were  in  want  of  weapons,  God 
gave  them  plenty  of  them ;  and  so  he  recounted  all  the  particular  instances, 
liow  wiien  they  were  in  appearance  just  going  to  be  destroyed,  God  had  saved 
tliem  in  a  surprising  manner;  that  he  had  still  the  same  power;  and  that  they 
ought  not  even  now  to  despair  of  his  providence  over  them  ;  and  accordingly  he 
exhorted  them  to  continue  quiet,  and  to  consider  that  help  would  not  come  too 
late,  though  it  come  not  immediately,  if  it  be  present  with  them  before  they 
sufler  any  great  misfortune  ;  that  they  ought  to  reason  thus,  that  God  delays  to 
assist  them,  not  because  he  has  no  regard  to  them,  but  because  he  will  first  try 
their  fortitude,  and  the  pleasure  they  take  in  their  freedom,  that  he  may  learn 
whether  you  have  souls  great  enough  to  bear  want  of  food  and  scarcity  of  water 
on  its  account :  or  whether  you  rather  love  to  be  slaves,  as  cattle  are  slaves  to 
such  as  own  them  and  feed  them  liberally,  but  only  in  order  to  make  them  more 
useful  in  their  service.  That  as  for  himself,  he  shall  not  be  so  much  concerned 
for  his  own  preservation  ;  for  if  he  die  unjustly,  he  shall  not  reckon  it  any 
affliction,  but  that  he  is  concerned  for  them,  lest  by  casting  stones  at  him,  they 
should  be  thought  to  condemn  God  himself. 

5.  By  this  means  Moses  pacified  the  people  and  restrained  them  from  stoning 
him,  and  brought  them  to  repent  of  what  they  were  going  to  do.  And  because 
he  thought  the  necessity  they  were  under  made  their  passion  less  unjustifiable, 
he  thought  he  ought  to  apply  himself  to  God  by  prayer  and  supplication ;  and 
going  up  to  an  eminence,  he  requested  of  God  for  some  succour  for  the  people, 
and  some  way  of  deliverance  from  the  want  tjiey  were  in,  because  in  him,  and  in 
him  alone,  v/as  their  hope  of  salvation  ;  and  he  desired  that  he  would  forgive 
what  necessity  had  forced  the  people  to  do,  since  such  was  the  nature  of  man. 
kind,  hard  to  please,  and  very  complaining  under  adversities.  Accordingly, 
God  promised  he  would  take  care  of  them,  and  afford  them  the  succour  they 
were  desirous  of.  Now  when  Moses  had  heard  this  from  God,  he  came  down  to 
the  multitude.  But  as  soon  as  they  saw  him  joyful  at  the  promises  he  had  re. 
ceived  from  God,  they  changed  their  sad  countenances  into  gladness.  So  he 
placed  himself  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  told  them  he  came  to  bring  them  from 
God  a  deliverance  from  their  present  distresses.  Accordingly  a  little  after  came 
a  vast  number  of  quails,  which  is  a  bird  more  plentiful  in  this  Arabian  gulf  than 
any  where  else,  flying  over  the  sea,  and  hovered  over  them,  till  wearied  with 
their  labwious  flight,  and,  indeed,  as  usual,  flying  very  near  the  earth,  they  fell 
down  upon  the  Hebrews,  who  caught  them,  and  satisfied  their  hunger  with  them, 
and  supposed  that  this  was  the  method  whereby  God  meant  to  supply  them  with 
food.  Upon  which  Moses  returned  thanks  to  God  for  affording  them  his  assist., 
ance  so  suddenly,  and  sooner  than  he  had  promised  them. 

6.  But  presently  after  this  first  supply  of  food,  he  sent  them  a  second ;  for  as 
Moses  was  lifting  up  his  hands  in  prayer,  a  dew  fell  down  ;  and  Moses,  when  ho, 
fotmd  it  stick  to  his  hands,  supposed  this  was  also  come  for  food  from  God  to 

VOL.  r.  L 


.§2  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  III. 

them,  he  tasted  it ;  and  perceiving  that  the  people  knew  not  what  it  was,  and 
thought  it  snowed,  and  that  it  was  what  usually  fell  at  that  time  of  the  year,  he 
informed  them,  that  this  dew  did  not  fall  from  heaven  after  the  manner  they  im- 
agined, but  came  for  their  preservation  and  sustenance.  So  he  tasted  it,  and 
gave  them  some  of  it,  that  they  might  be  satisfied  about  what  he  told  them. 
They  also  imitated  their  conductor,  and  were  pleased  with  the  food,  for  it  was 
like  honey  in  sweetness  and  pleasant  taste,  but  like  in  its  body  to  bdellium,  one 
of  the  sweet  spices,  but  in  bigness  equal  to  coriander  seed.  And  very  earnest 
they  were  in  gathering  it.  But  they  were  enjoined  to  gather  it  equally,  the 
measure  of  a  homer  for  each  one  every  day,*  because  this  food  should  not  come 
in  too  small  a  quantity,  lest  the  weaker  might  not  be  able  to  get  their  share,  by 
reason  of  the  overbearing  of  the  strong  in  collecting  it.  However,  these  strong 
men,  when  they  had  gathered  more  than  the  measure  appointed  for  them,  they 
had  no  more  than  others,  but  only  tired  themselves  more  in  gathering  it,  for  they 
found  no  more  than  a  homer  a  piece  ;  and  the  advantage  they  got  by  what  was 
superfluous  was  none  at  all,  it  corrupting,  both  by  the  worms  breeding  in  it,  and 
by  its  bitterness.  So  divine  and  wonderful  a  food  was  this !  It  also  supplied  the 
want  of  other  sorts  of  food  to  those  that  fed  on  it.  And  even  now,  in  all  that 
place  this  mannaf  comes  down  in  rain,  according  to  what  Moses  then  obtained  of 
God,  to  send  it  to  the  people  for  their  sustenance.  Now  the  Hebrews  call  this 
food  manna ;  for  the  particle  mari,  in  our  language,  is  the  asking  of  a  question, 
What  is  this  ?  So  the  Hebrews  were  very  joyful  at  what  was  sent  them  from 
heaven.  Now  they  made  use  of  this  food  for  forty  years,  or  as  long  as  they  were 
in  the  wilderness. 

7.  As  soon  as  they  were  removed  thence,  they  came  to  Rephidem,  being  dis- 
tressed  to  the  last  degree  by  thirst ;  and  while  in  the  foregoing  days  they  had 
lighted  on  a  few  small  fountains,  but  now  found  the  earth  entirely  destitute  of 
water,  they  were  in  an  evil  case.  They  again  turned  their  anger  against  Moses ; 
but  he  at  first  avoided  the  fury  of  the  multitude,  and  then  betook  himself  to  prayer 
to  God,  beseeching  him,  that  as  he  had  given  them  food  when  they  were  in  the 
greatest  want  of  it,  so  he  would  give  them  drink,  since  the  favour  of  giving  them 
food  was  of  no  value  to  them  while  they  had  nothing  to  drink.  And  God  did  not 
long  delay  to  give  it  them,  but  promised  Moses  that  he  would  procure  them  a 
fountain  and  plenty  of  water,  from  a  place  they  did  not  expect  any.  So  he  com- 
manded him  to  smite  the  rock,:}:  which  they  saw  lying  there,  viith  his  rod,  and 
out  of  it  to  receive  plenty  of  what  they  wanted;  for  he  had  taken  care  that  drink 
should  come  to  them  without  any  labour  or  pains-taking.  When  Moses  had 
received  this  command  from  God,  he  came  to  the  people  who  waited  for  him,  and 
looked  upon  him,  for  they  saw  already  that  he  was  coming  apace  from  his  emi- 
nence. As  soon  as  he  was  come,  he  told  them  that  God  would  deliver  them 
from  their  present  distress,  and  had  granted  them  an  unexpected  favour ;  and 
informed  them  that  a  river  should  run,  for  their  sakes,  out  of  the  rock.  But  they 
were  ami.jod  at  that  hearing,  supposing  they  were  of  necessity  to  cut  the  rock  in 

*  It  seems  to  me,  from  wliat  Moses,  Exod.  xvi.  18,  St.  Paul,  2  Cor.  viii.  15,  and  Joseplius  here  sa^s 
compared  together,  that  the  quantity  of  manna  that  fell  daily,  and  did  not  putrefy,  was  just  so  much  as 
came  to  a  homer  a  piece,  through  the  whole  host  of  Israel,  and  no  more. 

f  This  supposal,  that  the  sweet  honey-dew  or  manna,  so  celebrated  in  ancient  and  modern  authors, 
as  falling  usually  in  Arabia,  was  of  tlie  very  same  sort  with  this  manna  sent  to  the  Israelites,  savours 
more  of  Gentilisni  than  of  Judaism  or  Christianity.  It  is  not  improbable  that  some  ancient  Gentile 
author,  read  by  Josephus,  so  thought ;  nor  would  he  here  contradict  him,  though  just  before,  and  Antiq. 
B.  iv.  eh.  iii.  sect.  2,  he  seems  directly  to  allow  that  it  had  not  been  seen  before.  However,  this  food 
ft um  heaven  is  here  described  to  be  i(7iewio?ur  and  ill  Artopanus,  a  heathen  writer,  it  is  compared  to 
riual  like  looalmeal,  in  colour  like  io  snoic,  rained  down  by  God,  Essay  on  the  Old  Test.  Append,  p.  23;i. 
But  as  to  the  derivation  of  tlie  word  manna,  whether  from  man,  which  Josephus  says  then  signified,  iclmt 
is  it?  or  from  mannah,  to  divide,  i.  e.  a  dividend  or  portion  allotted  to  every  one,  it  is  uncertain.  I  in- 
cline to  the  latter  derivation.  This  manna  is  called  angels^  food,  Psalm  Ixxviii.  26 ;  and  by  our  Saviour, 
John,  vi.  31,  &c.  as  well  as  by  Josephus  here  and  elsewhere,  Antiq.  B.  iii.  ch.  v.  sect.  3,  said  to  be  sent 
the  Jewafrom  heaven. 

\  This  rock  in  there  at  this  day,  as  the  travellers  agree,  and  must  be  the  same  that  was  there  in  the 
days  of  Moses,  as  being  too  large  to  be  brought  thither  by  our  modern  carriages 


1 


C.    II.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  gg 

pieces,  now  they  were  distressed  by  their  thirst  and  by  their  journey ;  while 
Moses,  only  smitnig  the  rock  with  his  rod,  opened  a  passage,  and  out  of  it  burst 
out  water,  and  that  in  great  abundance,  and  very  clear.  But  tiiey  were  aston- 
ished at  this  wonderful  effect ;  and,  as  it  were,  quenched  their  thirst  by  the  veiy 
Sight  of  it.  So  they  drank  of  this  pleasant,  this  sweet  water  ;  and  such  it  seemed 
to  be,  as  might  Avell  be  expected,  where  God  was  the  donor.  They  were  also 
in  admiration  how  Moses  was  honoured  by  God ;  and  they  made  grateful  returns 
of  sacrifices  to  God  for  his  providence  towards  them.  Now  that  Scripture,  which 
is  laid  up  in  the  temple,*  informs  us  how  God  foretold  to  Moses  that  water  should 
in  this  manner  be  derived  out  of  the  rock. 


CHAP.  IL 

How  the  AmaleJeites  and  the  neighbouring  Nations  made  War  with  the  Hebrews, 
and  were  beaten,  and  lost  a  great  part  of  their  Army. 

§  1.  The  name  of  the  Hebrews  began  already  to  be  every  where  renowned,  and 
rumours  about  them  ran  abroad.  This  made  the  inhabitants  of  those  countries 
to  be  in  no  small  fear.  Accordingly,  they  sent  ambassadors  to  one  another,  and 
exhorted  one  another  to  defend  themselves,  and  to  endeavour  to  destroy  these  men. 
Those  that  induced  the  rest  to  do  so  were  such  as  inhabited  Gobolitis  and  Petra. 
They  were  called  Amalehites,  and  were  the  most  warlike  of  the  nations  that  lived 
•thereabout ;  and  whose  kings  exhorted  one  another,  and  their  neighbours,  to  go 
to  this  war  against  the  Hebrews  ;  telling  them,  that  an  army  of  strangers,  and 
such  a  one  as  had  run  away  from  slavery  under  the  Egyptians,  lay  in  wait  to  ruin 
them  ;  which  army  they  were  not,  in  common  prudence  and  regard  to  their  own 
safet}',  to  overlook,  but  to  crush  them  before  they  gather  strength  and  come  to 
be  in  prosperity ;  and  perhaps  attack  them  first  in  an  hostile  manner,  as  pre- 
suming upon  our  indolence  in  not  attacking  them  before  ;  and  that  we  ought  to 
avenge  ourselves  of  them  for  what  they  have  done  in  the  wilderness,  but  that  this 
cannot  be  so  well  done  v.hen  they  have  once  laid  their  hands  on  our  cities  and 
our  goods  ;  that  those  who  endeavour  to  crush  a  power  in  its  first  rise  are  wiser 
than  those  that  endeavour  to  put  a  stop  to  its  progress,  when  it  is  become  for- 
midable ;  for  these  last  seem  to  be  angry  only  at  the  flourishing  of  others,  but  the 
former  do  not  leave  any  room  for  their  enemies  to  become  troublesome  to  them. 
After  they  had  sent  such  embassages  to  the  neighbouring  nations,  and  among 
one  another,  they  resolved  to  attack  the  Hebrews  in  battle. 

2.  These  proceedings  of  the  people  of  those  countries  occasioned  perplexity 
and  trouble  to  Moses,  who  expected  no  such  warlike  preparations.  And  when 
these  nations  were  ready  to  fight,  and  the  muUitude  of  the  Hebrews  were  obliged 
to  try  the  fortune  of  war,  they  were  in  a  mighty  disorder,  and  in  want  of  all 
necessaries,  and  yet  were  to  make  war  with  men  who  were  thoroughly  well  pre- 
pared  for  it.  Then  therefore  it  was  that  Moses  began  to  encourage  them,  and  to 
exhort  them  to  have  a  good  heart,  and  rely  on  God's  assistance,  by  which  they 
had  been  advanced  into  a  state  of  freedom,  and  to  hope  for  victory  over  those 
who  were  ready  to  fight  with  them,  in  order  to  deprive  them  of  that  blessing. 
That  they  were  to  suppose  their  own  army  to  be  numerous,  wanting  nothing, 
neither  weapons  nor  money  nor  provisions,  nor  such  other  conveniences  as 
when  men  are  in  possession  of  they  fight  undauntedly ;  and  that  they  were  to 
judge  themselves  to  have  all  these  advantages  in  the  divine  assistance.     They 

*  Note  here,  that  this  small  book  of  the  principal  laws  of  Moses  is  ever  said  to  be  laid  up  in  the  holy 
house,  itself;  but  the  larger  Pentateuch,  as  here,  somewhere  within  the  limits  of  the  temple  and  itscourta 
only.     See  Antiq.  B.  v.  ch,  i.  sect.  17 


g4  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  E.  111. 

ate  also  to  suppose  the  enemies  army  to  be  small,  unarmed,  weak,  and  such  as 
want  those  conveniences  which  they  know  must  be  wanted,  when  it  is  God's  will 
that  they  shall  be  beaten.  And  how  valuable  God's  assistance  is  they  had  ex. 
perienced  in  abundance  of  trials ;  a)id  those  such  as  were  more  terrible  than 
war ;  lor  that  is  only  against  men,  but  these  were  against  famine  and  thirst, 
things  indeed  that  were  in  their  own  nature  inseparable  :  as  also  against  moun- 
tains, and  that  sea  which  afforded  them  no  way  for  escaping ;  yet  had  all  these 
difficulties  been  conquered  by  God's  gracious  kindness  to  them.  So  he  exhorted 
them  to  be  courageous  at  this  time,  and  to  look  upon  their  entire  prospeiity  to 
depend  on  the  present  conquest  of  their  enemies. 

3.  And  with  these  words  did  Moses  encourage  the  multitude,  who  then  called 
together  the  princes  of  their  tribes,  and  their  chief  men,  both  separately  and 
jointly.  The  young  men  he  charged  to  obey  their  elders,  and  the  elders  to 
hearken  to  their  leader.  So  the  people  were  elevated  in  their  minds,  and  ready 
to  try  their  fortune  in  battle,  and  hoped  to  be  thereby  at  length  delivered  from 
all  their  miseries  :  nay,  they  desired  that  Moses  would  immediately  lead  them 
against  their  enemies  without  the  least  delay,  that  no  backwardness  might  be  a 
hinderance  to  their  present  resolution.  So  Moses  sorted  all  that  were  fit  for  war 
into  different  troops,  and  set  Joshua,  the  son  of  Nun,  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim, 
over  them  ;  one  that  was  of  great  courage,  and  patient  to  undergo  labours,  of 
great  abilities  to  understand  and  to  speak  what  was  proper,  and  very  serious  in 
the  worship  of  God;  and  indeed  made  like  another  Moses,  a  teacher  of  piety 
towards  God.  He  also  appointed  a  small  party  of  the  armed  men  to  be  near 
the  water  ;  and  to  take  care  of  the  children  and  the  women  of  the  entire  camp. 
So  that  whole  night  they  prepared  themselves  for  the  battle  ;  they  took  their 
weapons,  if  any  of  them  had  such  as  Avere  well  made,  and  attended  to  their 
commanders,  as  ready  to  rush  forth  to  the  battle  as  soon  as  Moses  should  give 
the  word  of  command.  Moses  also  kept  av/ake,  teaching  Joshua  after  what 
manner  he  should  order  his  camp.  But  when  the  day  began,  Moses  called  for 
Joshua  again,  and  exhorted  him  to  approve  himself  in  deeds  such  a  one  as  his 
reputation  made  men  expect  from  him  ;  and  to  gain  glory  by  the  present  expe, 
dition,  in  the  opinion  of  those  under  him,  for  his  exploits  in  this  battle.  He  also 
gave  a  particular  exhortation  to  the  principal  men  of  the  Hebrews,  and  encou- 
raged  the  whole  army  as  it  stood  armed  before  him.  And  when  he  had  thus 
animated  the  army,  both  by  his  words  and  works,  and  prepared  every  thing,  he 
retired  to  a  mountain,  and  committed  the  army  to  God  and  to  Joshua. 

4.  So  the  armies  joined  battle  ;  and  it  came  to  a  close  fight  hand  to  hand, 
both  sides  showing  great  alacrity,  and  encouraging  one  another.  And  indeed 
while  Moses*  stretched  out  his  hands  towards  Heaven,  the  Hebrews  were  too 
hard  for  the  Amalekites  ;  but  Moses  not  being  able  to  sustain  his  hands  thus 
stretched  out  (for  as  often  as  he  let  down  his  hands,  so  often  were  his  own 
people  worsted,)  he  bade  his  brother  Aaron,  and  Hur,  their  sister  Miriam's  hus- 
band, to  stand  on  each  side  of  him,  and  take  hold  of  his  hands,  and  not  to  permit 
his  weariness  to  prevent  it,  but  to  assist  him  in  the  extension  of  his  hands. 
When  this  was  done,  the  Hebrews  conquered  the  Amalekites  by  main  force  ; 
and  indeed  they  had  all  perished,  unless  the  approach  of  the  night  had  obliged 
the  Hebrews  to  desist  from  killing  any  more.     So  our  forefathers   obtained  a 

*  This  eminent  circumstance,  that  while  Moses's  hands  were  lift  vp  towards  heaven,  the  Israelites 
prevailed,  and  while  they  were  let  down  towards  the  earth,  the  Amalekites  prevailed,  seems  to  me  the 
earliest  intimation  we  have  of  the  proper  posture,  used  of  old,  in  solemn  prayer,  which  was  the  stretch- 
ing out  the  hands  [and  eyes]  towards  heaven,  as  other  passages  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  inform 
us.  Nay,  by  the  way,  this  posture  seems  to  have  continued  in  the  Christian  church,  till  the  clergy,  in- 
stead of  I'^arning  their  prayers  by  heart,  read  them  out  of  a  book,  which  is  in  great  measure  inconsistent 
with  sue)  an  elevated  posture,  and  which  seems  to  me  to  have  been  only  a  later  practice  introduced 
under  the  corrupt  state  of  the  church,  though  the  constant  use  of  divine  forms  of  prayer,  praise,  and 
thanksgiving,  appears  to  me  to  have  been  the  practice  of  God's  people,  Patriarchs,  Jews,  and  Christians, 
in  all  the  past  ages. 


C.  III.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


85 


most  signal  and  most  seasonable  victory;  for  thoy  not  only  overcame  those  that 
fought  against  them,  but  terrified  also  the  neighbouring  nations,  and  got  great  and 
splendid  advantages,  which  they  obtained  of  their  enemies  by  their  liard  pains  in 
this  battle  ;  for  when  they  had  taken  tlie  enemy's  camp,  Ihcy  got  ready  booty  lor 
the  public  and  for  their  own  private  families,  whereas  till  then  they  had  not  any 
sort  of  plenty,  of  even  necessary  food.  The  foremcntioned  battle,  when  they 
had  once  got  it,  was  also  the  occasion  of  their  prosperity,  not  only  for  the  pre- 
sent, but  for  the  future  ages  also ;  for  they  not  only  made  slaves  of  the  bodies  of 
their  enemies,  but  subdued  their  minds  also  ;  and  after  this  battle,  became  ter- 
rible  to  all  that  dwelt  round  about  them.  Moreover,  they  acquired  a  vast  quan- 
tity of  riches  ;  for  a  great  deal  of  silver  and  gold  was  left  in  the  enemy's  camp ; 
as  also  brazen  vessels,  which  they  made  a  common  use  of  in  their  families  ;  many 
utensils  also  that  were  embroidered  there  were  of  both  sorts,  that  is,  of  what 
were  weaved,  and  what  were  the  ornaments  of  their  armour  ;  and  other  things 
that  served  for  use  in  the  family  and  for  the  furniture  of  their  rooms ;  they  got 
also  the  prey  of  their  cattle,  and  of  m  hatsoever  uses  to  follow  camps,  when  they 
remove  from  one  place  to  another.  So  the  Hebrews  now  valued  themselves 
upon  their  courage,  and  claimed  great  merit  for  their  valour  ;  and  they  perpetu- 
ally inured  themselves  to  take  pains,  by  which  they  deemed  every  difficulty 
might  be  surmounted.     Such  were  the  consequences  of  this  battle. 

5.  On  the  next  day,  Moses  stripped  the  dead  bodies  of  their  enemies,  and 
gathered  together  the  armour  of  those  that  were  fled,  and  gave  rewards  to  such 
as  had  signalized  themselves  in  the  action  ;  and  highly  commended  Joshua,  their 
general,  who  was  attested  to  by  all  the  army,  on  account  of  the  great  actions  he 
had  done.  Nor  was  any  one  of  the  Hebrews  slain  ;  but  the  slain  of  the  enemy's 
army  were  too  many  to  be  enumerated.  So  Moses  offered  sacrifices  of  thanks, 
giving  to  God,  and  built  an  altar,  which  he  named,  the  Lord  the  Conqueror.  He 
also  foretold,  that  the  A.malekites  should  utterly  be  destroyed,  and  that  hereafter 
none  of  them  should  remain,  because  they  fought  against  the  Hebrews,  and  this 
when  they  were  in  the  v/ilderness  and  in  their  distress  also.  Moreover,  he 
refreshed  the  army  with  feasting.  And  thus  did  they  fight  this  first  battle  with 
those  that  ventured  to  oppose  them  after  they  v.ere  gone  out  of  Egypt.  But 
when  Moses  had  celebrated  this  festival  for  the  victory,  he  permitted  the  He- 
brews to  rest  for  a  few  days,  and  then  he  brought  them  out,  after  the  fight,  in 
order  of  battle  ;  for  they  had  now  many  soldiers  in  light  armour.  And  going 
gradually  on,  he  came  to  Mount  Sinai,  in  three  months  time  after  they  were 
removed  out  of  Egypt ;  at  which  mountain,  as  we  have  before  related,  the  vision 
of  the  bush  and  the  other  wonderful  appearances  had  happened. 


CHAP.  HI. 

That  Moses  kindly  received  his  Father-in-law  Jethro,  when  he  came  to  him  to 

Mount  Sinai. 

Now  when  Raguel,  Moses's  father-in-law,  understood  in  what  a  prosperous  con- 
dition his  affairs  were,  he  willingly  came  to  meet  him.  And  Moses  took  Zip- 
porah  his  wife,  and  his  children,  and  pleased  himself  with  his  coming.  And 
when  he  had  offered  sacrifice,  he  made  a  feast  for  the  multitude,  near  the  buslji 
he  had  formerly  seen  ;  which  multitude,  every  one  according  to  their  families, 
partook  of  the  feast.  But  Aaron  and  his  family  took  Raguel,  and  sung  hymns 
to  God,  as  to  him  who  had  been  the  author  and  procurer  of  their  deliverance 
and  their  freedom.  They  also  praised  their  conductor,  as  him  by  whose  virtue 
it  was  that  all  things  had  succeeded  so  well  with  them.     Raguel  also,  in  hia 


80  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  III. 

eucharistical  oratioh  to  Moses,  made  great  encomiums  upon  the  whole  muUl- 
tude  ;  and  he  could  not  but  admire  Moses  for  his  fortitude,  and  that  humanity 
he  had  showed  in  the  dehvery  of  his  friends. 


CHAP.  IV. 

How  Raguel  suggested  to  Moses  to  set  his  People  in  Order,  under  their  Rulers  of 
Thousands,  and  Rulers  of  Hundreds,  who  lived  without  Order  before ;  and  how 
Moses  complied  in  all  Tilings  with  his  Father-in-law's  Admonition. 

§  1.  The  next  day,  as  Raguel  saw  Moses  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  business 
(for  he  determined  the  difterences  of  those  that  referred  them  to  him,  every 
one  still  going  to  him,  and  supposing  that  they  should  then  only  obtain  jus- 
tice, if  he  were  the  arbitrator ;  and,  those  that  lost  their  causes  thought  it  no 
harm,  while  they  thought  they  lost  them  justly,  and  not  by  partiality.)  Raguel, 
however,  said  nothing  to  him  at  that  time,  as  not  desirous  to  be  any  hinderance 
to  such  as  had  a  mind  to  make  use  of  the  virtue  of  their  conductor.  But  after- 
wards he  took  him  to  himself,  and  when  he  had  him  alone,  he  instructed  him  in 
what  he  ought  to  do  ;  and  advised  him  to  leave  the  trouble  of  lesser  causes  to 
others,  but  himself  to  take  care  of  the  greater,  and  of  the  people's  safety  ;  for 
that  certain  others  of  the  Hebrews  might  be  found  that  were  fit  to  determine 
causes,  but  that  nobody  but  a  Moses  could  take  care  of  the  safety  of  so  many 
ten  thousands.  "  Be  not  therefore,"  says  he,  "  insensible  of  thine  own  virtue, 
and  what  thou  hast  done  by  ministering  under  God  to  the  people's  preservation. 
Permit,  therefore,  the  determination  of  common  causes  to  be  done  by  others,  but 
do  thou  reserve  thyself  to  the  attendance  on  God  only,  and  look  out  for  methods 
of  preserving  the  multitude  from  their  present  distress.  Make  use  of  the  method 
I  suggest  to  3'OU,  as  to  human  afiairs  ;  and  take  a  review  of  the  army,  and  ap- 
point chosen  rulers  over  tens  of  thousands,  and  then  over  thousands ;  then  divide 
them  into  five  hundreds  ;  and  again  into  hundreds,  and  into  fiftit  ;  and  set  rulers 
over  each  of  them,  who  may  distinguish  them  into  thirties,  and  keep  them  in 
order  ;  and  at  last  number  {hem  by  twenties  and  by  tens.  And  let  there  be  one 
commander  over  each  number,  to  be  denominated  from  the  number  of  those 
over  whom  thej^  are  rulers,  but  such  as  the  whole  multitude  have  tried,  and  do 
approve  of,*  being  good  and  righteous  men  ;  and  let  these  rulers  decide  the  con- 
troversies  they  have  one  Vt'ith  another.  But  if  any  great  cause  arise,  let  them 
bring  the  cognizance  of  it  before  the  rulers  of  a  higher  dignity ;  but  if  any  great 
difficulty  arise  that  is  too  -hard  for  even  their  determination,  let  them  send  it  to 
thee.  By  these  means  two  advantages  will  be  gained,  that  the  Hebrews  will 
have  justice  done  them ;  and  thou  wilt  be  able  to  attend  constantly  on  God,  and 
procure  him  to  be  more  favourable  to  the  people." 

2.  This  was  the  admonition  of  Raguel ;  and  Moses  received  his  advice  very 
kindly,  and  acted  according  to  his  suggestion.  Nor  did  he  conceal  the  invention 
of  this  method,  nor  pretend  to  it  himself,  but  informed  the  multitude  who  it  was 
that  invented  it.  Nay,  he  has  named  Raguel  in  the  books  he  wrote,  as  the  per- 
son who  invented  this  ordering  of  the  people,  as  thinking  it  right  to  give  a  true 
testimony  to  worthy  persons,  although  he  might  have  gotten  reputation  by  ascrib- 
ing to  himself  the  inventions  of  other  men.  Whence  we  may  learn  the  virtuous 
disposition  of  Moses ;  but  of  such  his  disposition  we  shall  have  proper  occasion 
to  speak  in  other  places  of  these  books. 

*  This  manner  of  electinR  the  judges  and  officers  of  the  Israelites  by  the  testimonies  and  suffrages  of 
the  people,  before  they  were  ordatned  by  God  or  by  Moses,  deserves  to  be  carefully  noted,  because  it  was 
the  pattern  of  the  like  manner  of  the  choice  and  ordination  of  bishops,  presbyters,  and  deacons,  in  the 
Christian  Church. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  gy 


CHAP.  V 

How  Moses  ascended  up  to  3Iount  Sinai,  and  received  Laios  from  God,  and 
delivered  them  to  the  Hebrews. 

§  1.  Now  Moses  called  the  multitude  together,  and  told  them  that  he  was  goin» 
from  them  unto  Mount  Sinai,  to  converse  with  God ;  to  receive  from  him,  and  to 
bring  back  witli  him  a  certain  oracle  ;  but  he  enjoined  them  to  pitch  their  tents 
near  the  mountain,  and  prefer  the  habitation  that  was  nearest  to  God,  before  one 
more  remote.  When  he  had  said  this,  he  ascended  up  to  Mount  Sinai,  which 
is  the  highest*  of  all  the  mountains  that  are  in  that  country,  and  is  not  only  very 
ditficuk  to  be  ascended  by  men,  on  account  of  its  vast  altitude,  but  because  of 
the  sharpness  of  its  precipices  also ;  nay,  indeed  it  cannot  be  looked  at  without 
pain  of  the  eyes.  And  besides  this,  it  was  terrible  and  inaccessible,  en  account 
of  the  rumour  that  passed  about,  that  God  dwelt  there.  But  the  Hebrews  re- 
moved their  tents,  as  Moses  had  bidden  them,  and  took  possession  of  the  lowest 
parts  of  the  mountain,  and  were  elevated  in  their  minds,  in  expectation  that 
Moses  would  return  from  God  with  promises  of  the  good  things  he  had  proposed 
to  them.  So  they  feasted,  and  waited  for  their  conductor,  and  kept  themselves 
pure,  as  in  other  respects,  and  not  accompanying  with  their  wives  for  three  days, 
as  he  had  before  ordered  them  to  do.  x\nd  they  prayed  to  God,  that  he  would 
favourably  receive  Moses  in  his  conversing  with  him,  and  bestow  some  such  gift 
upon  them,  by  which  they  might  live  well.  They  also  lived  more  plentifully  as 
to  their  diet,  and  put  on  their  wives  and  children  more  ornamental  and  decent 
clothing  than  they  usually  wore. 

2.  So  they  passed  two  days  in  this  way  of  feasting ;  but  on  the  third  day, 
before  the  sun  was  up,  a  cloud  spreaditself  over  the  whole  camp  of  the  Hebrews, 
such  t.  one  as  none  had  before  seen,  and  encompassed  the  place  where  they  had 
pitched  their  tents;  and  while  all  the  rest  of  the  air  was  clear,  there  came  stx"ong 
winds,  that  raised  up  large  showers  of  rain,  which  became  a  mighty  tempest. 
There  was  also  such  lightning  as  was  terrible  to  those  that  saw  it ;  and  thunder, 
with  its  thunderbolts,  were  sent  down,  and  declared  God  to  be  there  present  in  a 
gracious  way  to  such  as  Moses  desired  he  should  be  gracious.  Now  as  to  these 
matters,  every  one  of  my  readers  may  tliink  as  he  pleases  ;  but  I  am  under  a 
necessity  of  relating  this  history  as  it  is  described  in  the  sacred  books.  This 
sight,  and  the  amazing  sound  that  came  to  their  ears,  disturbed  the  Hebrews  io 
a  prodigious  degree,  for  they  were  not  such  as  they  were  accustomed  to :  and 
then  the  rumour  that  was  spread  abroad,  how  God  frequented  that  mountain, 
greatly  astonished  their  minds,  so  they  sorrowfully  contained  themselves  within 
their  tents,  as  both  supposing  Moses  to  be  destroyed  by  the  divine  wrath,  and 
expecting  the  like  destruction  for  themselves. 

3.  When  they  wei-e  under  these  apprehensions,  Moses  appeared  as  joyful  and 
greatly  exalted.  When  they  saw  him,  they  were  freed  from  (heir  fear,  and 
admitted  of  more  comfortable  hopes  as  to  what  was  to  come.  The  air  also  was 
become  clear  and  pure  of  its  former  disorders,  upon  the  appearance  of  Jloses. 
Whereupon  he  called  together  the  people  to  a  congregation,  in  order  to  their 

*  Since  this  mountain  Sinai  is  here  said  to  be  the  highest  of  all  ike  mountains  that  are  in  that  covniry, 
it  must  be  that  now  called  .S7.  Katherinc\s,  which  is  one  third  higher  than  that  wiliiin  a  mile  of  it  now 
called  .S'mo!,  as  Mons.  Thevenot  informs  us,  Travels,  part  i.  chap,  xxviii.  p.  1G3.  'I'he  other  nan-.-o  of  it, 
Horclj,  is  never  used  byJosephus;  and  perhaps  was  its  name  anions  the  Ei;yptians  onlj-,  whence  the 
Israelites  were  lately  come,  as  Sinai  was  its  name  among  the  Arabians,  Cauaanites,  and  other  nation?. 
Accordingly  when  (1  Kings,  ix.  8.)  the  Scripture  says  that  Elijaii  came  to  Horcb,  the  mount  of  God,  Jo- 
sephus  justly  says,  Antiq.B.  viii.  chap.  xiii.  sect.  7,  that  he  came  to  the  mountain  called  Siri'ii;  and 
Jerome,  here  cited  by  Dr.  Hudson,  says,  that  he  took  this  mountain  to  have  two  names,  Sinai  and 
Ckortb.     See  Nomin.  Heb.  p.  427. 


gg  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JE^VS.  B   III. 

hearing  what  God  would  say  to  them :  and  when  they  were  gathered  together, 
he  stood  on  an  eminence,  whence  they  might  all  hear  him,  and  said  :  "  God  has 
received  me  graciously,  O  Hebrews,  as  he  has  formerly  done ;  and  has  sug 
wested  a  happy  method  of  living  for  you,  and  an  order  of  political  government, 
and  is  now  present  in  the  camp  :  I  therefore  charge  you,  for  his   sake,  and  the 
sake  of  his  works,  and  what  we  have  done  by  his  means,  that  you  do  not  put  a 
low  value  on  what  I  am  going  to  say,  because  the  commands  have  been  given 
bv  me  that  now  deliver  them  to  you,  nor  because  it  is  the  tongue  of  a  man  that 
delivers  them  to  you  ;  but  if  you  have  a  due  regard  to  the  great  importance  of 
the  tiiino-s  themselves,  you  will  understand  the  greatness  of  whose  institutions 
they  are,  and  Avho  has  not  disdained  to  communicate  them  to  me  tor  our   com- 
mon advantage  ;  for  it  is  not  to  be  supposed,  that  the  author  of  these  institutions 
is  barely  Moses,  the  son  of  Amram  and  Jochebed,  but  he  -who  obliged  the  Nile 
to  run  bloody  for  your  sakes,  and  tamed  the  haughtiness  of  the  Egyptians  by 
various  sorts  of  judgments  ;  he  who  provided  a  way  through  the  sea  ibr  us  ;  he 
who  contrived  a  method  of  sending  us  food  from  heaven,  when  we  were  distressed 
for  want  of  it ;  he  who  made  the  water  to  issue  out  of  a  rock,  when  we  had  very 
little  of  it  before  ;  he  by  whose  means  Adam  was  made  to  partake  of  the  fruits 
both  of  the  land  and  of  the  sea ;  he  by  whose  means  Noah  escaped  the  deluge ; 
he  by  whose  means  our  forefather  Abraham,  of  a  wandering  pilgrim,  was  made 
the  heir  of  the  land  of  Canaan  ;  he  by  whose  means  Isaac  was  born  of  parents 
who  were  very  old ;  he  by  whose  means  Jacob  was  adorned  with  twelve  virtuous 
sons  ;  he  by  whose  means  Joseph  became  a  potent  lord  over  the  Egyptians :  he 
it  is  who  conveys  these  instructions  to  you  by  me  as  his  interpreter.     And  let 
them  be  to  you  venerable,  and  contended  for  more  earnestly  by  you  than  your 
own  children  and  your  own  wives  ;  for  if  you  will  follow  them,  you  will  lead  a 
happy  life :  you  will  enjo}^  the  land  fruitful,  the  sea  calm,  and  the  fruit  of  the 
womb  born  complete,  as  natui'e  requires ;  you  will  be  also  terrible  to  your  en- 
emies ;  for  I  have  been  admitted  into  the  presence  of  God,  and  been  made  a 
hearer  of  his  incorruptible  voice  ;  so  great  is  his  concern  for  your  nation,  and 
its  duration." 

4.  When  he  had  said  this,  he  brought  the  people,  with  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren, so  near  the  mountain  that  they  might  hear  God  himself  speaking  to  them 
about  the  precepts  which  they  ^vere  to  practice  ;  that  the  energy  of  what  should 
be  spoken  might  not  be  hurt  by  its  utterance  by  that  tongue  of  a  man,  which 
could  but  imperfectly  deliver  it  to  their  understanding.  And  they  all  heard  a 
voice  that  came  to  all  of  them  from  above,  insomuch  that  no  one  of  these  words 
escaped  them,  which  Moses  wrote  in  two  tables ;  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  us  to 
set  down  directly,*  but  their  import  we  will  declare. 

5.  The  first  com.mandment  teaches  us,  that  there  is  but  one  God,  and  that  we 
ought  to  worship  him  only.  The  second  commands  us  not  to  make  the  image 
of  any  living  creature  to  worsjiip  it.  The  third,  that  we  must  not  swear  by  God 
in  a  false  matter.  The  fourth,  that  we  must  keep  the  seventh  day,  by  resting 
from  all  sort  of  work.  The  fifth,  that  we  must  honour  our  parents.  The  sixth, 
that  we  must  abstain  from  murder.  The  seventh,  that  we  must  not  commit 
adultery.  The  eighth,  that  we  must  not  be  guilty  of  theft.  The  ninth,  that  we 
must  not  bear  false  witness.  The  tenth,  that  we  must  not  admit  of  the  desire  of 
any  tiling  that  is  another's. 

G.  Now  when  the  muhitude  had  heard  God  himself  giving  those  precepts  which 
Moses  had  discoursed  of,  they  rejoiced  at  what  was  said,  and  the  congregation 
was  dissolved.  But  on  the  following  days  they  came  to  his  tent,  and  desired 
him  to  bring  them  besides,  other  laws  from  God.  Accordingly  he  appointed 
such  laws  ;  and  afterwards  informed  them  in  what  manner  they  should  act  in  all 

«  Of  this  anrl  another  like  superstitious  notion  of  tlie  Tharisees,  which  Josephus  complied  with,  see 
the  note  on  Antiq.  b.  ii.  chap,  xii.sect.  4. 


C.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  og 

cases ;  which  laws  I  shall  make  mention  of  in  their  proper  time  :  but  I  shall  re- 
serve  most  of  those  laws  for  another  work,*  and  make  there  a  distinct  exphcation 
of  them. 

7.  When  matters  were  brought  to  this  state,  Moses  went  up  attain  to  Mount 
Sinai,  of  which  he  had  told  them  beforehand.  He  made  his  ascent  in  their  sif^ht* 
and  while  he  stayed  there  so  long  a  time  (for  he  was  absent  from  them  forty 
days,)  fear  seized  upon  the  Hebrews,  lest  Moses  should  have  come  to  any  harm  ; 
nor  was  there  any  thing  else  so  sad,  and  that  so  much  troubled  them,  as  this  sup. 
posal  that  Moses  was  perished.  Now  there  was  a  variety  in  their  sentiment 
about  it :  some  saying  that  he  was  fallen  among  wild  beasts,  and  those  that  were 
of  this  opinion  were  chiefly  such  as  were  ill  disposed  to  him ;  but  others  saying, 
that  he  was  departed  and  gone  to  God ;  but  the  wiser  sort  were  led  by  their  rea- 
son  to  embrace  neither  of  those  opinions  with  any  satisfaction,  thinking,  that  it 
was  a  thing  that  sometimes  happens  to  men  to  fall  among  wild  beasts,  and  perish 
that  way,  so  it  was  probable  enough  that  he  might  depart  and  go  to  God,  on  ac- 
count of  his  virtue  ;  they  therefore  were  quiet,  and  expected  the  event.  Yet 
were  they  exceeding  sorry  upon  the  supposal  that  they  were  deprived  of  a  gover. 
nor  and  a  protector,  such  a  one  indeed  as  they  could  never  recover  again ;  nor 
would  this  suspicion  give  them  leave  to  expect  any  comfortable  event  about  this 
man,  nor  could  they  prevent  their  trouble  and  melancholy  upon  this  occasion. 
However,  the  camp  durst  not  remove  all  this  while,  because  Moses  had  bid  them 
afore  to  stay  there. 

8.  But  when  the  forty  days  and  as  many  nights  were  over,  Moses  came  down, 
having  tasted  nothing  of  food  usually  appointed  for  the  nourishment  of  men.  His 
appearance  filled  the  army  with  gladness,  and  he  declared  to  them  what  care  God 
had  of  them,  and  by  what  manner  of  conduct  of  their  lives  they  might  live  hap- 
pily ;  telling  them  that  during  these  days  of  his  absence,  he  had  suggested  to  him 
also  that  he  would  have  a  tabernacle  built  for  him,  into  which  he  would  descend 
Avhen  he  came  to  them ;  and  how  we  should  carry  it  about  with  us  when  we  re- 
move  from  this  place  ;  and  that  there  would  be  no  longer  any  occasion  for  going 
up  to  Mount  Sinai,  but  that  he  would  himself  come  and  pitch  his  tabernacle 
amongst  us,  and  be  present  at  our  prayers ;  as  also,  that  the  tabernacle  should 
be  of  such  measures  and  construction  as  he  had  showed  him,  and  that  you  are  to 
fall  to  the  work,  and  prosecute  it  diligently.  When  he  had  said  this,  he  showed 
them  the  two  tables  with  the  ten  commandments  engraven  upon  them,  five  upon 
each  table  ;  and  the  writing  was  by  the  hand  of  God 


CHA.P.  VI. 

Concerning  the  Tabernacle  which  3Ioses  built  in  the  Wilderness,  for  the  Honour 
of  God,  and  which  seemed  to  be  a  Temple. 

§  1.  Hereupon  the  Israelites  rejoiced  at  what  they  had  seen  and  heard  of  their 
conductor,  and  were  not  wanting  in  diligence  according  to  their  ability  ;  but  they 
brought  silver,  and  gold,  and  brass,  and  of  the  best  sorts  of  wood,  and  such  as 
would  not  at  all  decay  by  putrefaction  ;  camel's  hair  also,  and  sheep  skins,  some 
of  them  dyed  of  a  blue  colour  and  some  of  a  scarlet ;  some  brought  the  flowers 
for  the  purple  colour,  and  others  for  white  ;  with  wool  dyed  by  the  flowers  afore 
mentioned ;  and  fine  linen  and  precious  stones,  which  those  that  used  costly 
ornaments  set  in  ouches  of  gold  ;  they  brought  also  a  great  quantity  of  spices ; 
for  of  these  materials  did  Moses  build  the  tabernacle  which  did  not  at  all  difl'er 

*  Tliis  other  workof  Josephus  here  referred  to  seems  to  be  that  which  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
ever  published,  which  yet  he  intended  to  publish,  about  the  reasons  of  many  of  the  laws  of  Moses ; 
of  which  see  the  note  on  the  preface,  sect.  4. 
VOL  I.  M 


(jQ  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  III.  ' 

from  a  moveable  and  ambulatory  tabic.  Now  Avben  these  tilings  were  brought 
tooether  with  great  diligence,  for  every  one  was  ambitious  to  further  the  work, 
even  beyond  their  ability,  he  set  architects  over  the  works,  and  this  by  the  com- 
mand of  God;  and  indeed  the  very  same  which  the  people  themselves  would 
have  chosen,  had  the  election  been  allowed  to  them.  Now  their  names  are  set 
down  in  writing  in  the  sacred  books ;  and  they  were  these,  Besaleel,  the  son  of 
Uri,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  the  grandson  of  Miriam,  the  sister  of  their  conductor ; 
and  Aholiab,  the  son  of  Ahisamach,  of  the  tribe  of  Dan.  Now  the  people  went 
on  with  what  they  had  undertaken  with  so  great  alacrity  that  Moses  was  obliged 
to  restrain  them,  by  making  proclamation,  that  what  had  been  brought  was  suf- 
ficient, as  the  artificers  had  informed  him.  So  they  fell  to  work  upon  the  building 
of  the  tabernacle.  Moses  also  informed  them,  according  to  the  direction  of 
God,  both  what  the  measures  were  to  be,  and  its  largeness;  and  how  many  ves- 
sels it  ought  to  contain,  for  the  use  of  the  sacrifices.  The  women  also  were 
ambitious  to  do  their  parts,  about  the  garments  of  the  priests,  and  about  other 
things  that  would  be  wanted  in  this  work,  both  for  ornament,  and  for  the  divine 
service  itself. 

2.  Now  when  all  things  were  prepared,  the  gold  and  the  silver  and  the  brass 
and  what  was  woven,  Moses,  when  he  had  appointed  beforehand  that  there 
should  be  a  festival,  and  that  sacrifice  should  be  offered  according  to  every  one's 
ability,  reared  up  the  tabernacle.*  And  when  he  had  measured  the  open  court, 
fifty  cubits  broad  and  a  hundred  long,  he  set  up  brazen  pillars  five  cubits  high, 
twenty  on  each  of  the  longer  sides,  and  ten  pillars  from  the  breadth  behind  ; 
every  one  of  the  pillars  also  had  a  ring.  Their  chapiters  were  of  silver,  but 
their  bases  were  of  brass ;  they  resembled  the  sharp  ends  of  spears,  and  were 
of  brass,  fixed  into  the  ground.  Cords  were  also  put  through  the  rings,  and 
were  tied  at  their  farther  ends  to  brass  nails  of  a  cubit  long,  which  at  every  pillar 
were  driven  into  the  floor,  and  would  keep  the  tabernacle  from  being  shaken  by 
the  violence  of  the  winds.  But  a  curtain  of  fine  soft  linen  went  round  all  the 
pillars,  and  hung  down  in  a  flowing  loose  manner  from  their  chapiters,  and  en- 
closed the  whole  space,  and  seemed  not  at  all  unlike  to  a  wall  about  it.  And 
this  was  the  structure  of  three  of  the  sides  of  this  enclosure.  But  as  for  the 
fourth  side,  which  was  fifty  cubits  in  extent,  and  was  the  front  of  the  whole, 
twenty  cubits  of  it  were  for  the  opening  at  the  gates,  wherein  stood  two  pillars 
on  each  side,  after  the  resemblance  of  open  gates ;  these  were  made  wholly  of 
silver,  and  polished,  and  that  all  over,  excepting  the  bases,  which  were  of  brass. 
Now,  on  each  side  of  the  gates  there  stood  three  pillars,  which  were  inserted 
into  the  concave  bases  of  the  gates,  and  were  suited  to  them ;  and  round  them 
was  drawn  a  curtain  of  fine  linen.  But  to  the  gates  themselves,  which  were 
twenty  cubits  in  extent,  and  five  in  height,  the  curtain  was  composed  of  purple 
and  scarlet  and  blue  and  fine  linen,  and  embroidered  with  many  and  divers  sorts 
of  figures,  excepting  the  figures  of  animals.  Within  these  gates  wa:s  the  brazen 
laver  for  purification,  having  a  bason  beneath  of  the  like  matter,  whence  the 
priests  might  wash  their  hands  and  sprinkle  their  feet.  And  this  was  the  orna- 
mental construction  of  the  enclosure  about  the  court  of  the  tabernacle,  which 
was  exposed  to  the  open  air. 

3.  As  to  the  tabernacle  itself,  Moses  placed  it  in  the  middle  of  that  court,  with 
its  front  to  the  east,  that  when  the  sun  arose  it  might  send  its  first  rays  upon  it. 
Its  length,  when  it  was  set  up,  was  thirty  cubits,  and  its  breadth  was  twelve  [ten] 
cubits.  Tiie  one  of  its  walls  was  on  the  south,  and  the  other  was  exposed  to 
the  north,  and  on  the  back  part  of  it  remained  the  west.  It  was  necessary  that 
its  height  should  be  equal  to  its  breadth  [ten  cubits.]  There  were  also  pillars 
rnade  of  wood,  twenty  on  each  side  :  they  were  wrought  into  a  quadrangular 
figure,  in  breadth  a  cubit  and  a  half,  but  the  thickness  was  four  fingers ;  they 

•  Of  this  faliernar.le  of  Moses,  with  its  several  parts  aiid  furniture,  sec  my  description  al  large,  chap 
v5.  vii.  viii.  ix.  x.  xi.  xii.  hereto  belougiHg. 


C.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


fli 


had  thin  plates  of  gold  affixed  to  them  on  both  sides,  inwardly  nnd  outwardly  • 
they  had  each  of  tiiem  two  tenons  belonging  to  them,  inserted  into  their  bases, 
and  these  were  of  silver  ;  in  each  of  which  bases  there  was  a  socket  to  receive 
the  tenon.  But  the  pillars  on  the  west  wall  were  six.  Now  all  these  tenons 
and  sockets  accurately  fitted  one  another,  insomuch  that  the  joints  were  in^isi. 
ble,  and  both  seemed  to  be  one  entire  and  united  wall.  It  was  also  covered 
with  gold  both  within  and  without.  The  number  of  jjillars  was  equal  on 
the  opposite  sides,  and  there  were  on  each  part  twenty,  and  every  one  of  them 
had  the  thii-d  part  of  a  span  in  thickness  ;  so  that  the'  niunbor  oV  thirty  cubits 
were  fully  made  up  between  them.  But  as  to  the  wall  behind,  v.here  the  six 
pillars  made  up  together  only  nine  cubits,  they  made  two  other  pillars,  and  cut 
them  out  of  one  cubit,  which  they  placed  in  the  corners,  and  made  them  equallv 
fine  with  the  other.  Now  every  one  of  the  pillars  had  riiigs  of  gold  affixed  to 
their  fronts  outward,  as  if  they  had  taken  root  in  the  pillars,  and  stood  one  row 
over  against  another  round  about,  through  which  were  inserted  bars  o-irt  over 
with  gold,  each  of  them  five  cubits  long,  and  these  bound  together  the  pillars, 
the  head  of  one  bar  running  into  another,  after  the  nature  of  one  tenon  inserted 
into  another.  But  for  the  wall  behind,  there  was  but  one  row  of  bars  (hat  went 
(hrough  all  the  pillars,  into  which  row  ran  the  ends  of  the  bars  on  each  side  of 
the  longer  walls,  the  male  with  its  female  being  so  fastened  in  their  joints,  that 
they  held  the  whole  firmly  together ;  and  for  this  reason  was  all  this  joined  so 
fiist  together,  that  the  tabernacle  might  not  be  shaken,  either  by  the  winds,  or 
by  any  other  means,  but  that  it  might  preserve  itself  quiet  and  immovable  con- 
tinually. 

4.  As  for  the  inside,  Moses  parted  its  length  into  three  partitions.  At  the 
distance  of  ten  cubits  from  the  most  secret  end,TMoses  placed  four  pillars,  whose 
workmanship  was  the  very  same  with  that  of  the  rest ;  and  thev  stood  upon  the 
like  bases  with  them,  each  a  small  matter  distant  from  his  fellow.  Now  the 
room  within  those  pillars  was  the  Most  Holy  Place  ;  but  the  rest  of  the  room  was 
the  Tabernacle.,  which  was  open  for  the  priests.  However,  this  proportion  of 
the  measures  of  the  tabernacle  proved  to  be  an  imitation  of  the  system  of  the 
world  ;  for  that  third  part  thereof  which  was  within  the  four  pillars,  to  which  the 
priests  were  not  admitted,  is,  as  it  were,  a  heaven  peculiar  to  God.  But  the 
space  of  the  twenty  cubits  is,  as  it  were,  sea  and  land,  on  which  men  live,  and 
so  this  part  is  peculiar  to  the  priests  only.  But  at  the  front,  where  the  entrance 
was  made,  they  placed  piHars  of  gold,  that  stood  on  bases  of  brass,  in  number 
seven  ;  but  then  they  spread  over  the  tabernacle  vails  of  fine  linen,  and  purple 
and  blue  and  scarlet  colours,  embroidered.  The  first  vail  was  ten  cubits  every 
way,  and  this  they  spread  over  the  pillars  which  parted  the  temple,  and  kept  the 
most  holy  place  concealed  within  ;  and  this  vail  was  that  which  made  this  ])art 
not  visible  to  any.  Now  the  whole  temple  was  called  the  Holy  Place ;  but  that 
part  which  was  within  the  four  pillars,  and  to  which  none  were  admitted,  was 
called  the  Holy  of  Holies.  This  vail  was  very  ornamental,  and  embroidered 
with  all  sorts  of  flowers  Avhich  the  earth  produces  ;  and  there  was  interwoven 
into  it  all  sorts  of  variety  that  might  be  an  ornament,  excepting  the  forms  of 
animals.  Another  vail  there  was  which  covered  the  five  pillars  (hat  Avcreat  (he 
entrance.  It  was  like  the  former  in  its  magnitude  and  texture  and  colour  ;  and 
at  the  corner  of  every  pillar,  a  ring  retained  it  from  the  top  downwards,  half  the 
depth  of  the  pillars ;  the  other  half  affording  an  entrance  for  the  priest,  who 
crept  under  it.  Over  this  there  was  a  vail  of  linen,  of  the  same  largeness  with 
the  former  ;  it  was  to  be  drawn  this  way  or  that  way  by  cords,  whose  rings  fixed 
to  the  texture  of  the  vail,  and  to  the  cords  also,  were  subservient  to  the  drawing 
and  undrawing  of  the  vail,  and  to  the*  fastening  it  at  (he  corner,  that  then  it 
might  be  no  hinderance  to  the  view  of  the  sanctuarj-,  especially  on  solemn  days  ; 
but  that  on  other  days,  and  especially  when  the  weather  was  inclined  to  snow,  it 
nught  be  expanded  and  afford  a  covering  to  the  vail  of  divers  colours ;  whence 
M2 


92  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  III. 

that  custom  of  ours  is  derived,  of  having  a  fine  linen  vail  after  the  temple  has 
been  built,  to  be  drawn  over  the  entrances.  But  the  ten  other  curtains  were 
four  cubits  in  breadth  and  twenty-eight  in  length,  and  had  golden  clasps,  in  order 
to  join  the  one  curtain  to  the  other,  which  was  done  so  exactly  that  they  seemed 
to  be  one  entire  curtain ;  these  were  spread  over  the  temple,  and  covered  all  the 
top,  and  parts  of  the  walls  on  the  sides,  and  behind  so  far  as  within  one  cubit 
of  the  ground.  There  were  other  curtains,  of  the  same  breadth  with  these,  but 
one  more  in  number,  and  longer,  for  they  were  thirty  cubits  long  ;  but  these 
were  woven  of  hair,  with  the  like  subtilty  as  those  of  wool  were  made,  and  were 
extended  loosely  down  to  the  ground,  appearing  like  a  triangular  front  and  ele- 
vation  at  the  gates  ;  the  eleventh  curtain  being  used  for  this  very  purpose.  There 
were  also  other  curtains  made  of  skins  above  these,  which  afforded  covering  and 
protection  to  those  that  were  woven,  both  in  hot  weather  and  when  it  rained. 
And  great  was  the  surprise  of  those  who  viewed  these  curtains  at  a  distance  ; 
for  they  seemed  not  at  all  to  differ  from  the  colour  of  the  sky.  But  those  that 
were  made  of  hair,  and  of  skins,  reached  down  in  the  same  manner  as  did  the  vail 
at  the  gates,  and  kept  ofi"  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  what  injury  the  rains  might 
do.     And  after  this  manner  was  the  tabernacle  reared. 

5.  There  was  also  an  ark  made,  sacred  to  God,  of  wood  that  was  naturally 
strong,  and  could  not  be  corrupted.  This  was  called  Eron  in  our  own  language. 
Its  construction  was  thus :  its  length  was  five  spans,  but  its  breadth  and  height 
was  each  of  them  three  spans.  It  was  covered  all  over  with  gold,  both  within 
and  without,  so  that  the  wooden  part  was  not  seen.  It  had  also  a  cover  united 
to  it  by  golden  hinges,  after  a  wonderful  manner  ;  which  cover  was  evenly  fitted 
to  it,  and  had  no  eminences  to  hinder  its  exact  conjunction.  There  were  also 
two  golden  rings  belonging  to  each  of  the  longer  boards,  and  passing  through 
the  entire  wood,  and  through  them  gilt  bars  passed  along  each  board,  that  it 
might  thereby  be  moved  and  carried  about  as  occasion  should  require  ;  for  it 
was  not  drawn  in  a  cart  by  beasts  of  burden,  but  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
priests.  Upon  this  its  cover  were  two  images,  which  the  Hebrews  call  Cheru. 
him ;  they  are  flying  creatures,  but  their  form  is  not  like  to  that  of  any  of  the 
creatures  which  men  have  seen,  though  Moses  said  he  had  seen  such  beings 
near  the  throne  of  God.  In  this  ark  he  put  the  two  tables  whereon  the  ten  com- 
mandments were  written,  five  upon  each  table,  and  two  and  a  half  upon  each 
side  of  them  ;  and  this  ark  he  placed  in  the  most  holy  place. 

6.  But  in  the  holy  place  he  placed  a  table,  like  those  at  Delphi.  Its  length 
was  two  cubits,  and  its  breadth  one  cubit,  and  its  height  three  spans.  It  had  feet 
also,  the  lower  half  of  which  were  complete  feet,  resembling  those  which  the 
Dorians  put  to  their  bedsteads,  but  the  upper  parts  towards  the  table  were 
wrought  into  a  square  form.  The  table  had  a  hollow  towards  every  side,  having 
a  ledge  of  four  fingers  depth,  that  went  round  about  like  a  spiral,  both  on  the 
upper  and  lower  part  of  the  body  of  the  work.  Upon  every  one  of  the  feet  was 
there  also  inserted  a  ring  not  far  from  the  cover,  through  "which  went  bars  of 
wood  beneath,  but  gilded,  to  be  taken  out  upon  occasion,  there  being  a  cavity 
where  it  joined  to  the  rings;  for  they  were  not  entire  rings,  but  before  they  came 
quite  round,  they  ended  in  acute  points,  the  one  of  which  was  inserted  into  the 
prominent  part  of  the  table,  and  the  other  into  the  foot ;  and  by  these  it  was  car. 
ried  when  they  journeyed.  Upon  this  table,  which  was  placed  on  the  north  side 
of  tlie  temple,  not  far  from  the  most  holy  place,  were  laid  twelve  unleavened 
loaves  of  bread,  six  upon  each  heap,  one  above  another;  they  were  made  of  tw® 
tenth  deals  of  the  purest  flour,  which  tenth  deal  [an  homer]  is  a  measure  of  the 
Hebrews,  containing  seven  Athenian  cotylm :  and  above  those  loaves  were  pit 
two  vials  full  of  frankincense.  Now  after  seven  days,  other  loaves  were  brought 
m  tlieir  stead,  on  the  day  which  is  by  us  called  the  Sabbath;  for  we  call  the 
seventh  day  the  Sabbath.  But  for  the  occasion  of  this  invention  of  placing  loaves 
here,  we  will  speak  to  it  in  another  place. 


C.  Vir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  93 

7.  Over  against  this  tabic,  near  the  southern  wall,  was  set  a  candlestick  of  cast 
gold,  hollow  within,  being  of  the  weight  of  one  hundred  pounds,  which  the  He- 
brews call  cincliares  ;  if  it  be  turned  into  the  Greek  language,  denotes  a  talent. 
It  was  made  with  its  knops,  and  lilies,  and  pomegranates,  and  bowls,  (which  or- 
naments amounted  to  seventy  in  all,)  by  which  means  the  shaft  elevated  itself 
on  high  from  a  single  base,  and  spread  itsell"  into  as  many  branches  as  there  are 
planets,  including  the  sun  among  them.  It  terminated  in  seven  heads  in  one 
row,  all  standing  parallel  to  one  another  :  and  these  branches  carried  seven 
lamps,  one  by  one,  in  imitation  of  the  number  of  the  planets ;  these  lamps  looked 
to  the  east  and  to  the  south,  the  candlestick  being  situate  obliquely. 

8.  Now  between  this  candlestick  and  the  table,  which,  as  we  said,  were  within 
the  sanctuary,  was  the  altar  of  incense,  made  of  wood  indeed,  but  of  the  same 
wood  of  which  the  foi-egoing  vessels  were  made,  such  as  was  not  liable  to  cor. 
ruption.  It  was  entirely  crusted  over  with  a  golden  plate.  Its  breadth  on  each 
side  was  a  cubit,  but  the  altitude  double.  Upon  it  was  a  grate  of  gold,  that  was 
extant  above  the  altar,  which  had  a  golden  crown  encompassing  it  round  about, 
whereto  belonged  rings  and  bars,  by  which  the  priests  carried  it  when  they  jour- 
neyed.  Before  this  tabernacle  there  was  reared  a  brazen  altar,  but  it  was  within 
made  of  wood,  five  cubits  by  measure  on  each  side,  but  its  height  was  but  three, 
in  like  manner  adorned  with  brass  plates  as  bright  as  gold.  It  had  also  a  brazen 
hearth  of  net-work,  for  the  ground  underneath  received  the  fire  from  the  hearth, 
because  it  had  no  basis  to  receive  it.  Hard  by  this  altar  lay  the  basons,  and  the 
vials,  and  the  censers,  and  the  caldrons,  made  of  gold ;  but  the  other  vessels, 
made  for  the  use  of  the  sacrifices,  were  all  of  brass.  And  such  was  the  con- 
struction of  the  tabernacle  ;  and  these  were  the  vessels  thereto  belonging. 


CHAP.    VII. 

Wliich  were  the  Garments  of  the  Priests,  and  of  the  High  Priest :  Concerning  the 
Priesthood  of  Aaron,  with  the  Manner  of  the  Purijications  and  Sacrifices ;  as 
also  concerning  the  Festivals,  and  how  each  Day  was  then  disposed  of;  with  other 
Laws. 

§  1.  There  were  peculiar  garments  appointed  for  the  priest,  and  for  all  the  rest, 
which  they  call  Cahanceoi  [priestly]  garments,  as  also  for  the  high  priests,  which 
they  call  CahancccB  Rabbce,  and  denote  the  high  priest's  garments.  Such  was 
therefore  the  habit  of  the  rest.  But  when  the  priest  approaches  the  sacrifices, 
he  purifies  himself  with  the  purification  which  the  law  prescribes  ;  and,  in  the 
first  place,  he  puts  on  that  which  is  called  Machanese,  which  means  somewhat 
that  is  fast  tied.  It  is  a  girdle  composed  of  fine  twined  linen,  and  is  put  about 
the  privy  parts,  the  feet  being  to  be  inserted  into  them  in  the  nature  of  breeches, 
but  above  half  of  it  is  cut  off,  and  it  ends  at  the  thighs,  and  is  there  tied  fast. 

2.  Over  this  he  wore  a  linen  vestment,  made  of  fine  flax  doubled  ;  it  is  called 
Cliethone,  and  denotes  linen,  for  we  call  linen  by  the  name  of  Chethone.  This 
vestment  reaches  down  to  the  feet,  and  sits  close  to  the  body  ;  and  has  sleeves 
that  are  tied  fast  to  the  arms  ;  it  is  girded  to  the  breast  a  little  above  the  elbows, 
-by  a  girdle  often  going  round,  four  fingers  broad,  but  so  loosely  woven,  that  you 
would  think  it  were  the  skin  of  a  serpent.  It  is  embroidered  with  flowers  of 
scarlet  and  purple  and  blue,  and  fine  twined  linen ;  but  the  warp  was  nothing 
but  fine  linen.  The  beginning  of  its  circumvolution  is  at  the  breast,  and  when 
it  has  gone  often  round,  it  is  there  tied,  and  hangs  loosely  there  down  to  the 
ankles  ;  I  mean  this,  all  the  time  the  priest  is  not  about  any  laborious  service, 
for  in  this  position  it  appears  in  the  most  agreeable  manner  to  the  spectators  ; 
but  when  he  is  obliged  to  assist  at  the  ofiering  sacrifices,  and  to  do  the  appointed 


94  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  III. 

service,  that  he  may  not  be  hindered  in  his  operations  by  its  motion,  he  throws 
it  to  the  left,  and  bears  it  on  his  shoulder.  Moses  indeed  calls  the  belt  Ahanetli ; 
but  we  have  learned  from  the  Babylonians  to  call  it  Emia,  for  so  it  is  by  them 
called.  This  vestment  has  no  loose  or  hollow  parts  any  where  in  it,  but  only  a 
narrow  aperture  about  the  neck  ;  and  it  is  tied  with  certain  strings  hcmging  dov,  n 
from  the  edge  over  the  breast  and  back,  and  is  fastened  above  each  shoulder ;  it 
is  called  Massdbazanes. 

3.  Upon  his  head  he  wears  a  cap,  not  brought  to  a  conic  form,  nor  encircling 
the  whole  head,  but  still  covering  more  than  the  half  of  it,  which  is  called  Mas 
naempldlies ;  and  its  make  is  such  that  it  seems  to  be  a  crown,  being  made  of 
thick  swathes,  but  the  contexture  is  of  linen  ;  and  it  is  doubled  round  many  times 
and  sewed  together  ;  besides  which,  a  piece  of  fine  linen  covers  the  whole  cap 
from  the  upper  part,  and  reaches  down  to  the  forehead,  and  hides  the  seams  of 
the  swathes,  which  would  otherwise  appear  indecently  :  this  adheres  closely  upon 
the  solid  part  of  the  head,  and  is  thereto  so  firmly  fixed,  that  it  may  not  fall  off 
during  the  sacred  service  about  the  sacrifices.  So  we  have  now  showed  you 
what  is  the  habit  of  the  generality  of  the  priests. 

4.  The  high-priest  is  indeed  adorned  with  the  same  garments  that  we  have  de- 
scribed, without  abating  one,  only  over  these  he  puts  on  a  vestment  of  a  blue 
colour.  This  also  is  a  long  robe,  reaching  to  his  feet  [in  our  language  it  is  called 
Meeir ;]  and  is  tied  round  with  a  girdle,  embroidered  with  the  same  colours  and 
flowers  as  the  former,  with  a  mixture  of  gold  interwoven.  To  the  bottom  of 
which  garment  are  hung  fringes,  in  colour  like  pomegranates,  with  golden  bells'^ 
by  a  curious  and  beautiful  contrivance  ;  so  that  between  two  bells  hangs  a  pome- 
granate, and  between  two  pomegranates  a  bell.  Now  this  vesture  was  not 
composed  of  two  pieces,  nor  was  it  sewed  together  upon  the  shoulders  and  the 
sides,  but  it  was  one  long  vestment  so  woven  as  to  have  an  aperture  for  the  neck ; 
not  an  oblique  one,  but  parted  all  along  the  breast  and  the  back.  A  border  also 
was  sewed  to  it,  lest  the  aperture  should  look  too  indecently.     It  was  also  parted 

'  where  the  hands  were  to  come  out. 

5.  Besides  these,  the  high-priest  put  on  a  third  garment,  which  was  called  the 
Ephod,  which  resembles  the  Epomis  of  the  Greeks  Its  make  was  after  this 
manner :  it  was  woven  to  the  depth  of  a  cubit,  of  several  colours,  with  gold 
intermixed,  and  embroidered,  but  it  left  the  middle  of  the  breast  uncovered  :  it 
was  made  with  sleeves  also ;  nor  did  it  appear  to  be  at  all  differently  made  from  a 
short  coat.  But  in  the  void  place  of  this  garment  there  was  inserted  a  piece  of 
the  bigness  of  a  span,  embroidered  with  gold,  and  the  other  colours  of  the  ephod, 
and  is  called  Essen  [the  breastplate,]  which  in  the  Greek  language  signifies  the 
Oracle.  This  piece  exactly  filled  up  the  void  space  in  the  ephod.  It  is  united 
to  it  by  golden  rings  at  every  corner,  the  like  rings  being  annexed  to  the  ephod, 
and  a  blue  riband  was  made  use  of  to  tie  them  together  by  those  rings  ;  and  that 
the  space  between  the  rings  might  not  appear  empty,  they  contrived  to  fill  it  up 
with  stiches  of  blue  ribands.  There  were  also  two  sardonyxes  upon  the  ephod 
at  the  shoulders,  to  fasten  it,  in  the  nature  of  buttons,  having  each  end  running 
to  the  sardonyxes  of  gold,  that  they  might  be  buttoned  by  them.  On  these  were 
engraven  the  names  of  the  sons  of  Jacob,  in  our  own  countiy  letters  and  our 
own  tongue,  six  on  each  of  the  stones,  on  either  side  ;  and  the  elder  sons'  names 
were  on  the  right  shoulder.  Twelve  stones  also  there  were  upon  the  breast- 
plate, extraordinary  in  largeness  and  beauty :  and  they  were  an  ornament  not 

*  Tl)e  use  of  tliose  golden  bells  at  the  bottom  of  tlie  liigh  priest's  long  garment  seems  to  me  to  have 
been  this,  that  by  shaking  his  garment  at  the  time  of  his  offering  incense  in  the  temple,  on  the  great  day 
of  expiation,  or  at  other  proper  periods  of  his  sacred  ministrations  there,  on  the  great  festivals,  the  peo- 
ple might  have  notice  of  it,  and  might  fall  to  their  own  prayers  at  the  time  of  incense,  or  other  proper 
periods  ;  and  so  tl)e  whole  congregation  might  at  once  oftcr  those  common  prayers  jointly  with  the  high 
priest  himself  to  the  Almighty.  See  Luc.  i.  10,  Apoc.  viii.  3,  4.  Nor  probably  is  the  father  of  Sirach 
to  he  otherwise  nndcr^tnod,  when  he  says  of  Aaron,  the  first  priest,  Ecclus.  xiv.  9,  And  God  encompassed 
Aaron  icitli  pomegraruties,  and  ivilh  many  golden  bells  round  abovt,  that  as  he  went  there  might  be  a  sound 
and  a  noise  viade,  that  might  be  heard  in''ihe  temjle,  for  a  memorial  to  the  children  of  his  pwple. 


C.  VII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


95 


to  be  purchased  hy  men,  because  of  their  immense  vahie.  Tlieso  stones  how. 
ever  stood  in  three  rows,  by  four  in  a  row,  and  were  inserted  into  tlic  breastplate 
itself,  and  they  were  set  in  ouches  of  gold,  that  were  themselves  inserted  in  the 
breastplate,  and  were  so  made  that  they  might  not  fall  out.  Now  the  first  three 
stones  were  a  sardonyx,  a  topaz,  and  an  emerald.  The  second  row  contained 
a  carbuncle,  a  jasper,  and  a  sapphire.  The  first  of  the  third  row  was  a  figure, 
then  an  amethyst,  and  the  third  an  agate,  being  the  ninth  of  the  whole  number. 
The  first  of  the  fourth  row  was  a  chrysolite,  the  next  was  an  onyx,  and  then  a 
beryl,  wliich  was  the  last  of  all.  Now  tha  names  of  all  those  soiis  of  Jacob  were 
engraven  in  these  stones,  whom  wc  esteem  the  heads  of  our  tribes,  each  stone 
having  the  honour  of  a  name,  in  the  order  according  to  which  they  were  born. 
And  whereas  the  rings  were  too  weak  of  themselves  to  bear  the  weight  of  the 
stones,  they  made  two  other  rings  of  a  larger  size,  at  the  edge  of  that  part  of  the 
breastplate  which  readied  to  the  neck,  and  inserted  into  the  very  texture  of  the 
breastplate,  to  receive  chains  finely  wrought,  which  connected  them  with  golden 
bands  to  the  tops  of  the  shoulders,  whose  extremity  turned  backwards,  and  went 
into  the  ring,  on  the  prominent  back  part  of  the  ephod ;  and  this  was  for  the 
security  of  the  breastplate,  that  it  might  not  fall  out  of  its  place.  There  was 
also  a  girdle  sewed  to  the  breastplate,  which  was  of  the  forementioned  colours, 
with  gold  intermixed ;  which,  when  it  had  gone  once  round,  was  tied  again  upon 
the  seam,  and  hung  down.  There  were  also  golden  loops  that  admitted  its 
fringes  at  each  extremity  of  the  girdle,  and  included  them  entirely. 

B.  The  high  priest's  mitre  was  the  same  that  we  described  beibre,  and  was 
wrought  like  that  of  all  the  other  priests  ;  above  which  there  was  another,  with 
swathes  of  blue  embroidered,  and  round  it  was  a  golden  crown  polished,  of  three 
rows,  one  above  another  ;  out  of  which  arose  a  cup  of  gold,  which  resembled  the 
herb  which  we  call  Sacchanis,  but  those  Greeks  that  are  skilful  in  botany  call  it 
Hyoscyarnus.     Now  lest  any  one  that  has  seen  this  herb,  but  has  not  been  taught 
its  name  and  is  unacquainted  with  its  nature,  or  having  laiown  its  name,  knows 
not  tlie  herb  when  he  sees  it,  I  shall  give  such  a  description  of  it.     This  herb  is 
oftentimes  in  tallness  above  three  spans,  but  its  root  is  like  that  of  a  turnip  (for  he 
that  should  compare  it  thereto  would  be  mistaken,)  but  its  leaves  are  like  to  the 
leaves  of  mint.     Out  of  its  branches  it  sends  out  a  calyx,  cleaving  to  the  branch, 
and  a  coat  encompasses  it,  which  it  naturally  puts  ofl'when  it  is  changing,  in  order 
to  produce  its  fruit.     This  calyx  is  of  the  bigness  of  the  bone  of  the  little  finger, 
but  in  the  compass  of  its  aperture  is  like  a  cup.     This  I  will  farther  decribe  for  the 
use  of  those  that  are  unacquainted  with  it.     Suppose  a  sphere  be  divided  into  two 
parts,  round  at  the  bottom,  but  having  another  segment  that  grows  up  to  a  circum- 
ference from  the  bottom  ;  suppose  it  become  narrower  by  degrees,  and  that  the 
cavity  of  that  part  grow  decently  smaller,  and  then  gradually  grow  wider  again 
It  the  brim,  such  as  we  see  in  the  navel  of  a  pomegranate,  with  its  notches.     And 
mdeed  such  a  coat  grows  over  this  plant  as  renders  it  an  hemisphere,  and  that,  as 
one  may  say,  turned  accurately  in  a  lathe,  and  having  its  notches  extant  above  it, 
which,  as  I  said,  grow  hke  a  pomegranate,  only  that  they  are  sharp,  and  end  in 
nothing  but  prickles.     Now  the  fruit  is  preserved  by  this  coat  of  the  calyx,  which 
fruit  is  like  the  seed  of  the  herb  sederiiis  ;  it  sends  out  a  flower  that  may  seem  to 
resemble  that  of  poppy.     Of  this  was  a  crown  made,  as  far  as  from  tlie  hinder 
part  of  the  head  to  each  of  the  temples ;  but  this  ephielis,  for  so  this  calyx  may 
be  called,  did  not  cover  the  forehead,  but  it  was  covered  with  a  golden  plate  * 
which  had  inscribed  upon  it  the  name  of  God  in  sacred  characters.     And  such 
were  the  ornaments  of  the  high  priest. 

7.  Now,  here  one  may  wondor  at  the  ill  will  which  men  bear  to  us,  and  which 

*  The  reader  ought  to  take  notice  here,  that  the  very  Mosdiic  petalon,  or  golden  plate,  for  the  forehead 
of  the  Jewisli  hi^h  priest,  was  itself  preserved,  not  only  till  the  days  of  Joscphus  but  of  Ongen  ;  and  that 
its  inscription,  Holiness  to  the  Lord,  was  in  the  Samaritan  characters.  See  Anliq.  B.  viii.  ch.  lU. 
scot.  8.    Essay  on  the  Old  Test.  p.  154,  and  lieland,  de  Spol.  Teinpli.  p.  132. 


QQ  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  III. 

they  proless  to  be  on  account  of  our  despising  that  deity  which  they  pretend  to 
honour;  for  if  any  one  do  but  consider  the  fabric  of  the  tabei'nacle,  and  take  a 
view  of  the  garments  of  the  high  priest,  and  of  those  vessels  which  we  make  use 
of  in  our  sacred  ministration,  he  will  find  that  our  legislator  was  a  divine  man,  and 
that  we  are  unjustly  reproached  by  others  ;  for  if  any  one  do,  without  prejudice 
and  with  judgment,  look  upon  these  things,  he  will  find  they  were  every  one  made 
in  way  of  imitation  and  representation  of  the  universe.  When  Moses  distin- 
guished  the  tabernacle  into  three  parts,*  and  allowed  two  of  them  to  the  priests, 
as  a  place  accessible  and  common,  he  denoted  the  land  and  the  sea,  these  being 
of  general  access  to  all ;  but  he  set  apart  the  third  division  for  God,  because 
heaven  is  inaccessible  to  men.  And  when  he  ordered  twelve  loaves  to  be  set  on 
the  table,  he  denoted  the  year,  as  distinguished  into  so  many  months.  By  branch- 
ing out  the  candlestick  into  seventy  parts,  he  secretly  intimated  the  Decani,  or 
seventy  divisions  of  the  planets,  and  as  to  the  seven  lamps  upon  the  candle- 
sticks, they  referred  to  the  course  of  the  planets,  of  which  that  is  the  number. 
The  vials,  too,  which  were  composed  of  four  things,  they  declared  the  four  ele- 
ments; for  the  fine  linen  was  proper  to  signify  the  earth,  because  the  flax  grows 
out  of  the  earth.  The  purple  signified  the  sea,  because  that  colour  is  dyed  by  the 
blood  of  a  sea  shellfish.  The  blue  is  fit  to  signify  the  air ;  and  the  scarlet  will 
naturally  be  an  indication  of  fire.  Now  the  vestment  of  the  high  priest,  being 
made  of  linen,  signified  the  earth  ;  the  blue  denoted  the  sky,  being  like  lightning 
in  its  pomegranates,  and  in  the  noise  of  the  bells  resembling  thunder.  And  for 
the  ephod,  it  showed  that  God  had  made  the  universe  of  four  [elements  ;]  and  as 
for  the  gold  interwoven,  I  suppose  it  related  to  the  splendour  by  which  all  things 
are  enlightened.  He  also  appointed  the  breastplate  to  be  placed  in  the  middle  of 
the  ephod  to  resemble  the  earth,  for  that  has  the  very  middle  place  of  the  world. 
And  the  girdle  which  encompassed  the  high  priest  round  signified  the  ocean,  for 
that  goes  round  about  and  includes  the  universe.  Each  of  the  sardonyxes  de- 
clare to  us  the  sun  and  the  moon,  those  I  mean,  that  were  in  the  nature  of  buttons 
on  the  high  priest's  shoulders.  And  for  the  twelve  stones,  whether  we  understand 
by  them  the  months,  or  whether  we  understand  the  like  number  of  the  signs  of 
that  circle  which  the  Greeks  call  the  Zodiac,  we  shall  not  be  mistaken  in  their 
meaning.  And  for  the  mitre,  which  was  of  a  blue  colour,  it  seems  to  me  to  mean 
heaven  ;  for  how  otherwise  could  the  name  of  God  be  inscribed  upon  it?  That  it 
was  also  illustrated  with  a  crown,  and  that  of  gold  also,  is  because  of  that  splen- 
dour  with  which  God  is  pleased.  Let  this  explication"]*  suffice  at  present,  since 
the  course  of  my  narration  will  often,  and  on  many  occasions,  afford  me  the  op- 
portunity of  enlarging  on  the  virtue  of  our  legislator 


CHAP.  VHI. 

Of  the  Priestluood  of  Aaron. 

<^  1.  vV'hen  what  has  been  described  was  brought  to  a  conclusion,  gifts  not  being 
yet  presented,  God  appeared  to  Moses,  and  enjoined  him  to  bestow  the  high 
priesthood  upon  Aaron  his  brother,  as  upon  him  that  best  of  them  all  deserved  to 

*  When  Josephus,  both  here  niid  chap.  vi.  sect.  4,  supposes  the  tabernacle  to  have  been  parted  info 
three  parts,  he  seems  to  esteem  the  bare  entrance  to  be  a  third  division,  distinct  from  the  holy  and  the 
most  holy  places,  and  this  the  rather,  because  in  the  temple  afterward  there  was  a  real  distinct  third  part, 
which  was  called  the porcA,  otherwise  Josephus  would  contradict  his  own  description  of  the  tabernacle, 
which  gives  us  a  particular  account  of  no  more  than  two  parts. 

f  This  explication  of  the  mystical  meaninj;  of  the  Jewish  tabernacle,  and  its  vessels,  with  the  garments 
of  the  high  priest,  is  taken  outof  Fiiilo,  and  titled  to  Gentile  philosophical  notions.  This  may  possibly 
be  forgiven  in  Jews  greatly  versed  in  heathen  Inarnin!;  and  philosophy,  as  Philo  had  ever  been,  and  as 
Josephus  had  long  been  when  he  vviote  these  Aiitiquiiies.    In  the  mean  time,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted,  but 


C.  VUI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  97 

obtain  that  honour,  on  account  of  his  virtue.  And  when  he  had  gathered  the 
muUitude  together,  ho  gave  them  an  account  of  Aaron's  virtue,  and  of  his  jjood 
will  to  tliem,  and  of  the  dangers  he  had  undergone  for  their  sakes.  Upon  which, 
when  they  had  given  testimony  to  him  in  all  respects,  and  showed  their  readiness 
to  receive  him,  Moses  said  to  them,  "  O  you  Israelites,  this  work  is  already 
brought  to  a  conclusion,  in  a  manner  most  acceptable  to  God,  and  according  to 
our  abilities.  And  now  since  you  see  that  ho  is  received  into  this  tabernacle, 
we  shall  first  of  all  stand  in  need  of  one  that  may  officiate  for  us,  and  may  minis- 
ter to  the  sacrifices,  and  to  the  prayers  that  are  to  be  put  up  for  us.  And  indeed 
had  the  inquiry  after  such  a  person  been  left  to  me,  I  should  have  thought  my- 
self worthy  of  this  honour,  both  because  all  men  are  naturally  fond  of  themselves, 
and  because  I  am  conscious  to  myself  that  I  have  taken  a  great  deal  of  pains  for 
your  deliverance.  But  now  God  himself  has  determined  that  Aaron  is  worthy 
of  this  honour,  and  has  chosen  him  for  his  priest,  as  knowing  him  to  be  the  most 
righteous  person  among  you.  So  that  he  is  to  put  on  the  vestments  whicli  are 
consecrated  to  God  ;  he  is  to  have  the  care  of  the  altars,  and  to  make  provision  for 
the  sacrifices  ;  and  he  it  is  that  must  put  up  prayers  for  you  to  God,  who  will 
readily  hear  them,  not  only  because  he  is  himself  solicitous  for  your  nation,  but 
also  because  he  will  receive  them  as  offered  by  one  that  he  hath  himself  chosen 
to  this  office."*  The  Hebrews  were  pleased  with  what  was  said,  and  they  gave 
their  approbation  to  him  whom  God  had  ordained  ;  for  Aaron  was  of  them  all  the 
most  deserving  of  this  honour,  on  account  of  his  own  stock,  and  gift  of  prophecy, 
and  his  brother's  virtue.  He  had  at  that  time  four  sons,  Nadab,  Abihu,  Eleazar, 
and  Ithamar. 

2.  Now  Moses  commanded  them  to  make  use  of  all  the  utensils  which  were 
more  than  were  necessary  to  the  structure  of  the  tabernacle,  for  covering  the 
tabernacle  itself,  the  candlestick,  and  altar  of  incense,  and  the  other  vessels, 
that  they  might  not  be  at  all  hurt  when  they  journeyed,  either  by  the  rain,  or  by 
the  rising  of  the  dust.  And  when  he  had  gathered  the  multitude  together  again, 
he  ordained  that  they  should  offer  half  a  shekel  for  every  man,  as  an  oblation  to 
God  ;  which  shekel  is  a  piece  among  the  Hebrews,  and  is  equal  to  four  Athe- 
nian drachmae. -j-  Y/hereupon  they  readily  obeyed  what  Moses  had  commanded ; 
and  the  number  of  the  offerers  was  six  hundred  and  five  thousand  five  hundred 
and  fifty.  Now  this  money  that  was  brought  by  the  men  that  were  free,  was 
given  by  such  as  were  above  twenty  years  old,  but  under  fifty ;  and  what  was 
collected  was  spent  in  the  uses  of  the  tabernacle. 

3.  Moses  now  purified  the  tabernacle  and  the  priests  ;  which  purification  was 
performed  after  the  following  manner:  he  commanded  them  to  take  five  hundred 
shekels  of  choice  myrrh,  an  equal  quantity  of  cassia,  and  half  the  foregoing 
weight  of  cinnamon,  and  calamus  (this  last  is  a  sort  of  sweet  spice,)  to  beat  them 
small,  and  wet  them  with  an  hin  of  oil  of  olives  (an  hin  is  our  own  country  mea- 

in  their  education  they  must  have  both  learned  more  Jewish  interpretations,  such  as  we  meet  with  in  the 
epistle  of  Barnabas,  in  that  to  the  Hebrews,  and  elsewhere  among  the  old  Jews.  Accordingl}',  when  Jo- 
sephus  wrote  his  books  of  the  Jewish  war  for  the  use  of  the  Jews,  at  which  time  he  was  comparatively 
young,  and  less  used  to  Gentile  books,  we  find  one  specimen  of  such  a  Jewisli  interpretation  ;  for  there 
(B.  vii.  ch.  V.  sect.  5,)  he  makes  the  seven  brandies  of  the  temple  candlestick,  with  their  seven  lamps,  an 
emblem  of  the  seven  days  of  creation  and  rest,  which  are  here  emblems  of  the  seven  planets.  Nor  cer- 
tainly ought  ancient  Jewish  emblems  to  be  explained  any  otherwise  than  accordmg  to  ancient  Jewish 
and  not  Gentile  notions.     See  Of  the  War,  B.  1.  ch.  xxxiii.  sect.  2. 

*  It  is  well  worth  our  observation,  that  the  two  principal  qualifications  required  in  this  section,  for  the 
constitution  of  the  first  high  priest,  viz.  that  he  should  h;ive  an  e.xcfllent  character  for  virtuous  and  good 
actions;  as  also  that  he  should  have  the  approbation  of  the  people,  are  here  noted  by  Josephus,  even 
where  the  nomination  belonged  to  God  himself,  which  are  the  very  same  (|iialifications  whici)  the  Chris- 
tian religion  requires  in  the  choice  of  Christian  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  as  the  Apostolical  Con- 
stitutions inform  us,  B.  ii.  ch.  iii. 

t  This  weight  and  value  of  the  Jewish  shekel,  in  the  days  of  Josephus,  equal  to  about  2s.  lOd.  ster- 
ling, is  by  the  learned  Jews  owned  to  be  one  fifth  larger  than  were  their  old  shekels  ;  which  determination 
agrees  perfectly  with  the  remaining  shekels  that  have  Samaritan  Inscriptions,  coined  generally  by  Simon 
the  Maccabee,  about  230  years  before  Josephus  published  his  Antiquities,  which  never  weigh  more  than 
2s.  4  ]-2d.  and  commonly  but  2s.  4  l-4d.     See  Rcland,  De  J^ummis  Samarilanorum,  p.  188. 

VOL.  I.  N 


93  ANTIQL'illES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.   HI. 

sure  and  contains  two  Athenian  chaos,  or  conguises,)  then  mix  them  together  and 
boil  them,  and  prepare  them  after  the  art  of  tiie  apothecary,  and  make  them  into 
a  very  sweet  ointment ;  and  afterwards  to  take  it  to  anoint  and  to  purify  the 
priests  themselves,  and  all  the  tabernacle,  as  also  the  sacrifices.  Tliere  were 
also  many,  and  those  of  various  kinds,  of  sweet  spices,  that  belonged  to  the 
tabernacle,  and  such  as  were  of  very  great  price,  and  were  brought  to  the  golden 
altar  of  incense  ;  whose  nature  I  do  not  now  describe,  lest  it  should  be  trouble- 
some to  my  readers.  But  incense  was  to  be  offered  twice  a  day,  both  before 
sunrising  and  at  sunsetting.*  They  were  also  to  keep  oil  already  purified  for 
the  lamps ;  three  of  which  were  to  give  light  all  day  long,f  upon  the  sacred 
candlestick,  before  God,  and  the  rest  were  to  be  lighted  at  the  evening. 

4.  Now  all  was  finished,  Bezaleel  and  Aholiah  appeared  to  be  the  most  skilful 
of  the  workmen  ;  for  they  invented  finer  works  than  what  others  had  done  before 
them,  and  were  of  great  abilities  to  gain  notions  of  what  they  were  formerly 
ignorant  of;  and  of  these  Bezaleel  was  judged  to  be  the  best.  Now  the  whole 
time  they  were  about  this  work  was  the  interval  of  seven  months;  and  after  this 
it  was  that  was  ended  the  first  year  since  their  departure  out  of  Egypt.  But  at 
the  beginning  of  the  second  year,  on  the  month  Xanthicus,  as  the  Macedonians 
call  it,  but  on  the  month  Nisan,  as  the  Hebrews  call  it,  on  the  new  moon,  they 
consecrated  the  tabernacle  and  all  its  vessels,  which  I  have  already  described. 

5.  Now  Cxod  showed  himself  pleased  with  the  work  of  the  Hebrews,  and  did 
not  permit  their  labours  to  be  in  vain ;  nor  did  he  disdain  to  make  use  of  what 
they  had  made,  but  he  came  and  sojourned  with  them,  and  pitched  his  tabernacle 
in  the  holy  house.  And  in  the  following  manner  did  he  come  to  it ;  the  sky  waa 
clear,  but  there  was  a  mist  over  the  tabernacle  only,  encompassing  it,  but  not 
with  such  a  very  deep  and  thick  cloud  as  is  seen  in  the  winter  season,  nor  yet 
in  so  thin  a  one  as  men  might  be  able  to  discern  any  thing  through  it,  but  from 
it  there  dropped  a  sweet  dew,  and  such  as  showed  the  presence  of  God  to  those 
that  desired  and  believed  it. 

6.  Now  when  Moses  had  bestowed  such  honorary  presents  on  the  workmen 
as  it  was  fit  they  should  receive,  who  had  wrought  so  well,  he  offered  sacrifices 
in  the  open  court  of  the  tabernacle,  as  God  commanded  him,  a  bull,  a  ram,  and 
a  kid  of  the  goats,  for  a  sin-offering.  Now  I  shall  speak  of  what  we  do  in  our 
sacred  oflices  in  my  discourse  about  sacrifices  ;  and  therein  shall  inform  men  in 
what  cases  Moses  bid  us  offer  a  whole  burnt-ofiering,  and  in  what  cases  the  law 
permits  us  to  partake  of  them  as  of  food.  And  when  Moses  had  sprinJvled 
Aaron's  vestments,  himself,  and  his  sons,  with  the  blood  of  the  beasts  that  were 
slain,  and  had  purified  them  with  spring  waters  and  ointment,  they  became  God's 
priests.  After  this  manner  did  he  consecrate  them  and  their  garments  for  seven 
days  together.  The  same  he  did  to  tlue  tabernacle,  and  the  vessels  thereto  be- 
Jonging,  both  with  oil  first  incensed,  as  I  said,  and  with  the  blood  of  bulls  and 
of  rams,  slain  day  by  day  one,  according  to  its  kind.  But  on  the  eighth  day  he 
Bppointed  a  feast  for  the  people,  and  commanded  them  to  ofi'er  sacrifice  accord, 
ing  to  their  ability.  Accordingly  they  contended  one  with  another,  and  were 
ambitious  to  exceed  each  other  in  the  sacrifices  which  they  brought,  and  so  ful- 
filled Moses's  injunctions.  But  as  the  sacrifices  lay  upon  the  aUar,  a  sudden  fire 
was  kindled  from  among  them  of  its  own  accord,  and  appeared  to  the  sight  like 
fire  from  a  flash  of  lightning,  and  consumed  whatsoever  was  upon  the  altar. 

7.  Hereupon  an  affliction  befell  Aaron,  considered  as  a  man  and  a  father,  but 
was  undergone  by  him  with  true  fortitude  ;  for  he  had  indeed  a  firmness  of  soul 
in  such  accidents,  and  he  thought  this  calamity  came  upon  him  according  to 
God's  will ;  for  whereas  he  had  four  sons,  as  I  said  before,   the  two  elder  of 

*  Tlip  incense  was  here  offered,  according  to  Josephus's  opinion,  before  sunrising  and  at  stinsetting. 
Em  in  the  days  of  Ponipey,  according  to  the  same  Josephiis,  the  sacrifices  were  offered  in  the  morning  ' 
and  at  the  ninth  hour.     Antiq.  B.  xivt  ch.  iv.  sect.  3. 

t  I'<"nce  we  may  cnrrpct  the  opinions  of  tiie  modem  rabbins,  who  s?,v.  that  only  one  of  the  seven 
laiiijii  burned  in  the  dayii:i:e,  whereas  our  Jospphus,  an  eye  witness,  says  there  v.'?iclhree. 


C.  VIIL  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


99 


them,  Nadah  and  Abihu,  did  not  bring  those  sacrifices  whicli  Moses  bade  them 
bring,  but  which  tlicy  used  to  offer  formerly,  and  were  burned  to  death.  Now 
when  the  fire  rushed  upon  them,  and  began  to  burn  them,  nobody  couUl  (lucnch 
it.  Accordingly  they  died  in  this  manner.  And  Moses  bid  thcirYather  tind  their 
brethren  to  take  up  their  bodies,  to  carry  them  out  of  the  camp,  and  to  bury  tliem 
magnificently.  Now  the  multitude  lamented  them,  and  were  deeply  affected  at 
this  their  death,  whicii  so  unexpectedly  befell  them.  But  Moses  entreated  their 
brethren  and  their  father  not  to  be  troubled  for  them,  and  to  prefer  the  honour 
of  God  before  their  grief  about  them ;  for  Aaron  had  already  put  on  his  sacred 
garments. 

8.  But  Moses  refused  all  that  honour  which  he  saw  the  multitude  ready  to 
bestow  upon  him,  and  attended  to  nothing  else  but  to  the  service  of  God.  "  He 
went  no  more  up  to  Mount  Sinai ;  but  he  went  into  the  tabernacle,  and  brought 
back  answers  from  God  to  what  he  prayed  for.  His  habit  was  also  that  of  a 
private  man ;  and  in  all  other  circumstances  he  behaved  himself  like  one  of  the 
common  people,  and  was  desirous  to  appear  without  distinguishing  himself  from  the 
muhitude,  but  would  have  it  known  that  he  did  nothing  else  but  take  care  of  them. 
He  also  set  down  in  writing  the  form  of  their  government,  and  those  laws,  by 
obedience  whereto  they  would  lead  their  lives  so  as  to  please  God,  and  so  as  to 
have  no  quarrels  one  among  another.  However,  the  laws  he  ordained  were 
such  as  God  suggested  to  him  ;  so  I  shall  now  discourse  concerning  that  form  of 
government  and  those  laws. 

9.  I  will  now  treat  what  I  before  omitted,  the  garment  of  the  high  priest ;  for 
he  [Moses]  left  no  room  for  the  evil  practices  of  [false]  prophets ;  but  if  some 
of  that  sort  should  attempt  to  abuse  the  divine  authority,  he  left  it  to  God*  to  be 
present  at  his  sacrifices  when  he  pleased,  and  when  he  pleased  to  be  absent. 
And  he  was  willing  this  should  be  known,  not  to  the  Hebrews  only,  but  to  those 
foreigners  also  who  were  there.     For  as  to  those  stones,f  which  wc  told  you 

*  Of  this  strange  expression,  tliat  Moses  left  it  to  Cod  to  be  present  at  his  sacrijlccs  when  he  pleased, 
and  when  lie  pleased  to  he  absent,  sec  the  note  on  D.  ii.  auainst  Apion,  sect.  ]6. 

•l-  These  answers  by  the  oracle  of  Urim  and  Thurnmim,  whicii  words  signify  light  and  perfection,  or 
as  the  Septuagint  render  them,  revelation  and  truth,  and  denote  notliing  further  that  I  see,  but  the  shi- 
ning stones  tiieniselves,  wliich  were  used  in  this  method  of  illumination,  in  revealing  the  will  of  God  af- 
ter a  perfect  and  true  manner  to  his  people  Israel ;  I  say,  these  answers  were  not  made  by  the  shining  of 
the  precious  stones,  after  an  awkward  manner,  in  the  higli  priest's  l)reastplate,  as  the  modern  rabbins 
vainly  suppose;  for  certainly  tlie  shining  of  tiie  stones  might  precede  or  accompany  the  oracle,  witiiout 
itself  delivering  that  oracle  (see  Antiq.  B.  vi.  ch.  vi.  sect.  4),  but  rather  by  an  audible  voice  from  tlie  mercy- 
seat  between  tiiecherubims.  SeePrideaux'sConnect.  at  tlie  year  534.  This  oracle  iiadbeen  silent,  as  J  o- 
sephus  here  informs  us,  two  hundred  years  before  he  wrote  his  Antiquities,  or  ever  since  the  days  ot  liie 
last  good  high  priest  of  tlic  family  of  the  iVIacoabees,  John  llyrcauus.  Now  it  is  licre  very  well  wortli 
our  ol)servation,  that  the  oracle  before  us  was  that  by  which  God  appeared  to  be  present  witli  and  gave 
directions  to  his  people  Israel  as  tlieir  king,  all  the  while  they  suljmitted  to  him  in  that  capacity,  andclid 
not  .«et  over  them  sucli  independent  kings  as  governed  according  to  their  own  wills,  and  political  maxims, 
instead  of  Divine  directions.  Accordingly  we  meet  with  this  oracle  (besides  angelic  and  propiictic  ad- 
monitions) all  along  from  tlie  days  of  iMoses  and  Josliua,  to  the  anointing  of  Saul,  the  lirst  ol  tlie  suc- 
cession of  tlie  kings.  Numb,  xxvi'i.  21 ;  Joshua  vi.  6.  &c.  xi.x.  50  ;  Judg.  i.  1  ;  xviii.  4,  5,  (3,  30,31  ;  xx.  18, 
23,26,27,23;  xxi.  l,&c.  1  Sam.  i.  17,  18;  n\. -per  tot.  \\'.  per  tot.:  nay,  till  Saul's  rejection  of  the  Divine 
commands  in  tlie  war  with  Amalek,  when  lie  took  upon  him  to  act  as  he  thougiit  fit,  1  .f^am.  xiv.  3,^  ID, 
19,  36,  37;  then  this  oracle  left  Saul  entirely  (which  indeed  he  had  seldom  consulted  before,  1  b>ani. 
xiv.  3j;  1  Chron.  x.  14;  xiii.  3;  Anticp  B  vii.  ch.  iv.  sect.  2);  and  accompanied  David,  who  was 
anointed  to  succeed  him,  and  who  consulted  God  by  it  frequently,  andcomphed  with  itsdiieotioiis  con- 
stantly, 1  Sam.  xiv.  37,  41 ;  xy.  2(3;  xxii.  13,  15;  xxiii..  'J,  10;  "xxx.  7,  S,  18;  2  Sam.  ii.  1:  v.  I'd,  -3; 
xxi,  1 ;  xxiii.  14;  1  Chron.  xiv.  10,  14  ;  Antiq.  B.  vi.  ch.  xii.  sect.  5.  Saul,  indeed,  long  after  Ins  rejec- 
tion by  God,  and  when  God  !iad  given  him  up  to  destruction  for  his  disobedience,  did  once  afterwards 
endeavour  to  consult  (jod,  when  it  was  too  late ;  but  Ciod  would  not  then  answer  him,  neither  bv  dreams 


100  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  III. 

before,  the  high  priest  bare  on  his  shoulders,  which  were  sardonyxes,  (and  I 
think  it  needless  to  describe  their  nature,  they  being  known  to  every  body,)  the 
one  of  them  shined  out  when  God  was  present  at  their  sacrifices  ;  I  mean  that 
which  was  in  the  nature  of  a  button  on  his  right  shoulder,  bright  rays  darting  out 
thence,  and  being  seen  even  by  those  that  were  most  remote  ;  which  splendour 
yet  was  not  before  natural  to  the  stone.  This  has  appeared  a  wonderful  thing  to 
such  as  have  not  so  far  indulged  themselves  in  philosophy  as  to  despise  Divine 
revelation.  Yet  will  I  mention  what  is  still  more  wonderful  than  this.  For  God 
declared  beforehand,  by  those  twelve  stones  which  the  high  priest  bare  on  his 
breast,  and  which  were  inserted  into  his  breastplate,  when  they  should  be  vic- 
torious in  battle  ;  for  so  great  a  splendour  shone  forth  from  them  before  the  army 
began  to  march,  that  all  the  people  were  sensible  of  God's  being  present  for  their 
assistance.  Whence  it  came  to  pass,  that  those  Greeks  who  had  a  veneration 
for  our  laws,  because  they  could  not  possibly  contradict  this,  called  that  breast, 
plate  the  Oracle.  Now  this  breastplate  and  this  sardonyx  left  off  shining  two 
hundred  years  before  I  composed  this  bo'sk,  God  having  been  displeased  at  the 
transgressions  of  his  laws.  Of  which  things  we  shall  farther  discourse  on  a  fitter 
opportunity  ;  but  I  will  now  go  on  with  my  proposed  narration. 

10.  rThe  tabernacle  being  now  consecrated,  and  a  regular  order  being  settled 
for  the  priests,  the  multitude  judged  that  God  now  dwelt  among  them,  and  betook 
themselves  to  sacrifices  and  praises  to  God,  as  being  now  delivered  from  all  ex- 
pectation of  evils,  and  as  entertaining  a  hopeful  prospect  of  better  times  here- 
after. They  offered  also  gifts  to  God,  some  as  common  to  the  whole  nation, 
and  others  as  peculiar  to  themselves,  and  these  tribe  by  tribe  ;  for  the  heads  of 
the  tribes  combined  together,  two  by  two,  and  brought  a  wagon  and  a  yoke  of 
oxen.  These  amounted  to  six,  and  they  carried  the  tabernacle  when  they  jour- 
neyed. Besides  which,  every  lieadof  a  tribe  brought  a  bowl,  and  a  charger,  and 
a  spoon  of  ten  darics,  full  of  incense.  Now  the  charger  and  the  bowl  were  of 
silver ;  and  together  they  weighed  two  hundred  shekels,  but  the  bowl  cost  no 
more  than  seventy  shekels  ;  and  these  were  full  of  fine  flower  mingled  with  oil, 
such  as  they  used  on  the  altar  about  the  sacrifices.  They  brought  also  a  young 
bullock  and  a  ram,  with  a  lamb  of  a  year  old,  for  a  whole  burnt-oifering  ;  as  also 
a  goat  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  Every  one  of  the  heads  of  the  tribes  brought 
also  other  sacrifices,  called  peace-offerings,  for  every  day  two  bulls  and  five  rams, 
with  lambs  of  a  year  old  and  kids  of  the  goats.  These  heads  of  tribes  were 
twelve  days  in  sacrificing,  one  sacrificing  every  day.  Now  Moses  went  no 
longer  up  Mount  Sinai,  but  went  into  the  tabernacle,  and  learned  of  God  what 

lowing  high  priests  now  putting  diadems  on  their  heads,  and  ruling  according  to  their  own  will,  and  by 
their  own  own  authority,  like  the  other  kings  of  the  Pagan  countries  about  them  ;  or  that  while  the  God 
of  Israel  was  allowed  to  be  the  supreme  king  of  1  srael,  and  his  directions  to  be  their  authentic  guides,  God 
gave  them  such  directions,  as  their  supreme  king  and  governor;  and  they  were  properly  under  a  theoc- 
racy, by  this  oracle  of  Urim,  but  no  longer  (see  Dr.  Bernard's  notes  here),  though  I  confess  I  cannot  but 
esteem  the  high  priest  Juddus's  divine  dream,  Antiq.  Book  xi.  ch.  viii.  sec.  4,  and  the  high  priest  Caia- 
phas's  most  remarkable  prophecy,  John,  xi.  47 — 52,  as  two  small  remains  or  specimens  of  this  ancient 
oracle,  which  properly  belonged  to  the  Jewish  high  priests.  Nor  perhaps  ought  we  entirely  to  forget 
that  eminent  prophetic  dream  of  our  Josephus  himself  (one  next  to  a  high  priest,  as  of  the  family  of 
the  Asanioneans  or  Maccabees),  as  to  the  succession  of  Vespasian  and  Titus  to  the  Roman  empire,  and 
that  in  the  days  of  Nero,  and  before  either  Galba,  Otho,  or  Vitellus,  were  thought  of  to  succeed  him. 
Of  the  War,  B.  iii.  ch.  viii.  sect.  9.  This,  I  think,  may  well  be  looked  -on  as  the  very  last  instance  of 
any  thing  like  the  prophetic  Urim  among  the  Jewish  nation,  and  just  preceded  their  fatal  desola- 
tion. But  how  it  could  possibly  come  to  pass  that  such  great  men  as  Sir  John  Marsham  and 
Dr.  Spencer  should  imagine  that  this  oracle  of  Urim  and  Thimimin,  with  other  practices  as  old 
or  older  than  the  law  of  Moses,  should  have  been  ordained  in  imitation  of  somewhat  like  tiiem  among 
tlie  Egyptians,  which  we  never  hear  of  till  the  days  of  Diodorus  Siculus,  iElian,  and  Maimonides,  or  lit- 
tle earlier  than  the  Cliristian  era  at  the  highest,  is  almost  unaccountable  ;  while  the  main  business  of  the 
law  of  Moses  was  evidently  to  preserve  the  Israelites  from  the  idolatrous  and  superstitious  practices  of 
the  neighbouring  Pagan  nations ;  and  while  it  is  so  undeniable,  that  the  evidence  for  the  great  antiquity  of 
Moses's  law  is  incomparably  beyond  that  for  the  like  or  greater  antiquity  of  such  customs  in  Egj'pt  or 
other  nations,  which  indeed  is  generally  none  at  all,  it  is  most  absurd  to  derive  any  of  Moses's  laws  from 
the  imitation  of  those  heathen  practices.  Such  nypotheses  demonstrate  to  us,  bow  far  inclination  can 
prevail  over  evidence,  in  even  some  of  the  most  learned  part  of  mankind. 


C.  IX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  101 

they  were  to  do,  and  what  laws  should  be  made ;  which  laws  were  preferable  to 
what  have  been  devised  by  human  understanding,  and  proved  to  be  firmly  ob- 
served for  all  time  to  come,  as  being  beheved  to  be  the  gift  of  God,  insonmch 
that  the  Hebrews  did  not  trangress  any  of  those  laws,  either  as  tempted  in  times 
of  peace  by  luxury,  or  in  times  of  war  by  distress  of  affairs.  I'ut  1  say  no  more 
here  concerning  them,  because  I  have  resolved  to  compose  another  work  con- 
cerning our  laws, 


CHAP.  IX. 

The  Manner  of  our  offering  Sacrifces. 

§1.1  WILL  now,  however,  make  mention  of  a  few  of  our  laws  which  belong  to 
purifications  and  the  like  sacred  offices,  since  I  am  accidentally  come  to  this 
matter  of  sacrifices.  These  sacrifices  were  of  two  sorts  ;  of  those  sorts  one  was 
offered  for  private  persons,  and  the  other  for  the  people  in  general ;  and  they  are 
done  in  two  different  ways.  In  the  one  case,  what  is  slain  is  burnt,  as  a  whole 
burnt-offering,  whence  that  name  is  given  to  it ;  but  the  other  is  a  thank-ofTering, 
and  is  designed  for  feasting  those  that  sacrifice.  I  will  speak  of  the  former. 
Suppose  a  private  man  offer  a  burnt-ofiering,  he  must  slay  either  a  bull,  a  lamb, 
or  a  kid  of  the  goats,  and  the  two  latter  of  the  first  year,  though  of  bulls  he  is 
permitted  to  sacrifice  those  of  a  greater  age  ;  but  all  burnt-ofierings  are  to  be 
of  males.  When  they  are  slain,  the  priests  sprinkle  the  blood  round  about  the 
altar;  they  then  cleanse  the  bodies,  and  divide  them  into  parts,  and  salt  them 
with  salt,  and  lay  them  upon  the  altar,  while  the  pieces  of  wood  are  piled  one 
upon  another,  and  the  fire  is  burning  ;  they  next  cleanse  the  feet  of  the  sacrifices, 
and  the  inwards,  in  an  accurate  manner,  and  so  lay  them  to  the  rest  to  be  purged 
by  the  fire,  while  the  priests  receive  the  hides.  This  is  the  way  of  offering  a 
burnt-offering. 

2.  But  those  that  offer  thank-ofTerings  do  indeed  sacrifice  the  same  creatures, 
but  such  as  are  unblemished  and  above  a  year  old ;  however,  they  may  take 
either  males  or  females.  They  also  sprinkle  the  altar  with  their  blood  ;  but  they 
lay  upon  the  altar  the  kidneys  and  the  caul,  and  all  the  fat,  and  the  lobe  of  the 
liver,  together  with  the  rump  of  the  lamb  ;  then,  giving  the  breast  and  the  right 
shoulder  to  the  priests,  the  offerers  feast  upon  the  remainder  of  the  flesh  for  two 
days  ;  and  what  remains  they  burn. 

3.  The  sacrifices  for  sins  are  oflTered  in  the  same  manner  as  is  the  thank- 
offering.  But  those  who  are  unable  to  purchase  complete  sacrifices,  offer  two 
pigeons,  or  turtle-doves ;  the  one  of  which  is  made  a  burnt-olTering  to  God,  the 
other  they  give  as  food  for  the  priests.  But  w^e  shall  treat  more  accurately 
about  the  oblation  of  these  creatures  in  our  discourse  concerning  sacrifices. 
But  if  a  person  fall  into  sin  by  ignorance,  he  offers  a  ewe  lamb,  or  female  kid 
of  the  goats,  of  the  same  age  ;  and  the  priests  sprinkle  the  blood  at  the  altar, 
not  after  the  former  manner,  but  at  the  corners  of  it.  They  also  bring  the  kid. 
neys  and  the  rest  of  the  fat,  together  with  the  lobe  of  the  liver,  to  the  altar,  whilo 
the  priests  bear  away  the  hides  and  the  flesh,  and  spend  it  in^  the  holy  place  on 
the  same  day*;  for  the  law  does  not  permit  them  to  leave  of  it  until  tlie  morn- 
ing.  But  if  any  one  sin,  and  is  conscious  of  it  himself,  but  hath  nobody  that 
can   prove  it  upon  him,  he  offers  a  ram,  the  law  enjoining  hmi  so  to  do ;  the 

*  What  Reland  well  observes  here,  out  of  Joscpiius,  as  compared  with  the  law  of  Moses,  Lev.  yii.  15, 
(that  the  eating  of  the  sacrifice  the  same  day  it  was  offered,  seems  to  mean  only  before  the  mornm?  ot 
the  next,  although  the  latter  part,  i.  e.  the  night,  be  in  strictness  part  of  the  "^•.r/ (/oy,  according  to  the 
Jewish  reckoning)  is  greatly  to  be  observed  upon  other  occasions  also.  The  Jewish  maxnn  in  such  ca- 
ses it  seems,  is  this,  that  the  day  goes  before  the  night  ;  and  this  appears  to  be  the  language  both  ot  Ui8 
Old  and  New  Testament.  See  also  the  note  on  Antiq.  B.  iv.  chap.  iv.  sect.  4,  and  Reland  s  note  on 
B.  IV,  ch.  viii.  sect.  23. 


102  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  III. 

flesh  of  wiiich  the  priests  eat,  as  before,  in  the  holy  place,  on  the  same  day. 
And  if  the  rulers  oifer  sacrifices  for  their  sins,  they  bring  the  same  oblations  that 
private  men  do  ;  only  they  so  far  differ  that  they  are  to  bring  for  sacrifices  a 
bull  or  a  kid  of  the  goats,  both  males. 

4.  Now  the  law  requires,  both  in  private  and  public  sacrifices,  that  the  finest 
flour  be  also  brought;  for  a  lamb  the  measure  of  one  tenth  deal,  for  a  ram  two, 
and  for  a  bull  three.  This  they  consecrate  upon  the  altar,  when  it  is  mingled 
with  oil ;  for  oil  is  also  brought  by  those  that  sacrifice,  for  a  bull  the  half  of  an 
bin,  and  for  a  ram  the  third  part  of  the  same  measure,  and  one  quarter  of  it  for  a 
lamb.  This  bin  is  an  ancient  Hebrew  measure,  and  is  equivalent  to  two  Athenian 
chaos  (or  conguises.)  They  bring  the  same  quantity  of  oil  which  they  do  of 
wine,  and  they  pour  the  wine  about  the  altar ;  but  if  any  one  does  not  offer  a 
complete  sacrifice  of  animals,  but  brings  fine  flour  only  for  a  vow,  he  throws  a 
handful  upon  the  altar  as  its  first  fruits,  while  the  priests  take  the  rest  for  their 
food,  either  boiled  or  mingled  with  oil,  but  made  into  cakes  of  bread.  But  what- 
soever it  be  that  a  priest  himself  offers,  it  must  of  necessity  be  all  burned.  Now 
the  law  forbids  us  to  sacrifice  any  animal  at  the  same  time  with  its  dam  ;  and  in 
other  cases,  not  till  the  eighth  day  after  its  birth.  Other  sacrifices  there  are  also 
appointed  for  escaping  distempers,  or  for  other  occasions,  in  which  meat-oflerings 
ai'e  consumed  together  with  the  animals  that  are  sacrificed ;  of  which  it  is  not 
lawful  to  leave  any  part  till  the  next  day,  only  the  priests  are  to  take  their  own 
share. 


CHAP.  X. 

Concerning  the  Festivals ;  and  how  each  Day  of  such  Festival  is  to  he  ohserved, 

§  1.  The  law  requires,  that  out  of  the  public  expenses  a  lamb  of  the  first  year 
be  killed  every  day,  at  the  beginning  and  at  the  ending  of  the  day  ;  but  on  the 
seventh  day,  which  is  called  the  Sabbath,  they  kill  two,  and  sacrifice  them  in  the 
same  manner.  At  the  new  moon,  they  both  perform  the  daily  sacrifices,  and 
slay  two  bulls,  with  seven  lambs  of  the  first  year,  and  a  kid  of  the  goats  also,  for 
the  expiation  of  sins  ;  that  is,  if  they  have  sinned  through  ignorance. 

2.  But  on  the  seventh  month,  which  the  Macedonians  call  Hpperbereta;us, 
they  make  an  addition  to  those  already  mentioned,  and  sacrifice  a  bull,  a  ram, 
and  seven  lambs,  and  a  kid  of  the  goats,  for  sins. 

3.  On  the  tenth  day  of  the  same  lunar  month,  they  fast  till  the  evening  ;  and 
this  day  they  sacrifice  a  bull  and  two  rams,  and  seven  lambs,  and  a  kid  of  the 
goats,  for  sins.  And  besides  these,  they  bring  two  kids  of  the  goats  ;  the  one 
of  which  is  sent  alive  out  of  the  limits  of  the  camp  into  the  wilderness  for  the 
scape  goat,  and  to  be  an  expiation  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  multitude  ;  but  the 
other  is  brought  into  a  place  of  great  cleanness  within  the  limits  of  the  camp, 
and  is  there  burned,  with  its  skin,  without  any  sort  of  cleansing.  With  this 
goat  was  burned  a  bull,  not  brought  by  the  people,  but  by  the  high  priest,  at  his 
own  charges  ;  which,  when  it  was  slain,  he  brought  of  the  blood  into  the  holy 
place,  together  with  the  blood  of  the  kid  of  the  goats,  and  sprinkled  the  ceiling 
with  liis  finger  seven  times,  as  also  its  pavement,  and  again  as  often  towards  the 
[most]  holy  place,  and  the  golden  altar.  He  also  at  last  brings  it  into  the  open 
court,  and  sprinkles  it  about  the  great  altar.  Besides  this,  they  set  the  extremities, 
and  the  kindneys,  and  the  tat,  Avith  the  lobe  of  the  liver,  upon  the  altar.  The 
high  priest  likewise  presents  a  ram  to  God  as  a  burnt-offering. 

4.  Upon  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  same  month,  when  the  season  of  the  year  is 
changing  for  winter,  the  law  enjoins  us  to  pitch  tabernacles  in  every  one  of  our 
houses,  so  that  we  preserve  ourselves  from  the  cold  of  that  time  of  the  year,  as 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  jQg 

also  that  when  we  skould  arrive  at  our  own  country,  and  come  to  that  city  which 
we  should  have  then  for  our  metropolis,  hecause  of  the  temple  therein  to  he  huilt, 
and  keep  a  festival  for  eight  days,  and  offer  burnt-offerings,  and  sacriiice  thank- 
offerings,  that  we  should  then  carry  in  our  hands  a  branch  of  myrtle,  and  willow, 
and  a  bough  of  the  palm  tree,  with  the  addition  of  the  pomecitron.  That  the 
burnt-offering  on  the  first  of  those  days  was  to  be  a  sacrifice  of  thirteen  bulls, 
and  fourteen  lambs,  and  fifteen  rams,  with  the  addition  of  a  kid  of  the  goats,  as 
an  expiation  for  sins  ;  and  on  the  following  days  tlie  same  number  of  lambs  and 
of  rams,  with  the  kids  of  the  goats ;  but  abating  one  of  the  bulls  every  day  till  they 
amounted  to  seven  only.  On  the  eighth  day  all  work  was  laid  aside,  and  then, 
as  we  said  before,  they  sacrificed  to  God  a  bullock,  a  ram,  and  seven  lambs,  with 
a  kid  of  the  goats,  for  an  expiation  of  sins.  And  this  is  the  accustomed  solemnity 
of  the  Hebrevv's  when  they  pitch  their  tabernacles. 

5.  In  the  month  Xanthicus,  which  is  by  us  called  Nisan,  and  is  the  beginning 
of  our  year,  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  lunar  month,  when  the  sun  is  in  Aries 
(for  on  this  month  it  was  that  we  were  delivered  from  bondage  under  the  E£c\  p- 
lians,)  the  law  ordained,  that  we  should  every  year  slay  that  sacrifice  which  I 
before  told  you  we  slew  when  we  came  out  of  Egypt,  and  whicli  was  called  the 
Passover ;  and  so  do  we  celebrate  this  passover  in  companies,  leaving  nothing 
of  what  v/e  sacrifice  till  the  day  following.  The  feast  of  unleavened  bread 
succeeds  that  of  the  passover,  and  falls  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  month,  and 
continues  seven  days,  wherein  they  feed  on  unleavened  bread ;  on  every  one  of 
which  days  two  bulls  are  killed,  and  one  ram,  and  seven  Iambs.  Now  these 
lambs  are  entirely  burned,  besides  the  kid  of  the  goats,  which  is  added  to  all 
the  rest,  for  sins  ;  for  it  is  intended  as  a  feast  for  the  priest  on  every  one  of  those 
days.  But  on  the  second  day  of  unleavened  bread,  which  is  the  sixteenth  day 
of  the  month,  they  first  partake  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  lor  before  that  day 
they  do  not  touch  them.  And  while  they  suppose  it  proper  to  honour  God,  from 
Vvhom  they  obtain  this  plentiful  provision  in  the  first  place,  they  ofi'er  the  first 
fruits  of  their  barley,  and  that  in  the  manner  foUov.ing :  They  take  a  handful  of 
the  ears,  and  dry  them,  then  beat  them  small,  and  purge  the  barley  from  the  bran; 
tliey  then  bring  one  tenth  deal  to  the  altar,  to  God  ;  and  casting  one  handt'ul  of  it 
upon  the  fire,  they  leave  the  rest  for  the  use  of  the  priests.  And  after  this  it  is 
that  they  may  publicly  or  privately  reap  their  harvest.  They  also,  at  this  par- 
ticipation of  the  first  fruits  of  the  earth,  sacrifice  a  lamb,  as  a  burnt-oficring  to 
God. 

6.  When  a  week  of  weeks  has  passed  over  after  this  sacrifice  (which  week 
contains  forty  and  nine  days,)  on  the  fiftieth  day,  wiiich  is  Pentecost,  but  is  called 
bv  the  Hebrews  Asartlia,  which  signifies  Pentecost,  they  bring  to  God  a  loaf, 
made  of  wheat  flour,  of  two  tenth  deals,  with  leaven ;  and  for  sacrifices  they  bring 
two  lambs ;  and  when  they  have  only  presented  them  to  God,  they  are  made 
ready  to  supper  for  the  priests  ;  nor  is  it  permitted  to  leave  any  thing  of  them  till 
tlie  day  follov/ing.  They  also  slay  three  bullocks  for  a  burnt-oOering,  and  t\\  o 
rams  ;  and  fourteen  lambs,  with  two  kids  of  the  goats  for  sins;  nor  is  tlicrc  any 
one  of  the  festivals  but  in  it  they  offer  burnt-offerings  ;  they  also  allow  them. 
selves  to  rest  on  every  one  of  them.  Accordingly,  the  law  prescribes  in  them 
all,  what  kin^is  they  are  to  sacrifice,  and  how  they  are  to  rest  entirely,  and  must 
slay  sacrifices  in  order  to  feast  upon  them. 

7.  However,  out  of  the  common  charges,  baked  bread  [was  set  on  the  table  of 
shewbread,]  without  leaven,  of  twenty-four  tenth  deals  of  flour,  for  so  much  is 
spent  upon  this  bread  ;  two  heaps  of  these  were  baked  ;  they  were  baked  the 
day  before  the  Sabbath,  but  were  brought  into  the  holy  place  on  the  morning  of 
the  Sabbath,  and  set  upon  the  holy  table,  six  on  a  heap,  one  loaf  still  standing 
over  against  another;  where  two  golden  cups  full  of  frankincense  were  also  set 
upon  them,  and  there  they  remained  till  another  Sabbath,  and  then  otlier  loaves 
were  brought  in  their  stead,  while  the  loaves  were  given  to  the  priests  for  their 


104  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  III. 

food,  and  the  frankincense  was  burned  in  that  sacred  fire  wherein  all  their  offer- 
ings were  burned  also  ;  and  so  other  frankincense  was  set  upon  the  loaves  in- 
stead of  what  was  there  before.  The  [high]  priest  also,  of  his  own  charges, 
offered  a  sacrifice,  and  that  twice  every  day.  It  was  made  of  flour  mingled  with 
oil,  and  gently  baked  by  the  fire  ;  the  quantity  was  one  tenth  deal  of  flour ;  he 
brought  the  half  of  it  to  the  fire  in  the  morning,  and  the  other  half  at  night.  The 
account  of  these  sacrifices  I  shall  give  more  accurately  hereafter  ;  but  I  think  I 
have  premised  what  for  the  present  may  be  sufficient  concerning  them. 


CHAP.  XI. 

Of  the  Purifications. 

f  1.  Moses  took  out  the  tribe  of  Levi  from  communicating  with  the  rest  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  set  them  apart  to  be  a  holy  tribe  ;  and  purified  them  by  water,  taken 
from  perpetual  springs,  and  with  such  sacrifices  as  were  usually  offered  to  God 
on  the  like  occasions.  He  delivered  to  them  also  the  tabernacle,  and  the  sacred 
vessels,  and  the  other  curtains  which  were  made  for  covering  the  tabernacle, 
that  they  might  minister  under  the  conduct  of  the  priests,  who  had  been  already 
consecrated  to  God. 

2.  He  also  determined  concerning  animals,  which  of  them  might  be  used  for 
food,  and  which  they  were  obliged  to  abstain  from ;  which  matters,  when  this 
work  shall  give  me  occasion,  shall  be  farther  explained ;  and  the  causes  shall 
be  added,  by  which  he  was  moved  to  allot  some  of  them  to  be  our  food,  and  en- 
joined us  to  abstain  from  others.  However,  he  entirely  forbade  us  the  use  of 
blood  for  food,  and  esteemed  it  to  contain  the  soul  and  spirit.  He  also  forbade 
us  to  eat  the  flesh  of  an  animal  that  died  of  itself,  as  also  the  caul,  and  the  fat  of 
goats  and  sheep,  and  bulls. 

3.  He  also  ordered  that  those  whose  bodies  were  afflicted  with  leprosy,  and 
that  had  a  gonorrhoea,  should  not  come  into  the  city  ;*  nay,  he  removed  the 
women,  when  they  had  their  natural  purgations,  till  the  seventh  day ;  after 
which  he  looked  on  them  as  pure,  and  permitted  them  to  come  in  again.  The 
law  permits  those  also  who  have  taken  care  of  funerals  to  come  in  after  the  same 
manner,  when  this  number  of  days  is  over ;  but  if  any  continued  longer  than  that 
number  of  days  in  a  state  of  pollution,  the  law  appointed  the  offering  two  lambs 
for  a  sacrifice  ;  the  one  of  which  they  are  to  purge  by  the  fire,  and  for  the  other, 
the  priests  take  it  for  themselves.  In  the  same  manner  do  those  sacrifice  who 
have  had  the  gonorrhoea.  But  he  that  sheds  his  seed  in  his  sleep,  if  he  goes 
down  in  cold  water,  he  has  the  same  privilege  IVith  those  that  have  lawfully  ac- 
companied with  their  wives.  And  for  the  lepers,  he  suffered  them  not  to  come 
into  the  city  at  all,  nor  to  live  with  any  others,  as  if  they  were  in  effect  dead 
persons  ;  but  if  any  one  had  obtained,  by  prayer  to  God,  the  recovery  from  that 
distemper,  and  had  gained  a  healthful  complexion  again,  such  a  one  returned 
thanks  to  God,  with  several  sorts  of  sacrifices  ;  concerning  which  we  will  speak 
hereafter. 

4.  Whence  one  cannot  but  smile  at  those  who  say,  that  Moses  was  himself 
afflicted  with  the  leprosy  when  he  fled  out  of  Egypt,  and  that  he  became  the  con- 
ductor of  those  who  on  that  account  left  that  country,  and  led  them  into  the  land 
of  Canaan  ;  for  had  this  been  true,  Moses  v/ould  not  have  made  these  laws  to  his 
own  dishonour,  which  indeed  it  was  more  likely  he  would  have  opposed,  if  others 
had  endeavoured  to  introduce  them  ;  and  this  the  rather,  because  there  are  lepers 

*  We  may  here  note,  that  Josephus  frequently  calls  the  camp  the  city,  and  the  court  of  the  Mosaic 
tabernacle  a  temple,  and  the  tabernacle  itself  a  holy  house,  with  allusion  to  the  latter  city,  temple,  and 
holy  house,  which  he  k/iew  so  well  long  afterwards. 


C.  XII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  IO5 

in  many  nations,  who  are  yet  in  honour,  and  not  only  free  from  reproach  and 
avoidance,  but  uho  have  been  great  captains  of  armies,  and  been  entrusted  with 
high  offices  in  the  commonweahh  ;  and  have  had  the  privilege  of  entering  into 
holy  places  and  temples  ;  so  that  nothing  hindered,  but  if  either  Moses  himself, 
or  the  multitude  that  was  with  him,  had  been  liable  to  such  a  misfortune,  in  the 
colour  of  his  skin,  he  might  have  made  laws  about  them  for  their  credit  and  ad- 
vantage,  and  have  laid  no  manner  of  difficulty  upon  them.  Accordingly  it  is  a 
plain  case  that  it  is  out  of  violent  prejudice  only  that  they  report  these  things 
about  us.  But  Moses  was  pure  from  any  such  distemper,  and  lived  with  country- 
men who  were  pure  of  it  also,  and  the;:!ce  made  the  laws  which  concerned  others 
that  had  the  distemper.  He  did  this  for  the  honour  of  God.  But  as  to  these 
matters,  let  every  one  consider  them  after  what  manner  he  pleases. 

5.  As  to  the  M'omen,  when  they  have  born  a  child,  Moses  forbade  them  to 
come  into  the  temple,  or  touch  the  sacrifices,  before  forty  days  were  over,  sup- 
posing it  to  be  a  boy  ;  but  if  she  hath  born  a  girl,  the  law  is,  that  she  cannot  be 
admitted  before  twice  that  number  of  days  be  over.  And  when  after  the  before- 
mentioned  time  appointed  for  them,  they  perform  their  sacrifices,  the  priests 
distribute  them  before  God. 

6.  But  if  any  one  suspect  tliat  his  wife  has  been  guilty  of  adultery,  he  was  to 
bring  a  tenth  deal  of  barley  flour  ;  they  then  cast  one  handful  to  God,  and  gave  the 
rest  of  it  to  the  priests  for  food.  On©  of  the  priests  set  the  woman  at  the  gates  that 
are  turned  towards  the  temple,  and  took  the  veil  from  her  head,  and  wrote  the 
name  of  God  in  parchment,  and  enjoined  her  to  swear  that  she  had  not  at  all  injured 
her  husband;  and  to  wish,  that  if  she  had  violated  her  chastity,  her  right  thigh 
might  be  put  out  of  joint ;  that  her  belly  might  swell,  and  that  she  might  die  thus  ; 
but  that  if  her  husband,  by  the  violence  of  his  aflection,  and  of  the  jealousy  which 
arose  from  it,  had  been  rashly  moved  to  this  suspicion,  that  she  might  bear  a  male 
child  on  the  tenth  month.  Noav  when  these  oaths  were  over,  the  priest  wiped 
the  name  of  God  out  of  the  parchment,  and  wrung  the  water  into  a  vial.  He  also 
took  some  dust  out  of  the  temple,  if  any  happened  to  be  there,  and  put  a  little  of  it 
into  the  vial,  and  gave  it  her  to  drink  ;  whereupon  the  woman,  if  she  were  unjustly 
accused,  conceived  with  child,  and  brought  it  to  perfection  in  her  womb.  But 
if  she  had  broken  her  faith  of  wedlock  to  her  husband,  and  had  sworn  falsely 
before  God,  she  died  in  a  reproachful  manner ;  her  thigh  fell  off  from  her,  and 
her  belly  swelled  with  a  dropsy.  And  these  are  the  ceremonies  about  sacri- 
fices, and  about  the  purifications  thereto  belonging,  which  Moses  provided  for  his 
countrymen.     He  also  prescribed  the  following  laws  to  them. 


CHAP.  XH. 

Several  Laws. 

§  1.  As  for  adultery,  Moses  forbade  it  entirely,  as  esteeming  it  a  happy  thing 
that  men  should  be  wise  in  the  affairs  of  wedlock ;  and  that  it  was  profitable 
both  to  cities  and  families,  that  children  should  be  known  to  be  genume.  Ho 
also  abhorred  men's  lying  with  their  mothers,  as  one  of  the  greatest  cnmes  ;  and 
the  like  for  lying  with  the  father's  wife,  and  with  aunts  and  sisters  and  sons'  wives, 
as  all  instances,  of  abominable  wickedness.  He  also  forbade  a  man  to  he  with 
his  wife  when  she  was  defiled  by  her  natural  purgation  ;  and  not  to  conie  near 
brute  beasts,  nor  to  approve  of  the  lying  with  a  male,  which  was  to  hunt  after  un- 
lawful pleasures  on  account  of  beauty.  To  those  who  were  guilty  of  such  insolent 
behaviour,  he  ordained  death  for  their  punishment.  •      *  r 

2.  As  for  the  priests,  he  prescribed  to  them  a  double  degree  of  purity  ;    tor 

•  These  words  of  Josephus's  are  remarkable,  that  the  lav/giver  of  the  Jews  required  of  the  priests  a 
VOL.  I.  O 


J06  ANTIQL'ITILS  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  11. 

he  restrained  them  in  the  instances  above,  and  moreover  forbade  them  to  marry 
harlots.  He  also  forbade  them  to  marry  a  slave,  or  a  captive,  and  such  as  got 
their  living  by  cheating  trades,  and  by  keeping  inns  ;  as  also  a  woman  parted 
from  her  husband  on  any  account  whatsoever.  Nay,  he  did  not  think  it  proper 
for  the  high  priest  to  marry  even  the  widow  of  one  that  was  dead,  though  he  al- 
lowed that  to  the  priests,  but  he  permitted  him  only  to  marry  a  virgin,  and  to  retain 
her.  Whence  it  is  that  the  high  priest  is  not  to  come  near  to  one  that  is  dead, 
although  the  rest  are  not  prohibited  from  coming  near  to  their  brethren,  or  parents, 
or  children,  when  they  are  dead  ;  but  they  are  to  De  unblemished  in  all  respects. 
He  ordered  that  the  priest  who  had  any  blemish  should  have  his  portion  indeed 
among  the  priests,  but  he  forbade  them  to  ascend  the  altar,  or  to  enter  into  the  holy 
house.  He  also  enjoined  them,  not  only  to  observe  purity  in  their  sacred  ministra- 
tions, but  in  their  daily  conversation,  that  it  might  be  unblameable  also.  And  on  this 
account  it  is,  that  those  who  wear  the  sacerdotal  garments  are  without  spot,  and 
eminent  for  their  pui'ity  and  sobriety  ;  nor  are  they  permitted  to  drink  wine  so 
long  as  they  wear  those  garments.*  Moreover,  they  offer  sacrifices  that  are 
entire,  and  have  no  defect  whatsoever. 

3.  And  truly  Moses  gave  them  all  these  precepts,  being  such  as  were  observed 
during  his  own  lifetime.  But  though  he  lived  now  in  the  Avilderness,  yet  did  he 
make  provision  how  they  might  observe  the  same  laws  when  they  should  have 
taken  the  land  of  Canaan.  He  gave  them  rest  to  the  land  for  ploughing  and 
planting  every  seventh  year,  as  he  had  prescribed  to  them  to  rest  from  working 
every  seventh  day :  and  ordered,  that  then  Avhat  grew  of  its  own  accord  out  of 
the  earth  should  in  common  belong  to  all  that  pleased  to  use  it,  making  no  dis- 
tinction in  that  respect  between  their  own  countrymen  and  foreigners ;  and  he 
ordained  that  they  should  do  the  same  after  seven  times  seven  years,  which  in  all 
are  fifty  years  ;  and  the  fiftieth  year  is  called  by  the  Hebrews  the  Jubilee,  where- 
in debtors  are  freed  from  their  debts,  and  slaves  are  set  at  liberty  ;  which  slaves 
became  such,  though  they  were  of  the  same  stock,  by  transgressing  some  of  those 
laws  whose  punishment  was  not  capital,  but  they  v/ere  punished  by  this  method 
of  slavery.  This  year  also  restores  the  land  to  its  former  possessors  in  the  man- 
ner following.  When  the  Jubilee  is  come,  which  name  denotes  liberty,  he  that 
sold  the  land,  and  he  that  bought  it,  meet  together,  and  make  an  estimate  on 
one  hand,  of  the  fruits  gathered,  and  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  expenses  laid  out 
upon  it.  If  the  fruits  gathered  come  to  more  than  the  expenses  laid  out,  he 
that  sold  it  takes  the  land  again ;  but  if  the  expenses  prove  more  than  the 
fruits,  the  present  possessor  receives  of  the  former  owner  the  difference  that  was 
wanting,  and  leaves  the  land  to  him  ;  and  if  the  fruits  received  and  the  expenses 
laid  out  prove  equal  to  one  another,  the  present  possessor  relinquishes  it  to  the 
former  owners.  Moses  would  have  the  same  law  obtain  as  to  those  houses  also 
which  were  sold  in  villages  ;  but  he  made  a  different  law  for  such  as  were  sold 
in  a  city  ;  for  if  he  that  sold  it  tendered  the  purchaser  his  money  again  within  a 
year,  he  was  forced  to  restore  it ;  but  in  case  a  whole  year  had  intervened,  the 
purchaser  was  to  enjoy  what  he  had  bought.  This  was  the  constitution  of  the 
laws  of  Moses  learned  of  God,  when  the  camp  lay  under  Mount  Sinai ;  and  this 
he  delivered  in  writing  to  the  Hebrews. 

4.  Now  when  this  settlement  of  laws  seemed  to  be  well  over,  Moses  thought 
fit  at  length  to  take  a  review  of  the  host  as  thinking  it  proper  to  settle  the  affairs 
of  war.  So  he  charged  the  heads  of  the  tribes,  excepting  the  tribe  of  Levi,  to 
take  an  exact  account  of  the  number  of  those  that  were  able  to  go  to  war  ;  for  as 

IT*  O  ' 

to  the  Levites  they  were  holy,  and  free  from  all  such  burdens.     Now  when  the 

douhle  degree  qf]iia-Ht/,ir\  comparison  of  that  required  of  {he  people;  of  which  he  gives  several  instances 
immediately.  It  was  for  certain  the  case  also  among  the  first  Christians,  of  the  ckrgT/,  in  comparison 
of  the  laity,  as  the  Apostolic  Constitutions  and  Caiiaans  every  where  inform  us. 

*  We  must  hear  note  with  Reland,  that  the  precepts  given  to  the  priests  of  not  drinking  wine  whilethey 
wore  the  sacred  garments,  is  equivalent  to  their  alistinence  from  it  all  the  while  they  mini:itpi-ed  in  the 
temple,  hccause  they  tlicn  always,  and  then  only,  wore  those  garuieuts,  which  were  laid  up  there  fsooi 
one  lime  of  luhiislraiion  to  another. 


C.  XIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  107 

people  had  been  numbered,  there  were  found  six  hunth-ed  thousand  that  were 
able  to  go  to  war  from  twenty  to  fifty  years  of  age,  besides  three  thousand  six 
hundred  and  fifty.  Instead  of  Levi,  Moses  took  Manasseh,  the  son  of  Joseph, 
among  the  heads  of  tribes;  and  Ephraim  instead  of  Joseph.  It  was,  indeed,  the 
desire  of  Jacob  himself  to  Joseph,  that  he  would  give  him  his  sons  to  be  hisown 
by  adoption,  as  I  have  before  related. 

5.  When  they  set  up  the  tabernacle,  they  received  it  into  the  midst  of  their 
camp,  three  of  the  tribes  pitching  their  tents  on  each  side  of  it,  and  roads  were 
cut  through  the  midst  of  these  tents.  It  was  like  a  well  appointed  market ;  and 
every  thing  was  there  ready  for  sale  in  due  order  ;  and  all  sorts  of  artificers 
were  in  the  shops  ;  and  it  resembled  nothing  so  much  as  a  city  that  sometimes 
was  movable,  and  sometimes  fixed.  The  priests  had  the  first  places  about  the 
tabernacle  ;  then  the  Levites,  who,  because  their  whole  multitude  was  reckoned 
from  thirty  days  old,  were  twenty  three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty  males. 
And  during  the  time  that  the  cloud  stood  over  the  tabernacle,  they  thought  proper 
to  stay  in  the  same  place,  as  supposing  that  God  there  inhabited  among  them  ; 
but  when  that  removed,  they  journeyed  also. 

6.  Moreover  Moses  was  the  inventor  of  the  form  of  their  trumpet,  which  was 
made  of  silver.  Its  description  is  this:  in  length  it  was  little  less  than  a  cubit. 
It  was  composed  of  a  narrow  tube,  somewhat  thicker  than  a  flute,  but  with  so 
much  breadth  as  was  sufficient  for  admission  of  the  breath  of  a  man's  mouth  ; 
it  ended  in  the  form  of  a  bell,  like  common  trumpets.  Its  sound  was  called  in 
the  Hebrew  tongue  Asosra.  Two  of  these  being  made,  one  of  them  was  soun- 
ded when  they  required  the  multitude  to  come  together  to  congregations.  When 
the  first  of  them  gave  a  signal,  the  heads  of  the  tribes  were  to  assemble,  and  con- 
sult about  the  afiairs  to  them  properly  belonging  ;  but  when  they  gave  the  signal 
by  both  of  them,  they  called  the  multitude  together.  Whenever  the  taberna- 
cle  was  removed,  it  was  done  in  this  solemn  order :  at  the  first  alarm  of  the 
trumpet  those  whose  tents  were  on  the  east  quarter  prepared  to  remove ;  when 
the  second  signal  was  given,  those  that  were  on  the  south  quarter  did  the  like ; 
in  the  next  place,  the  tabernacle  was  taken  to  pieces,  and  was  carried  in  the 
midst  of  six  tribes  that  went  before  and  of  six  that  followed,  all  the  Levites  as- 
sisting  about  the  tabernacle ;  when  the  third  signal  w  as  given,  that  part  which 
had  their  tents  towards  the  west  put  themselves  into  motion ;  and  at  the  fourth 
signal,  those  on  the  north  did  so  likewise.  They  also  made  use  of  these  trum- 
pets in  their  sacred  ministrations,  when  they  were  bringing  their  sacrifices  to  the 
altar,  as  well  on  the  Sabbaths  as  on  the  rest  of  the  [festival]  days.  And  now  it 
was  that  Moses  offered  that  sacrifice  which  was  called  the  Passover  in  the  wil- 
derness   as  the  first  he  had  ofl^ered  after  the  departure  out  of  Egypt. 


CHAP.  XIII. 

How  Moses  removed  from  Mount  Sinai,  and  conducted  the  People  to  the  borders  of 

iJie  Canaanites. 

§  1.  A  LITTLE  while  afterwards  he  rose  up,  and  went  from  Mount  Sinai;  and 
having  passed  through  several  mansions,  of  which  we  will  speak  anon,  he  came 
to  a  place  called  Hazeroth,  where  the  multitude  began  again  to  be  mutinous,  and 
to  blame  Moses  for  the  misfortunes  they  had  sufiercd  in  their  travels ;  and  that 
when  he  had  persuaded  them  to  leave  a  good  land,  they  at  once  had  lost  that 
land ;  and  instead  of  that  happy  state  he  had  promised  them,  they  were  still 
wandering  in  their  present  miserable  condition,  being  already  in  want  of  water ; 
and  if  the  manna  should  happen  to  fail,  they  must  then  utterly  perish.  Yet  whde 
they  generally  spake  many  and  sore  things  against  the  man,  there  was  one  ot 
02 


108  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  III. 

them  who  exhorted  them  not  to  be  unmindful  of  Moses,  and  of  what  great  pains 
he  had  been  at  about  their  safety ;  and  not  to  despair  of  assistance  from  God. 
The  multitude  thereupon  became  still  more  unruly,  and  more  mutinous  against 
Moses  than  before.  Hereupon  Moses,  although  he  was  so  basely  abused  by  them, 
encouraged  them  in  their  despairing  condition,  and  promised  that  he  would  pro- 
cure them  a  great  quantity  of  flesh  meat,  and  tliat  not  for  a  few  days  only,  but 
for  many  days.  This  they  were  not  willing  to  believe  ;  and  when  one  of  them 
asked  whence  he  could  obtain  such  vast  plenty  of  what  he  promised  ?  he  replied, 
"  Neither  God,  nor  I,  although  we  hear  such  opprobrious  words  from  you,  will 
leave  off  our  labours  for  you  ;  and  this  shall  soon  appear  also."  As  soon  as  ever 
he  had  said  this,  the  whole  camp  was  filled  with  quails,  and  they  stood  round 
about  them,  and  gathered  them  in  great  numbers.  However,  it  was  not  long  ere 
God  punished  the  Hebrews  for  their  insolence,  and  those  reproaches  they  had 
used  towards  him  ;  for  no  small  number  of  them  died.  And  still  to  this  day  the 
place  retains  the  memory  of  this  destruction,  and  is  named  Kibroth-hattaavah, 
which  is,  t?ie  graves  of  lust,  \ 


CHAP.  XIV. 

How  Moses  sent  some  Persons  to  searcli  out  the  Land  of  the  Canaanites,  and  the 
Largeness  of  their  Cities  :  and  further,  that  when  those  who  were  sent  were  re- 
turned., after  Forty  Days,  and  reported  that  they  shmdd  not  be  a  Match  for  tlwm, 
and  extolled  the  Strength  of  the  Canaanites,  the  Midtitude  were  disturbed,  and 
fell  into  Despair ;  and  were  resolved  to  stone  Moses,  and  to  return  back  again 
into  Egypt,  and  serve  tJie  Egyptians. 

§  1.  When  Moses  had  led  the  Hebrews  away  from  thence  to  a  place  called  Pa- 
ran,  which  was  near  to  the  borders  of  the  Canaanites,  and  a  place  difficult  to  be 
continued  in,  he  gathered  the  multitude  together  to  a  congregation  ;  and  standing 
in  the  midst  of  them,  he  said,  "  Of  the  two  things  that  God  determined  to  bestow 
upon  vs,  liberty,  and  the  possession  of  a  happy  country,  the  one  of  them  ye  al- 
ready are  partakers  of,  by  the  gift  of  God,  and  the  other  you  will  quickly  obtain : 
for  we  now  have  our  abode  near  the  borders  of  the  Canaanites,  and  nothing  can 
hinder  the  acquisition  of  it,  when  we  now  at  last  are  fallen  upon  it ;  I  say,  not 
only  no  king  nor  city,  but  neither  the  whole  race  of  mankind,  if  they  were  all 
gathered  together,  could  do  it.  Let  us  therefore  prepare  ourselves  for  the  work  ; 
for  the  Canaanites  will  not  resign  up  their  land  to  us  without  fighting,  but  it  must 
be  wrested  from  them  by  great  struggles  in  war.  Let  us  then  send  spies,  who 
may  take  a  view  of  the  goodness  of  the  land,  and  what  strength  it  is  of.  But 
above  all  things,  let  us  be  of  one  mind,  and  let  us  honour  God,  who  above  all  is 
our  helper  and  assister." 

2.  When  Moses  had  said  thus,  the  multitude  requited  him  with,  marks  of  re- 
spect ;  and  chose  twelve  spies  of  the  most  eminent  men,  one  out  of  each  tribe, 
wlio  passing  over  all  the  land  of  Canaan,  from  the  borders  of  Egypt,  came  to  the 
city  Hamath,  and  to  Mount  Lebanon  ;  and  having  learned  the  nature  of  the  land, 
and  of  its  inhabitants,  they  came  home,  having  spent  forty  days  in  the  whole 
work.  They  also  brought  with  them  of  the  fruits  which  the  land  bare  ;  they  also 
showed  them  the  excellency  of  those  fruits,  and  gave  an  account  of  the  great 
quantity  of  the  good  things  that  land  aflx)rded,  which  were  motives  to  the  multi- 
tude to  go  to  war.  But  then  they  terrified  them  again  with  the  great  difficulty 
there  was  in  obtaining  it ;  that  the  rivers  were  so  large  and  deep  that  they  could 
not  be  passed  over ;  and  that  the  hills  were  so  high  that  they  could  not  travel 
along  for  them  ;  that  the  cities  were  strong  with  walls,  and  their  firm  fortifications 
round  about  them.     They  told  them  also,  that  they  found  at  Hebron  the  posterity 


C   XV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TILE  JEWS.  JOQ 

of  the  giants.  Accorclingly,  these  spies,  who  had  seen  the  land  of  Canaan,  when 
they  perceived  that  all  these  difficulties  were  greater  than  they  had  met  with 
since  they  came  out  of  Egypt,  they  were  atirighted  at  them  themselves,  and  en- 
deavoured to  afiright  the  multitude  also. 

3.  So  they  supposed,  from  what  they  had  heard,  that  it  was  impossible  to  get 
the  possession  of  the  country.  And  when  the  congregation  was  dissolved,  they, 
their  wives,  and  children,  continued  their  lamentation,  as  if  Cod  would  not  indeed 
assist  them,  but  only  promised  them  fair.  They  also  again  blamed  Moses,  and 
made  a  clamour  against  him,  and  his  brother  Aaron  the  high  priest.  Accordingly 
they  passed  that  night  very  ill,  and  with  contumelious  language  against  them;  but 
in  the  morning  they  ran  to  a  congregation,  intending  to  stone  Moses  and  Aaron, 
and  so  return  into  Egypt. 

4.  But  of  the  spies  there  were  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun,  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim, 
and  Caleb  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  that  were  afraid  of  the  consequence,  and  came 
into  the  midst  of  them,  and  stilled  the  multitude,  and  desired  them  to  be  of  good 
courage ;  and  neither  to  condemn  God,  as  having  told  them  lies,  neither  to  hear- 
Ken  to  those  who  had  affrighted  them,  by  telling  them  what  was  not  true  con- 
cerning  the  Canaanites,  but  to  those  that  encouraged  them  to  hope  for  good  suc- 
cess ;  and  that  they  should  gain  possession  of  the  happiness  promised  them,  be- 
cause neither  the  height  of  mountains  nor  the  depth  of  rivers  could  hinder  men 
of  true  courage  from  attempting  them,  especially  while  God  would  take  care  of 
them  beforehand,  and  be  assistant  to  them.  Let  us  then  go,  said  they,  against 
our  enemies,  and  have  no  suspicion  of  ill  success,  trusting  in  God  to  conduct  us, 
and  following  those  that  are  to  be  our  leaders.  Thus  did  these  two  exhort  them, 
and  endeavour  to  pacify  the  rage  they  were  in.  But  Moses  and  Aaron  fell  on 
the  ground,  and  besought  God,  not  for  their  own  deliverance,  but  that  he  would 
put  a  stop  to  what  the  people  were  unwarily  doing,  and  would  bring  their  minds 
to  a  quiet  temper  which  were  now  disordered  by  their  present  passion.  The 
cloud  also  did  now  appear,  and  stood  over  the  tabernacle,  and  declared  to  them 
the  presence  of  God  to  be  there. 


CHAP.   XV. 

Hov)  Moses  was  displeased  at  this;  and  foretold  that  God  was  angry,  and  that  tliey 
should  continue  in  the  Wilderness  for  Forty  Years,  and  not  [duriiig  tluit  Time] 
either  return  into  Egypt,  or  take  Possession  of  Canaan. 

§  1.  Moses  came  now  boldly  to  the  midtitude,  and  informed  them  that  God  was 
moved  at  their  abuse  of  him,  and  would  inflict  punishment  upon  them,  not  indeed 
such  as  they  deserved  for  their  sins,  but  such  as  parents  inflict  on  their  children, 
in  order  to  their  correction  :  For,  he  said,  that  when  he  was  in  the  tabernacle, 
and  was  bewailing  with  tears  that  destruction  which  was  coming  upon  them,  God 
put  him  in  mind  what  things  he  had  done  for  them,  and  what  benefits  they  had 
received  from  him,  and  yet  how  ungrateful  they  had  been  to  him  ;  that  just  now 
they  had  been  induced  by  the  timorousness  of  the  spies  to  think  that  their  words 
were  truer  than  his  own  promise  to  them  ;  and  that  on  this  account,  though  ho 
would  not  indeed  destroy  them  all,  nor  utterly  exterminate  their  nation,  which  ho 
had  honoured  more  than  any  other  part  of  mankind,  yet  he  would  not  permitthem 
to  take  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  nor  enjoy  its  happiness,  but  would  make 
them  wander  in  the  wilderness,  and  live  without;  a  fixed  habitation,  and  without  a 
city,  for  forty  years  together,  as  a  punishment  for  this  their  transgression ;  but 
that  he  hath  promised  to  give  that  land  to  our  children,  and  that  he  would  mako 
them  the  possessors  of  those  good  things  which,  by  your  ungoverncd  passions, 
you  have  deprived  yourselves  of. 


no  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  HI. 

2.  When  Moses  had  discoursed  thus  to  them,  according  to  the  direction  of 
God,  the  muUitude  grieved,  and  were  in  affliction ;  and  entreated  Moses  to  pro- 
cure their  reconcihation  to  God,  and  to  permit  them  no  longer  to  wander  in  the 
wilderness,  but  to  bestow  cities  upon  them.  But  he  replied,  that  God  would  not 
admit  of  any  such  trial ;  for  that  God  was  not  moved  to  this  determination  from 
any  human  levity  or  anger,  but  that  he  had  judiciously  condemned  them  to  that 
punishment.  Now  we  are  not  to  disbelieve  that  Moses,  who  was  but  a  single 
person,  pacified  so  many  ten  thousands  when  they  were  in  anger,  and  converted 
them  to  a  mildness  of  temper ;  for  God  was  with  him,  and  prepared  the  way  to 
his  persuasions  of  the  multitude ;  and  as  they  had  often  been  disobedient,  they 
were  now  sensible  that  such  disobedience  was  disadvantageous  to  them,  and  that 
they  had  still  thereby  fallen  into  calamities. 

3.  But  this  man  was  admirable  for  his  virtue,  and  powerful  in  making  men 
give  credit  to  what  he  delivered,  not  only  during  the  time  of  his  natural  life,  but 
even  there  is  still  no  one  of  the  Hebrews,  who  does  not  act  even  now,  as  if  Mo- 
ses were  present,  and  ready  to  punish  him,  if  he  should  do  any  thing  that  is 
indecent;  nay,  there  is  no  one  but  is  obedient  to  what  laws  he  ordained,  although 
they  might  be  concealed  in  their  transgressions.  There  are  also  many  other  de- 
monstrations  that  his  power  was  more  than  human,  for  still  some  there  have  been 
who  have  come  from  the  parts  beyond  Euphrates,  a  journey  of  four  months, 
through  many  dangers,  and  at  great  expenses,  in  honour  of  our  temple  :  and  yet, 
when  they  had  offered  their  oblations,  could  not  partake  of  their  own  sacrifices, 
because  Moses  had  forbidden  it,  by  somewhat  in  the  law  that  did  not  permit  them, 
or  somewhat  that  had  befallen  them,  which  our  ancient  customs  made  inconsist- 
ent  therewith  ;  some  of  these  did  not  sacrifice  at  all,  and  others  left  their  sacri- 
fices in  an  imperfect  condition  ;  na)',  many  were  not  able  even  at  first  so  much  as 
to  enter  into  the  temple,  but  went  their  ways  in  this  state,  as  preferring  a  sub- 
mission to  the  laws  of  Moses  before  the  fulfilhng  of  their  own  inclinations,  even 
when  they  had  no  fear  upon  them  that  any  body  could  convict  them,  but  only 
out  of  reverence  to  their  own  conscience.  Thus  this  legislation,  which  appeared 
to  be  divine,  made  this  man  to  be  esteemed  as  one  superior  to  his  own  human 
nature.  Nay,  farther,  a  little  before  the  beginning  of  this  war,  when  Claudius 
was  emperor  of  the  Romans,  and  Ismael  was  our  high  priest,  and  Avhen  so  great  a 
famine*  was  come  upon  us  that  one  tenth  deal  [of  wh«at]  was  sold  for  four 
drachma3,<  and  when  no  less  than  seventy  cori  of  flour  Avas  brought  into  the  temple 
at  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread  (these  cori  are  thirty-one  Sicilian,  but  forty-one 
Athenian  medimni,)  not  one  of  the  priests  was  so  hardy  as  to  eat  one  crumb  of  it, 
even  while  so  great  a  distress  Avas  on  the  land  ;  and  this  out  of  a  dread  of  the  law, 
and  of  that  wrath  which  God  retains  against  acts  of  wickedness,  even  when  no 
one  can  accuse  the  actors.  Whence  we  are  not  to  wonder  at  what  was  then 
done,  while  to  this  very  day  the  writings  left  by  Moses  have  so  great  a  force,  that 
even  those  that  hate  us  do  confess,  that  he  who  established  this  settlement  was 
God,  and  that  it  was  by  the  means  of  Moses  and  of  his  virtue  :  but  as  to  these 
matters,  let  every  one  take  them  as  he  thinks  fit. 

*  This  great  famine,  in  the  days  of  Claudius,  is  again  mentioned  in  Anliq.  B.  xx.  chap.  ii.  sect.  6; 
and  Acts,  xi.  23. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.;  m 


BOOK  IV. 


CONTAINING  THE  INTERVAt  OF  THIRTY-EIGHT  TEAKS. 
FROM  THE  REJECTION  OF  THAT  GEJVERATIOJ\r  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES. 


CHAP.  I. 

TJie  Fight  of  the  Hebrews  with  the  Canaanites  withmit  the  Consent  of  Moses, 

and  their  Defeat. 

§  1.  Now  this  life  of  the  HebreAvs  in  the  wilderness  was  so  disagreeable  and 
troublesome  to  them,  and  they  were  so  uneasy  at  it,  that  although  God  had  for- 
bidden them  to  meddle  with  the  Canaanites,  yet  could  they  not  be  persuaded  to 
be  obedient  to  the  words  of  Moses,  and  to  be  quiet :  but  supposing  they  should  be 
able  to  beat  their  enemies,  even  without  his  approbation,  they  accused  him,  and 
suspected  that  he  made  it  his  business  to  keep  them  in  a  distressed  condition, 
that  they  might  always  stand  in  need  of  his  assistance.  Accordingly,  they  re- 
solved to  fight  with  the  Canaanites,  and  said,  that  God  gave  them  his  assistance, 
not  out  of  regard  to  Moses's  intercessions,  but  because  he  took  care  of  their 
entire  nation,  on  account  of  their  forefathers,  whose  affairs  he  took  under  his 
own  conduct ;  as  also,  that  it  was  on  account  of  their  own  virtue  that  he  had 
formerly  procured  them  their  liberty,  and  would  be  assisting  to  them,  now  they 
were  willing  to  take  pains  for  it.  They  also  said,  that  they  Avere  of  themselves 
of  abilities  sufficient  for  the  conquest  of  their  enemies,  although  Moses  should 
have  a  mind  to  alienate  God  from  them  :  that  however  it  was  ibr  their  advantage 
to  be  their  own  masters,  and  not  so  far  to  rejoice  in  their  deliverance  from  the 
indignities  they  endured  under  the  Egyptians,  as  to  bear  the  tyranny  of  Moses 
over  them,  and  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  deluded,  and  live  according  to  his 
pleasure,  as  though  God  did  only  foretell  what  concerns  us  out  of  his  kindness 
to  him,  as  if  they  were  not  all  the  posterity  of  Abraham,  that  God  made  hini 
alone  the  author  of  all  the  knowledge  we  have,  and  we  must  still  learn  it  from 
him  :  That  it  would  be  a  piece  of  prudence  to  oppose  his  arrogant  pretences, 
and  to  put  their  confidence  in  God,  and  to  resolve  to  take  possession  of  that  land 
which  he  had  promised  them,  and  not  to  give  ear  to  him,  who,  on  this  account, 
and  under  the  pretence  of  divine  authority,  forbade  them  so  to  do.  Considering 
therefore  the  distressed  state  they  were  in  at  present,  and  that  in  those  desert 
places  they  were  still  to  expect  things  would  be  worse  with  them,  they  resolved 
to  fight  with  the  Canaanites,  as  submitting  only  to  God,  their  supreme  com- 
mander, and  not  waiting  for  any  assistance  from  their  legislator. 

2.  When  therefore  they  had  come  to  this  resolution,  as  being  best  for  them, 
they  went  against  their  enemies ;  but  those  enemies  were  not  dismayed  cither 
at  the  attack  itself,  or  at  the  great  multitude  that  made  it,  and  received  them  with 
great  courage.  Many  of  the  Hebrews  were  slain ;  and  the  remainder  of  the 
army,  upon  the  disorder  of  their  troops,  were  pursued,  and  fled,  after  a  shameful 
manner,  to  their  camp.  Whereupon  this  unexpected  misfortune  made  them 
quite  despond  ;  and  they  hoped  for  nothing  that  was  good  ;  as  gathering  from  it. 


112  'antiquities  of  the  jews.  B.  IV. 

that  this  affliction  came  from  the  wrath  of  God,  because  they  rashly  went  out  to 
war  without  his  approbation. 

3.  But  when  Moses  saw  how  deeply  they  were  affected  with  this  defeat,  and 
beino'  afraid  lest  the  enemies  should  grow  insolent  upon  this  victory,  and  should 
be  desirous  of  gaining  still  greater  glory,  and  should  attack  them,  resolved  that 
it  was  proper  to  withdraw  the  army  into  the  wilderness  to  a  farther  distance 
from  the  Canaanites  ;  so  the  multitude  gave  themselves  up  again  to  h!s  conduct, 
for  they  were  sensible,  that  without  his  care  for  them  their  affairs  could  not  be 
in  a  good  condition  ;  and  he  caused  the  host  to  remove,  and  he  went  farther  into 
the  wilderness,  as  intending  there  to  let  them  rest,  and  not  to  permit  them  to 
fight  the  Canaanites  before  God  should  afford  them  a  more  favourable  oppor- 
tunity.  ' 


CHAP.  II. 

The  Sedition  of  Corah,  and  of  tJie  Multitude,  against  Moses,  and  against  his  Brother, 
concerning  the  Priesthood. 

§  1.  That  which  is  usually  the  case  of  great  armies,  and  especially  upon  ill 
success,  to  be  hard  to  be  pleased  and  governed  with  difficulty,  did  now  befall  the 
Jews,  for  they  being  in  number  six  hundred  thousand,  and  by  reason  of  their 
great  multitude  not  readily  subject  to  their  governors,  even  in  prosperity,  they  at 
this  time  were  more  than  usually  angry,  both  against  one  another  and  against 
their  leader,  because  of  the  distress  they  were  in,  and  the  calamities  they  then 
endured.  Such  a  sedition  overtook  them,  as  we  have  not  the  like  example  either 
among  the  Greeks  or  the  Barbarians,  by  which  they  Avere  in  danger  of  being 
all  destroyed,  but  were  notwithstanding  saved  by  Moses,  who  would  not  remem- 
ber that  he  had  been  almost  stoned  to  death  by  them.  Nor  did  God  neglect  to 
prevent  their  ruin,  but  notwithstanding  the  indignities  they  had  offered  their 
legislator  and  the  laws,  and  their  disobedience  to  the  commandments  which  he 
had  sent  them  by  Moses,  he  delivered  them  from  those  terrible  calamities,  which, 
without  his  providential  care,  had  been  brought  upon  them  by  this  sedition.  So 
I  will  first  explain  the  cause  whence  this  sedition  arose,  and  then  will  give  an 
account  of  the  sedition  itself;  as  also  of  what  settlements  Moses  made  for  their 
government,  after  it  was  over. 

2.  Corah,  a  Hebi-ew  of  principal  account,  both  by  his  family  and  by  his  wealth, 
one  that  was  also  able  to  speak  well,  and  one  that  could  easily  persuade  the 
people  by  his  speeches,  saw  that  Moses  was  in  an  exceeding  great  dignity,  and 
was  uneasy  at  it,  and  envied  him  on  that  account,  (he  was  of  the  same  tribe  with 
]\Ioses,  and  of  kin  to  him,)  was  particularly  grieved,  because  he  thought  he  bet- 
ter deserved  that  honourable  post  on  account  of  his  great  riches,  and  not  inferior 
tu  him  in  his  birth.  So  he  raised  a  clamour  against  him  among  the  Levites,  who 
were  of  the  same  tribe,  and  especially  among  his  kindred,  saying,  "  That  it  was 
a  very  sad  thing  that  they  should  overlook  Moses,  while  he  hunted  after  and 
paved  the  way  to  glory  for  himself,  and  by  ill  arts  should  obtain  it,  under  the 
pretence  of  God's  command,  while  contrary  to  the  laws  he  had  given  the  priest, 
liood  to  Aaron,  not  by  the  common  suffrage  of  the  multitude,  but  by  his  own  vote, 
as  bestowing  dignities  in  a.  tyrannical  way  on  whom  he  pleased.  He  added,  that 
this  concealed  way  of  irn^osing  on  them  was  harder  to  be  borne  than  if  it  had 
been  done  by  an  open  force  upon  them,  because  he  did  now  not  only  take  away 
their  power  without  their  consent,  but  even  while  they  were  unapprised  of  his 
contrivances  against  them  ;  for  whosoever  is  conscious  to  himself  that  he  deserves 
any  dignity  aims  to  get  it  by  persuasion,  and  not  by  an  arrogant  method  of  vio- 
lence ;  but  those  that  believe  it  impossible  to  obtain  those  honours  justly,  they. 


C.  n.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  113 

make  a  show  of  goodness,  and  do  not  introduce  force,  but  by  cunning  tricks 
grow  wickedly  powerful  :  That  it  was  proper  for  the  multitude  to  punish  such 
men,  even  while  they  think  themselves  concealed  in  their  designs,  and  not  suffer 
them  to  gain  strength,  till  they  have  them  for  their  open  enemies.  For  what 
account,  added  he,  is  Moses  able  to  give  why  he  has  bestowed  the  priesthood  on 
Aaron  and  his  sons  1  for  if  God  had  determined  to  bestow  that  honour  on  one  of 
the  tribe  of  Levi,  I  am  more  worthy  of  it  than  he  is,  I  myself  being  equal  to 
Moses  by  my  family,  and  su})erior  to  him  both  in  riches  and  in  age :  but  if  God 
had  determined  to  bestow  it  on  the  eldest  tribe,  that  of  Rubel  might  have  it 
most  justly ;  and  then  Dathan  and  Abiram,  and  [On  the  son  of]  Peleth,  would 
have  it,  for  these  are  the  oldest  men  of  that  tribe,  and  potent  on  account  of  their 
great  wealth  also." 

3.  Now  Corah,  when  he  said  this,  had  a  mind  to  appear  to  take  care  of  the  pub- 
lic welfare,  but  in  reality  he  was  endeavouring  to  procure  to  have  that  dignity 
transferred  by  the  multitude  to  himself.  Thus  did  he,  out  of  a  malignant  design, 
but  with  plausible  words,  discourse  to  those  of  his  own  tribe  ;  and  when  these 
words  did  gradually  spread  to  more  of  the  people,  and  when  the  hearers  still 
added  to  what  tended  to  the  scandals  that  were  cast  upon  Aaron,  the  whole  army 
was  full  of  them.  Now  of  those  that  conspired  with  Corah,  there  were  two  hun- 
dred  and  fifty,  and  those  of  the  principal  men  also,  who  were  eager  to  have  the 
priesthood  taken  away  from  Moses's  brother,  and  to  bring  him  into  disgrace  : 
nay,  the  muhitude  themselves  were  provoked  to  be  seditious,  and  attempted  to 
stone  Moses  ;  and  gathered  themselves  together  after  an  indecent  manner,  with 
confusion  and  disorder.  And  now  they  all  were,  in  a  tumultuous  manner,  raising 
a  clamour  before  the  tabernacle  of  God,  to  prosecute  the  tyrant,  and  to  re- 
lieve the  multitude  from  their  slavery  under  him,  who,  under  colour  of  the  divine 
commands,  laid  violent  injunctions  upon  them ;  for  that  had  it  been  God,  who 
chose  one  that  was  to  perform  the  ofhce  of  a  priest,  he  would  have  raised  a  worthy 
person  to  that  dignity,  and  would  not  have  produced  such  a  one  as  was  inferior  to 
many  others,  nor  have  given  him  that  office  ;  and  that  in  case  he  had  judged  it 
fit  to  bestow  it  on  Aaron,  he  would  have  permitted  it  to  the  multitude  to  bestow 
it,  and  not  to  have  left  it  to  be  bestowed  by  his  own  brother. 

4.  Now,  although  Moses  had  a  great  while  ago  foreseen  this  calumny  of 
Corah's,  and  had  seen  that  the  people  were  irritated,  yet  was  he  not  affrighted  at 
it;  but  being  of  good  courage,  because  he  had  given  them  right  advice  about 
their  affairs,  and  knowing  that  his  brother  had  been  made  partaker  of  the  priest- 
hood at  the  command  of  God,  and  not  by  his  own  favour  to  him,  he  came  to  the 
assembly  ;  and,  as  for  the  multitude,  he  said  not  a  word  to  them,  but  spake  as 
loud  to  Corah  as  he  could  ;  and  being  very  skilful  in  making  speeches,  and  hav- 
ing this  natural  talent  among  others,  that  he  could  greatly  move  the  multitude 
with  his  discourses,  he  said,  "  O  Corah,  both  thou,  and  all  these  with  thee  (point- 
ing to  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  men,)  seem  to  be  worthy  of  this  honour:  nor  do 
I  pretend  but  that  this  whole  company  may  be  worthy  of  the  like  dignity, 
although  they  may  not  be  so  rich  or  so  great  as  you  are :  nor  have  I  taken  and 
given  this  office  to  my  brother,  because  he  excelled  others  in  riches,  for  thou 
exceedest  us  both  in  the  greatness  of  thy  weahh  ;*  nor  indeed  because  he  was 
of  an  eminent  family ;  for  God,  by  giving  us  the  same  common  ancestor,  has 
made  our  families  equal  :  nay,  nor  was  it  out  of  brotherly  affection,  which  another 
might  yet  have  justly  done  ;  for  certainly,  unless  I  had  bestowed  this  honour  out 
of  regard  to  God  and  to  his  laws,  1  had  not  passed  by  myself,  and  given  it  to 
another,  as  being  nearer  of  kin  to  myself  than  to  my  brother,  and  having  a  closer 
intimacy  with  myself  than  I  have  with  him  ;  for  surely  it  would  not  be  a  wise 
thing  for  me,  to  expose  myself  to  the  dangers  of  offending,  and  to  bestow  the 
happy  employment  on  this  account  upon  another.     But  I  am  above  such  base 

»  Reland  here  takes  notice,  that  although  our  Bibles  say  little  or  nothing  of  these  riches  of  Corah,  yet 
that  both  the  Jews  and  Mahomraedans,  as  well  as  Josephus,  are  full  of  it. 
VOL.  I.  P 


J 14  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV. 

practices  :  nor  would  God  have  overlooked  this  matter,  and  seem  himself  thus 
despised,  nor  would  he  have  suffered  you  to  be  ignorant  of  what  you  were  to  do, 
in  order  to  please  him ;  but  he  hath  himself  chosen  one  that  is  to  perform  that 
sacred  oflice  to  him,  and  thereby  freed  us  from  that  care.  So  that  it  was  not  a 
thing  that  I  pretend  to  give,  but  only  according  to  the  determination  of  God  ;  I 
therefore  propose  it  still  to  be  contended  for  by  such  as  please  to  put  in  for  it,  only 
desiring,  that  he  who  has  been  already  preferred,  and  has  already  obtained  it, 
may  be  allowed  now  also  to  offer  himself  for  a  candidate.  He  prefers  your  peace 
and  your  living  without  sedition,  to  this  honourable  employment,  although  in  truth 
it  was  with  your  approbation  that  he  obtained  it ;  for  though  God  were  the  donor, 
yet  do  we  not  offend  when  we  think  fit  to  accept  it  with  your  good  will ;  yet  would 
it  have  been  an  instance  of  impiety  not  to  have  taken  that  honourable  employ- 
ment when  he  offered  it ;  nay,  it  had  been  exceeding  unreasonable,  when  God 
had  thought  fit  any  one  should  have  it  for  all  time  to  come,  and  had  made  it 
secure  and  firm  to  him,  to  have  refused  it.  However,  he  himself  will  judge 
again  who  it  shall  be  whom  he  would  have  to  ofier  sacrifices  to  him,  and  to  have 
the  direction  of  matters  of  religion ;  for  it  is  absurd  that  Corah,  who  is  ambitious 
of  this  honour,  should  deprive  God  of  the  power  of  giving  it  to  whom  he  pleases 
Put  an  end  therefore  to  your  sedition  and  disturbance  on  this  account ;  and  to- 
morrow morning  do  every  one  of  you  that  desire  the  priesthood  bring  a  censer  from 
home,  and  come  hither  with  incense  and  fire  :  and  do  thou,  O  Corah,  leave  the 
judgment  to  God,  and  await  to  see  on  which  side  he  will  give  his  determination 
upon  this  occasion  ;  but  do  not  thou  make  thyself  greater  tlian  God.  Do  thou 
also  come,  that  this  contest  about  this  honourable  employment  may  receive  deter- 
mination.  And  I  suppose  we  may  admit  Aaron,  without  offence,  to  offer  himself 
to  this  scrutiny,  since  he  is  of  the  same  lineage  with  thyself,  and  has  done  nothing 
in  his  priesthood  that  can  be  liable  to  exception.  Come  ye  therefore  together, 
and  offer  your  incense  in  public  before  all  the  people  ;  and  when  you  offer  it,  he 
whose  sacrifice  God  shall  accept  shall  be  ordained  to  the  priesthood,  and  shall  be 
clear  of  the  present  calumny  on  Aaron,  as  if  I  had  granted  him  that  favour  because 
lie  was  my  brother." 


CHAP.  m. 

How  tlwse  that  stirred  up  this  Sedition  were  destroyed,  according  to  the  Will  of 
God ;  and  how  Aaron,  Moses's  BrotJier,  both  he  and  his  Posterity,  retained  the 
Priesthood. 

§  1.  AVhen  Moses  had  said  this,  the  multitude  left  off  the  turbulent  behaviour 
they  had  indulged,  and  the  suspicion  they  had  of  Moses,  and  commended  what  he 
said  ;  for  those  proposals  were  good,  and  were  so  esteemed  of  the  people.  At 
that  time  therefore  they  dissolved  the  assembly.  But  on  the  next  day  they  came 
to  the  congregation  in  order  to  be  present  at  the  sacrifice,  and  at  the  delermi- 
nation  that  was  to  be  made  between  the  candidates  for  the  priesthood.  Now 
this  congregation  proved  a  turbulent  one,  and  the  multitude  were  in  great  sus- 
pense in  expectation  of  what  was  to  be  done  ;  for  some  of  them  would  have  been 
pleased  if  Moses  had  been  convicted  of  evil  practices,  but  the  wiser  sort  desired 
that  they  might  be  delivered  from  the  present  disorder  and  disturbance  ;  for 
they  were  afraid,  that  if  this  sedition  went  on,  the  good  order  of  their  settlement 
Avoulci  rather  bo  destroyed  ;  but  the  whole  body  of  the  people  do  naturally  de- 
Ijght  in  clamours  against  their  governors,  and  by  changing  their  opinions  upon 
the  harangues  of  every  speaker,  disturb  the  public  tranquillity.  And  now  Moses 
sent  messengers  for  Abiram  and  Duthan,  and  ordered  them  to  come  to  the  as- 
sembly, and  wait  there  for  the  holy  ofliccs  that  were  to  be  perlbrme'd.     But  they 


C.  m.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


115 


answered  the  messenger,  that  they  would  not  obey  his  summons  ;  nay,  would 
not  overlook  Moses's  behaviour,  who  was  growiiig  too  great  for  them  bv  evil 
practices.  Now  when  Moses  heard  of  this  their  answer,  ho  desired  liie  heads 
of  the  people  to  follow  him,  and  he  went  to  the  faction  of  Dathan,  not  thiiikirin- 
it  any  frightful  thing  at  all  to  go  to  these  insolent  people  ;  so  they  made  no  oj). 
position,  but  went  along  with  him.  But  Dathan  and  his  associates,  when  they 
understood  that  Moses  and  the  principal  of  the  people  were  coming  to  them,  they 
came  out  with  their  wives  and  children,  and  stood  before  their  tents,  and  looked 
to  see  what  Moses  would  do.  They  had  also  their  servants  about  them  to  de- 
fend themselves,  in  case  Moses  should  use  force  against  them. 

2.  But  he  came  near,  and  lifted  up  his  hands  to  heaven,  and  cried  out  with  a 
loud  voice,  in  order  to  be  heard  by  the  whole  multitude  ;  and  said,  "  O  Lord  of 
the  creatures  that  are  in  the  heaven,  in  the  earth  and  in  the  sea  ;  for  thou  art 
the  most  authentic  witness  to  what  I  have  done,  that  it  has  all  been  done  by  thy 
appointment,  and  that  it  was  thou  that  aflordest  us  assistance  when  v.e  attempted 
any  thing,  and  showedst  mercy  on  the  Hebrews  in  all  their  distresses ;  do  thou 
come  now,  and  hear  all  that  I  say  ;  for  no  action  nor  thought  escapes  thy  know- 
ledge ;  so  that  thou  wilt  not  disdain  to  speak  what  is  true,  for  my  vindication, 
without  any  regard  to  the  ungrateful  imputations  of  these  men.  As  for  what 
was  done  before  I  was  born,  thou  knowest  best,  as  not  learning  them  by  report, 
but  seeing  them,  and  being  present  with  them  when  they  were  done  ;  but  for  what 
has  been  done  of  late,  and  which  these  men,  although  they  know  them  well 
enough,  unjustly  pretend  to  suspect,  be  thou  my  witness.  When  I  lived  a  private 
quiet  life,  I  left  those  good  things,  which  by  my  own  diligence,  and  by  thy  coun- 
sel,  I  enjoyed  with  Raguel,  my  fa<her-in-law,  and  I  gave  myself  up  to  this  peo- 
pie,  and  underwent  many  miseries  on  their  account.  I  also  bore  great  labours, 
at  first,  in  order  to  obtain  liberty  for  them,  and  now  in  order  to  their  preserva- 
tion ;  and  have  always  showed  mvself  ready  to  assist  them  in  every  distress  of 
theirs.  Now  therefore,  since  I  am  suspected  by  those  very  men  whose  being  is 
ovv'ing  to  my  labours,  come  thou,  as  it  is  reasonable  to  hope  thou  wilt :  thou,  I 
.  say,  who  showedst  me  that  fire  at  Mount  Sinai,  and  madest  me  to  hear  its  voice, 
and  to  see  the  several  wonders  which  that  place  afforded  me  :  thou  who  com- 
mandcst  me  to  go  to  Egypt,  and  declare  thy  will  to  this  people:  thou  who  dis- 
turbedst  the  happy  estate  of  the  Egyptians,  and  gavest  us  the  opportunity  of  fly- 
ing away  from  our  slavery  under  them,  and  madest  the  dominion  of  Pharaoh  in- 
ferior to  my  dominion  :  thou  who  didst  make  the  sea  dry  land  for  us,  when  m  e 
knew  not  whither  to  go,  and  didst  overwhelm  the  Egyptians  with  those  destruc- 
tive  waves  which  had  been  divided  for  us  :  thou  who  didst  bestow  upon  us  the 
security  of  weapons  when  we  were  naked  :  thou  who  didst  make  the  fountains 
that  were  corrupted  to  flow  so  as  to  be  fit  for  drinking,  and  didst  furnish  us  with 
water  that  came  out  of  the  rocks,  when  we  were  in  the  greatest  want  of  it :  thou 
who  didst  preserve  our  lives  with  [quails,]  which  was  food  from  the  sea,  when 
the  fruits  of  the  ground  failed  us  :  thou  who  didst  send  us  such  food  from  heaven 
as  had  never  been  seen  before  :  thou  who  didst  suggest  to  us  the  knowledge  of  tliy 
laws,  and  appoint  us  a  form  of  government :  come  thou,  I  say,  O  Lord  of  the 
whole  world,  and  that  as  such  a  judge  and  a  witness  to  me  as  cannot  be  bribed, 
and  show  how  I  have  never  admitted  of  any  gift  against  justice  from  any  of  the 
Hebrews  ;  and  have  never  condemned  a  poor  man  that  ought  to  have  been  ac- 
quitted, on  account  of  one  that  was  rich  ;  and  have  never  attempted  to  hurt  this 
commonwealth.  I  am  now  here  present,  and  am  suspected  of  a  thing  the  remotest 
from  my  intentions,  as  if  I  had  given  the  priesthood  to  Aaron,  itot  at  thy  com- 
mand, but  out  of  my  own  favour  to  him,  do  thou  at  this  time  demonstrate,  that 
all  things  aro  administered  by  thy  providence,  and  that  nothing  happens  by 
chance,  but  is  governed  by  thy  will,  and  thereby  attains  its  end  :  as  also  demon- 
strate, that  thou  takest  care  o'f  those  that  have  done  good  to  tlie  Hebrews  ;  dc- 
monstrate  this,  I  say,  by  the  punishment  of  Abiram  and  Dathan,  who  condemn 
P2 


IIQ  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV. 

thee  as  an  insensible  being,  and  one  overcome  by  my  contrivances.  This  wilt 
thou  do  by  inflicting  such  an  open  punishment  on  these  men,  who  so  madly  fly  in 
the  face  of  thy  glory,  as  will  take  them  out  of  the  world,  not  in  an  ordinary  manner, 
but  so  that  it  may  appear  they  do  not  die  after  the  manner  of  other  men ;  let  that 
ground  on  which  they  tread  upon  open  about  them,  and  consume  them  with  their 
families  and  goods.  This  will  be  a  demonstration  of  thy  power  to  all  men;  and 
this  method  of  their  sufferings  will  be  an  instruction  of  wisdom  for  those  that  en- 
tertain profane  sentiments  of  thee.  By  this  means  I  shall  be  found  a  good  servant, 
in  the  precepts  thou  hast  given  by  me.  But  if  the  calumnies  they  have  raised 
against  me  be  true,  mayst  thou  preserve  these  men  from  every  evil  accident,  and 
bring  all  that  destruction  on  me  which  I  have  imprecated  upon  them.  And  when 
thou  hast  inflicted  punishment  on  those  that  have  endeavoured  to  deal  unjustly 
with  this  people,  bestow  upon  them  concord  and  peace.  Save  this  multitude  that 
follow  thy  commandments,  and  preserve  them  free  from  harm,  and  let  them  not 
partake  of  the  punishment  of  those  that  have  sinned  ;  for  thou  knowest  thyself, 
it  is  not  just,  that  for  the  wickedness  of  those  men,  the  whole  body  of  the  Israelites 
should  suffer  punishment." 

3.  When  Moses  had  said  this,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  the  ground  was  moved 
on  a  sudden ;  and  the  agitation  that  set  it  in  motion  was  like  that  which  the  wind 
produces  in  the  waves  of  the  sea.  The  people  were  all  affi*ighted ;  and  the 
ground  that  was  about  their  tents  sunk  down,  at  the  great  noise,  that  terrible 
sound,  and  carried  whatsoever  was  dear  to  the  seditious  into  itself,  who  so  en- 
tirely perished,  that  there  was  not  the  least  appearance  that  any  men  had  ever 
been  seen  there,  the  earth,  that  had  opened  itself  about  them,  closing  again,  and 
becoming  entire  as  it  was  before,  insomuch  that  such  as  saw  it  afterward  did  not 
perceive  that  any  such  accident  had  happened  to  it.  Thus  did  these  men  pe- 
rish, and  become  a  demonstration  of  the  power  of  God.  And  truly,  any  one 
would  lament  them,  not  only  on  account  of  this  calamity  that  befell  them,  which 
yet  deserves  our  commiseration,  but  also  because  their  kindred  were  pleased 
with  their  sufferings ;  for  they  forgot  the  relation  they  bear  to  them,  and  at  the 
sight  of  this  sad  accident  approved  of  the  judgment  given  against  them  ;  and  be- 
cause the)'^  looked  upon  the  people  about  Dathan  as  pestilent  men,  they  thought 
they  perished  as  such,  and  did  not  grieve  for  them. 

4.  And  now  Moses  called  for  those  that  contended  about  the  priesthood,  that 
trial  might  be  made  who  should  be  priest,  and  that  he  whose  sacrifice  God  was 
best  pleased  with  might  be  ordained  to  that  function.  There  attended  tAvo 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  who  indeed  were  honoured  by  the  people,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  power  of  their  ancestors,  but  also  on  account  of  their  own, 
in  which  they  excelled  the  others  :  Aaron  also,  and  Corah,  came  forth,  and 
they  all  offered  incense  in  those  censers  of  theirs  which  they  brought  with 
them,  before  the  tabernacle.  Hereupon  so  great  a  fire  shone  out  as  no  one  ever 
saw  in  any  that  is  made  by  the  hand  of  man,  neither  in  those  eruptions  out  of 
the  earth  that  are  caused  by  subterraneous  burnings,  nor  in  such  fires  as  arise  of 
their  own  accord  in  the  woods,  when  the  agitation  is  caused  by  the  trees  rubbing 
one  against  another,  but  this  fire  v\  as  very  bright  and  had  a  terrible  flame,  such 
as  is  kindled  at  the  command  of  God  ;  by  whose  eruption  on  them  all  the  com- 
pany, and  Corah  himself,  were  destroyed,*  and  this  so  entirely  that  their  very 
bodies  lefl;  no  remains  behind  them.  Aaron  alone  was  preserved,  and  not  at  all 
hurt  by  the  fire,  because  it  was  God  that  sent  the  fire  to  bum  those  only  who 
ought  to  be  burned.  Hereupon  Moses,  after  these  men  were  destroyed,  was  de- 
sirous that  the  memory  of  this  judgment  might  be  delivered  down  to  posterity, 
and  that  future  ages  might  be  acquainted  with  it ;  and  so  he  commanded  Ele'a- 

»  It  appears  here,  and  from  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  and,  in  effect,  from  the  Psalmist,  as  also  from 
t he  Apostolical  Constitutions,  from  Clement's  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  from  Ignatius's  epistle  to 
the  Magnesians,  and  from  Eusebius,  that  Corah  was  not  swallowed  up  with  the  Reubenites,  but  burned 
with  the  Levitcs  of  his  own  tribe.     See  Essay  on  tlie  Old  Testament,  p.  64, 65. 


C.  iV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  II7 

zar,  the  son  of  Aaron,  to  put  their  censers  near  the  brazen  altar,  that  they  might 
be  a  memorial  to  posterit)'-  of  what  these  men  suffered  for  supposing  that  the 
power  of  God  might  be  eluded.  And  thus  Aaron  was  now  no  longer  esteemed 
to  have  the  priesthood  by  the  favour  of  Moses,  but  by  the  public  judgment  of 
God  :  and  thus  he  and  his  children  peaceably  enjoyed  that  honour  afterwards. 


CHAP.  IV. 

Wliat  happened  to  the  Hebrews  during  Thirty-eight  Years  in  tJie  Wilderness. 

§  1.  However,  this  sedition  was  so  far  from  ceasing  upon  this  destruction,  that 
it  grew  much  stronger  and  became  more  intolerable.  And  the  occasion  of  its 
growing  was  of  that  nature  as  made  it  likely  the  calamity  would  never  cease, 
but  last  for  a  long  time  :  for  the  men,  beheving  already  that  nothing  is  done 
without  the  providence  of  God,  would  have  it  that  these  things  came  thus  to  pass 
not  Avithout  God's  favour  to  Moses  ;  they  therefore  laid  the  blame  upon  him  that 
God  was  so  angry,  and  that  this  happened  not  so  much  because  of  the  wicked- 
ness of  those  that  were  punished,  as  because  Moses  procured  the  punishment  • 
and  that  these  men  had  been  destroyed  without  any  sin  of  theirs,  only  because 
they  were  zealous  about  the  divine  worship ;  as  also  that  he  who  had  been  the 
cause  of  this  diminution  of  the  people,  by  destroying  so  many  men,  and  those  the 
most  excellent  of  them  all,  besides  his  escaping  any  punishment  himself,  had  now 
given  the  priesthood  to  his  brother  so  firmly  that  nobody  could  any  longer  dispute 
it  with  him;  for  no  one  else,  to  be  sure,  could  now  put  in  for  it,  since  he  must 
have  seen  those  that  first  did  so  to  have  miserably  perished.  Nay,  besides  this, 
the  kindred  of  those  that  were  destroyed  made  great  entreaties  to  the  multitude 
to  abate  the  arrogance  of  Moses,  because  it  would  be  safest  for  them  so  to  do. 

2.  Now  Moses,  upon  his  hearing  for  a  good  while  that  the  people  were  tumul- 
tuous, was  afraid  that  they  would  attempt  some  other  innovation,  and  that  some 
great  and  sad  calamity  would  be  the  consequence,  he  called  the  m.uhitude  to  a 
congregation,  and  patiently  heard  what  apology  they  made  for  themselves,  with- 
out opposing  them,  and  this  lest  he  should  imbitter  the  multitude  :  he  only  desired 
the  heads  of  the  tribes  to  bring  their  rods,*  with  the  names  of  their  tribes  inscribed 
upon  them,  and  that  he  should  receive  the  priesthood  in  whose  rod  God  should 
give  a  sign.  This  was  agreed  to.  So  the  rest  brought  their  rods,  as  did  Aaron 
also,  who  had  written  the  tribe  of  Levi  on  his  rod.  These  rods  Moses  laid  up 
in  the  tabernacle  of  God.  On  the  next  day  he  brought  out  the  rods,  which  were 
known  from  one  another  by  those  who  brought  them,  they  having  distinctly  noted 
them,  as  had  the  multitude  also  ;  and  as  to  the  rest,  in  the  same  form  Moses  had 
received  them  in  that  they  saw  them  still,  but  they  also  saw  buds  and  branches 
grown  out  of  Aaron's  rod,  with  ripe  fruits  upon  them ;  they  were  almonds,  the 
rod  having  been  cut  out  of  that  tree.  The  people  were  so  amazed  at  this  strange 
sight,  that  though  Moses  and  Aaron  were  before  under  some  degree  of  hatred, 
they  now  laid  that  hatred  aside,  and  began  to  admire  the  judgment  of  God  con- 
cerning them ;  so  that  hereafter  they  applauded  what  God  had  decreed,  and 
permitted  Aaron  to  enjoy  the  priesthood  peaceably.  And  thus  God  ordained  him 
priest  three  several  times ;  and  he  retained  that  honour  without  farther  distur- 
bance. And  hereby  this  sedition  of  the  Hebrews,  which  had  been  a  great  one, 
and  had  lasted  a  great  while,  was  at  last  composed. 

3.  And  now  Moses,  because  the  tribe  of  Levi  was  made  free  from  war  and 
warlike  expeditions,  and  was  set  apart  for  the  divine  worship,  lest  they  should 
want  and  seek  after  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  so  neglect  the  temple,   com- 

•  Concerning  these  twelve  rods  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  see  St.  Clement's  account,  much  larger 
than  that  in  our  Bibles,  1  Epist.  {45,  as  is  Josephus's  present  account  in  some  measure  larger  also. 


Jig  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. "  B.  IV. 

manded  the  Hehrew.s,  according  to  the  will  of  God,  that  when  they  should  gain 
the  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  they  should  assign  forty-eight  good  and 
fair  cities  to  the  Levites  ;  and  permit  them  to  enjoy  their  suburbs,  as  far  as  the 
limit  of  two  thousand  cubits  would  extend  from  the  walls  of  the  city.  And,  be- 
sides this,  he  appointed  that  the  people  should  pay  the  tithe  of  their  annual  fruits 
of  the  earth,  both  to  the  Levites  and  to  the  priests.  And  this  is  what  the  tribe 
receives  of  the  multitude ;  but  I  think  it  necessary  to  set  down  what  is  paid  by 
all  peculiarly  to  the  priests. 

4.  Accordingly,  he  commanded  the  Levites  to  yield  up  to  the  priests  thirteen 
of  their  forty-eight  cities,  and  to  set  apart  for  them  the  tenth  part  of  the  tithes 
which  the}'  every  year  receive  of  the  people  ;  as  also,  that  it  was  but  just  to  offer 
to  God  the  first  fruits  of  the  entire  product  of  the  ground ;  and  that  they  should 
offer  the  firstborn  of  those  four-footed  beasts  that  are  appointed  for  sacrifices,  if 
it  be  a  male,  to  the  priests,  to  be  slain,  that  they  and  their  entire  families  may 
eat  them  in  the  holy  city ;  but  that  the  owners  of  those  firstborn  which  are  not 
appointed  for  sacrifices  in  the  laws  of  our  country,  should  bring  a  shekel  and  a 
half  in  their  stead  ;  but  for  the  firstborn  of  a  man,  five  shekels  :  that  they  should 
also  have  the  first  fruhs  out  of  the  shearing  of  the  sheep  ;  and  that  when  any 
baked  bread  corn,  and  made  loaves  of  it,  they  should  give  somewhat  of  what 
they  had  baked  to  them.  Moreover,  when  any  have  made  a  sacred  voav,  I  mean 
those  that  are  called  Nazarites,  that  suffer  their  hair  to  grow  long,  and  use  no 
wine,  wlien  they  consecrate  their  hair,*  and  ofler  it  for  a  sacrifice,  the)^  are  to 
allot  that  hair  for  the  priests  [to  be  thrown  into  the  fire.]  Such  also  as  dedicate 
themselves  to  God,  as  a  corban,  which  denotes  what  the  Greeks  call  a  gift,  when 
they  are  desirous  of  being  freed  from  that  ministration,  are  to  lay  down  money 
for  the  priests  ;  thirty  shekels  if  it  be  a  woman,  and  fifty  if  it  be  a  man  ;  but  if 
any  be  too  poor  to  pay  the  appointed  sum,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  priests  to 
determine  tliat  sum  as  they  think  fit.  And  if  any  slay  beasts  at  home  for  a  pri- 
vate festival,  but  not  for,  a  religious  one,  they  are  obliged  to  bring  the  maw,  and 
the  cheek  [or  breast,]  and  the  right  shoulder  of  the  sacrifice,  to  the  priests. 
With  these  I^Ioses  contrived  that  the  priests  should  be  plentifully  maintained  ; 
besides  what  they  had  out  of  those  offerings  for  sins,  which  the  people  gave  them, 
as  I  have  set  it  down  in  the  foregoing  book.  He  also  ordered,  that  out  of  every 
thing  allotted  for  the  priests,  their  servants,  [their  sons,]  their  daughters,  and 
tJieir  wives,  should  partake,  as  well  as  themselves,  excepting  what  came  to  them 
out  of  the  sacrifices  that  were  offered  for  sins ;  for  of  those  none  but  the  males 
of  the  family  of  tlie  priests  might  eat,  and  this  in  the  temple  also,  and  that  the 
same  day  they  were  offered. 

5.  When  Moses  had  made  these  constitutions,  afler  the  sedition  was  over,  he 
removed,  together,  with  the  whole  army,  and  came  to  the  borders  of  Idumea.  He 
then  sent  ambassadors  to  the  king  of  the  Idumeans,  and  desired  him  to  give  him 
a  passage  through  his  country,  and  agreed  to  send  him  what  hostages  he  should 
desire,  to  secure  him  from  any  injury.  He  desired  him  also  that  he  would  allow 
his  army  liberty  to  buy  provisions  ;  and  if  he  insisted  upon  it,  he  would  pay  down 
a  price  for  the  very  water  they  should  drink.  But  the  king  was  not  pleased  with 
this  embassage  fi'om  Moses  :  nor  did  he  allow  a  passage  for  the  army,  but  brought 
his  people  armed  to  meet  Moses,  and  to  hinder  them  in  case  they  should  endea- 
vour to  force  their  passage.  Upon  which  Moses  consulted  God  by  the  oracle, 
M'ho  Mould  not  have  him  begin  the  war  first ;  and  so  he  withdrew  his  forces,  and 
travelled  round  about  through  the  wilderness. 

G.  Then  it  was  that  Miriam,  the  sister  of  Moses,  came  to  her  end,  having  com- 
pleted  her  fortieth  yearf  since  she  left  Egypt,  on  the  first  day  of  the  lunar 

•  Grotius,  on  Numb.  vi.  18,  takes  notice,  that  the  Greeks  also,  as  well  as  the  Jews,  sometimes  con 
■ecrated  the  Irair  of  their  heads  to  the  gods. 

f  Josephus  here  uses  this  phrase,  when  the  fortieth  year  was  completed,  foi  whefi  it  was  begun;  as 
docs  St.  Luke,  when  (he  day  of  Pentecost  was  complete  J,  Acts,  ii.  1. 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  Jjg 

month*  Xanthicus.  They  then  made  a  pubUc  funeral  for  her,  at  a  great  expense. 
She  was  buried  upon  a  certain  mountain,  which  they  call  (Sm ;  and  when  tliey 
had  mourned  for  her  thirty  days,  Moses  purified  the  people  after  this  manner. — 
He  brought  an  heifer,  that  had  never  been  used  to  the  plough  or  to  husbandry,  that 
was  complete  in  all  its  parts,  and  entirely  of  a  red  colour,  at  a  little  distance  from 
the  camp,  into  a  place  perfectly  clean.  This  heifer  was  slain  by  the  high  priest, 
and  her  blood  sprinkled  with  his  finger,  seven  times  before  the  tabernacle  of  God  : 
after  this  entire  heifer  was  burned  in  that  state,  together  with  its  skin  and  en- 
trails, and  they  threw  cedar  wood,  and  hyssop,  and  scarlet  wool,  into  the  midst  of 
the  fire ;  then  a  clean  man  gathered  all  her  ashes  together,  and  laid  them  in  a  place 
perfectly  clean.  When,  therefore,  any  persons  were  defiled  by  a  dead  body,  they 
put  a  little  of  these  ashes  into  spring  water,  with  hyssop,  and  dipping  part  of  these 
ashes  in  it,  they  sprinkled  them  with  it,  both  on  the  third  day  and  on  the  seventh, 
and  after  that  they  were  clean.  This  he  enjoined  them  to  do  also  when  the  tribes 
should  come  into  their  own  land. 

7.  Now  when  this  purification,  which  their  leader  made  upon  the  mourning 
for  his  sister,  as  it  has  been  now  described,  was  over,  he  caused  the  army  to  re- 
move  and  to  march  through  the  wilderness  and  through  Arabia.  And  when  he 
came  to  a  place  which  the  Arabians  esteem  their  metroi)olis,  which  was  formerly 
called  Arce,  but  has  now  the  name  of  Petra,  at  this  place,  which  was  encom- 
passed with  high  mountains,  Aaron  went  up  one  of  them,  in  the  sight  of  the 
whole  army,  IMoses  having  before  told  him  that  he  was  to  die,  for  this  place  was 
over  against  them.  He  put  ofi'  his  pontifical  garments,  and  delivered  them  to 
Eleazar,  his  son,  to  whom  the  high  priesthood  belonged,  because  he  was  the  elder 
brother,  and  died,  while  the  multitude  looked  upon  him.  He  died  in  the  same 
year  wherein  he  lost  his  sister,  having  lived  in  all  a  hundred  twenty  and  three 
years.  He  died  on  the  first  day  of  that  lunar  month  which  is  called  by  the 
Athenians  Hecalonibccon,  by  the  Macedonians  Lous,  but  by  the  Hebrews,  Abha.  ^ 


CHAP.  V. 

How  Moses  conquered  SiJion  and  Og,  Kings  of  the  Amoriles,  and  destroyed  their 
whole  Army,  and  then  divided  their  Land  by  lot,  to  Two  Tribes  and  a  Half  of 
the  Hebrews.  . 

§  1.  The  people  mourned  for  Aaron,  thirty  days ;  and  when  this  mourning  was 
over,  Moses  removed  the  army  from  that  place,  and  came  to  t!ie  river  Anion, 
v/hich  issuing  out  of  the  mountains  of  Arabia,  and  running  through  all  that  wil- 
derness, fell  into  the  lake  of  Asphallitis,  and  became  the  limit  between  tlic  land 
of  the  Moabites  and  the  land  of  the  Amorites.  Tins  land  is  fruitful,  and  sutK- 
cicnt  to  maintain  a  great  number  of  men  with  the  good  things  it  produces.  Mo- 
ses therefore  sent  messengers  to  Sihon,  the  king  of  this  country,  desiring  that  he 
would  grant  his  army  a  passage,  upon  what  security  he  should  please  to  require ; 
he  promised  that  he  should  be  no  vvay  injured,  neither  as  to  that  country  which 
Sihon  governed,  nor  as  to  its  inhabitants ;  and  that  he  would  buy  his  provisions 
at  such  a  price  as  should  be  to  their  advantage,  even  thougli  he  siionld  desire  to 
sell  them  their  very  water.  But  Sihon  refused  his  ofler,  and  put  his  army  into 
battle  array,  and  was  preparing  every  thing  in  order  to  hinder  iheir  passing  over 
Arnon. 

2.  When  Moses  saw  that  the  Amorite  king  was  disposed  to  enter  upon  lios- 

*Wlietlier  Miriam  died,  as  Josephus's  Greek  copies  imply,  on  tlicyT^iday  of  tlic  month  may  be 
doubted  ;  because  the  Latin  copies  say  it  was  the  tenth,  and  so  say  the  Jewisli  calendars  also,  as  Dr. 
Bernard  assures  us.  It  is  said  her  sejiulchre  is  still  extant  nearl'ctra,  the  old  capital  city  of  Arabia  I'dnca, 
at  tliis  day  ;  as  also  that  of  Aaron,  not  far  off. 


J20  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV. 

tilities  with  them,  he  thought  he  ought  not  to  bear  that  insuU  ;  and   determining 
to  wean  the   Hebrews  from  their  indolent  temper,   and  prevent  the  disorders 
wliich  arose  thence,  which  had  been  the  occasion  of  their  former  sedition;  (nor, 
indeed,  were  they  now  thoroughly  easy  in  their  minds,)  he  inquired  of  God 
Avhether  he  would  give  him  leave  to  fight?  which  when  he  had  done,   and   God 
also  promised  him  the  victory,  he  was  himself  very  courageous,  and  ready    to 
proceed  to  fighting.     Accordingly  he  encouraged  the  soldiers,  and  he  desired  of 
them  that  they  would  take  the  pleasure  of  fighting,  now  God  gave  them  leave  so 
to  do.     They  then,  upon  the  receipt  of  this  commission,  which  they  so  much 
longed  for,  put  on  their  whole  armour,  and  set  about  the  work,  without  delay. 
But  the  Amorite  king  was  not  now  like  to  himself  when  the  Hebrews  were  ready 
to  attack  him  ;  but  both  he  himself  was  afirighted  at  the  Hebrews,  and  his  army, 
which  before  had  showed  themselves  to  be  of  good  courage,  were  then  found  to 
be  timorous ;  so  that  they  could  not  sustain  the  first  onset,  nor  bear  up  against 
the  Hebrews,  but  fled  away,  as  thinking  this  would  afford  them  a  more  likely  way 
for  their  escape  than  fighting ;  for  they  depended  upon  their  cities,  which  were 
strong,  from  which  yet  they  reaped  no  advantage  when  they  were  forced  to  fly 
to  them  ;  for  as  soon  as  the  Hebrews  saw  them  giving  ground,  they  immediately 
pursued  them  close  ;  and  when  they  had  broken  their  ranks  they  greatly  terrified 
them,  and  some  of  them  broke  off"  from  the  rest,  and  ran  away  to  the  cities.     Now 
the  Hebrews  pursued  them  briskly,  and  obstinately  persevered  in  the  labours  they 
had  already  undergone ;  and  being  very  skilful  in  slinging,  and  very  dexterous 
in  throwing  of  darts,  or  any  thing  else  of  that  kind,  and  also  having  on  nothing 
but  light  armour,  which  made  them  quick  in  the  pursuit,  they  overtook  their  ene- 
mies ;  and  for  those  that  were  most  remote,  and  could  not  be  overtaken,  they 
reached  them  by  their  slings  and  their  bows,  so  that  many  were  slain ;  and  those 
that  escaped  the  slaughter  were  sorely  wounded,  and  these  were  more  distressed 
with  thirst  than  with  any  of  those  that  fought  against  them ;  for  it  was  the  sum- 
mer season,  and  when  the  greatest  number  of  them  were  brought  down  to  the 
river,  out  of  a  desire  to  drink  :  as  also,  when  others  fled  away  by  troops,  the  He- 
brews  came  round  them,  and  shot  at  them ;  so  that,  what  with  darts  and  what 
Avith  arrows,  they  made  a  slaughter  of  them  all.    Sihon  also  their  king  was  slain. 
So  the  Hebrews  spoiled  the  dead  bodies,  and  took  their  prey.     The  land  also 
which  they  took  was  full  of  abundance  of  fruits,  and  the  army  went  all  over  it 
without  fear,  and  fed  their  cattle  upon  it,  and  they  took  the  enemies  prisoners; 
for  they  could  no  way  make  a  stop  to  them,  since  all  the  fighting  men   were  de- 
stroyed     Such  was  the  destruction  which  overtook  the  Amorites,  who  were 
neither  sagacious  in  counsel  nor  courageous  in  action.     Hereupon  the  HebreAvs 
took  possession  of  their  land,  which  is  a  country  situate  between  three  rivers, 
nnd  naturally  resembling  an  island,  the  river  Arnon  being  its  southern  limit;  the 
river  Jabbok  determining  its  northern  side,  which  running  into  Jordan  loses  its 
own  name,  and  takes  the  other,  while  Jordan  itself  runs  along  by  it  on  its  west- 
ern coast. 

3.  When  matters  were  come  to  this  state,  Og,  the  king  of  Gilead  and  Gaulani- 
tis,  fell  upon  the  Israelites.  He  brought  an  army  with  him,  and  came  in  haste  to 
t!ie  assistance  of  his  friend  Sihon.  But  though  he  found  him  already  slain,  yet 
flid  he  resolve  still  to  come  and  fight  the  Hebrews,  supposing  he  should  be  too 
li;ud  for  them,  and  being  desirous  to  try  their  valour;  but,  failing  of  his  hope,  he 
wiis  both  himself  slain  in  the  battle,  and  all  his  army  was  destroyed.  So  Moses 
passed  over  the  river  Jabbok,  and  overran  the  kingdom  of  Og.  He  overthrew 
their  cities,  and  slew  all  their  inhabitants,  who  yet  exceeded  in  riches  all  the  men 
in  that  part  of  the  continent,  on  account  of  the  goodness  of  the  soil  and  the  great 
quantity  of  his  wealth.  Now  Og  had  very  few  equals,  either  in  the  largeness  of 
his  body,  or  handsomeness  of  his  appearance.  He  was  also  a  man  of  great  ac- 
tivity  in  the  use  of  his  hands,  so  that  his  actions  were  not  unequal  to  the  vast 
largeness  and  handsome  appearance  of  his  body.     And  men  could  easily  guess 


C.  Vl.  ANTIQUrriES  OF  THE  JEWS.  j^^ 

at  his  strength  and  magnitude,  when  they  took  his  bed  at  Rabbath,  the  royal  city 
of  the  Ammonites  ;  its  structure  was  of  iron,  its  breadtli  four  cubits,  and  its  lenfTth 
a  cubit  more  than  double  thereto.  However,  his  fidl  did  not  only  improve  the  cir- 
cumsiances  of  the  Hebrews  for  tb-n  present,  but  by  his  death  he"  was  the  occasion 
offarther  good  success  to  them  ;  for  they  presently  took  those  sixty  cities  which 
were  encompassed  with  excellent  walls,  and  had  been  subject  to  him,  and  all  got, 
both  in  general  and  in  particular,  a  great  prey. 


CHAP.  VI. 

Concerning  Balaam,  ilie  Prophet,  and  wJiat  kind  of  Man  lie  was. 

§  1.  Now  IMoses,  when  he  had  brought  his  army  to  Jordan,  pitched  his  camp  in 
the  great  plain  over  against  Jericho.  This  city  is  a  very  happy  situation,  and  very 
fit  for  producing  palm  trees  and  balsam.  And  now  the  Israelites  began  to  be  very 
proud  of  themselves,  and  were  very  eager  for  fighting.  Moses  then,  after  he  had 
offered  for  a  few  days  sacrifices  of  thanksgiving  to  God,  and  feasted  the  people, 
sent  a  party  of  armed  men  to  lay  v/aste  the  country  of  the  Midianites,  and  to  take 
their  cities.  Now  the  occasion  which  he  took  for  making  war  upon  them  was 
this  that  ibllows. 

2.  When  Balak,  the  king  of  the  Moabites,  who  had  from  his  ancestors  a  friend- 
ship and  league  with  the  Midianites,  saw  how  great  the  Israelites  were  grown, 
he  was  much  affrighted  on  account  of  liis  oiva  and  his  kingdom's  danger ;  for  he 
was  not  acquainted  with  this,  that  the  Hebrews  would  not  meddle  with  any  other 
country,*  but  were  to  be  contented  with  the  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan, 
God  having  forbidden  them  to  go  any  farther.  So  he,  with  more  haste  than  wis- 
dom,  resolved  to  make  an  attempt  upon  them  by  words ;  but  he  did  not  judge  it 
prudent  to  fight  against  them,  after  they  had  had  such  prosperous  successes,  and 
even  became  out  of  ill  successes  more  happy  than  before ;  but  he  thought  to  hin- 
der them,  if  he  could,  from  growing  greater,  and  so  he  resolved  to  send  ambas- 
sadors to  the  Midianites  about  them.  Now  these  IMidianites  knowing  there  was 
one  Balaam,  who  lived  by  Euphrates,  and  was  the  greatest  of  the  prophets  at  that 
time,  and  one  that  was  in  friendship  with  them,  sent  some  of  their  honourable 
princes  along  with  the  ambassadors  of  Balak,  to  entreat  the  prophet  to  come  to 
them,  that  he  miglit  imprecate  curses  to  the  destruction  of  the  Israelites.  So 
Balaam  received  the  ambassadors,  and  treated  them  very  kindly;  and  Avhcn  he 
had  supped,  he  inquired  what  vv'as  God's  will,  and  what  this  matter  was  for  whicli 
the  Midianites  entreated  him  to  come  to  them  ?  But  when  God  opposed  ins  going, 
he  came  to  the  ambassadors,  and  told  them,  that  he  was  himself  very  willing  and 
desirous  to  comply  with  their  request,  but  informed  them,  that  God  was  opposite 
to  his  intentions,  even  tliat  God  who  had  raised  him  to  great  reputation  on  account 
of  his  predictions ;  for  that  this  army,  which  tiiey  entreated  him  to  come  and 
curse,  was  in  the  favour  of  God  ;  on  which  account  he  advised  them  to  go  home 
again,  and  not  to  persist  in  their  enmity  against  the  Israelites  :  and  when  he  had 
given  them  that  answer,  he  dismissed  the  ambassadors. 

3.  Now  tlic  Midianites,  at  the  earnest  instances  and  fervent  entreaties  of  Ba- 
lak, sent  other  ambassadors  to  Balaam,  who  desiring  to  gratify  the  men,  inqmrcd 
again  of  God ;  but  lie  was  displeased  at  this  [second]  trial,!  antl  bid  him  by  no 

•  What  Josephus  here  remarks  is  well  worth  our  remark  in  this  place  also,  viz.  that  the  Israelites 
were  never  to  meddle  with  the  Moabites  or  Ammonites,  or  any  other  people  but  those  b^longmg  to  the 
land  of  Canaan  and  the  countries  of  Sihon  and  Og  beyond  Jordan,  as  far  as  the  desert  and  Euphrates  ; 
and  that,  therefore  no  other  people  had  reason  to  fear  the  conquests  of  tlie  Israelites  ;  but  that  those 
countries,  given  them  by  God,  were  their  proper  and  pecuhar  portion  among  the  nations  ;  and  that  ail 
who  endeavoured  to  dispossess  them  miglit  ever  be  justly  destroyed  by  them. 

t  Note,  that  Josephus  never  supposes  Balaam  to  be  an  idolator,  nor  to  seek,  idolatrous  encUantmpnt, 

VOL.  1  Q  .  . 


122 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV. 


means  to  contradict  the  ambassadors.  Now  Balaam  did  not  imagine  that  God 
cave  this  injunction  in  order  to  deceive  him,  so  he  went  along  with  the  ambassa- 
dors :  but  when  the  divine  angel  met  him  in  the  way,  when  he  was  in  a  narrow 
passage,  and  hedged  in  with  a  wall  on  both  sides,  the  ass  on  which  Balaam  rode 
understood  that  it  was  a  divine  spirit  that  met  him,  and  thrust  Balaam  to  one  of 
the  walls,  without  regard  to  the  stripes  which  Balaam,  when  he  was  hurt  by  the 
wall,  gave  her ;  but  when  the  ass,  upon  the  angel's  continuing  to  distress  her, 
and  upon  tho  stripes  which  were  given  her,  fell  down,  by  the  will  of  God  she  made 
use  of  the  voice  of  a  man,  and  complained  of  Balaam,  as  acting  unjustly  to  her; 
that  whereas  he  had  no  fault  to  find  with  her,  in  her  former  service  to  him,  he 
now  inflicted  stripes  upon  her,  as  not  understanding  that  she  was  hindered  from 
serving  him  ia  what  he  was  now  going  about,  by  the  providence  of  God.  And 
when  he  was  disturbed  by  reason  of  the  voice  of  the  ass,  which  was  that  of  a  man, 
the  angel  plainly  appeared  to  him,  and  blamed  him  for  the  stripes  he  had  given 
liis  ass  ;  and  informed  him,  that  the  brute  creature  was  not  in  fault,  but  that  he 
was  himself  come  to  obstruct  his  journey,  as  being  contrary  to  the  will  of  God. 
Upon  which  Balaam  was  afraid,  and  was  preparing  to  return  back  again,  yet  did 
God  excite  him  to  go  on  his  intended  way  ;  but  added  this  injunction,  that  he 
should  declare  nothing  but  what  he  himself  should  suggest  to  his  mind. 

4.  When  God  had  given  him  this  charge,  he  came  to  Balak  ;  and  when  the 
king  had  entertained  him  in  a  magnificent  manner,  he  desired  him  to  go  to  one 
of  the  mountains  to  take  a  view  of  the  state  of  the  camp  of  the  Hebrews.  Balak 
himself  also  came  to  the  mountain,  and  brought  the  prophet  along  with  him  with 
a  royal  attendance.  This  mountain  lay  over  their  heads,  and  was  distant  sixty 
furlongs  from  the  camp.  Now  when  he  saw  them,  he  desired  the  king  to 
build  him  seven  altars,  and  to  bring  him  as  many  bulls  and  rams ;  to  which 
desire  the  king  did  presently  conform.  He  then  slew  the  sacrifices,  and  offered 
them  as  burnt-offerings,  that  he  might  observe  some  signal  of  the  flight  of  the 
Hebrews.  Then  said  he, — "  Happy  is  this  people  on  whom  God  bestows  the 
possession  of  innumerable  good  things,  and  grants  them  his  own  providence  to 
he  their  assistant  and  their  guide  !  so  that  there  is  not  any  nation  among  man- 
kind but  you  will  be  esteemed  superior  to  them  in  virtue,  and  in  the  earnest  pro- 
secution  of  the  best  rules  of  life,  and  of  such  as  are  pure  from  wickedness,  and  will 
leave  those  rules  to  your  excellent  children,  and  this  out  of  the  regard  that  God 
bears  to  you,  and  the  provision  of  such  things  for  you  as  may  render  you  happier 
than  any  other  people  under  the  sun.  You  shall  retain  that  land  to  which  he  hath 
sent  you,  and  it  shall  be  ever  under  the  command  of  your  children  ;  and  both  all  the 
earth,  as  well  as  the  sea,  shall  be  filled  with  their  glory.  And  you  shall  be  suffi- 
ciently  numerous  to  supply  the  world  in  general,  and  every  region  of  it  in  par- 
ticular,  with  inhabitants  out  of  your  stock.  However,  O  blessed  army  !  wonder 
that  you  are  become  so  many  from  one  father !  And  truly,  the  land  of  Canaan 
can  now  hold  you,  as  being  yet  comparatively  few  ;  but  know  ye  that  the  whole 
world  is  proposed  to  be  your  place  of  habitation  for  ever.  The  multitude  of  your 
posterity  also  shall  live  as  well  in  the  islands,  as  on  the  continent ;  and  that  more 
in  number  than  are  the  stars  of  heaven.  And  when  you  are  become  so  many, 
God  will  not  relinquish  the  care  of  you,  but  will  afford  you  an  abundance  of  all 

or  to  prophecy  falsely,  but  to  be  no  other  than  an  ill  disposed  prophet  of  the  true  God  ;  and  intimates 
that  God's  answer  the  second  time,  permitting  him  to  go,  was  ironical,  and  on  design  tliat  he  should  be 
deceived  (which  sort  of  deception,  by  way  of  punishment  for  former  crimes,  Josephus  never  scruples  to 
admit,  as  ever  esteeming  such  wicked  men  justly  and  providentially  deceived.)  But  perhaps,  we  had 
better  keep  here  close  to  the  text,  which  says,  Numb.  xxiii.20,  21,  that  God  only  peru'itted  Balaam  to 
go  along  vHlh  the  ambassadors,  in  case  iheij  came  and  called  him,  or  positively  insisted  on  his  going  along 
^  I  T]^'  /";"■  '^"^  '^""^  ■  ^^•^'■"^^  Balaam  seems,  out  of  impatience,  to  have  risenvp  in  the  morning, 
and  saddled  fns  am,  and  rather  to  have  called  them,  than  staid  for  their  cnliing  him;  so  zealous  does  he 
saom  to  hav'e  been  for  his  revmrd  of  divination  ;  his  wages  ofitnrighiemtsness  ;  Numb.  xxii.  7,  17, 18,  37  ; 
2  I'ct.  II.  lo;  Jude,  11  ;  which  reward  or  wages  the  truly  religious  prophets  of  God  never  required  nor 
accepted,  as  our  Josephus  justly  takes  notice  in  the  cases  of  Samuel,  Antiq.  B.  v.  ch.  iv.  {1,  and  Daniel, 
AntKj.  b.  X.  ch.  XI.  ,3.    See  also  Gen.  xiv.  22,  23;  2  Kings,  v.  15,  16,  26,  27,  and  Acts,  viii.  17—24. 


(^  vr.  ANTiQirriEs  of  thf.  ji:ws. 


123 


good  things  in  times  of  peace,  with  victory  and  doiniiiion  in  times  of  war.  May 
the  children  of  your  enemies  have  an  inclination  to  fisrlit  against  vou,  and  may 
they  be  so  hardy  as  to  come  to  arms,  and  *.o  assault  you  in  battle !  For  they  will 
not  return  with  victory,  nor  will  their  return  be  agreeable  to  their  children  and 
wives.  To  so  great  a  degree  of  valour  will  you  be  raised  by  tlie  providence  of 
God,  who  is  ahle  to  diminish  the  affluence  of  some,  and  to  supj)ly  the  wants  of 
others." 

5.  Thus  did  Balaam  speak  by  inspiration,  as  not  being  in  liis  own  power,  but 
moved  to  say  what  he  did  by  the  divine  spirit.  But  v.  hen  Balak  was  displeased, 
and  said,  he  had  broken  the  contract  he  had  made,  vvhereby  he  was  to  coTne, 
as  he  and  his  confederates  had  invited  him,  by  the  promise  of  great  presents  ;  for 
whereas  he  came  to  curse  their  enemies,  he  had  made  an  encomium  upon  them, 
and  had  declared  that  they  were  the  happiest  of  men.  To  which  Balaam  repli- 
ed, "  O  Balak,  if  thou  rightly  considerest  this  wliole  matter,  canst  thou  suppose 
that  it  is  in  our  power  to  be  silent,  or  to  say  any  thing  when  tlie  Spirit  of  God 
seizes  upon  us  ?  for  he  puts  such  words  as  he  pleases  in  our  mouths,  and  such 
discourses  as  we  are  not  ourselves  conscious  of.  I  well  remember  by  v.hat  en- 
treaties both  you  and  the  Midianites  so  joyfully  brought  me  liither,  and  on  that 
account  I  took  tiiis  journey.  It  was  my  prayer,  that  I  might  not  put  any  affront 
on  you,  as  to  what  you  desired  of  me.  But  God  is  more  powerful  than  the  pur- 
poses I  had  made  to  see  you.  For  those  that  take  upon  them  to  foretell  the  af- 
fairs of  mankind,  as  from  their  own  abilities,  are  entirely  unable  to  do  it,  or  to 
forbear  to  utter  what  God  suggests  to  them,  or  to  ofier  violence  to  liis  will.  For 
when  he  prevents  us,  and  enters  into  us,  nothing  that  we  say  is  our  own.  I  then 
did  not  intend  to  praise  this  army,  nor  to  go  over  the  several  good  things  which 
God  intended  to  do  their  race.  But  since  he  was  so  favourable  to  them,  and  so 
ready  to  bestow  upon  them  a  happy  life  and  eternal  glory,  he  suggested  a  de- 
claration of  those  things  to  me.  But  now,  because  it  is  my  desire  to  oblige  thee 
thyself,  as  well  as  the  Midianites,  whose  entreaties  it  is  not  decent  for  me  to 
reject,  to  go  to  ;  let  us  again  rear  other  altars,  and  offer  the  like  sacrifices  that 
we  did  before;  that  I  may  see  whether  I  can  persuade  God  to  permit  me  to 
bind  these  men  with  curses."  Which,  when  Balak  had  agreed  to,  God  would 
not  even,  upon  second  sacrifices,  consent  to  his  cursing  the  Israelites.*  Then 
fell  Balaam  upon  his  face,  and  foretold  what  calamities  would  befall  the  several 
kings  of  the  nations,  and  the  most  eminent  cities,  some  of  which  of  old  were  not 
so  much  as  inhabited  ;  which  events  have  come  to  pass  among  the  several  people 
concerning  both  in  the  foregoing  ages  and  in  this,  till  my  own  memory,  both  by 
sea  and  by  land.  From  which  completion  of  all  these  predictions  that  he  made, 
one. may  easily  guess  that  the  rest  will  have  their  completion  in  time  to  come. 

6.  But  Balak  being  very  angry  that  the  Israelites  were  not  cursed,  sent  away 
Balaam,  without  thinking  him  worthy  of  any  honour.  Whereupon,  when  he  was 
justuponhis  journey,  in  order  to  pass  the  Euphrates,  he  sent  for  Balak  and  for 
the  princes  of  the  Midianites,  and  spake  thus  to  them  :  "  O  Balak,  and  you 
Midianites  that  are  here  present :  for  I  am  obliged,  even  without  the  will  of  God, 
to  gratify  you.  It  is  true,  no  entire  destruction  can  seize  upon  the  nation  ot  the 
Hebrews,  neither  by  war,  nor  by  plague,  nor  by  scarcity  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth  ; 
nor  can  any  other  unexpected  accident  be  their  entire  ruin  :  for  the  providence 
of  God  is  concerned  to  preserve  them  from  such  a  misfortune,  nor  \\  ill  it  permit 
any  such  calamity  to  come  upon  them,  whereby  they  may  all  perish.  But  some 
small  misfortunes,  and  those  for  a  short  time,"  whereby  they  may  appear  to  ba 
brought  low,  may  still  befall  them.  But  after  that  they  will  flourish  again,  to  the 
terror  of  those  that  brought  those  mischiefs  upon  them.  So  that  if  you  have  a  mmd 

*  WhGllier  Josephus  had  in  his  copy  but  two  attempts  of  Balaam  in  all  to  curse  Israel,  or  whether  by 
this  his  hmce  offering  sacrifice,  he  meant  iwicc  beside  that  first  time  already  mentioned,  which  yet  is  not 
very  probableVcannotnow  be  certainly  determined.     In  the  meantime  all  other  copies  have  three  such 
attempts  of  Balaam  to  curse  them  in  the  present  history. 
Q2 


J24  *  ANTIQUITIES  GF  THE  jT:WS.  B.  III. 

to  gain  a  victory  over  them  for  a  short  space  of  time,  yoa  will  obtain  it  by  follow. 
incTmy  directions.  Do  you  therefore  set  out  the  handsomest  of  such  of  your  daugh- 
ters* as  are  most  eminent  for  beauty,  and  proper  to  force  and  conquer  the  mo- 
desty of  those  that  behold  them,  and  these  decked  and  trimmed  to  tlie  highest 
deo-ree  you  are  able.  Then  do  you  send  them  to  be  near  the  Israelites'  camp, 
and  o-ive  them  in  charge,  that  v/hen  the  young  men  of  the  Hebrews  desire  their 
company,  they  allow  it  them.  And  when  they  see  that  they  are  enamoured  of 
ihem,  let  them  take  their  leaves  ;  and  if  they  entreat  them  to  stay,  let  them  not 
give  their  consent,  till  they  have  persuaded  them  to  leave  off  their  obedience  to 
their  own  laws,  and  the  worship  of  that  God  who  established  them,  and  to  wor- 
ship  the  gods  of  the  Midianites  and  Moabites  ;  for  by  this  means  God  will  be  an- 
gry  at  them."t  Accordingly,  when  Balaam  had  suggested  this  counsel  to  them, 
he  went  his  way. 

7.  So  when  the  Midianites  had  sent  their  daughters  as  Balaam  had  exhorted 
them,  the  Hebrew  young  men  vvere  allured  by  their  beauty,  and  came  to  dis- 
course with  them,  .and  besought  them  not  to  grudge  them  the  enjoyment  of  their 
beauty,  nor  to  deny  them  their  conversation.  These  daughters  of  the  Midianites 
received  their  words  gladly ;  and  consented  to  it,  and  stayed  with  them.  But 
when  they  had  brought  them  to  be  enamoured  of  them,  and  their  inclinations  to 
them  were  grown  to  ripeness,  they  began  to  think  of  departing  from  them.  Then 
it  was  that  these  men  became  greatly  disconsolate  at  the  women's  departure  ; 
and  they  were  urgent  with  them  not  to  leave  them  ;  but  begged  they  would  cori- 
tinue  there,  and  become  their  wives,  and  they  promised  them  they  should  be 
owned  as  mistresses  of  all  they  had.  This  they  said  with  an  oath,  and  called 
God  for  the  arbitrator  of  what  they  promised  ;  and  this  with  tears  in  their  eyes, 
and  all  other  such  marks  of  concern  as  might  show  how  miserable  they  thought 
themselves  without  them ;  and  so  might  move  their  compassion  for  them.  So 
the  women,  as  soon  as  they  perceived  they  had  made  them  their  slaves,  and  had 
caught  them  with  their  conversation,  began  to  speak  thus  to  them. 

8.  "  O  you  illustrious  young  men  !  v,c  have  houses  of  our  own  at  home,  and 
great  plenty  of  good  things  there,  together  v.ith  the  natural  affectionate  love  of 
our  parents  and  friends.  Nor  is  it  out  of  our  want  of  any  such  things  that  we 
come  to  discourse  with  jou ;  nor  did  we  admit  of  your  invitation  with  design  to 
prostitute  the  beauty  of  our  body  for  gain  ;  but  taking  you  for  brave  and  worthy 
men,  we  agreed  to  your  request,  that  we  might  treat  you  with  such  honours  as 
hospitality  required.  And  now  seeing  you  say  tliat  you  have  a  great  afiection 
for  us,  and  are  troubled  when  you  think  we  are  departing,  we  are  not  averse  to 
your  entreaties.  And  if  we  may  receive  such  assurance  of  your  good  will  as  we 
think  can  be  alone  sufficient,  we  will  be  glad  to  lead  our  lives  with  you,  as  your 
wives  ;  but  we  are  afraid  that  you  will  in  time  be  weary  of  our  company,  and  will 
then  abuse  us,  and  send  us  back  to  our  parents,  after  an  ignominious  manner." 
And  they  desired  that  they  would  excuse  them  in  their  guarding  against  that  dan- 
ger.  But  the  young  men  professed  they  would  give  them  any  assurance  they 
should  desire  ;  nor  did  they  at  all  contradict  what  they  requested,  so  great  was 
the  passion  they  had  for  them.  "  If  then,"  said  they,  "  this  be  your  resolution, 
since  you  make  use  of  such  customs:[:  and  conduct  of  life  as  are  entirely  diflerent 

*  Such  a  large  distinct  account  of  tliis  peiversion  of  the  Isiaeliles  by  the  Midianite  women,  of  wliich 
our  other  copies  gives  us  but  short  intimations,  Numb.  xxxi.  16;  2  Pet.  ii.  15  ;  Jud.  ver.  11.  Apoc.  ii 
14,  is  preserved,  as  Reland  informs  u.'S,  in  the  Samaritan  Chronicle,  in  Fliilo,  and  in  other  writings  of  the 
Jews,  as  well  as  here  by  Joseplius. 

f  This  grand  maxim,  that  God^s  people  of  Israel  could  never  be  hurt,  nor  destroyed,  hut  by  drawing 
them  to  ainagainst  God,  appears  to  be  true,  by  the  entire  history  of  that  people,  both  in  the  Bible  and  in 
Joseplius;  and  is  often  taken  notice  of  in  them  both.  See  in  particular  a  most  remarkable  Anmionite 
testimony  to  this  purpose,  Judith,  v.  5 — 21. 

I  What  Josephus  here  puts  into  the  mouths  of  these  Midianite  women,  who  came  to  entice  the  Israe- 
lites to  lewdness  and  idolatry,  viz.  that  their  worsliip  of  the  God  of  Israel,  in  opposition  to  their  idol 
gods,  implied  their  livii:*!  according  to  the  holy  laws  whicii  the  true  God  had  given  them  by  Moses  in 
opposition  to  those  impure  laws  which  were  observed  under  their  false  gods,  well  deserves  our  considera- 


C.  Vr.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  jEWS.  125 

from  all  other  men;  insomuch  that  your  kinds  of  food  are  peculiar  to  yourselves, 
and  your  kinds  of  drink  not  common  to  others,  it  will  be  absolutely  necessary,  if 
you  would  have  us  for  your  wives,  that  you  do  withal  worship  our  gods.  Nor  can 
there  be  any  other  demonstration  of  the  kindness  which  you  say  you  already 
have,  and  promise  to  have  hereafter  to  us,  than  this,  that  you  worship  the  same 
gods  that  we  do.  For  has  any  one  reason  to  complain,  that  now  you  arc  come 
into  this  country,  you  should  worship  the  proper  gods  of  the  same  country  ?  es- 
pecially  while  our  gods  are  common  to  all  men,  and  yours  such  as  belong  to  no- 
body else  but  yourselves."  So  tlicy  said  they  must  eitlier  come  into  such  me- 
thods of  divine  worship  as  all  others  came  into,  or  else  they  must  look  out  for 
another  world,  wherein  they  may  live  by  themselves,  according  to  their  own  laws. 

9.  Now  the  young  men  were  induced  by  the  fondness  they  had  for  these  wo- 
men,  to  think  they  spake  very  well.  So  they  gave  themselves  up  to  what  they 
persuaded  them,  and  transgressed  their  own  laws ;  and  supposing  there  were 
many  gods,  and  resolving  that  they  would  sacrifice  to  them  according  to  the  laws 
of  that  country  which  ordained  them,  they  botli  were  delighted  with  their  strange 
food,  and  went  on  to  do  every  thing  that  the  women  would  have  them  do,  though 
in  contradiction  to  their  own  laws.  So  far,  indeed,  that  this  transgression  w  as 
already  gone  through  the  whole  army  of  the  young  men;  and  they  fell  into  a 
sedition  that  v/as  much  worse  than  the  former,  and  into  danger  of  the  entire  abo- 
lition of  their  own  institutions.  For  when  once  the  youth  had  tasted  of  these 
strange  customs,  they  went  with  insatiable  inclinations  into  them ;  and  even 
where  some  of  the  principal  men  were  illustrious  on  account  of  the  virtues  of 
their  father's,  they  also  were  corrupted  together  with  the  rest. 

10.  Even  Zimri,  the  head  of  the  tribe  of  Simeon,  accompanied  with  Cosbi,  a 
Midianitish  woman,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Sur,  a  man  of  authority  in  that 
country ;  and  being  desired  by  his  wife  to  disregard  the  laws  of  Moses,  and  to 
follow  those  she  was  used  to,  he  complied  with  her;  and  this  both  by  sacrificing 
after  a  manner  difiercnt  from  his  own,  and  by  taking  a  stranger  to  wife.  "N^'hcn 
things  were  thus,  Moses  was  afraid  that  matters  should  grow  worse,  and  called 
the  people  to  a  congregation,  but  then  accused  nobody  by  name,  as  unwilling  to 
drive  those  into  despair  who,  by  lying  concealed,  might  come  to  repentance ; 
but  he  said,  that  "  They  did  not  do  what  was  either  worthy  of  themselves  or  of 
their  fathers,  by  preferring  pleasure  to  God,  and  to  the  living  according  to  his 
will ;  that  it  was  fit  they  should  change  their  courses  while  their  allairs  were 
still  in  a  good  state,  and  think  that  to  be  true  fortitude  which  offers  not  violence 
to  their  laws,  but  that  which  resists  their  lusts.  And  besides  that,  he  said,  it  was 
not  a  reasonable  thing,  when  they  had  lived  soberly  in  the  wilderness,  to  act 
madly  now  when  they  were  in  prosperity ;  and  that  they  ought  not  to  lose,  now 
they  have  abundance,  what  they  had  gained  when  they  had  little."  And  so  did 
he  endeavour,  by  saying  this,  to  correct  the  young  men,  and  to  bring  them  to 
repentance  for  vv'hat  they  had  done. 

11.  But  Zimri  arose  up  after  him,  and  said,  "  Yes,  indeed,  Moses,  thou  art  at 
liberty  to  make  use  of  such  laws  as  thou  art  so  fond  of;  and  hast  by  accustom- 
ing thyself  to  them,  made  them  firm.  Otherwise,  if  things  had  not  been  thus, 
thou  hadst  often  been  punished  before  now,  and  hadst  known  that  flic  Hebrews 
are  not  easily  put  upon.  But  thou  shalt  not  have  mo  one  of  thy  followers  in  thy 
tyrannical  commands ;  for  thou  dost  nothing  else  hitherto  but,  under  pretence 
of  laws  and  of  God,  wickedly  impose  on  us  slavery,  and  gain  dominion  to  thy- 
self; while  thou  deprivest  us  of  the  sweetness  of  life,  which  consists  in  acting 
according  to  our  own  wills,  and  is  the  right  of  freemen  and  of  those  that  have 

tion,   and  gives  us  a  substantial  reason  for  tiie  great  concern  that  was  ever  showed,  under  the  law  of 
^  Moses,  to  preserve  the  Israelites  from  idolatry,  and  in  the  worship  of  the  true  God  ;  it  being  of  no  less 
consequence  than,  wiiether  God's  people  should  be  governed  by  the  holy  laws  of  the  true  God,  or  by  the 
impure  laws  derived  from  demons,  under  the  pagan  idolatiy. 


126  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV. 

no  lord  over  them.  Nay,  indeed,  this  man  is  harder  upon  the  Hebrews  than 
were  the  Egyptians  themselves  ;  as  pretending  to  punish  according  to  his  laws 
every  one's  acting  what  is  most  agreeable  to  himself.  But  thou  thyself  better 
deservest  to  suffer  punishment,  who  presumest  to  abolish  what  every  one  ac- 
knowledges to  be  M^hat  is  good  for  him :  and  aimest  to  make  thy  single  opinion 
to  have  more  force  than  that  of  all  the  rest :  and  what  I  now  do,  and  think  to  be 
right,  I  shall  not  hereafter  deny  to  be  according  to  my  own  sentiments.  I  have 
married,  as  thou  sayst  rightly,  a  strange  woman ;  and  thou  hearest  what  I  do 
from  myself,  as  from  one  that  is  free  ;  for  truly  I  did  not  intend  to  conceal  my- 
self. I  also  own  that  I  sacrifice  to  those  gods  to  whom  you  do  not  think  it  fit  to 
sacrifice,  and  I  think  it  right  to  come  at  truth  by  inquiring  of  many  people,  and 
not,  like  one  that  lives  under  tj^ranny,  to  suffer  the  whole  hope  of  my  life  to  de- 
pend upon  one  man.  Nor  shall  any  one  find  cause  to  rejoice  who  declares 
himself  to  have  more  authority  over  my  actions  than  myself." 

12.  Now  when  Zimri  had  said  these  things,  about  what  he  and  some  others 
had  wickedly  done,  the  people  held  their  peace ;  both  out  of  fear  of  what  might 
come  upon  them,  and  because  they  saw  that  their  legislator  was  not  willing  to 
bring  his  insolence  before  the  public  any  farther,  or  openlj^  to  contend  with  him  ; 
for  he  avoided  that,  lest  many  should  imitate  the  impudence  of  his  language,  and 
thereby  disturb  the  multitude.  Upon  this  the  assembly  was  dissolved.  How- 
ever, the  mischievous  attempt  had  proceeded  farther,  if  Zimri  had  not  been  first 
slain  ;  Mhich  came  to  pass  on  the  following  occasion  :  Phineas,  a  man  in  other 
respects  better  than  the  rest  of  the  young  men,  and  also  one  that  surpassed  his 
contemporaries  in  the  dignity  of  his  father  (for  he  was  the  son  of  Eleazar  the 
high-priest,  and  the  grandson  of  [Aaron]  Moses's  brother,)  who  was  greatly 
troubled  at  what  was  done  by  Zimri,  he  resolved  in  earnest  to  inflict  punisliment 
on  him  before  his  unworthy  behaviour  should  grow  stronger  by  impunity,  and  in 
order  to  prevent  this  transgression  from  proceeding  farther,  which  would  happen 
if  the  ringleaders  were  not  punished.  He  was  of  so  great  magnanimity  both  in 
strength  of  mind  and  body,  that  when  he  undertook  any  very  dangerous  attempt 
he  did  not  leave  it  off  till  he  overcame  it,  and  got  an  entire  victory.  So  he  came 
into  Zimri's  tent,  and  slew  him  with  his  javelin,  and  Avith  it  he  slew  Cosbi  also. 
Upon  which  all  those  young  men  that  had  a  regai'd  to  virtue,  and  aimed  to  do  a 
glorious  action,  imitated  Phincas's  boldness,  and  slev,'  those  that  were  found  to 
be  guilty  of  the  same  crime  A\ith  Zimri.  Accordingly  many  of  those  that  had 
transgressed  perished  by  the  magnanimous  valour  of  these  young  men.  The 
rest  all  perished  by  a  plague,  which  distemper  God  himself  inflicted  upon  them. 
So  that  all  those  their  kindred,  who  instead  of  hindering  them  from  such  Avicked 
actions,  as  they  ought  to  have  done,  had  persuaded  them  to  go  on,  were  esteemed 
by  God  as  partners  in  their  wickedness,  and  died.  Accordingly  there  perished 
out  of  the  army,  no  fev.er  than  fourteen  [twenty-four]  thousand*  at  this  time. 

13.  This  was  the  cause  why  Moses  was  provoked  to  send  an  army  to  destroy 
the  Midianites,  concerning  which  expedition  we  shall  speak  presently,  when  v,  e 
have  first  related  what  we  have  omitted.  For  it  is  but  just  not  to  pass  over  our 
legislator's  due  encomium,  on  account  of  his  conduct  here ;  because,  although 
this  Balaam,  who  was  sent  for  by  the  Midianites  to  curse  the  Hebrews,  and  when 
he  was  liindered  fiom  doing  it  by  divine  providence,  did  still  suggest  that  advice 
to  them,  by  making  use  of  which  our  enemies  had  well  nigh  corrupted  the  whole 
multitude  of  the  Hebrews  Avith  their  wiles,  till  some  of  them  Avere  deeply  infect- 
ed Avith  their  opinions  ;  yet  did  he  do  him  great  honour  by  setting  down  his  prophe- 
cies in  Avriting.  And  Avhile  it  Avas  in  his  power  to  claim  this  glory  to  himself,  and 
make  men  believe  they  Avere  his  oAvn  predictions,  there  being  no  one  that  could 

•  The  mistake  in  all  Josephus's  copies,  Greek  and  Latin,  which  have  here  14,000,  instead  of  24,000 
is  so  flagrant  that  our  very  learned  editors,  Bernard  and  Hudson,  have  put  the  latter  number  directly 
iiito  the  text.     1  choose  rather  to  put  it  in  brackets. 


C.  VII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  127 

be  a  witness  against  him,  and  accuse  him  for  so  doing,  he  still  gave  his  attesta- 
tion to  him,  and  did  him  the  honour  to  make  mention  ot"  him  on  this  account.  liut 
let  every  one  think  of  these  matters  as  he  pleases. 


CHAP.   VII. 

How  the  Hehrei^s  fought  with  the  Midianites,  and  overcame  tJiem. 

§  1.  Now  Moses  sent  an  army  against  the  land  of  Midian,  for  the  causes  foremen- 
tioned  ;  in  all  tv/elve  thousand,  taking  an  equal  number  out  of  every  tribe,  and 
a[)[)ointed  Phincas  for  their  commander.  Of  which  Phineas  we  made. mention  a 
Ultle  before,  as  he  that  had  guarded  the  laws  of  the  Hebrews,  and  had  indicted 
punishment  upon  Zimri,  when  he  had  ti'ansgressed  them.  Now  the  Midianites 
perceived  beforehand  how  the  Hebrews  were  coming,  and  would  suddenly  be 
upon  them.  So  they  assembled  their  army  together,  and  fortified  the  entrances 
into  their  country,  and  there  awaited  the  enemy's  coming.  When  tiiey  were 
come,  and  they  had  joined  battle  v  ith  them,  an  immense  multitude  of  the  Midianites 
fell ;  nor  could  they  be  numbered,  they  were  so  very  many.  And  among  them 
fell  all  their  kings,  five  in  number,  Evi,  and  Zur,  and  Reba,  and  Hur,  and  Rekem, 
who  was  of  the  same  name  with  a  city,  the  chief  and  capital  of  all  Arabia,  which 
is  till  now  so  called  by  the  whole  Arabian  nation,  Arecem,  from  the  name  of  the 
king  that  built  it,  but  is,  by  the  Greeks,  called  Pctra.  Now  when  the  enemies 
were  discomfited,  the  IIel)rews  spoiled  their  country,  and  took  a  great  prey,  and 
destroyed  the  men  that  were  its  inhabitants,  together  with  the  women  ;  only  they 
let  the  virgins  alone,  as  Moses  had  commanded  Phineas  to  do;  who,  indeed, 
came  back,  bringing  with  him  an  army  that  had  received  no  harm,  and  a  great 
deal  of  prey.  Fifty-two  thousand  beeves,  seventy-five  thousand  six  hundred 
sheep,  sixty  thousand  asses,  with  an  immense  quantity  of  gold  and  silver  furni- 
ture, which  the  Midianites  made  use  of  in  their  houses;  for  they  were  so  weal- 
thy that  they  were  very  luxurious.  There  were  also  led  captive  about  thirty-two 
thousand  virgins*.  So  Moses  parted  the  prey  into  parts,  and  gave  one  fiftieth 
part  to  Eleazar  and  the  two  priests,  and  another  fiftieth  part  to  the  Levites ;  and 
distributed  the  rest  of  the  prey  among  the  people.  After  which  they  lived  hap- 
pily, as  having  obtained  an  abundance  of  good  things  by  their  valour;  and  there 
being  no  misfortune  that  attended  them,  or  hindered  their  enjoyment  of  that  hap- 
piness. 

2.  But  IMoses  was  now  grown  old,  and  appointed  Joshua  for  his  successor, 
both  to  receive  directions  from  God  as  a  prophet,  and  for  a  commander  of  the 
army,  if  they  should  at  any  time  stand  in  need  of  such  a  one  ;  and  this  was  done 
by  the  command  of  God,  that  to  him  the  care  oftjie  public  should  be  committed. 

*  The  slaus^hterof  all  the  Midianite  won-en  that  had  prostituted  themfelves  to  the  lewd  Israelites,  and 
the  pieservalioii  of  those  that  had  not  been  guilty  therein,  tlie  last  of"  whicli  were  no  fewer  than  32,000, 
both  liere  and  iVum.  xxxvi.  15,  ItJ,  17,  35,  40,  4(],  and  botii  by  the  particular  c.orninand  of  God,  are  highly 
remarkable,  and  show,  that  even  in  nations  otherwise  for  ilieir  wickechiess  doomed  to  destruction,  tine 
innocent  were  sometimes  particularly  and  providently  taken  care  of,  and  delivered  iVoni  that  deslnc- 
tion.  W'hicli  directly  implies,  that  it  was  the  wickedness  of  the  nations  of  Canaan,  and  nothing  else, 
that  occasioned  their  excision.  See  Gen.  xv.  1(5 ;  1  .Sam.  xv.  18,  33  ;  Constitut.  Jlporl.  B.  viii.  c.  12,  p. 
402.  In  tiie  first  of  which  jilaces  the  reason  of  the  delay  of  the  punishment  of  the  Aniorites  is  given, 
Because  their  iniqmty  v;as  not  yet  full.  In  the  second.  Said  is  ordered  lo^o  and  destroy  the  sinners, 
the  Anialckites ;  plainly  iniplyiiig,  that  they  were  therefore  to  be  destroyed  because  they  were  sinners, 
and  not  otherwise.  In  the  third,  the  reason  is  given,  why  King  Agag  was  not  to  be  spared,  viz.  because 
of  his  former  cruelty  :  As  thy  sword  hath  made  [the  Hebrew]  women  childless,  so  Jiall  thy  mother  lie 
made  childless  among  women  by  the  Hebrews,  in  the  last  place,  the  apostles,  or  their  amanuensis,  Cle- 
Jiient,  gives  this  reason  for  the  necessity  of  the  coming  of  Christ,  that  Mai  hud  formerly  perverted  both 
the  positive  law  and  that  of  nature,  and  had  cast  out  of  their  mind  the  memory  of  the  flood,  the  biirnitig: 
of  Sodom,  the  plagues  of  the  Egyptian's,  and  the  slaughter  of  the  inhabitants  of  Palestine,  as  signs  of  the 
most  amazing  impcniience  and  iiisensibliJty  under  the  punishments  of  horrid  wickedness. 


228  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV. 

Now  Joshua  had  been  instructed  in  all  those  kinds  of  learning  which  concerned 
the  laws  and  God  himself,  and  Moses  had  been  his  instructor. 

3.  At  this  time  it  was  that  the  two  tribes  of  Gad  and  Reubel,  and  the  half 
tribe  of  Manasseh,  abounded  in  a  multitude  of  cattle,  as  well  as  in  all  other  kinds 
of  prosperity ;  whence  they  had  a  meeting,  and  in  a  body  came  and  besought 
Moses  to  give  them,  as  their  peculiar  portion,  that  land  of  the  Amorites  which 
they  had  taken  by  right  of  war,  because  it  was  fruitful,  and  good  for  feeding  of 
cattle.  But  Moses,  supposing  that  they  were  afraid  of  fighting  with  the  Canaan^ 
ites,  and  invented  this  provision  for  their  cattle  a  handsome  excuse  for  avoiding 
that  war,  he  called  them  arrant  cowards,  and  said,  "  They  had  only  contrived  a 
decent  excuse  for  that  cowardice,  and  that  they  had  a  mind  to  live  in  luxury  and 
ease,  while  all  the  rest  were  labouring  with  great  pains  to  obtain  the  land  they 
were  desirous  to  have,  and  that  they  were  not  willing  to  march  along,  and  un* 
dergo  the  remaining  hard  service,  whereby  they  were  under  the  Divine  promise, 
to  pass  over  Jordan,  and  overcome  those  our  enemies  which  God  had  showed 
them,  and  so  obtain  their  land."  But  these  tribes,  when  they  saw  that  Moses 
was  angry  with  them,  and  when  they  could  not  deny  but  he  had  a  just  cause  to 
be  displeased  at  their  petition,  made  an  apology  for  themselves,  and  said,  "  that 
it  was  not  on  account  of  their  fear  of  dangers,  nor  on  account  of  their  laziness, 
that  they  made  this  request  to  him,  but  that  they  might  leave  the  prey  they  had 
gotten  in  places  of  safety,  and  thereby  might  be  more  expedite,  and  ready  to  un> 
dergo  difficulties  and  to  fight  battles."  They  added  this  also,  that,  "  when  they 
had  built  cities  wherein  they  might  preserve  their  children,  and  wives,  and  pos- 
sessions, if  he  would  bestow  them  upon  them,  they  would  go  along  with  the  rest 
of  their  army."  Hereupon  Moses  was  pleased  with  what  they  said.  So  he 
called  for  Eleazar  the  high  pi'iest,  and  Joshua,  and  the  chief  of  the  tribes,  and 
permitted  these  tribes  to  possess  the  land  of  the  Amorites  ;  but  upon  this  con- 
dition, that  they  should  join  with  their  kinsmen  in  the  v.ar  until  all  things  were 
settled.  Upon  which  condition  they  took  possession  of  the  country,  and  built 
them  strong  cities,  and  put  into  them  their  children,  and  their  wives,  and  what- 
soever else  they  had  that  might  be  an  impediment  to  the  labours  of  their  future 
marches. 

4.  Moses  also  now  built  those  ten  cities  which  were  to  be  of  the  number  of 
the  forty-eight  [for  the  Levitcs  ;]  three  of  which  he  allotted  to  those  that  slew 
any  person  involuntarily,  and  fied  to  them ;  and  he  assigned  the  same  time  for 
their  banishment  a\  ith  that  of  the  lilb  of  that  high  priest  under  whom  the  slaugh- 
ter and  flight  happened,  after  v.  hich  death  of  the  high  priest  he  permitted  the 
slayer  lO  return  home.  During  the  time  of  his  exile,  the  relations  of  him  that 
was  slain,  may  by  this  law  kill  the  manslayer,  if  they  caught  him  without  the 
bounds  of  the  city  to  which  he  fled,  though  this  permission  was  not  granted  to 
any  other  person.  Now  the  cities  m  hich  were  set  apart  for  this  flight  were  these  : 
Bezer,  at  the  borders  of  Arabia;  Ramoth,  of  the  land  of  Gilead  ;  and  Golan,  in 
the  land  of  Bashan.  There  were  to  be  also,  by  Moses's  command,  three  other 
cities  allotted  for  the  habitation  of  these  fughives  out  of  the  cities  of  the  Levites, 
but  not  till  after  they  should  be  in  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan. 

5.  At  this  time  the  chief  men  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh  came  to  Moses,  and  in- 
formed him,  that  there  was  an  eminent  man  of  their  tribe  dead,  whose  name  was 
Zelophehad,  who  Icfl;  no  male  children,  but  left  daughtei-s  :  and  asked  him,  Whe^ 
tlier  these  daughters  might  inherit  his  land  or  not  ?  He  made  this  answer.  That 
if  they  shall  marry  into  their  o^vn  tribe,  they  shall  carry  their  estate  along  with 
tliem  ;  but  if  they  dispose  of  tliemeelves  in  marriage  to  men  of  another  tribe,  they 
shall  leave  their  inheritance  in  their  father's  tribe.  And  then  it  was  that  Moses 
ordained,  that  every  one's  inheritence  should  continue  in  his  own  tribe. 


C.  vm.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  129 

CHAP.  VIII. 

Tlie  Polity  settled  by  Moses ;  and  how  lie  disappeared  from  among  Mankind. 

§  1.  Wiie:^  forty  years  were  completed,  within  thirty  days,  Moses  gathered  the 
congregation  together  near  Jordan,  where  the  city  Abila  now  stands,  a  place 
full  of  palm-trees.  And  all  the  people  being  come  together,  he  spake  thus  to 
them  : 

2.  "  O  you  Israelites  and  fellow  soldiers  !  who  have  been  partners  with  me 
in  this  long  and  uneasy  journey,  since  it  is  now  the  will  of  God,  and  the  course 
of  old  age,  at  a  hundred  and  twenty,  requires  it  that  I  should  depart  out  of  this 
life  ;  and  since  God  has  forbidden  me  to  be  a  patron  or  an  assistant  to  you  in 
what  remains  to  be  done  beyond  Jordan,  I  thought  it  reasonable  not  to  leave  off 
my  endeavours  even  now  for  your  happiness,  but  to  do  my  utmost  to  procure  for 
you  the  eternal  enjoyment  of  good  things,  and  a  memorial  for  myself  when  you 
shall  be  in  the  fruition  of  great  plenty  and  prosperity.  Come,  therefore,  let  me 
suggest  to  you  by  what  means  you  may  be  happy,  and  may  leave  an  eternal  pros- 
perous possession  thereof  to  your  children  after  you,  and  then  let  me  thus  go  out 
of  the  world  ;  and  I  cannot  but  deserve  to  be  believed  by  you,  both  on  account 
of  the  great  things  I  have  already  done  for  you,  and  because,  when  souls  are 
about  to  leave  the  body,  they  speak  with  the  sincerest  freedom.  O  children  of 
Israel !  there  is  hit  one  source  of  happiness  for  all  mankind,  the  favour  of  god*; 
for  he  alone  is  able  to  give  good  things  to  those  that  deserve  them,  and  to  de- 
prive  those  of  them  that  sin  against  him  ;  towards  whom,  if  you  behave  your- 
selves according  to  his  will,  and  according  to  what  I,  who  well  understand  his 
mind,  do  exhort  you  to,  you  will  both  be  esteemed  blessed,  and  will  be  admired 
by  all  men,  and  will  never  come  into  misfortunes,  nor  cease  to  be  happy  ;  you 
will  then  preserve  the  possession  of  the  good  things  you  already  have,  and  will 
quickly  obtain  those  that  you  at  present  are  in  want  of,  only  do  you  be  obedient 
to  those  Avhom  God  would  have  you  to  follow.  Nor  do  you  prefer  any  other 
constitution  of  government  before  the  laws  now  given  you  ;  neither  do  you  dis- 
regard that  way  of  divine  worship  which  you  now  have,  nor  change  it  for  any 
other  form ;  and  if  you  do  this,  you  will  be  the  most  courageous  of  all  men  in 
undergoinji  the  fatigues  of  war,  and  will  not  be  easily  conquered  by  any  of  your 
enemies  ;  for  while  God  is  present  with  you  to  assist  you,  it  is  to  bo  expected  that 
you  will  be  able  to  despise  the  opposition  of  all  mankind  ;  and  great  rewards  of 
virtue  are  proposed  for  you,  if  you  preserve  that  virtue  through  your  whole  lives. 
Virtue  itself  is  indeed  the  principal  and  the  first  reward,  and  after  that  it  bestows 
abundance  of  others ;  so  that  your  exercise  of  virtue  towards  other  men  will 
make  your  own  lives  happy,  and  render  you  more  glorious  than  foreigners  can 
be,  and  procure  you  an  undisputed  reputation  with  posterity.  These  blessings 
you  will  be  able  to  obtain,  in  case  you  hearken  to  and  observe  those  laws  which, 
by  divine  revelation,  I  have  ordained  for  you;  that  is,  in  case  you  withal  medi- 
tate upon  the  wisdom  that  is  in  them.  I  am  going  from  you  myself,  rejoicmgm 
the  good  things  you  enjoy ;  and  I  recommend  you  to  the  wise  conduct  ot  your 
law,  to  the  becoming  order  of  your  polity,  and  to  the  virtues  of  your  commanders, 
who  will  take  care  of  what  is 'for  your  advantage.  And  that  God  who  has  been 
till  novv  your  leader,  and  by  whose  good  will  I  have  myself  been  useful  to  you, 
will  not  put  a  period  now  to  his  providence  over  you  ;  but  as  long  as  you  desire  to 
have  him  your  protector  in  your  pursuits  after  virtue,  so  long  will  you  enjoy  his 
care  over  you.     Your  high  priest  also,  Eleazar,  as  well  as  Joshua,  with  the  sen- 

»  Josephus  here,  in  this  one  sentence,  sums  up  his  notion  of  Moses's  very  long  and  very  serious  ex- 
hortations in  the  book  of  Deuteronomy  ;  and  his  words  are  so  true  and  of  such  importance  tliat  they  de- 
serve  to  be  had  in  constant  rcmembraiice  both  by  Jews  and  Christians;  "  O  children  of  Israel  .  there  U 
but  one  source  of  happiness  for  all  mankind,  the  favour  of  Cod, 

VOL.  I.  R 


J  30  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS,  B.  IV. 

ate,  and  chief  of  your  tribes,  will  go  before  you,  and  suggest  the  best  advices  to 
)-ou;  by  folloAving  which  advices,  you  will  continue  to  be  happy;  to  whom  do 
vou  give  ear  without  reluctance,  as  sensible  that  all  such  as  know  well  how  to  be 
governed  will  also  know  how  to  govern,  if  they  be  promoted  to  that  authority 
themselves.  And  do  not  you  esteem  liberty  to  consist  in  opposing  such  direc- 
tions  as  your  governors  think  fit  to  give  you  for  your  practice,  as  at  present 
indeed  you  place  your  liberty  in  nothing  else  but  abusing  your  benefactors ; 
which  error,  if  you  can  avoid  for  the  time  to  come,  your  affairs  will  be  in  a  bet- 
ter condition  than  they  have  hitherto  been?  Nor  do  you  ever  indulge  such  a 
det^ree  of  passion  in  these  matters  as  you  have  oftentimes  done  when  you  have 
been  very  angry  at  me ;  for  you  know  that  I  have  been  oftener  in  danger  of 
death  from  you  than  from  our  enemies.  What  I  now  put  you  in  mind  of  is  not 
done  in  order  to  reproach  you ;  for  I  do  not  think  it  proper,  now  I  am  going  out 
of  the  world,  to  bring  this  to  your  remembrance,  in  order  to  leave  you  offended 
at  me,  since  at  the  time  when  I  underwent  those  hardships  from  you,  I  was  not 
auf^ry  at  you ;  but  I  do  it  in  order  to  make  you  wise  hereafter,  and  to  teach  you 
that  this  will  be  for  your  security  ;  I  mean,  that  you  never  be  injurious  to  those 
that  preside  over  you,  even  when  you  are  become  rich,  as  you  will  be  to  a  great 
deo-ree  when  vou  have  passed  over  Jordan  and  are  in  possession  of  the  land  of 
Canaan.  Since,  when  you  shall  have  once  proceeded  so  far  by  your  wealth  as 
to  a  contempt  and  disregard  of  virtue,  you  will  also  forfeit  the  favour  of  God ; 
and  when  you  have  made  him  your  enemy,  you  will  be  beaten  in  war,  and  will 
have  the  land  which  you  possess  taken  away  again  from  you  by  your  enemies, 
and  this  with  great  reproaches  upon  your  conduct.  YoU  will  be  scattered  over 
the  whole  world,  and  will  as  slaves  entirely  fill  both  sea  and  land ;  and  when 
once  you  have  had  the  experience  of  what  I  now  say,  you  will  repent,  and  re- 
member  the  laws  you  have  broken,  Avhen  it  is  too  late.  Whence  I  would 
advise  you,  if  you  intend  to  preserve  these  laws,  to  leave  none  of  your  ene- 
mies alive  when  you  have  conquered  them,  but  to  look  upon  it  as  for  your 
advantage  to  destroy  them  all ;  lest,  if  you  permit  them  to  live,  you  taste  of  their 
manners,  and  thereby  corrupt  your  own  proper  institutions.  I  also  do  farther 
exhort  you,  to  overthrow  their  altars,  and  their  groves,  and  whatsoever  temples 
they  have  among  them,  and  to  burn  ail  such  their  nation,  and  their  very  memory 
with  fire ;  for  by  this  means  alone  the  safety  of  your  own  happy  constitution  can 
be  firmly  secured  to  you.  And,  in  order  to  prevent  your  ignorance  of  virtue  and 
the  degeneracy  of  your  nature  into  vice,  I  have  also  ordained  you  laws,  by  divine 
suggestion,  and  a  form  of  government,  which  are  so  good  that,  if  you  regularly 
observe  them,  you  will  be  esteemed  of  all  men  the  most  happy." 

3.  When  he  had  spoken  thus,  he  gave  them  the  laws  and  the  constitution  of 
government  written  in  a  book.  Upon  which  the  people  fell  into  tears,  and  ap- 
peared already  touched  with  the  sense  that  they  should  have  a  great  want  of  their 
conductor,  because  they  remembered  what  a  number  of  dangers  he  had  passed 
through,  and  what  care  he  had  taken  of  their  preservation  ;  they  desponded  about 
^\ll:lt  would  come  upon  them  after  he  was  dead,  and  thought  they  should  never 
have  another  governor  like  him ;  and  feared  that  God  would  then  take  less  care 
of  them  when  Moses  was  gone,  who  used  to  intercede  for  them.  They  also  re- 
pented of  what  they  had  said  to  him  in  the  wilderness  when  they  Avere  angry, 
and  were  in  grief  on  those  accounts,  insomuch  that  the  whole  body  of  the  people 
fell  into  tears  with  such  bitterness  that  it  was  past  the  power  of  words  to  comfort 
them  in  their  affliction.  However,  Moses  gave  them  some  consolation,  and  by 
calling  them  off  the  thought  how  worthy  he  was  of  their  weeping  for  him,  he 
exhorted  them  to  keep  to  that  form  of  government  he  had  given  them ;  and  then 
the  congregation  was  dissolved  at  that  time. 

4.  Accordingly  I  shall  now  first  describe  this  form  of  government,  which  was 
agreeable  to  the  dignity  and  virtue  of  Moses ;  and  shall  thereby  inform  those 
that  read  '  hose  Antiquities  what  our  original  settlements  were,  and  shall  then 


C.  VIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


131 


proceed  to  the  remaining  liistories.  Now  those  settlements  are  all  still  in  wri- 
ting,  as  he  left  them ;  and  we  shall  add  nothing  by  way  of  ornament,  nor  any 
thing  besides  what  Moses  left  us,  only  we  shall  so  tar  innovate  as  to  digest  the 
several  kinds  of  laws  into  a  regular  system  ;  tor  they  were  by  him  left  in  writino- 
as  they  were  accidentally  scattered  in  their  delivery,  and  as  he  upon  inquiry 
had  learned  them  of  God.  On  which  account  I  have  thouglit  it  necessary  to 
premise  this  observation  beforehand,  lest  any  of  my  own  countrymen  should 
blame  me,  as  having  been  guilty  of  an  offence  herein.  Now  i)art  of  our  con- 
stitution  will  include  the  laws  that  belong  to  our  political  state.  As  for  those 
laws  which  Moses  left  concerning  our  common  conversation  and  intercourse  one 
with  another,  I  have  reserved  that  for  a  discourse  concerning  our  manner  of  life, 
and  the  occasions  of  those  laws  ;  which  I  propose  to  myself,  Anth  God's  assis- 
tance,  to  write,  after  I  have  finished  the  work  I  am  now  upon. 

5.  When  you  have  possessed  yourselves  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  have  lei- 
sure  to  enjoy  the  good  things  of  it,  and  when  you  have  afterwards  determined  to 
build  cities,  if  you  will  do  what  is  pleasing  to  God,  you  will  have  a  secure  state 
of  happiness.  Let  there  be  then  one  city  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  this  situate 
in  the  most  agreeable  place  for  its  goodness,  and  very  eminent  in  itself,  and  let 
it  be  that  which  God  shall  choose  for  himself  by  prophetic  revelation.  Let  there 
also  be  one  temple  therein,  and  one  altar,  not  reared  of  hewn  stones,  but  of  such 
as  you  gather  together  at  random  ;  which  stones,  when  they  are  whited  over  v.'itU 
mortar,  will  have  a  handsome  appearance,  and  be  beautiful  to  the  sight.  Let 
the  ascent  to  it  be  not  by  steps,*  but  by  an  acclivity  of  raiiied  earth.  And  let 
there  be  neither  an  altar  nor  a  temple  in  an)^  other  city  ;  for  God  is  but  one,  and 
the  nation  of  the  Hebrews  is  but  one. 

6.  He  that  blasphemeth  God,  let  him  be  stoned  ;  and  let  him  hang  upon  a  tree 
all  that  day,  and  then  let  him  be  buried  in  an  ignominious  and  obscure  manner. 

7.  Let  those  that  live  as  remote  as  the  bounds  of  the  land  which  the  Hebrews 
shall  possess,  come  to  that  city  where  the  temple  shall  he,  and  this  three  times 
in  a  year,  that  they  may  give  thanks  to  God  for  his  former  benefits,  and  may  en- 
treat him  for  those  they  shall  want  hereafter,-  and  let  them  by  this  means  main- 
tain  a  friendly  correspondence  with  one  another  by  such  meetings  and  feastings 
together  ;  for  it  is  a  good  thing  for  those  that  are  of  the  same  stock,  and  under 
the  same  institutions  of  laws,  not  to  be  unacquainted  with  each  other ;  which 
acquaintance  will  be  maintained  by  thus  conversing  together,  and  by  seeing  and 
talking  with  one  another,  and  so  renewing  the  memorials  of  this  union  ;  for  if 
they  do  not  thus  converse  together  continually,  they  will  appear  like  mere  strau. 
gers  to  one  another. 

8.  Let  there  be  taken  out  of  your  fruits  a  tenth,  besides  that  which  you  have 
allotted  to  give  to  the  priests  and  Levites.  This  you  may  indeed  sell  in  the 
country,  but  it  is  to  be  used  in  those  feasts  and  sacrifices  that  are  to  be  celebrated 
in  the  holy  city  ;  for  it  is  fit  that  you  Should  enjoy  those  fruits  of  the  earth  which 
God  gives  you  to  possess,  so  as  may  be  to  the  honour  of  the  donor. 

9.  You  are  not  to  offer  sacrifices  out  of  the  hire  of  a  woman  which  is  a  har- 
lot ;f  for  the  Deity  is  not  pleased  with  any  thing  that  arises  from  such  abuses  of 
nature  ;  of  which  sort  none  can  be  worse  than  this  prostitution  of  the  body.     In 

*  This  law,  both  here  and  Exorl.  xx.  25,  26,  of  not  goinj;  up  to  God's  altar  hy  ladder  steps,  but  on  an 
have  -        .       .         ,.        .  .        .  .. 

hat  I 

„.„...  any  „_ - -  o  ■  .  - 

which  it  is  here  applied  by  Josephus,  as  well  as  to  tiiat  in  Zorobabel's  and  Herod's  tenijile,  which  weie,  I 
tliink,  all  ten  cubits  high.  See  2  Chron.  iv.  1.  and  Aiitiq.  K.  viii.  ch.  iii.  sect.  7.  The  reason  why  these 
temples,  and  those  only,  were  to  have  this  ascent  on  an  acclivity,  and  not  by  steps,  is  obvious,  that  belore 
the  invention  of  stairs,  such  as  we  now  use,  decency  could  not  be  otherwise  ^irovided  for  in  the  lootc  gar- 
ments which  the  priests  wore,  as  the  law  required.     See  Laiuyoftho  Tabernacle  and  leniple,  p.  444. 

t  The  hire  of  public  or  secret  harlots  was  given  to  Venus  in  .Syria,  as  Luciaii  informs  us,  p.  878,  and 
against  some  such  vile  practice  of  the  old  idolaters  this  law  seems  to  have  been  made. 

R2 


232  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV. 

like  manner  no  one  may  take  the  price  of  the  covering  of  a  bitch,  either  of  one 
that  is  used  in  hunting  or  in  keeping  of  sheep,  and  then  sacrifice  to  God. 

10.  Let  no  one  blaspheme*  those  gods  which  other  cities  esteem  such  ;  nor 
may  any  one  steal  what  belongs  to  strange  temples,  nor  take  away  the  gifts  that 
are  dedicated  to  any  god. 

11.  Let  not  any  one  of  you  wear  a  garment  made  of  woollen  and  linen;  for 
that  is  appointed  to  be  for  the  priests  alone. 

12.  When  the  inultitude  are  assembled  together  into  the  holy  city  for  sacrifi- 
cing every  seventh  year,  at  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  let  the  high  priest  stand 
upon  a  high  desk,  whence  he  may  be  heard,  and  let  him  read  the  laws  to  all  the 
people  ;■!■  and  let  neither  the  women  nor  the  children  be  hindered  from  hearing, 
no  nor  the  servants  neither  ;  for  it  is  a  good  thing  that  those  laws  should  be  en- 
graven in  their  souls,  and  preserved  in  their  memories,  that  so  it  may  not  be 
possible  to  blot  them  out ;  for  by  this  means  they  will  not  be  guilty  of  sin,  when 
they  cannot  plead  ignorance  of  what  the  laws  have  enjoined  them.  The  laws 
also  will  have  a  great  authority  among  them,  as  foretelling  what  they  will  sufier  if 
they  break  them  ;  and  imprinting  in  their  souls  by  this  hearing  what  they  com- 
mand them  to  do,  that  so  there  may  always  be  within  their  minds  that  intention 
of  the  laws  which  they  have  despised  and  broken,  and  have  thereby  been  the 
causes  of  their  own  mischief.  Let  the  children  also  learn  the  laws,  as  the  first 
thinof  they  are  taught,  which  v.'ill  be  the  best  thing  they  can  be  taught,  and  will 
be  the  cause  of  their  future  felicity. 

13.  Let  every  one  commemorate  before  God  the  benefits  which  he  bestowed 
upon  them  at  their  deliverance  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  this  twice  every  day, 
both  when  the  day  begins  and  when  the  hour  of  sleep  comes  on — gratitude  being 
in  its  own  nature  a  just  thing,  and  serving  not  only  by  way  of  return  for  past, 
but  also  by  way  of  invitation  of  future  favours.  They  are  also  to  inscribe  the 
principal  blessings  they  have  received  from  God  upon  the  doors,:}:  and  show  the 
same  remembrance  of  them  on  their  arms  ;  as  also,  they  are  to  bear  on  their 
forehead,  and  their  arm,  those  wonders  which  declare  the  power  of  God,  and  his 
good  will  towards  them,  that  God's  readiness  to  bless  them  may  appear  every 
where  conspicuous  about  them. 

14.  Let  there  be  seven  men  to  judge  in  everj^  city,§  and  these  such  as  have 
been  before  most  zealous  in  the  exercise  of  virtue  and  righteousness.  Let  eve- 
ry judge  have  two  officers  allotted  him  out  of  the  tribe  of  Levi.  Let  those  that 
are  chosen  to  judge  in  the  several  cities  be  had  in  great  honour  ;  and  let  none 
be  permitted  to  revile  any  others  when  these  are  present,  nor  to  carry  them- 
selves in  an  insolent  manner  to  them,  it  being  natural  that  reverence  towards 
those  in  high  offices  among  men  should  procure  men's  fear  and  reverence  to- 
wards God.  Let  those  that  judge  be  permitted  to  determine  according  as  they 
think  to  be  right,  unless  any  one  can  show  that  they  have  taken  bribes,  to  the 

*  The  Apostolical  Constitutions,  B.  ii.  chap.  xxvi.  seSt.  31,  expound  this  law  of  Moses,  Exod.  xxii.  28. 
Thou  shall  not  revile  or  blaspheme  the  gods,  or  magistrates  ;  which  is  a  much  more  probable  exposition 
than  this  of  Josephus's  of  heathen  gods,  as  here,  and  agninst  Apion,  B.  ii..ch.  iii.  sect.  4. 

+  What  book  of  the  law  was  thus  publicly  read,  see  the  note  on  Antiq.  B.  x.  ch.  v.  sect.  5  ;  and  1 
Esd.  ix.  39—55. 

X  Whether  these  phylacteries,  and  other  Jewish  memorials  of  the  law  here  mentioned  by  Josephus 
and  by  Moses  (beside  the  fringes  on  the  borders  of  their  garments.  Numb.  xv.  37,)  were  literally  meant 
by  fJod,  I  much  question.  That  they  iiave  been  long  observed  by  the  Pharisees  and  the  rabbinical 
Jews  is  certain  ;  however,  the  Karaites,  who  receive  not  the  unwritten  traditions  of  the  elders,  but  keep 
close  to  the  written  law,  with  Jeroin  and  Grotius,  think  they  were  not  literally  to  be  understood,  as 
Barnard  and  Reland  here  take  notice.  Nor  indeed  do  I  remember  that  either  in  the  more  ancient 
books  of  the  Old  Testament,  or  in  the  books  we  call  Apocrypha,  there  are  any  signs  of  such  literal  ob- 
servations appearing  among  the  Jews,  though  their  real  or  mystical  signification,  i.  e.  the  constant  re- 
membrance and  observation  of  the  laws  of  God  by  Moses,  be  frequently  inculcated  in  all  the  sacred 
writings. 

{  Here  as  well  as  elsewhere,  sect.  38  ;  of  his  Life,  sect.  14  ;  and  Of  the  W'ar,  B.  ii.  ch.  xx.  sec.  5,  are 
but  seven  judges  appointed  for  small  cities,  instead  oUwcniy-thrce,  in  the  modern  rabbins;  which  mod- 
ern rabbins  are  al\Yays  but  of  very  little  authority  in  comparison  of  our  Josephus. 


i 


C.  VIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.]  I33 

perversion  of  justice,  or  can  allege  any  other  accusation  against  them,  whereby 
it  may  appear  that  they  have  passed  an  unjust  sentence  ;  for  it  is  not  fit  that 
causes  siioukl  be  openly  determined  out  of  regard  to  gain  or  to  the  dignity  of  tli3 
suitors,  but  that  tlie  judges  should  esteem  vvimt  is  right  before  all  other  thino-s, 
otherwise  God  will  by  that  means  be  despised,  and  esteemed  inferior  to  those, 
the  dread  of  whose  power  has  occasioned  the  unjust  sentence  ;  for  justice  is  tlie 
power  of  God.  He  therefore  that  gratifies  those  in  great  dignity  supposes  tliem 
more  potent  than  God  himself.  But  if  these  judges  are  miable  to  give  a  just 
sentence  about  the  causes  that  come  before  them  (whicli  case  is  not  unfre- 
quent  in  human  affairs,)  let  them  send  the  cause  undetermined  to  the  holy  city, 
and  tliere  let  the  high  priest,  the  prophet,  and  the  Sanhedrim  determine  as  "it 
shall  seem  good  to  them. 

15.  But  let  not  a  single  witness  be  credited,  but  three,  or  two,  at  the  least,  and 
those  such  whose  testimony  is  confirmed  by  their  good  lives.  But  let  not  the 
testimony  of  women*  be  admitted,  on  account  of  the  levity  and  boldness  of  their 
sex.  Nor  let  servants  be  admitted  to  give  testimony,  on  account  of  the  ignobili- 
ty  of  their  soul ;  since  it  is  probable  that  they  may  not  speak  truth,  either  out  of 
hope  of  gain  or  fear  of  punishment.  But  if  any  one  be  believed  to  have  borne 
false  witness,  let  him,  when  he  is  convicted,  suffer  all  the  very  same  punishments 
which  he  against  whom  he  bore  witness  was  to  have  suffered. 

IG.  If  a  murder  be  committed  in  any  place,  and  he  that  did  it  be  not  found, 
nor  is  there  any  suspicion  upon  one  as  if  he  had  hated  the  man,  and  so  had  killed 
him,  let  there  be  a  very  diligent  inquiry  made  after  the  man,  and  ruwards  propo- 
sed  to  any  one  who  will  discover  him ;  but  if  still  no  information  can  be  pro- 
cured, let  the  magistrates  and  senate  of  those  cities  that  lie  near  the  place  in 
which  the  murder  was  committed  assemble  together,  and  measure  the  distance 
from  the  place  where  the  dead  body  lies;  then  let  the  magistrates  of  the  nearest 
city  thereto  purchase  an  heifer  and  bring  it  to  a  valley,  and  to  a  place  therein 
where  there  is  no  land  ploughed  or  trees  planted,  and  let  them  cut  the  sinews  of 
the  heifer;  then  the  priests,  and  Levites,  and  senate  of  that  city  shall  take  water 
and  wash  their  hands  over  the  head  of  the  heifer  ;  and  they  shall  openly  declare 
that  their  hands  are  innocent  of  this  murder,  and  that  they  have  neither  done  it 
themselves  nor  been  assisting  to  any  that  did  it.  They  shall  also  beseech  God  to 
be  merciful  to  them,  that  no  such  horrid  act  may  any  more  be  done  in  that  land. 

17.  Aristocracy,  and  the  way  of  living  under  it,  is  the  best  constitution  ;  and 
may  you  never  have  any  inclination  to  any  other  form  of  government ;  and  may 
you  always  love  that  form,  and  have  the  laws  for  your  governors,  and  govern  all 
your  actions  according  to  them ;  for  you  need  no  supreme  governor  but  God. 
But  if  you  shall  desire  a  king,  let  him  be  one  of  your  own  nation  ;  let  him  be  al- 
ways careful  of  justice  and  other  virtues  perpetually  ;  let  him  submit  to  the  laws, 
and  esteem  God's  commands  to  be  his  highest  wisdom  ;  but  let  him  do  nothing 
without  the  high  priest,  and  the  votes  of  the  senators;  let  him  not  have  a  great 
number  of  wives,  nor  pursue  abundance  of  riches,  nor  a  multitude  of  horses, 
whereby  he  may  grow  too  proud  to  submit  to  the  laws.  And  if  he  affect  any 
such  things,  let  him  be  restrained,  lest  he  become  so  potent  that  his  state  be  in- 
consistent  with  your  welfare. 

18.  Let  it  not  be  esteemed  lawful  to  remove  boundaries,  neither  our  own  nor 
of  those  with  whom  we  are  at  peace.  Have  a  care  you  do  not  take  those  land- 
marks away,  which  are,  as  it  were,  a  divine  and  unshaken  limitation  of  rights 
made  by  God  himself  to  last  for  ever,  since  this  going  beyond  limits,  and  gaining 
ground  upon  others,  is  the  occasion  of  wars  and  seditions ;  for  those  that  remove 
boundaries  are  not  far  off  an  attempt  to  subvert  the  laws. 

*  I  have  never  observed  elsewhere  that,  in  the  Jewish  government,  women  were  not  admitted  »s  legal 
witnesses  in  courts  of  justice.  None  of  our  copies  of  the  Pentateuch  say  a  word  of  it.  It  is  very  proba- 
ble, however,  that  this  was  the  exposition  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  the  practice  of  the  J'.ws  in 
the  days  of  Josephus. 


J34  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV. 

19.  He  that  plants  a  piece  of  land  whose  trees  produce  fruits  before  the  fourth 
year  is  not  to  bring  thence  any  first  fruits  to  God,  nor  is  he  to  make  use  of  that 
fruit  himself,  for  it  is  not  produced  in  its  proper  season  ;  for  when  nature  has  a 
force  put  upon  her  at  an  unseasonable  time,  the  fruit  is  not  proper  for  God,  nor 
for  the  master's  use  ;  but  let  the  owner  gather  all  that  is  grown  on  the  fourth  year, 
for  then  it  is  in  its  proper  season.  And  let  him  that  has  gathered  it  carry  it  to  the 
holv  city,  and  spend  that,  together  with  the  thhe  of  his  other  fruits,  in  feasting 
with  his' friends,  with  the  orphans,  and  the  widows.  But  on  the  fifth  year  the 
fruit  is  his  own,  and  he  may  use  it  as  he  pleases. 

20.  You  are  not  to  sow  a  piece  of  land  with  seed  which  is  planted  with  vines, 
for  it  is  enough  that  it  supply  nourishment  to  that  plant,  and  be  not  harassed  by 
ploughing  also.  You  are  to  plough  your  land  with  oxen,  and  not  to  oblige 
other  animals  to  come  under  the  same  yoke  with  them,  but  to  till  your  land  with 
those  beasts  that  are  of  the  same  kind  with  each  other.  The  seeds  are  also  to 
be  pure,  and  without  mixture,  and  not  to  be  compounded  of  two  or  three  sorts, 
since  nature  does  not  rejoice  in  the  union  of  things  that  are  not  in  their  own 
nature  alike  ;  nor  are  you  to  permit  beasts  of  difterent  kinds  to  gender  together, 
for  there  is  reason  to  fear  that  this  unnatural  abuse  may  extend  from  beasts  of 
difierent  kinds  to  men,  though  it  takes  its  first  rise  from  evil  practices  about  such 
smaller  things.  Nor  is  any  thing  to  be  allowed  by  imitation,  whereof  any  de- 
gree of  subversion  may  creep  into  the  constitution.  Nor  do  the  laws  neglect 
small  matters,  but  provide  that  even  those  may  be  managed  after  an  unblamable 
manner. 

21.  Let  not  those  that  reap,  and  gather  in  the  corn  that  is  reaped,  gather  in  the 
gleanings  also ;  but  let  them  rather  leave  some  handfuls  for  those  that  are  in  want 
of  the  necessaries  of  life,  that  it  may  be  a  support  and  a  supply  to  them,  in  order 
to  their  subsistence.  In  like  manner,  when  they  gather  their  grapes,  let  them 
leave  some  smaller  bunches  for  the  poor  ;  and  let  them  pass  over  some  of  the 
fruits  of  the  olive  trees,  when  they  gather  them,  and  leave  them  to  be  partaken 
of  by  those  that  have  none  of  their  own  ;  for  the  advantage  arising  from  the  ex- 
act collection  of  all  will  not  be  so  considerable  to  the  owners  as  Avill  arise  from 
the  gratitude  of  the  poor.  And  God  will  provide,  that  the  land  shall  more  will- 
ingly produce  what  shall  be  for  the  nourishment  of  its  fruits,  in  case  you  do  not 
merely  take  care  of  your  own  advantage,  but  have  regard  to  the  support  of  others 
•ilso.  Nor  are  you  to  muzzle  the  mouths  of  the  oxen  when  they  tread  the  ears 
of  corn  in  the  threshing-floor;  for  it  is  not  just  to  restrain  our  fellow-labcuring 
animals,  and  those  that  work  in  order  to  its  production,  of  this  fruit  of  their  labours. 
Nor  are  you  to  prohibit  those  that  pass  by  at  the  time  when  j^our  fruits  are  ripe 
to  touch  them,  but  to  give  them  leave  to  fill  themselves  full  of  what  you  have  ; 
and  this,  whether  they  Idc  ofyourowii  country,  or  strangers,  as  being  glad  of  the 
opportunity  of  giving  them  some  part  of  your  fruits  when  they  are  ripe  ;  but  let 
it  not  be  esteemed  lawful  for  them  to  carry  any  away.  Nor  let  those  that  gather 
the  grapes,  and  cany  them  to  the  wine-presses,  restrain  those  whom  they  meet 
from  eating  of  them  ;  for  it  is  unjust  out  of  envy  to  hinder  those  that  desire  it  to 
partake  of  the  good  things  that  come  into  the  world  according  to  God's  will,  and 
this  while  the  season  is  at  the  height,  and  is  hastening  away  as  it  pleases  God. 
Nay,  if  some  out  of  bashfulness,  are  unwilling  to  touch  these  fruits,  let  them  be 
encouraged  to  take  of  them  ;  I  mean,  those  that  are  Israelites,  as  if  they  were 
themselves  the  owners  and  lords,  on  account  of  the  kindred  there  is  between 
them.  Nay,  let  them  desire  men  that  come  from  other  countries  to  partake  of 
these  tokens  of  friendship  which  God  has  given  in  their  proper  season  ;  for  that  is 
not  to  be  deemed  as  idly  spent  which  any  one  out  of  kindness  communicates  to  an- 
other, since  God  bestows  plenty  of  good  things  on  men,  not  only  for  themselves 
to  reap  the  advantage,  but  also  to  give  to  others  in  a  way  of  generosity ;  and  he  is 
desirous  by  this  moans  to  make  known  to  others  his  peculiar  kindness  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Israel,  and  how  freely  he  communicates  happiness  to  them,  while  they 


C.  VIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  I35 

abundantly  communicate  out  of  their  great  superfluities  to  even  these  foreigners 
also.  But  for  him  that  acts  contrary  to  this  law,  let  him  be  beaten  with  forty 
stripes  save  one,*  by  the  public  executioner  ;  let  him  undergo  this  punishment, 
which  is  a  most  ignominious  one  for  a  free  njan,  and  this  because  he  was  such  a 
slave  to  gain  as  to  lay  a  blot  upon  his  own  dignity ;  for  it  is  proper  tor  you  who 
have  had  the  cxperierce  of  the  afflictions  in  Egypt,  and  of  those  in  the  wilder- 
ness to  make  provision  for  those  that  are  in  the  like  circumstances  ;  and  while 
you  have  had  now  obtained  plenty  yourselves,  through  the  mercy  and  providence 
of  God,  to  distribute  of  the  same  plenty,  by  the  like  sympathy,  to  such  as  stand 
in  need  of  it. 

22.  Besides  those  two  tithes  which  I  have  already  said  you  are  to  pay  every 
year,  the  one  tor  the  Levitcs,  the  other  for  the  festivals,  you  are  to  bring  every 
third  year  a  third  tithef  to  be  distributed  to  those  that  want;  to  women  also  that 
are  widows,  and  to  children  that  are  orphans.  But  as  to  the  ripe  fruits,  let  them 
carry  that  which  is  ripe  firit  of  all  unto  the  temple  ;  and  when  they  have  blessed 
God  for  that  land  which  bare  them,  and  which  he  had  given  them  for  a  posses- 
sioU;  when  they  have  also  ollercd  those  sacrifices  which  the  law  has  commanded 
them  to  bring,  let  them  give  the  first  fruits  to  the  priests.  But  when  any  one 
hath  done  this,  and  hath  brought  the  tithe  of  all  that  he  hath,  together  with  those 
first  fruits  that  are  for  the  Levites  and  for  the  festivals  ;  and  when  he  is  about  to 
go  home,  let  him  stand  before  the  holy  house,  and  return  thanks  to  God,  that  ho 
hath  delivered  them  from  the  injurious  treatment  they  had  in  Egypt,  and  hath 
given  them  a  good  land  and  a  large,  and  lets  them  enjoy  the  fruits  thereof;  and 
when  he  has  openly  testified  that  he  hath  fully  paid  the  tithes  [and  other  dues,] 
according  to  the  laws  of  Moses,  let  them  entreat  God  that  he  will  be  ever  mer- 
ciful  and  gracious  to  him ;  and  continue  so  to  be  to  all  the  Hebrews,  both  by 
preserving  the  good  things  which  he  hath  already  given  them,  and  by  adding 
what  it  is  still  in  his  power  to  bestow  upon  them. 

23.  Let  the  Hebrews  marry,  at  the  age  fit  for  it,  virgins  that  are  free  and  born 
of  good  parents.  And  he  that  does  not  marry  a  virgin,  let  him  not  corrupt 
another  man's  wife,  and  marry  her,  nor  grieve  her  former  husband.  Nor  let  free 
men  marry  slaves,  although  their  affections  should  strongly  bias  any  of  them  so 
to  do  ;  for  it  is  decent,  and  for  the  dignity  of  the  persons  themselves,  to  govern 
those  their  aflections.  And  farther,  no  one  ought  to  marry  a  harlot,  whose  ma- 
trimonial oblations,  arising  from  the  prostitution  of  her  body,  God  will  not  receive ; 
for  by  these  means  the  disposition  of  the  children  will  be  liberal  and  virtuous ;  I 
mean,  when  they  are  not  born  of  base  parents,  and  of  the  lustful  conjunction  of 
such  as  marry  women  that  are  not  free.  If  any  one  has  been  espoused  to  a  wo- 
man as  to  a  virgin,  and  does  not  afterwards  find  her  so  to  be,  let  him  bring  his 
action,  and  accuse  her,  and  let  him  make  use  of  such  indications:}:  to  prove  his 
accusation,  as  he  is  furnished  withal ;  and  let  the  father  or  the  brother  of  the 
damsel,  or  some  one  that  is  after  them  nearest  of  kin  to  her,  defend  her.  If  the 
damsel  obtain  a  sentence  in  her  favour,  that  she  has  not  been  guilty,  let  her  live 
with  her  husband  that  accused  her,  and  let  him  not  have  any  farther  power  at  all 

*  This  penalty  of  ybr^y  s/rj;)cs  saw  one,  here  mentioned  and  sect.  23,  was  five  times  inflicted  on  St. 
Paul  himself  by  the  Jews,  2  Cor.  xi.  24. 

f  Josephus's  plain  and  express  interpretation  of  tiiis  law  of  Moses,  Deut.  xiv.  28,  29  ;  xxvi.  12,  &c. 
that  the  Jews  were  bound  every  third  year  to  pay  tliree  tithes,  that  to  tiie  Levilcs,  tiiat  for  sacrifices  at 
Jerusalem,  and  this  for  the  indigent,  the  widow,  and  the  orphans,  is  fully  confirmed  by  the  practice  of 
good  old  Tobit,  even  when  lie  was  a  captive  at  Assyria,  against  the  opinions  of  the  liabbins,  Tobit,  ch.  i. 
sect.  6,  7,  8. 

I  These  tokens  of  virginity,  as  the  Hebrew  and  Septuagint  style  them,  Deut.  xxii.  13, 17,  20,  seem  to 
me  very  different  from  what  our  later  interpreters  supjjose.  They  appear  rather  to  have  been  such  close 
linen  garments  as  were  never  put  off  virgins  after  a  certain  age,  till  they  were  married,  but  before  witness- 
es,  and  which,  while  they  were  entire,  were  certain  evidences  of  sucli  virginity.  See  these  Antiq.  13.  vi. 
ch.  viii.  sect.  1;2  Sam.  xiii.  18;  Isa.  vi.  1.  Joscphus  here  determines  nothing  what  were  these  par- 
ticular tokens  of  virginity,  or  of  corruption  ;  perhaps  he  tliought  he  could  not  easily  describe  tliem  to  the 
heathens,  without  saying  what  they  might  have  thougiit  a  breach  of  modesty  ;  which  seeming  breach  of 
modesty  laws  cannot  always  wholly  avoid._ 


136  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV. 

to  put  her  away,  unless  she  give  him  very  great  occasions  of  suspicion,  and  such 
as  can  be  no  way  contradicted.  But  for  him  thai  brings  an  accusation  and  ca- 
lumny against  his  wife  in  an  impudent  and  rash  manner,  let  him  be  punished  by 
receiving  forty  stripes  save  one,  and  let  him  pay  fifty  shekels  to  her  father.  But 
if  the  damsel  be  convicted  as  having  been  corrupted,  and  is  one  of  the  common 
people,  let  her  be  stoned,  because  she  did  not  preserve  her  virginity  till  she  were 
lawfully  married ;  but  if  she  were  the  daughter  of  a  priest,  let  her  be  burned 
ahve.  If  any  one  has  two  wives,  and  if  he  greatly  respect  and  be  kind  to  one  of 
them,  either  out  of  his  affection  to  her,  or  for  her  beauty,  or  for  some  other 
reason,  while  the  other  is  of  less  esteem  with  him  ;  and  if  the  son  of  her  that  is 
beloved  be  the  younger  by  birth  than  another  bom  of  the  other  wife,  but  en- 
deavours to  obtain  the  right  of  primogeniture  from  his  father's  kindness  to  his 
mother,  and  would  thereby  obtain  a  double  portion  of  his  father's  substance  (for 
that  double  portion  is  what  I  have  allotted  him  in  the  laws,)  let  not  this  be  per- 
mitted ;  for  it  is  unjust  that  he  who  is  the  elder  by  birth  should  be  deprived  of 
what  is  due  to.  him,  on  the  father's  disposition  of  his  estate,  because  his  mother 
was  not  equally  regarded  by  him.  He  that  hath  corrupted  a  damsel  espoused  to 
another  man,  in  case  he  had  her  consent,  let  both  him  and  her  be  put  to  death, 
for  they  are  both  equally  guilty;  the  man  because  he  persuaded  the  woman  wil- 
lingly  to  submit  to  a  most  impure  action,  and  to  prefer  it  to  lawful  wedlock  ;  the 
woman  because  she  was  persuaded  to  yield  herself  to  be  corrupted,  either  for 
pleasure  or  for  gain.  However,  if  a  man  light  on  a  woman  when  she  is  alone, 
and  forces  her,  where  nobody  was  present  to  come  to  her  assistance,  let  him  only 
be  put  to  death.  Let  him  that  hath  corrupted  a  virgin  not  yet  espoused,  marry 
her ;  but  if  the  father  of  the  damsel  be  not  willing  that  she  should  be  his  wife, 
let  him  pay  fifty  shekels  as  the  price  of  her  prostitution.  He  that  desires  to  be 
divorced  from  his  wife  for  any  cause*  whatsoever,  and  many  such  causes  happen 
among  men,  let  him  in  writing  give  assurance  that  he  will  never  use  her  as  his 
wife  any  more;  for  by  these  means  she  may  be  at  liberty  to  marry  another  bus- 
band,  although  before  this  bill  of  divorce  be  given,  she  is  not  to  be  permitted  so 
to  do ;  but  if  she  be  misused  by  him  also,  or  if,  when  he  is  dead,  her  first  hus- 
band would  marry  her  again,  it  shall  not  be  lawfid  for  her  to  return  to  him.  If 
a  woman's  husband  die  and  leave  her  without  children,  let  his  brother  marry 
her ;  and  let  him  call  the  son  that  is  born  to  him  by  his  brother's  name,  and  edu- 
cate him  as  the  heir  of  his  inheritance,  for  this  procedure  will  be  for  the  benefit 
of  the  public,  because  thereby  families  will  not  fail,  and  the  estate  will  continue 
among  the  kindred  ;  and  this  will  be  for  the  solace  of  wives  under  their  afilic- 
tion,  that  they  are  to  be  married  to  the  next  relation  of  their  former  husband's. 
But  if  the  brother  will  not  marry  her,  let  the  woman  come  before  the  senate,  and 
protest  openly  that  this  brother  will  not  admit  her  for  his  wife,  but  will  injure  the 
memory  of  his  deceased  brother,  while  she  is  willing  to  continue  in  the  family 
and  to  bear  him  children.  And  when  the  senate  have  inquired  of  him,  for  what 
reason  it  is  that  he  is  averse  to  this  mai-riage,  whether  he  gives  a  bad  or  a  good 
reason,  the  matter  must  come  to  this  issue,  that  the  woman  shall  loose  the  san- 
dals of  the  brother,  and  shall  spit  in  his  face,  and  say,  "He  deserves  this  re- 
proachful treatment  from  her,  as  having  injured  the  memory  of  the  deceased." 
And  then  let  him  go  away  out  of  the  senate,  and  bear  this  reproach  upon  him  all 
his  life  long  ;  and  let  her  marry  to  whom  she  pleases,  of  such  as  seek  her  in  mar- 
riage. But  now,  if  any  man  take  captive  either  a  virgin  or  one  that  hath  been 
married,!  ^^^  has  a  mind  to  marry  her,  let  him  not  be  allowed  to  bring  her  to 
bed  to  him,  or  to  live  with  her  as  his  wife,  before  she  hath  her  head  shaven  and 

*  These  words  of  Josephus  are  very  like  those  of  the  Pharisees  to  our  Saviour  upon  this  very  subject, 
Matt.  xix.  3.  "  Is  it  lawful  for  a  man  to  put  away  his  wife  for  every  cause  ?" 

t  Here  it  is  supposed  that  this  capflve's  husband,  if  she  were  before  a  married  woman,  was  dead  be- 
fore, or  rathci  was  slain  in  this  very  battle,  otherwise  it  would  have  been  adultery  in  him  that  mar- 
ried her. 


C.  Vlir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  I37 

hatli  put  on  her  mourning  habit,  and  lamented  her  relations  and  friends  that  were 
slain  in  the  battle,  that  by  these  means  she  may  give  vent  to  her  sorrow  forthem, 
and  after  that  may  betake  herself  to  feasting  and  matrimony  ;  for  it  is  good  for 
him  that  takes  a  woman  in  order  to  have  children  by  her,  to  be  complaisant  to 
her  inclinations,  and  not  merely  to  pursue  his  own  pleasure,  while  he  hath  no 
regard  to  what  is  agreeable  to  her.  But  when  thirty  days  are  passed,  as  the  time 
of  mourning,  for  so  many  are  sufficient  to  prudent  persons  for  lamenting  the 
dearest  friends,  then  let  them  proceed  to  the  marriage  ;  but  in  case  when  he  hath 
satisfied  his  lust,  he  be  too  proud  to  retain  her  for  his  wife,  let  him  not  have  it 
in  his  power  to  make  her  a  slave,  but  let  her  go  away  whither  she  pleases,  and 
have  that  privilege  of  a  free  woman. 

24.  As  to  those  young  men  that  despise  their  parents,  and  do  not  pay  them 
honour,  but  offer  them  affronts,  either  because  they  are  ashamed  of  them  or 
think  themselves  wiser  than  they,  in  the  first  place,  let  their  parents  admonish 
them  in  words  (lor  they  are  by  nature  of  authority  sufficient  for  becoming  their 
judges,)  and  let  them  say  thus  to  them  :  "  That  they  cohabited  together,  not  for 
the  sake  of  pleasure  nor  for  the  augmentation  of  their  riches,  by  joining  both 
their  stocks  together,  but  that  they  might  have  children  to  take  care  of  them  in 
their  old  age,  and  might  by  them  have  what  they  then  should  want."  And  say 
farther  to  him,  "  That  when  thou  wast  born  we  took  thee  up  with  gladness,  and 
gave  God  the  greatest  thanks  for  thee,  and  brought  thee  up  with  great  care,  and 
spared  for  nothing  that  appeared  useful  for  thy  preservation,  and  for  thy  instruc- 
tion in  what  was  most  excellent.  And  now,  since  it  is  reasonable  to  forgive  the 
sins  of  those  that  are  young,  let  it  suffice  thee  to  have  given  so  many  indications 
of  thy  contempt  of  us,  reform  thyself,  and  act  more  wisely  for  the  time  to  come ; 
considering  that  God  is  displeased  with  those  that  are  insolent  towards  their  pa- 
rents, because  he  is  himself  the  father  of  the  whole  race  of  mankind,  and  seems 
to  bear  part  of  that  dishonour  v/hich  falls  upon  those  that  have  the  same  name, 
when  they  do  not  meet  with  due  returns  from  their  children.  And  on  such  the 
law  inflicts  inexorable  punishment ;  of  which  punishment  mayst  thou  never  have 
the  experience  !"  Now  if  the  insolence  of  young  men  be  thus  cured,  let  them 
escape  the  reproach  which  their  former  errors  deserved,  for  by  this  means  the 
lawgiver  will  appear  to  be  good  and  parents  happy,  while  they  never  behold 
either  a  son  or  a  daughter  brought  to  punishment.  But  if  it  happens  that  these 
words  and  instructions  conveyed  by  them  in  order  to  reclaim  the  man,  appear  to 
be  useless,  then  the  offender  renders  the  laws  implacable  enemies  to  the  inso- 
lence he  has  offered  his  parents  ;  let  him  therefore  be  brought  forth*  by  these 
very  parents  out  of  the  city,  with  a  multitude  following  him,  and  let  him  be 
stoned  ;  and  when  he  has  continued  there  for  one  whole  day,  that  all  the  people 
may  see  him,  let  him  be  buried  in  the  night.  And  thus  it  is  that  we  bury  all  whom 
the  laws  condemn  to  die  upon  any  account  whatsoever.  Let  our  enemies  that 
fall  in  battle  be  also  buried  ;  nor  let  any  one  dead  body  lie  above  ground,  or  suffer 
a  punishment  beyond  what  justice  requires. 

25.  Let  no  one  lend  to  any  one  of  the  Hebrews  upon  usur}-,  neither  usury  of 
what  is  eaten  or  what  is  drunken  ;  for  it  is  not  justice  to  make  advantage  of  the 
misfortunes  of  one  of  thy  own  countrymen  ;  but  when  thou  hast  been  assistant 
to  his  necessities,  think  it  thy  gain,  if  thou  obtaincst  their  gratitude  to  thee,  and 
withal  that  reward  which  will  come  to  thee  from  God,  for  thy  humanity  towards 
him. 

26.  Those  who  have  borrowed  either  silver  or  any  sorts  of  fruits,  whether  dry 
or  wet,  I  mean  this,  when  the  Jewish  affairs  shall,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  be  to 
their  own  mind,  let  the  borrowers  bring  them  again,  and  restore  then>  with  plea- 
sure to  those  who  lent  them,  laying  them  up,  as  it  were,  in  their  own  treasuries, 
and  justly  expecting  to  receive  them  tlience  if  they  shall  want  them  again.     But 

*  See  Herod  the  Great  insisting  on  the  execution  of  this  law,  with  relation  to  two  of  his  own  sons,  be- 
fore the  judges  at  Berytus,  Anticj.  B.  xvi.  chap.  xi.  sect.  2. 
VOL  I.  S 


J3Q  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV, 

if  they  be  without  shame,  and  do  not  restore  it,  let  not  the  lender  go  to  the  bor- 
rower's house,  and  take  a  pledge  himself,  before  judgment  be  given  concerning 
it,  but  let  him  require  the  pledge,  and  let  the  debtor  bring  it  of  himself,  without 
the  least  opposition  to  him  that  comes  upon  him  under  the  protection  of  the  law. 
And  if  he  that  gave  the  pledge  be  rich,  let  the  creditor  retain  it  till  what  he  lent 
be  paid  him  again  ;  but  if  he  be  poor,  let  him  that  takes  it  return  it  before  the 
going  down  of  the  sun,  especially  if  the  pledge  be  a  garment,  that  the  debtor  may 
have  it  for  a  covering  in  his  sleep,  God  himself  naturally  showing  mercy  to  the 
poor.  It  is  also  not  lawful  to  take  a  millstone,  nor  any  utensil  thereto  belong, 
ing,  for  a  pledge,  that  the  debtors  may  not  be  deprived  of  instruments  to  get 
their  food  withal,  and  lest  they  be  undone  by  their  necessity. 

27.  Let  death  be  the  punishment  for  stealing  a  man  ;  but  he  that  hath  purloin- 
ed gold  or  silver,  let  him  pay  double.  If  any  one  kill  a  man  that  is  stealing 
something  out  of  his  house,  let  him  be  esteemed  guiltless,  although  the  man  were 
only  breaking  in  at  the  wall.  Let  him  that  hath  stolen  cattle  pay  fourfold  what 
is  lost,  excepting  the  case  of  an  ox,  for  which  let  the  thief  pay  fivefold.  Lot  him 
(hat  is  so  poor  that  he  cannot  pay  what  m.ulct  is  laid  upon  him,  be  his  servant  to 
whom  he  was  adjudged  to  pay  it. 

28.  If  any  one  be  sold  to  one  of  his  own  nation,  let  him  serve  him  six  years, 
and  on  the  seventh  let  him  go  free ;  but  if  he  have  as  on  by  a  woman  servant,  in  his 
purchaser's  house,  and  if,  on  account  of  his  good  will  to  his  master,  and  his  natu- 
ral alTeclion  to  his  wife  and  children,  he  will  be  his  servant  still,  let  him  be  set 
free  only  at  the  coming  of  the  year  of  jubilee,  which  is  the  fiftieth  year,  and  let 
liim  then  take  away  with  him  his  children  and  wife,  and  let  them  be  free  also. 

29.  If  any  one  find  gold  or  silver  on  the  road,  let  him  inquire  after  him  that 
lost  it,  and  make  proclamation  of  the  place  where  he  found  it,  and  then  restore 
it  to  him  again,  as  not  thinking  it  right  to  make  his  own  profit  by  the  loss  of  an- 
other. And  the  same  rule  is  to  be  observed  in  cattle  found  to  have  wandered 
away  into  a  lonely  place.  If  the  owner  be  not  presently  discovered,  let  him  that 
is  the  finder  keep  it  with  himself,  and  appeal  to  God  that  he  has  not  purloined 
what  belongs  to  another. 

30.  It  is  not  lawful  to  pass  by  any  beast  that  is  in  distress,  when  in  a  storm  it 
IS  fallen  down  in  the  mire,  but  to  endeavour  to  preserve  it,  as  having  a  sympathy 
with  it  in  its  pain. 

3L  It  is  also  a  duty  to  show  the  roads  to  those  who  do  know  not  them,  and 
not  to  esteem  it  a  matter  for  sport,  when  we  hinder  others'  advantages  by  setting 
them  in  a  wrong  way. 

32.  In  like  manner,  let  no  one  revile  a  person  blind  or  dumb. 

33.  If  men  strive  together,  and  there  be  no  instrument  of  iron,  let  him  that  is 
smitten  be  avenged  immediately,  by  inflicting  the  same  punishment  on  him  that 
smote  him  ;  but  if,  when  he  is  carried  home,  he  lie  sick  many  days,  and  then  die, 
let  him  that  smote  him  escape  punishment ;  but  if  he  that  is  smitten  escape  death, 
and  yet  be  at  great  expense  for  his  cure,  the  smiter  shall  pay  for  all  that  has  been 
expended  during  the  time  of  his  sickness,  and  for  all  that  he  has  paid  the  physi- 
cian. He  that  kicks  a  woman  with  child,  so  that  the  woman  miscarry,*  let  him 
pay  a  fine  in  money,  as  the  judges  shall  determine,  as  having  diminished  the  mul- 
titude by  the  destruction  of  what  was  in  her  womb  ;  and  let  money  also  be  given 
the  woman's  husband  by  him  that  kicked  her ;  but  if  she  die  of  the  stroke,  let 
him  also  be  put  to  death,  the  law  judging  it  equitable,  that  life  should  go  for 
life. 

*  riiilo  and  others  appear  to  have  understood  this  law,  Exodus  xxi.  22,  23,  l)etter  than  Josephus,  who 
seems  to  allow,  that  though  the  infant  in  the  mother's  woinb,  even  after  the  mother  were  quick,  and  so  the 
infant  had  a  rational  soul,  were  killed  by  the  stroke  upon  the  mother,  yet  if  the  mother  escaped,  the 
offender  should  only  be  fined,  and  not  put  to  deatli ;  while  the  law  seems  rather  to  mean,  that  if  the  infant 
in  that  case  be  killed,  though  the  mother  escape,  the  offender  must  be  put  to  death,  and  not  only  when  tlie 
inother  is  killed,  as  Josephus  ^underbtood  it.  It  acemsthis  was  tlie  exposition  ol  the  I'harisees  in  the 
daysul  Jusepuus. 


C.  VIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  I39 

34.  Let  no  one  of  the  Israelites  keep  any  poison*  that  may  cause  death  or 
any  other  harm  ;  but  if  he  be  caught  with  it,  let  him  be  put  to  death,  and  suffer 
the  very  same  mischief  that  he  would  have  brought  upon  them  for  whom  tiie 
poi.son  was  prepared. 

35.  He  that  maimeth  any  one,  let  him  undergo  the  like  himself,  and  be  de- 
prived of  the  same  member  of  which  he  hath  deprived  the  otlier,f  unless  he  that 
is  maimed  will  accept  of  money  instead  of  it ;  for  the  law  makes  the  sutferer 
the  judge  of  the  value  of  what  he  hath  suffered,  and  permits  him  to  estimate  it, 
unless  he  will  be  more  severe. 

30.  Let  him  that  is  the  owner  of  an  ox  which  pusheth  with  his  horn  kill  him  ; 
but  if  he  pushes  and  gores  any  one  in  the  threshing-floor,  let  him  be  put  to 
death  by  stoning;  and  let  him  not  be  thought  fit  for  food ;  but  if  his  owner  be 
convicted  as  having  known  what  his  nature  was,  and  hath  not  kept  him  up,  let 
him  also  be  put  to  death,  as  being  the  occasion  of  the  ox's  having  killed  a  man. 
But  i£  the  ox  have  killed  a  man-servant,  or  a  maid-servant,  let  him  be  stoned  ; 
and  let  the  owner  of  the  ox  pay  thirty  shekels^  to  the  master  of  him  that  was 
slain  ;  but  if  it  be  an  ox  that  is  thus  smitten  and  killed,  let  both  the  oxen,  that 
which  smote  the  other,  and  that  which  was  killed,  be  sold,  and  let  the  owners 
of  them  divide  their  price  between  them. 

37.  Let  those  that  dig  a  well  or  a  pit  be  careful  to  lay  planks  over  them,  and 
so  keep  them  shut  up,  not  in  order  to  hinder  any  persons  from  drawing  water, 
but  that  there  may  be  no  danger  of  falling  into  them ;  but  if  any  one's  beast 
fall  into  such  a  well  or  pit  thus  digged,  and  not  shut  up,  and  perish,  let  the  owner 
pay  its  price  to  the  owner  of  the  beast.  Let  there  be  a  battlement  round  the 
tops  of  your  houses  instead  of  a  wall,  that  may  prevent  any  persons  from  roUing 
down  and  perishing. 

38.  Let  him  that  has  received  any  thing  in  trust  for  another  take  care  to  keep 
it  as  a  sacred  and  divine  thing  ;  and  let  no  one  invent  any  contrivance  whereby 
to  depive  him  that  hath  entrusted  it  with  him  of  the  same,  and  this  whether  he 
be  a  man  or  a  woman,  no  not  although  he  or  she  were  to  gain  an  immense  sum 
of  gold,  and  this  where  he  cannot  be  convicted  of  it  by  any  body  ;  for  it  is  fit 
that  a  man's  own  conscience,  which  knows  what  he  hath,  should  in  all  cases 
oblige  him  to  do  well.  Let  this  conscience  be  his  witness,  and  make  him  al- 
ways act  so  as  may  procure  him  commendation  from  others ;  but  let  him  chieHy 
have  regard  to  God,  from  whom  no  wicked  man  can  lie  concealed ;  but  if  he  in 
whom  the  trust  was  reposed,  v/ithout  any  deceit  of  his  own,  lose  what  he  has 
entrusted  withal,  let  him  come  before  the  seven  judges,  and  swear  by  God,  that 
nothing  hath  been  lost  willingly,  or  with  a  wicked  intention,  and  that  he  hath 
not  made  use  of  any  part  thereof,  and  so  let  him  depart  without  blame  ;  but  if  ho 
hath  made  use  of  the  least  part  of  what  was  committed  to  him,  and  it  be  lost,  let 
him  be  condemned  to  repay  all  that  he  had  received,  after  the  same  manner  as 
in  these  trusts  it  is  to  be  if  any  one  defraud  those  that  undergo  bodily  labour  for 
him.  And  let  it  be  always  remembered,  that  we  are  not  to  defraud  a  poor  man 
of  his  wages,  as  being  sensible  that  God  has  allotted  that  wages  to  him  instead 
of  land  and  other  possessions  ;  nay,  this  payment  is  not  at  all  to  be  delayed,  but 
to  be  made  that  very  day,  since  God  is  not  willing  to  deprive  the  labourer  of  tho 
immediate  use  of  what  he  hath  laboured  for. 

39.  You  are  not  to  punish  children  for  the  faults  of  their  parents,  but  on  ac- 
count  of  their  own  virtue  rather  to  vouchsafe  them  commisseration,  because  they 
were  born  of  wicked  parents,  than  hatred,  because  they  were  born  of  bad  ones. 

*  what  we  render  a  witch,  according;  to  our  modern  notions  of  witclirraft,  Exod.  xxii.  18,  Philo  and 
Joscphus  understood  of  a  poisoner,  or  one  who  attempted,  by  secret  and  unlawful  drugs  or  phdtra,  to 
takeaway  the  senses  or  the  lives  of  men.  ■   01  oc    t 

j  Tills  permission  of  redeeming  this  penalty  with  money  is  not  in  our  copies,  Exod.  xx).  24.  25 ;  I/ev. 
xxiv.  20 ;  Deut.  xix.  21.  r    j  i  ^^ 

t  We  may  here  note,  that  30  shekels,  tiie  price  our  Saviour  was  sold  for  by  Judas  to  the  Jews,  Matt. 
%\v\.  13  ;  xxvii.  3 ;  was  the  old  value  of  a  bought  servant,  or  slave  amon^  tlio  iHJople. 
32 


140  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  R  IV. 

Nor  indeed  ouglit  we  to  imputc'the  sin  of  children  to  their  fathers,  while  young 
persons  indulge  themselves  in  many  practices  different  from  what  they  have  been 
instructed  in,  and  this  by  their  proud  refusal  of  such  instruction. 

40.  Let  those  that  have  made  themselves  eunuchs  be  had  in  detestation  ;  and 
do  you  avoid  any  conversation  with  them  who  have  deprived  themselves  of  their 
manhood,  and  of  that  fruit  of  generation  which  God  has  given  to  men  for  the 
increase  of  their  kind.  Let  such  be  driven  away,  as  if  they  had  killed  tlieir 
children,  since  they  beforehand  have  lost  what  should  procure  them  ;  for  evi- 
dent it  is,  that  while  their  soul  is  become  effeminate,  they  have  withal  transfused 
that  effeminacy  to  their  body  also.  In  like  manner  do  you  treat  all  that  is  of  a 
monstrous  nature  when  it  is  looked  on  ;  nor  is  it  lawful  to  geld*  either  men  or 
any  other  animals. 

4L  Let  this  be  the  constitution  of  3^our  political  laws  in  time  of  peace  ; 
and  God  will  be  so  merciful  as  to  preserve  this  excellent  settlement  free  from 
disturbance.  And  may  that  time  never  come  which  may  innovate  any  thing, 
and  change  it  for  the  contrary.  But  since  it  must  needs  happen  that  mankind 
fall  into  troubles  and  dangers,  either  undesignedly  or  intentionally,  come,  let  us 
make  a  few  constitutions  concerning  them,  that  so  being  apprised  beforehand  what 
ought  to  be  done,  you  may  have  salutary  counsels  ready  Avhen  you  want  them, 
and  may  not  then  be  obliged  to  go  to  seek  what  is  to  be  done,  and  so  be  unpro- 
vided, and  fall  into  dangerous  circumstances.  May  you  be  a  laborious  people, 
and  exercise  your  souls  in  virtuous  actions,  and  thereby  possess  and  inherit  the 
land  without  wars,  while  neither  any  foreigners  make  war  upon  it,  and  so  afflict 
you,  nor  any  internal  sedition  seize  upon  it,  whereby  you  may  do  things  that  are 
contrary  to  your  fathers,  and  so  lose  the  laws  which  they  have  established.  And 
may  you  continue  in  the  observation  of  those  laws  which  God  hath  approved  of 
and  hath  delivered  to  you.  Let  all  sort  of  warlike  operations,  whether  they  be- 
fall you  now  in  }'our  own  time,  or  hereafter  in  the  times  of  your  prosperity,  be 
done  out  of  your  own  borders.  But  when  you  are  about  to  go  to  war,  send  em- 
bassages and  heralds  to  those  who  are  your  voluntary  enemies  ;  for  it  is  a  right 
thing  to  make  use  of  words  to  them  before  you  come  to  your  weapons  of  war ; 
and  assure  them  thereby,  that  although  you  have  a  numerous  army,  with  horses 
and  weapons,  and  above  these,  a  God  merciful  to  you  and  ready  to  assist  you, 
you  do  however  desire  them  not  to  compel  you  to  fight  against  them,  nor  to  take 
from  them  what  they  have,  which  will  indeed  be  our  gain,  but  what  they  will  have 
no  reason  to  wish  we  should  take  to  ourselves.  And  if  they  hearken  to  you,  it 
will  be  proper  for  you  to  keep  peace  with  them ;  but  if  they  trust  on  their  own 
strength,  as  superior  to  yours,  and  will  not  do  you  justice,  lead  your  army  against 
tliem,  making  use  of  God  as  your  supreme  commander,  but  ordaining  for  a  lieu- 
tenant under  him  one  that  is  of  the  greatest  courage  among  you  ;  for  these  dif- 
ferent commanders,  besides  their  being  an  obstacle  to  actions  that  are  to  be  done 
on  the  sudden,  are  a  disadvantage  to  those  that  make  use  of  them.  Lead  an 
army  pure,  and  of  chosen  men,  composed  of  all  such  as  have  extraordinary 
strength  of  body  and  hardiness  of  soul ;  but  do  j^ou  send  away  the  timorous  part, 
lest  they  run  away  in  the  time  of  action,  and  so  afford  an  advantage  to  your  ene- 
mies. Do  you  also  give  leave  to  those  that  have  lately  built  them  houses,  and 
have  not  yet  lived  in  them  a  year's  time  ;  and  to  those  that  have  planted  them 
vineyards,  and  have  not  yet  been  partakers  of  their  fruits,  to  continue  in  their 
own  country  ;  as  well  as  those  also  who  have  betrothed  or  lately  married  them 
wives,  lest  they  have  such  an  affection  for  these  things  that  they  be  too  sparing  of 
their  lives,  and  by  reserving  themselves  for  these  enjoyments,  they  become  volun- 
tary cowards  [on  account  of  their  wives.] 

•  This  law  against  castration,  even  of  brutes,  is  said  to  be  so  rigorous  elsewhere  as  to  inflict  death  on 
him  ttiat  does  it,  which  seems  only  a  Tharisaical  interpretation  in  the  days  of  Josephus  of  that  law, 
Lev.  xxi.  20,  and  -xxii.  24 ;  only  we  may  hence  observe,  that  the  Jews  could  then  have  no  oxen  which 
fcre  gelt,  but  only  bulls  and  cows  in  Jud'ea 


C.  Vlir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  14j 

42.  When  you  have  pitched  your  camp,  take  care  that  you  do  nothing  that  is 
cruel.  And  when  you  are  engaged  in  a  siege,  and  want  timber  for  the  making 
of  warUke  engines,  do  not  you  render  the  land  naked  by  cutting  down  trees  that 
bear  fruit,  but  spare  them,  as  considering  that  they  were  made  for  the  benefit  of 
men  ;  and  that  if  they  could  speak,  they  would  have  a  just  plea  against  you  ;  be- 
cause, though  thoy  are  not  occasions  of  the  war,  they  are  unjustly  treated,  and 
suffer  in  it,  and  would,  if  they  were  able,  remove  themselves  into  another  land. 
When  you  have  beaten  your  enemies  in  battle,  slay  those  that  have  fought  against 
you  ;  but  preserve  the  others  alive,  that  they  may  pay  you  tribute,  excepting  the 
nation  of  the  Canaanites,  for  as  to  that  people  you  must  entirely  destroy  them. 

43.  Take  care,  especially  in  your  battles,  that  no  woman  use  the  habit  of  a 
man,  nor  man  the  garment  of  a  woman. 

44.  This  was  the  form  of  political  government  which  was  left  us  by  Moses. 
Moreover  he  had  already  delivered  laws  in  writing,*  in  the  fortieth  year  [after 
they  came  out  of  Egypt,]  concerning  which  we  will  discourse  in  another  book. 
Cut  now  on  the  following  days  (for  he  called  them  to  assemble  continually)  he 
delivered  blessings  to  them,  and  curses  upon  those  that  should  not  live  according 
to  the  laws,  but  should  transgress  the  duties  that  were  determined  for  them  to  ob- 
serve. After  this,  he  read  to  them  a  poetic  song,  which  was  composed  in  hex- 
ameter verse  ;  and  left  it  to  them  in  the  holy  book  :  it  contained  a  prediction  of 
what  was  to  come  to  pass  afterward.  Agreeably  whereto  all  things  have  hap- 
pened all  along,  and  do  still  happen  to  us  ;  and  wherein  he  has  not  at  all  deviated 
from  the  truth.  Accordingly  he  delivered  these  books  to  the  priests,f  with  the 
ark  ;  into  which  he  also  put  the  ten  commandments,  written  in  two  tables.  He 
delivered  to  them  the  tabernacle  also ;  and  exhorted  the  people  that  when  the)'  had 
conquered  the  land,  and  were  settled  in  it,  they  should  not  forget  the  injuries  of 
the  Amalakites,  but  make  war  against  them,  and  inflict  punishment  upon  them  for 
what  mischief  they  did  them  when  they  were  in  the  wilderness  ;  and  that  when 
they  had  got  possession  of  the  land  of  the  Canaanites,  and  when  they  had  destroyed 
the  whole  multitude  of  its  inhabitants,  as  they  ought  to  do,  they  should  erect  an 
altar  that  should  face  the  rising  sun,  not  far  from  the  city  of  Shechem,  between 
the  two  mountains,  that  of  Gerizim  situate  on  the  right  hand,  and  that  called  Ebal 
on  the  left ;  and  that  the  army  should  be  so  divided  that  six  tribes  should  stand 
upon  each  of  the  two  mountains,  and  with  them  the  Levites  and  the  priests.  And 
that  first,  those  that  were  upon  Mount  Gerizim,  should  pray  for  the  best  blessings 
upon  those  who  were  diligent  about  the  worship  of  God,  and  the  observation  of 
1ms  laws,  and  who  did  not  reject  what  Moses  had  said  to  them ;  while  the  other 
wished  them  all  manner  of  happiness  also.  And  when  these  last  put  up  the  like 
prayers,  the  former  praised  them.  After  this,  curses  were  denounced  upon  those 
that  should  transgress  those  laws,  they  answering  one  another  alternately,  by  way 
of  confirmation  of  what  had  been  said.  Moses  also  wrote  their  blessings  and 
their  curses,  that  they  might  learn  them  so  thoroughly  that  they  might  never  be 
forgotten  by  length  of  time.  And  when  he  was  ready  to  die,  he  wrote  these  bless, 
ings  and  curses  upon  the  altar:}:  on  each  side  of  it ;  where  he  says  also  the  people 
stood,  and  then  sacrificed  and  offered  burnt-offerings,  though  after  that  day  they 
never  offered  upon  it  any  other  sacrifice  ;  for  it  was  not  lawful  so  to  do.  These 
are  the  constitutions  of  Moses ;  and  the  Hebrew  nation  still  live  according  to 
them. 

45.  On  the  next  day  Moses  called  the  people  together,  with  the  women  and 
children,  to  a  congregation,  so  as  the  very  slaves  were  present  also  that  they 
might  engage  themselves  to  the  observation  of  these  laws  by  oath  ;  and  that 
duly  considering  the  meaning  of  God  in  them,  they  might  not,  either  for  favour 

*  These  laws  seem  to  be  those  abovementioned,  sect.  4  of  this  chapter, 
t  What  laws  were  now  delivered  to  the  priests,  see  the  note  on  Antiq.  B.  iii.  chap.  1,  sect.  7. 
t  Of  the  exact  place  where  this  altar  was  to  be  built,  whether  nearer  Mount  Gerizim  or  Mount  EbaJ, 
according  to  Josephus,  see  Essay  on  tlie  Old  Testeiment,  p.  168—171. 


J  42  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV. 

of  their  kindred,  or  out  of  fear  of  any  one,  or  indeed  for  any  motive  whatsoever, 
think  any  thing  ought  to  be  preferred  to  these  laws,  and  so  might  transgress  them. 
That  in  case  any  one  of  their  own  blood,  or  any  city,  should  attempt  to  confound 
or  dissolve  their  constitution  of  government,  they  should  take  vengeance  vpon 
them,  both  all  in  general,  and  each  person  in  particular ;  and  when  they  had 
conquered  them,  should  overturn  their  city  to  the  very  foundations,  and,  if  pos- 
sible,  should  not  leave  the  least  footsteps  of  such  madness.  But  that  if  they 
were  not  able  to  take  such  vengeance,  they  should  still  demonstrate  that  what  was 
done  was  contrary  to  their  wills.  So  the  multitude  bound  themselves  by  oath  so 
to  do. 

46.  Moses  taught  them  also  by  what  means  their  sacrifices  might  be  the  most 
acceptable  to  God ;  and  how  they  should  go  forth  to  war,  making  use  of  the 
stones*  [in  the  high  priest's  breastplate]  for  their  direction,  as  I  have  before  sig- 
nified. Joshua  also  prophesied  while  Moses  was  present.  And  when  Moses 
had  recapitulated  whatsoever  he  had  done  for  the  preservation  of  the  people,  both 
in  their  wars  and  in  peace,  and  had  composed  them  a  body  of  laws,  and  pro- 
cured  them  an  excellent  form  of  government,  he  foretold,  as  God  had  declared 
to  him,  "That  if  they  transgressed  that  institution  for  the  worship  of  God,  they 
should  experience  the  following  miseries :  Their  land  should  be  full  of  weapons 
of  war  from  their  enemies,  and  their  cities  should  be  overthrown,  and  their  tem- 
ple should  be  burned  ;  that  they  should  be  sold  for  slaves  to  such  men  as  would 
have  no  pity  on  them  in  their  afflictions  ;  that  they  would  then  repent,  when  that 
repentance  would  no  way  profit  them  under  their  sufferings.  Yet,  said  he,  will 
that  God  who  founded  your  nation  restore  your  cities  to  your  citizens,  with  their 
temple  also  ;  and  you  shall  lose  these  advantages  not  once  only,  but  often." 

47.  Now  when  Moses  had  encouraged  Joshua  to  lead  out  the  army  against  the 
Canaanites,  by  telling  him  that  God  would  assist  him  in  all  his  undertakings,  and 
had  blessed  the  whole  multitude,  he  said,  "  Since  I  am  going  to  my  forefathers, 
and  God  has  determined  that  this  should  be  the  day  of  my  departure  to  them,  I 
return  him  thanks,  while  I  am  still  alive  and  present  with  you,  for  that  providence 
he  hath  exercised  over  you,  which  hath  not  only  delivered  us  from  the  miseries 
we  lay  under,  but  hath  bestowed  a  state  of  prosperity  upon  us ;  as  also,  that  he 
hath  assisted  me  in  the  pains  I  took,  and  in  all  the  contrivances  I  had  in  my  care 
about  you,  in  order  to  better  your  condition,  and  hath  on  all  occasions  showed 
himself  favourable  to  us  ;  or  rather  he  it  was  who  first  conducted  our  affairs,  and 
brought  them  to  a  happy  conclusion,  by  making  use  of  me  as  a  vicarious  general 
under  him,  and  as  a  minister  in  those  matters,  wherein  he  was  willing  to  do  you 
good.  On  which  account  I  think  it  proper  to  bless  that  divine  Power  which  will 
take  care  of  you  for  the  time  to  come,  and  this  in  order  to  repay  that  debt  which 
I  owe  him,  and  to  leave  behind  me  a  memorial  that  we  are  obliged  to  worship 
and  honour  him,  and  to  keep  those  laws  which  are  the  most  excellent  gift  of  all 
those  he  hath  already  bestowed  upon  us,  or  which,  if  he  continue  favourable  to  us, 
he  will  bestow  upon  us  hereafter.  Certainly  a  human  legislator  is  a  terrible  en- 
emy,  when  his  laws  are  affronted,  and  are  made  to  no  purpose.  And  may  you 
never  experience  that  displeasure  of  God  which  will  be  the  consequence  of  the 
neprlect  of  these  his  laws,  which  he,  who  is  your  Creator,  hath  given  you." 

48.  When  Moses  had  spoken  thus  at  the  end  of  his  life,  and  had  foretold  what 
would  befall  to  every  one  of  their  tribes|  afterward,  with  the  addition  of  a  bless- 

*  Dr.  Bernard  well  observes  here,  how  unfortunate  this  neglect  of  consulting  the  Urim  was  to  Joshua 
himself,  in  tlie  ca;e  of  the  Gibeonites,  who  put  a  trick  upon  him,  and  ensnared  him,  together  with  the  rest 
of  tiie  Jewish  rulers,  with  a  solemn  oath  to  preserve  them,  contrary  to  his  commission  to  extirpate  all  the 
Canaanites  root  and  branch  ;  which  oath  he  and  the  other  rulers  durst  never  break.  See  Scripture  Po- 
litics, p.  55, 56 ;  and  this  snare  tliey  were  brought  into,  because  they  "  did  not  ask  counsel  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Lord."  Josh.  ix.  14. 

t  Since  Josephus  assures  us  here,  as  is  most  naturally  to  he  supposed,  and  as  the  Septiiagint  gives  the 
♦ext,  Deut.  xxxiii.  6  ;  that  Moses  blessed  every  one  of  the  tribes  ot  Israel,  it  is  evident  that  Simeon  was 
not  omitted  in  his  copy,  as  it  unhappily  now  is,  both  in  our  Hebrew  and  Samaritan  copies. 


C.  VIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  I43 

ing  to  them,  the  miiUitude  fell  into  tears,  insomuch  that  even  the  women,  by 
beating  their  breasts,  made  manifest  the  deep  concern  they  liad  when  he  was 
about  to  die.  The  children  also  lamented  still  more,  as  n'ot  able  to  contain  their 
grief;  and  thereby  declared,  that  even  at  their  age  they  were  sensible  of  his  vir- 
tue and  mighty  deeds  ;  and  truly  there  seemed  to  be  a  strife  between  the  young 
and  the  old,  who  should  most  grieve  for  him.  The  old  grieved  because  they 
knew  what  a  careful  protector  they  were  to  be  deprived  of,  and  so  lamented  their 
future  state  ;  but  the  young  grieved,  not  only  for  that,  but  also  because  it  so  happen- 
ed that  they  were  to  be  left  by  him  before  they  had  well  tasted  of  his  virtue.  Now 
one  may  make  a  guess  at  the  excess  of  this  sorrow  and  lamentation  of  the  mul- 
titude, from  what  happened  to  the  legislator  himself;  for  although  he  was  always 
persuaded  that  he  ought  not  to  be  cast  down  at  the  approach  of  death,  since  the 
undergoing  it  was  agreeable  to  the  will  of  God  and  the  law  of  nature,  yet  what 
the  people  did  so  overbore  him  that  he  wept  himself.  Now  as  he  went  thence  to 
the  place  where  he  was  to  vanish  out  of  their  sight,  they  all  followed  after  him 
weeping  ;  but  Moses  beckoned  with  his  hand  to  tliose  that  were  remote  from  him, 
and  bid  them  stay  behind  in  quiet,  while  he  exhorted  those  that  were  near  to  him 
that  they  would  not  render  his  departure  so  lamentable.  Whereupon  they  thought 
they  ought  to  grant  him  that  favour,  to  let  him  depart  according  as  he  himself 
desired,  so  they  restrained  themselves,  though  weeping  still  towards  one  another. 
All  those  who  accompanied  him  were  the  senate,  and  Eleazar  the  high  priest, 
and  Josliua  their  commander.  Now  as  soon  as  they  were  come  to  the  mountain 
called  Aharim,  (which  is  a  very  high  mountain  situate  over  against  Jericho,  and 
one  that  aflbrds  to  such  as  are  upon  it  a  prospect  of  the  greatest  part  of  the  ex- 
cellent land  of  Canaan,)  he  dismissed  the  senate  ;  and  as  he  was  going  to  em- 
brace Eleazar  and  Joshua,  and  was  still  discoursing  with  them,  a  cloud  stood 
over  him  on  the  sudden,  and  he  disappeared  in  a  certain  valley,  although  he 
wrote  in  the  holy  books  that  he  died,  which  was  done  out  of  fear  lest  tliey  should 
venture  to  say,  that  because  of  his  extraordinary  virtue  he  went  lo  God. 

49.  Now  Moses  lived  in  all  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  ;  a  third  part  of 
which  time,  abating  one  month,  he  was  the  people's  ruler.  And  he  died  on  the 
last  month  of  the  year,  which  is  called  by  the  Macedonians  Dystrus,  but  by  us, 
Adar,  on  the  first  day  of  the  month.  He  was  one  that  exceeded  all  men  that 
ever  were,  in  understanding,  and  made  the  best  use  of  what  that  understanding 
suggested  to  him.  He  had  a  very  graceful  way  of  speaking,  in  addressing  him- 
self to  the  multitude  ;  and  as  to  his  other  qualifications,  he  had  such  a  full  com- 
mand of  his  passions,  as  if  he  hardly  had  any  such  in  his  soul,  and  only  knew 
them  by  their  names,  as  rather  perceiving  them  in  other  men  than  in  himself. 
He  was  also  such  a  general  of  an  army  as  is  seldom  seen,  as  well  as  such  a 
prophet  as  was  never  known,  and  this  to  such  a  degree,  that  whatsoever  he  pro- 
nounced you  would  think  you  heard  the  voice  of  God  himself.  So  the  people 
mourned  for  him  thirty  days.  Nor  did  ever  any  grief  so  deeply  affect  the  He- 
brews as  did  this  upon  the  death  of  Moses  ;  nor  were  those  that  had  experienced 
his  conduct  the  only  persons  that  desired  him,  but  those  also  that  perused  the 
laws  he  left  behind  him  had  a  strong  desire  after  him,  and  by  tlieui  gathered  the 
extraordinary  virtue  he  was  master  of.  And  this  shall  suflicc  for  the  declaration 
of  the  manner  of  the  death  of  Moses. 


144  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEW& 

BOOK  V. 

COJN'TAINING  THE  INTERVAL  OF  FOUR  HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY-SIX  YEARS 
FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ELL 


CHAP.  I. 

Hoio  Joshua,  the  Commander  of  the  Hebrews,  made  War  with  the  Canaanites,  and 

oiiercame  tliem,  and  destroyed  them,  and  divided  their  Land  by 

Lot  to  the  Tribes  of  Israel. 

§  1.  When  Moses  was  taken  away  from  among  men,  in  the  manner  already- 
described,  and  when  all  the  solemnities  belonging  to  the  mourning  for  him  were 
finished,  and  the  sorrow  for  him  was  over,  Joshua  commanded  the  multitude  to 
get  themselves  read}'  for  an  expedition.  He  also  sent  spies  to  Jericho,  to  disco- 
ver what  forces  they  had,  and  what  were  their  intentions,  but  he  put  his  camp 
in  order,  as  intending  soon  to  pass  over  Jordan  at  a  proper  season.  And  call- 
ing  to  him  the  rulers  of  the  tribe  of  Reubel,  and  the  governors  of  the  tribe  of 
Gad,  and  [the  half  tribe  of]  Manasseh,  for  half  of  this  tribe  had  been  permitted 
to  have  their  habitation  in  the  country  of  the  Amorites,  which  was  the  seventh 
part  of  the  land  of  Canaan,*  he  put  them  in  mind  what  they  promised  Moses  ; 
and  he  exhorted  them,  that  for  the  sake  of  the  care  that  Moses  had  taken  of 
them,  who  had  never  been  weary  of  taking  pains  for  them,  no  not  when  he  was 
dying,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  public  welfare,  they  would  prepare  themselves 
and  readily  perform  what  they  had  promised:  so  he  took  fifty  thousand  of  them, 
who  followed  him,  and  he  marched  from  Abila  to  Jordan,  sixty  furlongs. 

2.  Now  when  he  had  pitched  his  camp,  the  spies  came  to  him  immediately, 
well  acquainted  with  the  whole  state  of  the  Canaanites,  for  at  first,  before  they 
were  at  all  discovered,  they  took  a  full  view  of  the  city  Jericho  without  dis- 
turbance,  and  saw  which  parts  of  the  walls  were  strong,  and  which  parts  were 
otherwise,  and  indeed  insecure,  and  which  of  the  gates  were  so  weak  as  might  af- 
ford an  entrance  to  their  army.  Now  those  that  met  them  took  no  notice  of  them 
when  they  saw  them,  and  supposed  they  were  only  strangers,  who  used  to  be 
very  curious  in  observing  every  thing  in  the  city,  and  did  not  take  them  for 
enemies  ;  but  at  even  they  retired  to  a  certain  inn  that  was  near  to  the  wall, 
whither  they  went  to  eat  their  supper;  which  supper  when  they  had  done,  and 
were  considering  how  to  get  away,  information  was  given  to  the  king  as  he 
was  at  supper,  that  there  wei'e  some  persons  come  from  the  Hebrews'  camp  to 
view  the  city  as  spies,  and  that  they  were  in  the  inn  kept  by  Rahab,   and  were 

*  Tlic  Amorites  were  one  of  the  seven  nations  of  Canaan.  Hence  Reland  is  willins;  to  suppose  that 
Josephiis  did  not  here  mean  that  their  land  beyond  Joician  was  a  seventh  part  of  the  whole  land  of 
Canaan,  but  meant  the  Amorites  as  a  seventii  nation.  His  reason  is,  that  Josephus,  as  well  as  our  Bible, 
{generally  distinguishes  the  land  beyond  Jordan  from  the  land  of  Canaan;  nor  can  it  be  denied,  that  in 
strictness  they  were  different ;  yet  after  two  tribes  and  a  half  of  the  twelve  tribes  came  to  inherit  it,  it 
niif;lit,  in  a  general  way  altogether,  l)e  well  included  under  the  land  of  Canaan,  or  Palestine,  or  Judea ; 
of  which  wc  have  a  clear  example  here  before  us  in  .losephus,  whose  words  evidently  imply,  that  taking 
the  whole  land  of  Canaan,  or  that  inhabited  by  all  the  twelve  tribes  together,  and  parting  it  into  seven 
parts,  the  part  beyond  Jordan  was  in  quantity  of  groimd  one  seventh  part  of  the  whole.  And  this  well 
enough  agrees  to  Reland's  own  map  of  that  countrj,  although  this  lancl  beyond  Jordan  was  so  peculiarly 
fruitful  and  good  for  pasturage,  as  the  two  tribes  and  a  half  took  notice,  Numb,  xxxii.  1,  4, 16,  that  it 
inaintaiiied  about  a  fifth  jiart  of  the  whole  people. 


C,  I.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  145 

very  solicitous  that  tliey  might  not  be  discovered,  so  he  sent  immcdialely 
some  to  them,  and  commanded  to  catch  them,  and  bring  them  to  him,  that 
he  might  examine  them  by  torture,  and  learn  M'hat  their  buisiness  ^vas  there. 
As  soon  as  Rahab  understood  that  these  messengers  were  coming,  she  hid  the 
spies  under  the  stalks  of  fiax,  which  were  laid  to  dry  on  the  top  of  her  house  ; 
and  said  to  the  messengers  that  were  sent  by  the  king,  that  certain  unknown 
strangers  had  supped  with  her  a  little  before  sunsetting,  and  were  gone  away, 
who  might  easily  be  taken,  if  they  were  any  terror  to  the  city,  or  likely  to  bring 
any  danger  to  the  king  :  so  these  messengers  being  thus*  deluded  by  the  wo- 
man,  and  suspecting  no  imposition,  went  their  ways,  without  so  much  as  search- 
ing the  inn,  but  they  immediately  pursued  them  along  those  roads  whicii  they 
most  probably  supposed  them  to  have  gone,  and  those  particularly  which  led  to 
the  river,  but  could  hear  no  tidings  of  them  ;  so  they  left  ofT  the  pains  of  any 
farther  pursuit.  But  when  the  tumult  was  over,  Rahab  brought  the  men  down 
and  desired  them,  as  soon  as  they  should  have  obtained  possession  of  the  land 
of  Canaan,  when  it  would  be  in  their  power  to  make  her  amends  for  her  preser- 
vation of  them,  to  remember  what  danger  she  had  undergone  for  their  sakes  ; 
for  that  if  she  had  been  caught  concealing  them,  she  could  not  have  escaped  a 
terrible  destruction,  she  and  all  her  family  with  her,  and  so  bid  them  to  go  home ; 
and  desired  them  to  swear  to  her,  to  preserve  her  and  her  family,  when  they 
should  tak'T!  <.ne  city  and  destroy  all  its  inhabitants,  as  they  had  decreed  to  do 
for  so  far  sae  said  she  had  been  assured  by  those  divine  miracles  of  Avhich  she 
had  been  informed.  So  these  spies  acknowledged  that  they  owed  her  thanks 
for  what  she  hud  done  already,  and  withal  swore  to  requite  her  kindness,  not 
only  in  words,  but  in  deeds  ;  but  they  gave  her  this  advice,  that  when  she  should 
perceive  that  the  city  was  about  to  be  taken,  she  should  put  her  goods  and  all  her 
family,  by  way  of  security,  in  her  inn,  and  to  hang  out  scarlet  threads  before  her 
doors  [or  windows]  that  the  commander  of  the  Hebrews  might  know  her  house, 
and  take  care  to  dt>  her  no  harm;  for,  said  they,  we  will  inform  him  of  this  mat- 
ter,  because  of  the  concern  thou  hast  had  to  preserve  us.  But  if  any  one  of  thy 
family  fall  in  the  battle,  do  not  thou  blame  us  ;  and  we  beseech  that  God,  by 
whom  we  have  sworn,  not  then  to  be  displeased  with  us,  as  thougli  we  had  bro- 
ken our  oaths.  So  these  men,  when  they  had  made  this  agreement,  went  away, 
letting  themselves  down  by  a  rope  from  the  wall,  and  escaped,  and  came  and 
told  their  own  people  whatsoever  they  had  done  in  their  journey  to  this  city. 
Joshua  also  told  Eleazar  the  high  priest,  and  the  senate,  what  the  spies  had  sworn 
to  Rahab,  who  confirmed  what  had  been  sworn. 

3.  Now  while  Joshua  the  commander  was  in  fear  about  their  passing  over 
Jordan,  for  the  river  ran  with  a  strong  ciirrent,  and  could  not  be  passed  over  with 
bridges,  for  there  never  had  been  bridges  laid  over  it  hitherto,  and  while  he  sus- 
pected that  if  he  should  attempt  to  make  a  bridge,  that  the  enemies  would  not 
afford  him  time  to  perfect  it,  and  for  ferry  boats  they  had  none,  God  promised 
so  to  dispose  of  the  river  that  they  might  pass  over  it,  and  tliat  by  taking  away 
the  main  part  of  its  waters.  So  Joshua,  after  two  days,  caused  the  army  and  the 
whole  multitude  to  pass  over  in  the  manner  following:  the  priests  went  first  of  all, 
having  the  ark  with  them  ;  then  went  the  Levites,  bearing  the  tabernacle  and  the 

*  It  plainly  appears  by  the  history  of  these  spies,  and  the  innkeeper  Rahal^'s  deception  of  the  king  of 
Jericho's  messengers,  by  telling  thein  what  was  false  in  order  to  save  the  lives  of  i!ie  s|)ics,  and  yet  the 
great  commendation  of  her  faith  and  good  works  in  the  New  Testament,  lleb.  xi.  3;  James,  ii.  '2o,  as 
well  as  by  many  other  parallel  examples  both  in  the  Old  Testament  and  in  Joscphns,  that  the  best  men 
did  not  then  scruple  to  deceive  those  public  enemies,  who  might  justly  be  destroyed  ;  as  also  might  de- 
ceive ill  men  in  order  to  save  life,  and  deliver  themselves  from  tlie  tyranny  of  their  unjust  oppressors, 
and  this  by  telling  direct  falsehoods;  I  mean  all  this  where  no  oath  was  demancled  of  them,  otherwise 
they  never  durst  venture  on  such  a  procedure.  Nor  was  Josephus  himself  ot  any  otlu-r  opinion  (ir 
practice,  as  I  thall  remark  in  the  note  on  Ant'.q.  P..  ix.  chap.  iv.  sect.  3.  and  observe,  tliat  1  still  call 
this  woman  Rahab,  an  inn-keeper,  not  a  harlot,  the  whole  history  both  in  our  co\->\cs,  and  especially  in 
Josephus,  implying  no  more.  It  was  indeed  so  frcquenl  a  thing,  that  women  who  were  inn-keepers 
were  also  harlots,  or  maintainers  of  harlots,  that  the  word  commonly  used  for  real  harlots  wa=  usually 
given  them.    See  Dr.  Bernard's  nolo  here,  and  Juiigcs,  .xi.  1,  and  Antiq.  U.  v.  ch.  vii.  sect.  8. 

VOL.  I.  T 


140  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

vessels  that  belonged  to  the  sacrifices  ;  after  which  the  entire  multitude  followed 
according  to  their  tribes,  having  their  children  and  their  wives  in  the  midst  of 
them,  as  being  afraid  for  them  lest  they  should  be  borne  away  by  the  stream. 
But  as  soon  as  the  priests  had  entered  the  river  first,  it  appeared  fordable,  the 
depth  of  the  water  being  restrained,  and  the  sand  appearing  at  the  bottom,  be- 
cause the  current  was  neither  so  strong  nor  so  swift  as  to  carry  it  away  by  its 
force,  so  they  all  passed  over  the  river  without  fear,  finding  it  to  be  in  the  very 
same  state  as  God  had  foretold  he  would  put  it  in  ;  but  the  priests  stood  still  in 
the  midst  of  the  river  till  the  multitude  should  be  passed  over,  and  should  get  to 
tlie  shore  in  safety  ;  and  when  all  were  gone  over,  the  priests  came  out  also,  and 
permitted  the  current  to  run  freely  as  it  used  to  do  before.  Accordingly  the  river, 
as  soon  as  the  Hebrews  were  come  out  of  it,  arose  again  presently,  and  came  to 
its  own  proper  magnitude  as  before. 

4.  So  the  Hebrews  went  on  farther  fifty  furlongs,  and  pitched  their  camp 
at  the  distance  of  ten  furlongs  from  Jericho.  But  Joshua  built  an  altar  of 
those  stones  which  all  the  heads  of  the  tribes,  at  the  command  of  the  prophet, 
and  taken  out  of  the  deep,  to  be  afterwards  a  memorial  of  the  division  of  the 
stream  of  this  river,  and  upon  it  offered  sacrifice  to  God  ;  and  in  that  place  ce- 
lebrated the  passover,  and  had  great  plenty  of  all  the  things  which  they  wanted 
hitherto,  for  they  reaped  the  corn  of  the  Canaanites,  which  was  now  ripe,  and 
took  other  things  as  prey,  for  then  it  was  that  their  former  food,  which  was  man- 
na,  and  of  which  they  had  eaten  forty  years,  failed  them. 

5.  Now  while  the  Israelites  did  this,  and  the  Canaanites  did  not  attack  them, 
but  kept  themselves  quiet  within  their  own  walls,  Joshua  resolved  to  besiege 
them.  So  on  the  first  day  of  the  feast  [of  the  passover]  the  priests  carried  the 
ark,  round  about  which  was  some  part  of  the  armed  men,  to  be  a  guard  to  it. 
These  priests  went  forward,  blowing  with  their  seven  trumpets;  and  exhorted  the 
p.rmy  to  be  of  good  courage,  and  went  round  about  the  city,  with  the  senate  fol- 
lowing  them  ;  and  when  the  priests  had  only  blown  with  the  trumpets,  for  they 
did  nothing  more  at  all,  they  returned  to  the  camp.  And  when  they  had  done 
this  tor  six  days,  on  the  seventh  Joshua  gathered  the  armed  men  and  all  the  pec 
pie  together,  and  told  them  this  good  tiding,  that  the  city  should  now  be  taken, 
since  God  would  on  that  day  give  it  them,  by  the  falling  down  of  the  walls,  and 
this  of  their  own  accord,  and  without  their  labour.  However,  he  charged  them 
to  kill  every  one  they  should  take,  and  not  to  abstain  from  the  slaughter  of  their 
enemies,  either  for  weariness  or  for  pity,  and  not  to  fall  on  the  spoil,  and  be  there- 
by diverted  from  pursuing  their  enemies,  as  they  ran  away ;  but  to  destroy  all 
the  animals  and  to  take  nothing  for  their  own  peculiar  advantage.  He  com- 
manded them  also  to  bring  together  all  the  silver  and  gold,  that  it  might  be  set 
apart  as  first  fruits  imto  God  out  of  this  glorious  exploit,  as  having  gotten  them 
from  the  city  they  first  took  ;  only  that  they  should  save  Rahab  and  her  kindred 
alive,  because  of  the  oath  which  the  spies  had  sworn  to  her. 

6.  When  he  had  said  this,  and  had  set  his  army  in  order,  he  brought  it  against 
the  city.  So  they  went  round  the  city  again,  the  ark  going  before  them,  and  the 
priests  encouraging  the  people  to  be  zealous  in  the  work  ;  and  when  they  had 
gone  round  it  seven  times,  and  had  stood  still  a  little,  the  wall  fell  down,  while  no 
instruments  of  war,  nor  any  other  force,  was  applied  to  it  by  the  Hebrews. 

7.  So  they  entered  into  Jericho,  and  slew  all  the  men  that  were  therein,  while 
they  v/ere  afl'righted  at  the  surprising  overthrow  of  the  walls,  and  their  courage 
was  become  useless,  and  they  were  not  able  to  defend  themselves  ;  so  they  were 
slain,  and  their  throats  cut,  some  in  the  ways,  and  others  as  caught  in  their  houses ; 
nothing  afforded  them  assistance,  but  they  all  perished,  even  to  the  women  and 
the  children,  and  the  city  was  filled  with  dead  bodies,  and  not  one  person  escaped. 
They  also  burnt  the  whole  city  and  the  country  about  it ;  but  they  saved  alive 
llaliah,  with  her  family,  who  had  fled  to  her  inn.  And  when  she  was  brought  to 
him,  Joshua  owned  to  her  that  they  owed  her  thanks  for  her  preservation  of  the 


C.  r.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  J47 

spies.  So  he  said  he  would  not  appear  to  be  behind  her  in  his  benefuction  to 
her  ;  whereupon  he  gave  her  certain  lands  immediately,  and  had  her  great  esteem 
ever  afterwards. 

8.  And  if  any  part  of  the  city  escaped  the  fire,  he  overthrew  it  from  the  foun- 
dation ;  and  he  denounced  a  curse*  against  its  inliabitants,  if  anv  one  should  desire 
to  rebuild  it,  how,  upon  his  laying  the  foundation  of  the  walls,  he  should  be  de- 
prived of  his  eldest  son,  and,  upon  finishing  it,  he  should  lose  liis  younf^est  son. 
But  what  happened  hereupon  we  shall  speak  of  liereafler. 

9.  Now  there  was  an  immense  quantity  of  silver  and  gold,  and  besides  those, 
of  brass  also,  that  was  heaped  together  out  of  the  city  when  it  was  taken,  no  one 
transgressing  the  decree,  nor  purloining  for  their  own  peculiar  advantage  ;  which 
spoils  Joshua  delivered  to  the  priests,  to  be  laid  up  among  their  treasures.  And 
thus  did  Jericho  perish. 

10.  But  there  was  one  Achar,]'  the  son  [of  Charmi,  the  son]  of  Zcbedias,  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  who,  finding  a  royal  garment  woven  entirely  of  gold,  and  a  piece 
of  gold  that  weighed:):  two  hundred  shekels,  and  thinking  it  a  very  hard  case,  that 
what  spoils  he,  by  running  some  hazard,  had  found,  he  must  give  awav,  and 
oflcr  it  to  God,  who  stood  in  no  need  of  it,  while  he  that  wanted  it  must  go  wilh- 
out  it,  made  a  deep  ditch  in  his  own  tent,  and  laid  them  up  therein,  as  supposino- 
he  should  not  only  be  concealed  from  his  fellow-soldiers,  but  from  God  himself 
also. 

11.  Now  the  place  where  Joshua  pitched  his  camp  was  called  Gilgal,  which 
denotes  liberty  ;§  for  since  now  they  had  passed  over  Jordan,  they  looked  on  them- 
selves as  freed  from  the  miseries  which  they  had  undergone  from  the  Egyptians, 
and  in  the  wilderness. 

12.  Now  a  few  days  after  the  calamity  that  befell  Jericho,  Joshua  sent  three 
thousand  armed  men  to  take  Ai,  a  city  situate  above  Jericho  ;  hut  upon  sight  of 
the  people  of  Ai,  with  them  they  were  driven  back,  and  lost  thirty-six  of  their 
men.  When  this  was  told  the  Israelites,  it  made  them  very  sad,  and  exceedinor 
disconsolate,  not  so  much  because  of  the  relation  the  men  that  were  destroyed 
bare  to  them,  though  those  that  were  destroyed  were  all  good  men,  and  deserved 
their  esteem,  as  by  the  despair  it  occasioned ;  for  while  they  believed  that  they 
were  already,  in  effect,  in  possession  of  the  land,  and  should  bring  back  the  army 
out  of  the  battles  without  loss,  as  God  had  promised  beforehand,  they  now  saw 
imexpectedly  their  enemies  bold  with  success  ;  so  they  put  sackcloth  over  their 
garments,  and  continued  in  tears  and  lamentation  all  the  day,  without  the  least 
inquiry  after  food,  but  laid  what  had  happened  greatly  to  heart. 

13.  When  Joshua  saw  the  army  so  much  alllfcted,  and  possessed  with  fore- 
bodings of  evil  as  to  their  whole  expedhion,  he  used  freedom  with  God,  and  said, 
"  We  are  not  come  thus  far  out  of  any  rashness  of  our  own,  as  though  we  thought 

*  Upon  occasion  of  this  devoting  of  Jericlio  to  destruction,  and  the  exemplary  punishment  of  Achar, 
who  broke  that  chcrem,  or  anaihemn,  and  of  the  punishment  of  tiie  future  breaker  of  it,  Hcil,  1  Kinjis, 
xvi.  34  ;  as  also  of  the  punishment  of  Said,  for  breaking  tiie  like  chei-eni  or  anathema,  against  the  Ama- 
lekites,  1  Sam.  xv  ;  we  may  ol)serve  what  was  the  true  meaning  of  tiiat  law,  Lev.  xxvi.'JS.  "None 
devoted,  which  shall  he  devoted  of  men,  .shall  be  redeemed  ;  hut  shall  surely  be  put  to  death,"  i.  e. 
whenever  anv  of  the  .Jews'  public  enemies  had  been,  for  their  wickedness,  solemnly  devoted  to  destruction, 
according  to  the  (hvine  conunand,  as  were  generally  the  seven  wicked  nations  of  Canaan,  and  those  sin- 
ners the  Amalekites,  1  Sam.  xv.  18,  it  was  utterly  unlawful  to  permit  those  enemies  to  bo  redeemed,  but 
they  were  to  be  all  utterly  destroyed.     See  also  Numb.  xxi.  2,  3. 

f  That  the  name  of  lliis  thief  was  not  Jldian,  as  in  the  common  copies,  but  Achat;  as  lierc  in  .Tose- 
phus,  and  in  the  Apostolical  Cnnstitut.  B.  vii.  ch.  ii.  and  elsewhere,  is  evident  by  the  allusion  to  that 
name  in  the  curse  of  Joshua,  "  Why  hast  thou  troubled  us.'  The  Lord  shall  trouble  thee:"  where  the 
Hebrew  words  allude  only  to  the  nauie  Jlchar,  but  not  to  Achan.  Accordingly  this  valley  of  Achar,  or 
Achor,  was,  and  is  a  known  place,  a  little  north  of'Gilgal,  so  called  from  the  days  of  Joshua  till  thisday. 
See  Josh.  vii.  26  ;  Isa.  Ixv.  10  ;  Hos.  ii.  15  ;  and  Dr.  Bernard's  notes  here. 

J  Here  Dr.  Bernard  very  justly  observes,  that  a  few  words  are  dropped  out  of  Josephus's  copies,  on 
account  of  the  repetition  of  the  word  shekels,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  read  thus  :  "  A  piece  of  gold  that 
weighed  50  shekels,  and  one  of  silver  that  weighed  200  shekels,"  as  in  our  other  copies,  Josh.'vii.  2L 

}  I  agree  here  with  Dr.  Bernard,  and  approve  of  Josephus's  interpretation  of  Gilgal  for  liberty.  Sea 
Josh.  v.  9. 


248  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

ourselves  able  to  subdue  this  land  with  our  own  weapons,  but  at  the  instigation 
of  Moses  thy  servant  for  this  purpose,  because  thou  hast  promised  us  by  many 
sio-ns,  that  thou  wouldst  give  us  this  land  for  a  possession,  and  that  thou  wouldst 
make  our  army  always  superior  in  war  to  our  enemies,  and  accordingly  some 
success  has  already  attended  upon  us,  agreeably  to  thy  promises,  but  because 
we  have  now  unexpectedly  been  foiled,  and  have  lost  some  men  out  of  our  army, 
we  are  grieved  at  it,  as  fearing  what  thou  hast  promised  us,  and  what  Moses  fore- 
told us,  cannot  be  depended  on  by  us  ;  and  our  future  expectation  troubles  us 
the  more,  because  we  have  met  with  such  a  disaster  in  this  our  first  attempt. 
But  do  thou,  O  Lord,  free  us  from  these  suspicions,  for  thou  art  able  to  find  a 
cure  for  these  disorders,  by  giving  us  victory,  which  will  both  take  away  the  grief 
we  are  in  at  present,  and  prevent  our  distrust  as  to  what  is  to  come." 

14.  These  intercessions  Joshua  put  up  to  God,  as  he  lay  prostrate  on  his  face  ; 
whereupon  God  answered  him,  "  That  he  should  rise  up,  and  purify  his  host 
from  the  pollution  which  was  got  into  it ;  that  things  consecrated  to  me  have 
been  impudently  stolen  from  me ;  and  that  this  has  been  the  occasion  why  this 
defeat  had  happened  to  them  ;  and  that  w  hen  they  should  search  out,  and  punish 
the  ofiender,  he  would  ever  take  care  they  should  have  the  victory  over  their 
enemies."  This  Joshua  told  the  people  ;  and  calling  for  Eleazarthe  high  priest, 
and  the  men  in  authority,  he  cast  lots,  tribe  by  tribe  ;  and  when  the  lot  showed 
that  this  wicked  action  was  done  by  one  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  he  then  again 
proposed  the  lot  to  the  several  families  thereto  belonging,  so  the  truth  of  this 
wicked  action  was  found  to  belong  to  the  family  of  Zachar,  and  when  the  in- 
quiry was  made,  man  by  man,  they  took  Achar,  who,  upon  God's  reducing  him 
to  a  terrible  extremity,  could  not  deny  the  fact.  So  he  confessed  the  theft  and 
produced  what  he  had  taken  in  the  midst  of  them,  whereupon  he  was  immediately 
put  to  death  ;  and  attained  no  more  than  to  be  buried  in  the  night,  in  a  disgrace- 
ful manner,  and  such  as  was  suitable  to  a  condemned  malefactor. 

15.  When  Joshua  had  thus  purified  the  host,  he  led  them  against  Ai;  and 
having  by  night  laid  an  ambush  round  about  the  city,  he  attacked  the  enemies  as 
soon  as  it  was  day ;  but  as  they  advanced  boldly  against  the  Israelites,  because 
of  their  former  victory,  he  made  them  believe  he  retired,  and  by  that  means 
drew  them  a  great  way  from  the  city,  they  still  supposing  that  they  were  pur- 
suing their  enemies,  and  despised  them,  as  though  the  case  had  been  the  same 
with  that  in  the  former  battle  ;  after  which  Joshua  ordered  his  forces  to  turn 
about,  and  placed  them  against  their  front.  He  then  made  the  signals  agreed 
upon  to  those  that  lay  in  ambush,  and  so  excited  them  to  fight ;  so  they  ran  sud- 
denly into  the  city,  the  inhabitants  being  upon  the  walls,  nay,  others  of  them 
being  in  perplexity,  and  coming  to  see  those  that  were  without  the  gates.  Ac- 
cordingly these  men  took  the  city,  and  slew  all  that  they  met  with  ;  but  Joshua 
forced  those  that  came  against  him  to  come  to  a  close  fight,  and  discomfited 
them,  and  made  them  run  away ;  and  when  they  were  driven  towards  the  city, 
and  thought  it  had  not  been  touched,  as  soon  as  they  saAv  it  was  taken,  and  per- 
ceived it  was  burned,  with  their  wives  and  children,  they  wandered  about  in  the 
fields  in  a  scattered  condition,  and  were  no  way  able  to  defend  themselves,  be- 
cause they  had  none  to  support  them.  Now  when  this  calamity  was  come  upon 
the  men  of  Ai,  there  were  a  great  number  of  children,  and  women,  and  servants, 
and  an  immense  quantity  of  furniture.  The  Hebrews  also  took  herds  of  cattle 
and  a  great  deal  of  money,  for  this  was  a  rich  country.  So  when  Joshua  came 
to  Gilgal,  he  divided  all  these  spoils  among  the  soldiers. 

16.  But  the  Gibeonites,  who  inhabited  very  near  to  Jerusalem,  when  they  saw 
what  miseries  had  happened  to  the  inhabitants  of  Jericho,  and  to  those  of  Ai,  and 
suspected  that  the  like  sore  calamity  would  come  as  far  as  themselves,  they  did 
not  think  fit  to  ask  for  mercy  of  Joshua,  for  they  supposed  they  should  find  little 
mercy  from  him,  who  made  war  that  he  might  entirely  destroy  the  nation  of  the 
Canaaniles,  but  they  invited  the  people   of  Cephirah  and  Kiriathjearim,  who 


C.  I.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  149 

were  their  neighbours,  to  join  a  league  with  them ;  and  told  them,  that  neither 
could  they  themselves  avoid  the  danger  they  were  all  in,  if  the  Israelites  should 
prevent  them,  and  seize  upon  them.  So  when  they  hud  persuaded  them,  they 
resolved  to  endeavour  to  escape  the  forces  of  the  Israelites.  Accordinfly,  upon 
their  agreement  to  what  they  proposed,  they  sent  ambassadors  to  Joshua,  to  make 
a  league  of  friendship  with  him,  and  those  such  of  the  citizens  as  were  best  ap- 
proved of,  and  most  capable  of  doing  v/hat  was  most  advantageous  to  the  mul- 
titude. Now  these  ambassadors  thought  it  dangerous  to  confess  themselves  to 
be  Canaanites,  but  thought  they  might,  by  this  contrivance,  avoid  tlie  danger, 
namely,  by  saying  that  they  bore  no  relation  to  the  Canaanites  at  all,  but  dwelt 
at  a  very  great  distance  from  them  ;  and  they  said  further,  that  they  came  alon^ 
way  on  account  of  the  reputation  he  had  gained  for  his  virtue;  and  as  a  mark 
of  the  truth  of  what  they  said,  thej^  sliowed  him  the  habit  they  were  in  ;  for  that 
their  clothes  were  new  when  they  came  out,  but  were  greatly  worn  by  tlie  length 
of  time  they  had  been  in  their  journey  ;  for  indeed  they  took  torn  garments,  on 
purpose  that  they  might  make  him  believe  so.  So  they  stood  in  the  midst  of  the 
people,  and  said,  that  they  were  sent  by  the  people  of  Gibeon,  and  of  the  cir- 
cumjacent cities,  which  were  very  remote  from  the  land  where  they  now  were, 
to  make  such  a  league  of  friendship  with  them,  and  this  on  such  conditions  as 
were  customaiy  among  their  forefathers;  for  when  they  understood,  that  by  the 
favour  of  God,  and  his  gift  to  them,  they  were  to  have  the  possession  of  the  land 
of  Canaan  bestowed  upon  them,  they  said,  that  they  were  very  glad  to  hear  it, 
and  desired  to  be  admitted  into  the  number  of  their  citizens.  Thus  did  these 
ambassadors  speak  ;  and  showing  them  the  marks  of  their  long  journey,  they 
entreated  the  Hebrews  to  make  a  league  of  friendship  with  them.  Accordingly, 
Joshua  believing  what  they  said,  that  they  were  not  of  the  nation  of  the  Canaan- 
ites, entered  into  friendship  with  them  ;  and  Eleazar  the  high  priest,  and  the 
senate,  sware  to  them  that  they  would  esteem  them  their  friends  and  associates, 
and  would  attempt  nothing  that  should  be  unfair  against  them,  the  multitude  also 
assenting  to  the  oaths  that  were  made  to  them.  So  these  men,  having  obtained 
what  they  desired  by  deceiving  the  Israelites,  went  home  ;  but  when  Joshua  led 
his  army  to  the  country  at  the  bottom  of  the  mountains  of  this  part  of  Canaan, 
he  understood  that  the  Gibeonites  dwelt  not  far  from  Jerusalem,  and  that  they 
were  of  the  stock  of  the  Canaanites,  so  he  sent  for  their  governors,  and  re 
preached  them  with  the  cheat  they  had  put  upon  him ;  but  they  alleged  on  their 
own  behalf,  that  they  had  no  other  way  to  save  themselves  but  that,  and  were 
therefore  forced  to  have  recourse  to  it.  So  he  called  for  Eleazar  the  high  priest, 
and  for  the  senate,  who  thought  it  right  to  make  them  public  servants,  that  they 
might  not  break  the  oath  they  had  made  to  them  ;  and  they  ordained  them  to  bo 
so.  And  this  was  the  method  by  which  these  men  found  safety  and  security  un- 
der  the  calamity  that  was  ready  to  overtake  them. 

17.  But  the  king  of  Jerusalem  took  it  to  heart  that  the  Gibeonites  had  gone 
over  to  Joshua  ;  so  he  called  upon  the  kings  of  the  neighbouring  nations  to  join 
togethei",  and  make  war  against  them.  Now,  when  the  Gibeonites  saw  these 
kings,  which  were  four,  besides  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  and  perceived  that  they 
had  pitched  their  camp  at  a  certain  fountain  not  far  from  their  city,  and  were 
getting  ready  for  the  siege  of  it,  they  called  upon  Joshua  to  assist  them  ;  for  such 
Avas  their  case,  as  to  expect  to  be  destroyed  by  these  Canaanites,  but  to  suppose 
they  should  be  saved  by  those  that  came  for  the  destruction  of  the  Canaanites, 
because  of  the  league  of  friendship  that  was  between  them.  Accordingly  Joshua 
made  haste  with  his  whole  army  to  assist  them  ;  and  marching  day  and  night,  in 
the  morning  he  fell  upon  the  enemies  as  they  were  going  up  to  the  siege  ;  and 
when  he  had  discomfited  them,  he  followed  them,  and  pursued  them  down  the 
descent  of  the  hills.  The  place  is  called  Belh-horon  ;  where  he  also  understood 
that  God  assisted  him,  which  he  declared  by  thunder  and  thunderbolts,  as  also  by 
the  falling  of  hail  larger  than  usual.     Moreover  it  happened  that  the  day  was 


150  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

lengthened,*  that  the  night  might  not  come  on  too  soon,  and  be  an  obstruction 
to  the  zeal  of  the  Hebrews  in  pursuing  their  enemies,  insomuch  that  Joshua  took 
the  kings,  which  were  hidden  in  a  certain  cave  at  Makkedah,  and  put  them  to 
death.  Now  that  the  day  was  lengthened  at  this  time,  and  was  longer  than  ordi- 
nary, is  expressed  in  the  booksf  laid  up  in  the  temple. 

18.  These  kings  which  made  war  with,  and  were  ready  to  fight  the  Gibeon- 
ites,  being  thus  overthrown,  Joshua  returned  again  to  the  mountainous  parts  of 
Canaan  ;  and  when  he  had  made  a  great  slaughter  of  the  people  there,  and  took 
their  prey,  he  came  to  the  camp  at  Gilgal.  And  now  there  went  a  great  fame 
abroad  among  the  neighbouring  people  of  the  courage  of  the  Hebrews,  and  those 
that  heard  what  a  number  of  men  were  destroyed  were  greatly  affrighted  at  it. 
So  the  kings  that  lived  about  Mount  Libanus,  who  were  Canaanites,  and  those 
Canaanites  that  dwelt  in  the  plain  country,  with  auxiharies  out  of  the  land 
of  the  Philistines,  pitched  their  camp  at  Beroth,  a  city  of  the  Upper  Galilee, 
not  far  from  Cadesh,  which  is  itself  also  a  place  in  Galilee.  Now  the  number 
of  the  whole  army  was  three  hundred  thousand  armed  footmen,  and  ten  thousand 
horsemen,  and  twenty  thousand  chariots,  so  that  the  multitude  of  the  enemies 
affrighted  both  Joshua  himself  and  the  Israelites  ;  and  they,  instead  of  being  full 
of  hope  of  good  success,  were  superstitiously  timorous,  with  the  great  terror  with 
which  they  were  stricken.  Whereupon  God  upbraided  them  with  the  fear  they 
were  in,  and  asked  them  whether  they  desired  a  greater  help  than  he  could  afford 
them  ;  and  promised  them  that  they  should  overcome  their  enemies  ;  and  withal 
charged  them  to  make  their  enemies'  horses  useless,  and  to  burn  their  chariots. 
So  Joshua  became  full  of  courage  upon  these  promises  of  God,  and  went  out 
suddenly  against  the  enemies  ;  and  after  five  days'  march,  he  came  upon  them, 
and  joined  battle  with  them,  and  there  was  a  terrible  fight,  and  such  a  number 
were  slain  as  could  not  be  believed  by  those  that  heard  it.  He  also  went  on  in 
the  pursuit  a  great  way,  and  destroyed  the  entire  army  of  the  enemies,  few  only 
excepted,  and  all  the  kings  fell  in  the  battle ;  insomuch  that  when  there  wanted 
men  to  be  killed,  Joshua  slew  their  horses,  and  burned  their  chariots,  and  passed 
all  over  their  country  without  opposition,  no  one  daring  to  meet  him  in  battle  ;  but 
he  still  went  on,  taking  their  cities  by  siege,  and  again  killing  whatever  he  took. 

19.  The  fiftii  year  was  now  past,  and  there  was  not  one  of  the  Canaanites  re- 
mained  any  longer,  excepting  some  that  had  retired  to  places  of  great  strength. 
So  Joshua  removed  his  camp  to  the  mountainous  country,  and  placed  the  taber- 
nacle in  the  city  of  Shiloh,  for  that  seemed  a  fit  place  for  it,  because  of  the  beauty 
of  its  situation,  until  such  time  as  their  affairs  would  permit  them  to  build  a 
temple  ;  and  from  thence  he  Avent  to  Shechem,  together  with  all  the  people,  and 
raised  an  altar,  where  Moses  had  beforehand  directed  ;  then  did  he  divide  the 
army,  and  placed  one  half  of  them  on  Mount  Gerizim,  and  the  other  half  on 
Mount  Ebal,:]:  on  which  mountain  the  altar  was;  he  also  placed  there  the  tribe 
of  Levi,  and  the  priests.  And  when  they  had  sacrificed,  and  denounced  the 
[blessings  and  the]  curses,  and  had  left  them  engraven  upon  the  altar,  they  re- 
torned  to  Shiloh. 

*  Whether  this  lengthening  of  the  day,  by  the  standing  still  of  the  sun  and  moon  were  physical  and 
real,  by  the  miraculous  stoppage  of  the  diurnal  motion  of  the  earth  for  about  half  a  revolution,  or  whether 
only  apparent,  by  aerial  }>hospho7-i  imitating  the  sun  and  moon  as  stationary  so  long,  while  clouds  and  the 
night  hid  the  real  ones,  and  this  pariielion,  ormocksun,  affording  sufficient  light  for  Joshua's  pursuit  and 
complete  victory  (which  aerial  phosphori  in  other  shapes  have  been  more  than  ordinarily  common  of  late 
years,)  cannot  now  be  determined  ;  philosophers  and  astronomers  will  naturally  incline  to  this  latter 
hypothesis.  In  tlie  mean  time,  the  fact  itself  was  mentioned  in  the  book  of  Jasher,  now  lost,  Josh.  x. 
13;  and  is  confirmed  by  Isaiali,  xxviii.  21 ;  by  Habar.cuc,  iii.  11,  and  by  the  father  of  Sirach,  Eccks. 
acivi.  4  ;  in  the  18th  Psalm  ol  Solomon,  ver.  ult.  it  is  also  said  of  the  luminaries,  with  relation,  no  doubt,  to 
this  and  the  like  miraculous  standing  still  and  going  back,  in  the  days  of  Joshua  and  Hezekiah,  "They 
have  not  wandered  from  the  day  that  he  created  them  ;  they  have  not  forsaken  their  way  from  ancient  ge- 
nerations, unless  it  were  when  God  enjoined  them  [so  to  do]  by  the  command  of  his  servants."  See 
Authent.  Rcc.  pint.  i.  p.  154. 

^  Of  the  bonks  laid  up  in  the  temple,  see  the  note  on  Antiq.  B.  iii.  ch.  i.  sect.  7. 

J  Of  the  situation  of  this  altar,  see  Essay  on  the  Old  Testament,  p.  170, 171, 


G.  I.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  15j 

20.  And  now  Joshua  was  old^  and  saw  that  the  cities  of  the  Canaanites  were 
not  easily  to  be  taken,  not  only  because  they  were  situate  in  such  strong  places, 
but  because  of  the  strength  of  the  walls  themselves,  which  beino-  built  round 
about,  the  natural  strength  of  the  places  on  which  the  cities  stood  seemed  capa- 
ble of  repelling  their  enemies  from  besieging  them,  and  of  making  those  enemies 
despair  of  taking  them  ;  for  when  the  Canaanites  had  learned  that  the  Israelites 
came  out  of  Egypt  in  order  to  destroy  them,  they  were  busy  all  that  time  in 
making  their  cities  strong.  So  he  gathered  the  people  together  to  a  confrretra- 
tion  at  Shiloh  ;  and  when  they  with  great  zeal  and  haste  were  come  thither,  he 
observed  to  them  what  prosperous  successes  they  had  already  had,  and  what 
glorious  things  had  been  done,  and  those  such  as  were  worthy  of  that  Cod  who 
enabled  them  to  do  those  things,  and  worthy  of  the  virtue  of  those  laws  which 
they  followed.  He  took  notice  also,  that  thirty-one  of  those  kinjrs  that  ventured 
to  give  them  battle  were  overcome,  and  every  army,  how  great  soever  it  were, 
that  confided  in  their  own  power,  and  fought  with  them,  was  utterly  destroyed  ; 
so  that  not  so  much  as  any  of  their  posterity  remained.  And  as  for  the  cities, 
since  some  of  them  were  taken,  but  the  others  must  be  taken  in  length  of  time, 
by  long  sieges,  both  on  account  of  the  strength  of  their  walls,  and  of  the  con- 
fidence the  inhabitants  had  in  them  thereby,  he  thought  it  reasonable  that  those 
tribes  that  came  along  Avith  them  from  beyond  Jordan,  and  had  partaken  of  the 
dangers  they  had  undergone,  being  their  own  kindred,  should  now  be  dismissed 
and  sent  home,  and  should  have  thanks  for  the  pains  they  had  taken  together  with 
them.  As  also,  he  thought  it  reasonable  that  they  should  send  one  man  out  of 
every  tribe,  and  he  such  as  had  the  testimony  of  extraordinaiy  virtue,  who  should 
measure  the  land  faithfully,  and  without  any  fallacy  or  deceit  should  inform  them 
of  its  real  magnitude. 

21.  Now  Joshua,  when  he  had  thus  spoken  to  them,  found  that  the  multitude 
approved  of  his  proposal.  So  he  sent  men  to  measure  their  country,  and  sent 
with  them  some  geometricians,  who  could  not  easily  fail  of  knowing  the  truth,  on 
account  of  their  skill  in  that  art.  He  also  gave  them  a  charge  to  estimate  the 
measure  of  that  part  of  the  land  that  was  most  fruitful,  and  what  was  not  so 
good ;  for  such  is  the  nature  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  that  one  may  see  large 
plains,  and  such  as  are  exceeding  fit  to  produce  fruit,  which  yet,  if  they  were 
compared  to  other  parts  of  the  country,  might  be  reckoned  exceedingly  fruitful, 
yet  if  it  be  compared  with  the  fields  about  Jericho,  and  to  those  that  belong  to 
Jerusalem,  will  appear  to  be  of  no  account  at  all.  And  although  it  so  falls  out, 
that  these  people  have  but  a  very  little  of  this  sort  of  land,  and  that  it  is  for  the 
main  mountainous  also,  yet  does  it  not  come  behind  other  parts,  on  account  of 
its  exceeding  goodness  and  beauty  ;  for  which  reason  Joshua  thought  (he  land 
for  the  tribes  should  be  divided  by  estimation  of  its  goodness,  rather  than  the 
largeness  of  its  measure,  it  often  happening  that  one  acre  of  some  sort  of  land 
was  equivalent  to  a  thousand  other  acres.  i\ow  the  men  that  were  sent,  which 
were  in  number  ten,  travelled  all  about,  and  made  an  estimation  of  the  land,  and 
in  the  seventh  month  came  to  him  to  the  city  of  Shiloh,  where  they  had  set  up 
the  tabernacle. 

22.  So  Joshua  took  both  Eleazar  and  the  senate,  and  whh  them  the  heads  of 
the  tribes,  and  distributed  the  land  to  the  nine  tribes,  and  to  the  half  tribe  of  Ma- 
nasseh,  appointing  the  dimensions  to  be  according  totlie  largeness  of  each  tribe. 
So  when  he  had  cast  lots,  Judah  had  assigned  him  by  lot  the  upper  part  of  Ju. 
dca,  reaching  as  far  as  Jerusalem,  and  its  breadth  extended  to  the  lake  of  Sodom. 
Now  in  the  lot  of  this  tribe  there  were  the  cities  of  Ascalon  aud  Caza.  Tho 
lot  of  Simeon,  which  was  the  second,  included  that  part  of  Idunica,  which  bor- 
dered upon  Egypt  and  Arabia.  As  to  the  Benjamites,  their  lot  lell  so,  that  its 
length  reached  from  the  river  Jordan  to  t!ic  sea,  but  in  breadth  it  was  bounded 
by  Jerusalem  and  Bethel ;  aud  this  lot  was  the  narrowest  of  all,  by  reason  of  tho 
goodness  of  the  land,  for  it  included  Jericho  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem.     The 


152  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

tribe  of  Epliraim  had  by  lot  the  land  that  extended  in  length  from  the  river  Jor- 
dan  to  Gezer,  but  in  breadth  as  far  as  from  EcLhel  till  it  end  at  the  great  plain. 
The  half  tribe  of  Manasseh  had  the  land  from  Jordan  to  the  city  Dora,  but  its 
breadth  was  at  Bethsham,  which  is  now  called  Scythopolls.  And  after  these  was 
Issachar,  which  had  its  limits  in  length,  Mount  Carmel  and  the  river,  but  its  limit 
in  breadth  was  Mount  Tabor.  The  tribe  of  Zebulon's  lot  included  the  land 
which  lay  as  far  as  the  lake  of  Gennesareth,  and  that  which  belonged  to  Carmel 
and  the  sea.  The  tribe  of  Aser  had  that  part  which  was  called  the  Valley,  for 
such  it  was,  and  all  that  part  which  lay  over  against  Sidon.  The  city  Arce  be- 
longed to  their  share,  which  is  also  named  Actipus.  The  Naphthalites  received 
the  eastern  parts,  as  far  as  the  city  of  Damascus  and  the  Upper  Galilee,  unto 
Mount  Libanus,  and  the  fountains  of  Jordan  which  rise  out  of  that  mountain  ; 
that  is,  out  of 'that  part  of  it  whose  limits  belong  to  the  neighbouring  city  Arce. 
The  Danites'  lot  included  all  that  part  of  the  valley  which  respects  the  sun-set- 
ting,  and  were  bounded  by  Azotus  and  Dora;  as  also  they  had  all  Jamnia  and 
Gath,  from  Ekron  to  that  mountain  where  the  tribe  of  Judah  begins. 

23.  After  this  manner  did  Joshua  divide  the  six  nations  that  bear  the  name  of 
the  sons  of  Canaan,  with  their  land,  to  be  possessed  by  the  nine  tribes  and  a 
half,  for  Moses  had  prevented  him,  and  had  already  distributed  the  land  of  the 
Amorites,  which  itself  was  so  called  also  from  one  of  the  sons  of  Canaan,  to  the 
two  tribes  and  a  half,  as  we  have  showed  already.  But  the  parts  about  Sidon, 
as  also  those  that  belonged  to  the  Arkites,  and  the  Amathites  and  the  Aradians, 
were  not  yet  regularly  disposed  of. 

24.  But  now  was  Joshua  hindered  by  his  age  from  executing  what  he  intended 
to  do  (as  did  those  that  succeeded  him  in  the  government,  take  little  care  of  what 
was  for  the  advantage  of  the  public,)  so  he  gave  it  in  charge  to  every  tribe  to 
leave  no  remainder  of  the  race  of  the  Canaanites  in  the  land  that  had  been  divi- 
ded  to  them  by  lot ;  that  Moses  had  assured  them  beforehand,  and  they  might 
rest  fully  satisfied  about  it,  that  their  own  security  and  their  observation  of  their 
own  laws  depended  wholly  upon  it.  Moreover,  he  enjoined  them  to  give  thirty, 
eight  cities  to  the  Levites,  for  they  had  already  received  ten  in  the  country  of 
the  Amorites  ;  and  three  of  these  he  assigned  to  those  that  fled  from  the  manslay- 
ers,  who  were  to  inhabit  there  ;  for  he  w'as  very  solicitous  that  nothing  should 
be  neglected  which  Moses  had  ordained.  These  cities  were,  of  the  tribe  of  Ju- 
dab,  Hebron  ;  of  that  of  Ephraim,  Shechem  ;.  and  of  that  of  Naphthali,  Cadesh, 
which  is  a  place  of  the  Upper  Galilee.  He  also  distributed  among  them  the  rest 
of  the  prey  not  yet  distributed,  which  was  very  great,  whereby  they  had  an  afflu- 
ence of  great  riches,  both  all  in  general,  and  every  one  in  particular;  and  this 
of  gold,  and  of  vestments,  and  of  other  furniture,  besides  a  multitude  of  cattle, 
whose  number  could  not  be  told. 

25.  After  this  was  over,  he  gathered  the  army  together  to  a  congregation ; 
and  spake  thus  to  those  tribes  that  had  their  settlement  in  the  land  of  the  Amo- 
rites beyond  Jordan,  for  50,000  of  them  had  armed  themselves,  and  had  gone  to 
the  war  along  with  them  :  "  Since  that  God,  who  is  the  Father  and  Lord  of 
the  Hebrew  nation,  has  now  given  us  this  land  for  a  possession,  and  promised  to 
Ijreserve  us  in  the  enjoyment  of  it  as  our  own  for  ever ;  and  since  you  have  with 
alacrity  offered  yourselves  to  assist  us  when  we  wanted  that  assistance  on  all  oc- 
casions, according  to  his  command,  it  is  but  just,  now  all  our  difficulties  are  over, 
that  you  should  be  permitted  to  enjoy  rest,  and  that  we  should  trespass  on  your 
alacrity  to  help  us  no  longer,  that  so  if  we  should  again  stand  in  need  of  it,  we 
may  readily  have  it  on  any  future  emergency,  and  not  tire  you  out  so  much  now 
as  may  make  you  slower  in  assisting  us  another  time.  We  therefore  return  you 
our  thanks  for  the  dangers  you  have  undergone  with  us  ;  and  we  do  it  not  at  this 
time  only,  but  we  shall  always  be  thus  disposed  ;  and  be  so  good  as  to  remember 
our  Iriends,  and  to  [)reserve  in  mind  what  advantages  we  have  had  from  them, 
and  how  you  have  put  off  the  enjoyments  of  your  own  happiness  for  our  sakesj 


C.  1.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  J  (53 

and  have  laboured  for  what  we  have  now,  by  the  good  will  of  God,  obtained,  and 
resolved  not  to  enjoy  your  own  prosperity  till  you  had  afforded  us  that  assistance. 
However,  you  have,  by  joining  your  labour  with  ours,  gotten  great  plenty  of  rich- 
es, and  will  carry  home  with  you  much  prey,  with  gold  and  silver,  and,  what  is 
more  than  all  these,  our  good  will  towards  you,  and  a  mind  willingly  disposed  to 
make  a  requital  of  your  kindness  to  us,  in  what  case  soever  you  shall  desire  it, 
for  you  have  not  omitted  any  thing  which  Moses  beforehand  required  of  you,  nor 
have  you  despised  him  because  he  was  dead  and  gone  from  you,  so  that  there  is 
nothing  to  diminish  that  gratitude  which  we  owe  to  you.  We  therefore  dismiss 
you  joyful  to  your  own  inheritances  ;  and  we  entreat  you  to  suppose,  that  there 
is  no  limit  to  be  set  to  the  intimate  relation  that  is  between  us  ;  and  that  you  will 
not  imagine 'that  because  this  river  is  interposed  between  us,  that  you  are  of  a 
different  race  from  us,  and  not  Hebrews,  for  we  are  all  the  posterity  of  Abraham, 
both  we  that  inhabit  here,  and  5'ou  that  inhabit  there  ;  and  it  is  the  same  God 
that  brought  our  forefathers  and  yours  into  the  world,  whose  worship  and  form 
of  government  we  are  to  take  care  of,  which  he  has  ordained,  and  are  most  care- 
fully to  observe  ;  because  while  you  continue  in  those  laws,  God  will  also  show 
himself  merciful  and  assisting  to  you  ;  but  if  you  imitate  the  other  nations,  and 
forsake  those  laws,  he  will  reject  your  nation."  When  Joshua  had  spoken  thus, 
and  saluted  them  all,  both  those  in  authority,  one  by  one,  and  the  whole  multi- 
tude in  common,  he  himself  stayed  where  he  was,  but  the  people  conducted  those 
tribes  on  their  joui'ney,  and  that  not  without  tears  in  their  eyes  ;  and  indeed  they 
hardly  knew  how  to  part  one  from  the  other. 

26.  Now  when  the  tribe  of  Reubel,  and  that  of  Gad,  and  as  many  of  th6 
Manassites  as  followed  them  were  passed  over  the  river,  they  built  an  altar  on 
the  banks  of  Jordan,  as  a  monument  to  posterity,  and  a  sign  of  the  relation  to 
those  that  should  inhabit  on  the  other  side.  But  when  those  on  the  other  side 
heard  that  those  who  had  been  dismissed  had  built  an  altar,  but  did  not  hear  with 
"what  intention  they  built  it,  but  supposed  it  to  be  by  way  of  innovation,  and 
for  the  introduction  of  strange  gods,  they  did  not  incline  to  disbelieve  it,  but 
thinking  this  defamatory  report,  as  if  it  were  built  for  divine  worsliip,  was  cre- 
dible, they  appeared  in  arms,  as  though  they  would  avenge  themselves  on  those 
that  built  the  altar ;  and  they  were  about  to  pass  over  the  river,  and  to  punish 
them  for  their  subversion  of  the  laws  of  their  country;  for  they  did  not  think  it 
fit  to  regard  them  on  account  of  their  kindred,  or  the  dignity  of  those  that  had 
given  the  occasion,  but  to  regard  the  will  of  God,  and  the  manner  wherein  he 
desired  to  be  worshipped,  so  ihese  men  put  themselves  in  array  for  war.  But 
Joshua,  and  Eleazar  llie  high  priest,  and  the  senate  restrained  them  ;  and  per- 
suaded them  first  to  make  trial  by  words  of  their  intention,  and  afterwards,  if 
they  found  that  their  intention  was  evil,  then  only  to  proceed  to  make  war  upon 
them.  Accordingly  they  sent  as  ambassadors  to  them,  Phineas,  the  son  of  Ele- 
azar, and  ten  more  persons  that  were  in  esteem  among  the  Hebrews,  to  learn  of 
them  what  was  in  their  mind  when,  upon  passing  over  the  river,  they  had  built 
an  altar  upon  its  banks.  But  as  soon  as  these  ambassadors  were  passed  over, 
and  were  come  to  them,  and  a  congregation  was  assembled,  Phineas  stood  up 
and  said,  "  That  the  offence  they  had  been  guiUy  of  was  of  too  heinous  a  nature 
to  be  punished  by  words  alone,  or  by  them  only  to  be  amended  for  the  future  ; 
yet  that  they  did  not  so  look  at  the  heinousness  of  their  transgression  as  to  have 
recourse  to  arms,  and  to  a  battle  for  their  punishment  immediately,  but  that,  on 
account  of  tlieir  kindred,  and  the  probability  there  was  that  tiiey  might  be  re. 
claimed,  they  took  this  method  of  sending  an  ambassage  to  them,  that  when 
we  have  learned  the  true  reasons  by  which  you  have  been  moved  to  build  this 
altar,  we  may  neither  seem  to  have  been  too  rash  in  assaulting  you  by  our  wea- 
pons  of  war,  if  it  prove  that  you  made  the  altar  for  jusfifiahle  reasoua,  and  may 
then  justly  punish  you  if  the  accusation  prove  true  ;  for  we  can  hardly  suppose 
that  you,  who  have  been  acquainted  with  the  will  of  God,  and  have  been  bear- 
VOL.  I.  U 


154  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

ers  of  those  laws  which  he  himself  hath  given  us,  now  you  are  separated  from  us, 
and  gone  to  that  patrimony  of  yours,  which  you,  through  the  grace  of  God  and 
that  providence  he  exercises  over  you,  have  obtained  by  lot,  can  forget  him, 
and  can  leave  that  ark,  and  that  altar  which  is  peculiar  to  us,  and  can  introduce 
strange  gods,  and  imitate  the  wicked  practices  of  the  Canaanites.  Now  this 
will  appear  to  have  been  a  small  crime,  if  you  repent  now,  and  proceed  no  far- 
ther  in  your  madness,  but  pay  a  due  reverence  to,  and  keep  in  mind  the  laws 
of  your  country ;  but  if  you  persist  in  your  sins,  we  will  not  grudge  our  pains  to 
preserve  our  laws,  but  we  will  pass  over  Jordan  and  defend  them,  and  defend 
(jiod  also,  and  shall  esteem  of  you  as  of  men  no  way  differing  from  the  Canaan 
ites,  but  shall  destroy  you  in  the  like  manner  as  we  destroy  them  ;  for  do 
not  you  imagine  that,  because  you  are  got  over  the  river,  that  j^ou  are  got  out 
of  the  reach  of  God's  power ;  you  are  every  where  in  places  that  belong  to  him 
and  impossible  it  is  to  overrun  his  power  and  the  punishment  he  will  bring  oc 
men  thereby  :  but  if  you  think  that  your  settlement  here  will  be  any  obstruction 
to  your  conversion  to  what  is  good,  nothing  need  hinder  us  from  dividing  the 
land  anew,  and  leaving  this  old  land  to  be  for  the  feeding  of  sheep  ;  but  you 
will  do  well  to  return  to  your  dut)^,  and  to  leave  off  these  new  crimes  ;  and  we 
beseech  you  by  your  children  and  wives,  not  to  force  us  to  punish  you.  Take 
therefore,  such  measures  in  this  assembly,  as  supposing  that  your  own  safety 
and  the  safety  of  those  that  are  dearest  to  5'ou,  is  therein  concerned  ;  and  be 
lieve  that  it  is  better  for  you  to  be  conquered  by  Avords,  than  to  continue  in  youi 
purpose,  and  to  experience  deeds  and  war  therefore." 

27.  When  Phineas  had  discoursed  thus,  the  governors  of  the  assembly,  and 
the  whole  multitude,  began  to  make  an  apology  for  themselves  concerning  what 
they  were  accused  of,  and  they  said,  "  That  they  neither  would  depart  from  the 
relation  they  bare  to  them  ;  nor  had  they  built  the  altar  by  way  of  innovation  ; 
that  they  owned  one  and  the  same  common  God  with  all  the  Hebrews,  and  that 
brazen  altar  which  was  before  the  tabernacle,  on  which  they  would  offer  their 
sacrifices  ;  that  as  to  the  altar  they  had  raised,  on  account  of  which  they  were 
thus  suspected,  it  was  not  built  for  worship,  but  that  it  might  be  a  sign  and  a 
monument  of  our  relation  to  you  for  ever,  and  a  necessary  caution  to  us  to  act 
wisely,  and  to  continue  in  the  laws  of  our  country,  but  not  a  handle  for  trans- 
gressing them,  as  you  suspect ;  and  let  God  be  our  authentic  witness  that  this 
was  the  occasion  of  our  building  this  altar :  whence  we  beg  you  will  have  a 
better  opinion  of  us,  and  do  not  impvite  such  a  thing  to  us  as  would  render  any 
of  the  posterity  of  Abraham  well  worthy  of  perdition,  in  case  they  attempt  to 
bring  in  new  rites,  and  such  as  are  different  from  our  usual  practices." 

28.  When  they  had  made  this  answer,  and  Phineas  had  commended  them  for 
it,  he  came  to  Joshua,  and  explained  before  the  people  what  answer  they  had  re- 
ceived ;  now  Joshua  was  glad  that  he  was  under  no  necessity  of  setting  them 
in  array,  or  of  leading  them  to  shed  blood,  and  make  war  against  men  of  their 
own  kindred  ;  and  accordingly  he  offered  sacrifices  of  thanksgiving  to  God  for 
the  same.  So  Joshua,  after  that,  dissolved  this  great  assembly  of  the  people, 
and  sent  them  to  their  own  inheritances,  while  he  himself  lived  in  Shechem. 
But  in  the  twentieth  year  after  this,  when  he  was  very  old,  he  sent  for  those  of 
the  greatest  dignity  in  the  several  cities,  with  those  in  authority,  and  the  senate, 
and  as  many  of  the  common  people  as  could  be  present ;  and  when  they  were 
come,  he  put  them  in  mind  of  all  the  benefits  God  had  bestowed  on  them,  which 
could  not  but  be  a  great  many,  since,  from  a  low  estate,  they  were  advanced  to 
so  great  a  degree  of  glory  and  plenty  ;  and  exhorted  them  to  take  notice  of  the 
intentions  of  God,  which  had  been  so  gracious  towards  them  ;  and  told  them, 
that  the  Deity  would  continue  their  friend  by  nothing  else  but  their  piety  ;  and 
that  it  was  proper  for  him,  now  he  was  about  to  depart  out  of  this  life,  to  leave 
such  an  admonition  to  them,  and  he  desired  that  they  would  keep  in  memory  this 
his  exhortation  to  them. 


C.  II.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  X55 

29.  So  Joshua,  when  he  had  thus  discoursed  to  them,  died,  havin"  hvcd  a  hun- 
dred and  ten  years  ;  forty  of  which  he  hved  with  Moses,  in  order  to  learn  what 
might  be  for  his  advantage  afterwards.  He  also  became  their  commander  after 
his  death  for  twenty-five  years.  He  was  a  man  that  wanted  not  wisdom  nor  elo- 
quence  to  declare  his  intentions  to  the  people,  but  very  eminent  on  both  accounts. 
He  was  of  great  courage  and  magnanimity,  in  action  and  in  dangers,  and  very 
sagacious  in  procuring  the  peace  of  the  people,  and  of  great  virtue  at  all  proper 
seasons.  He  was  buried  in  the  city  Timnah,  of  the  tribe  of  Epiiraim.*  About 
the  same  time  died  Eleazar  the  high  priest,  leaving  the  high  priesthood  to  his  son 
Phineas.     His  monument  also  and  sepulchre  are  in  the  city  Gabatha. 


CHAP.  n. 

How,  after  the  Death  of  Joshua,  their  Commander,  the  Israelites  transgressed  the 
Laws  of  their  Country,  and  experienced  great  afflictions ;  and  when  there  was  a 
Sedition  arisen,  the  Tribe  of  Benjamin  was  destroyed,  excepting  only  Six  Hun- 
dred Men. 

§  1.  After  the  death  of  Joshua  and  Eleazar,  Phineas  prophesiedf  that  accord- 
ing to  God's  will,  they  should  commit  the  government  to  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and 
that  this  tribe  should  destroy  the  race  of  the  Canaanites ;  for  then  the  people 
were  concerned  to  learn  what  was  the  will  of  God.  They  also  took  to  their  as- 
sistance  the  tribe  of  Simeon,  but  upon  this  condition,  that  when  those  that  had 
been  tributary  to  the  tribe  of  Judah  should  be  slain,  they  should  do  the  like  for 
the  tribe  of  Simeon. 

2.  But  the  atlairs  of  the  Canaanites  were  at  this  time  in  a  flourishing  condi- 
tion,  and  they  expected  the  Israelites  with  a  great  army  at  the  cityBezek,  having 
put  the  government  into  the  hands  of  Adonibezek,  which  name  denotes  the  Lord 
of  Bezek,  for  Adoni,  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  is  called  Lord.  Now  they  hoped  to 
have  been  too  hard  for  the  Israelites,  because  Joshua  was  dead.  But  when  the 
Israelites  had  joined  battle  with  them,  I  mean  the  two  tribes  before  mentioned, 
they  fought  gloriously,  and  slew  above  ten  thousand  of  them,  and  put  the  rest  to 
flight ;  and  in  the  pursuit  they  took  Adonibezek,  who,  when  his  fingers  and  toes 
were  cut  off  by  them,  said,  "  Nay,  indeed,  I  was  not  always  to  lie  concealed 
from  God,  as  I  find  by  what  I  now  endure,  while  I  have  not  been  ashamed  to  do 
the  same  to  seventy-two  kings.":]:     So  they  carried  him  alive  as  far  as  Jerusa- 

*  Since  not  only  Procopius  and  Suidas,  but  an  earlier  author,  Moses  Chorenensis,  p.  52,  53,  and  per- 
haps from  liis  original  author,  Mariba  Catina,  one  as  old  as  Alexander  the  Great,  sets  down  the  famous 
inscription  at  Tangier  concerning  the  old  Canaanites  driven  out  of  Palestine  by  Joshua,  take  it  here  in 
that  author's  own  words:  "  Wo  are  those  exiles  tliat  were  governors  of  the  Canaanites,  but  iiave  been 
driven  away  by  Joshua  the  robber,  and  are  come  to  inhabit  here :"  See  the  note  there.  IN'or  is  it  un- 
worthy of  our  notice,  what  Moses  Chorenensis  adds,  p.  ."jj,  and  this  upon  a  diligent  examination,  vii. 
that  "  one  of  those  eminent  men  among  the  Canaanites  came  at  the  same  time  into  Armenia,  and  found- 
ed tlie  Genthunian  family  or  tribe,  and  that  this  was  confirmed  by  the  manners  of  the  same  family  or 
tribe,  as  being  like  those  of  the  Canaanites." 

f  ^y  prophesying,  when  spoken  of  a  high  priest,  Josephus.both  here  and  frequently  elsewhere,  means 
no  more  than  consulting  God  by  Urim,  which  the  reader  is  still  to  bear  in  mind  upon  all  occasions.  And 
if  St.  John,  wlio  was  contemporary  with  Josephus,  and  of  tlie  same  country,  made  use  of  this  style, 
when  he  says,  thnt  "  Caiphas,  being  high  priest  that  year,  prophesied  that  Jesus  should  die  for  that  na- 
tion, and  not  for  that  nation  only,  but  that  also  he  should  gather  together  in  one  the  childreii  of  God 
that  were  scattered  abroad,"  xi.  51,  52,  he  may  nossibly  mean  that  this  was  revealed  to  the  high  priest 
by  an  extraordinary  voice  from  between  the  cherubims,  when  he  iiad  his  breastplate,  or  Urim  and  Thum- 
niiin  on,  before  or  in  the  most  holy  place  of  the  temple,  which  was  no  otlior  than  the  oracle  of  Urim  and 
Ihummim,     Of  which  above  in  the  note  on  Antiq.  B.  iii.  ch.  viii.  sect.  9. 

X  This  great  number  of  seventy-two  reguli,  or  small  kings,  over  whom  Adoniliezek  had  tyrannized, 
and  for  which  he  was  punished  according  to  (he  lex  talionis,  as  well  as  the  tiiirty-one  kings  of  Canaan, 
subdued  by  Joshua,  and  named  in  one  chapter.  Josh.  xii.  and  thirty-two  kings,  or  royal  auxiliaries  to 
Benhadad,  king  of  Syria,  1  King  xx.  1  ;  Antiq.  b.  viii.  ch.  xiv.  sect.  1  ;  intimate  to  us  what  was  tlie  an- 
cient form  of  government  among  several  nations  before  the  monarchies  began,  viz.  that  eveiy  city  or  large 

U2- 


156 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 


lem  •  and  when  he  was  dead  they  buried  him  in  the  earth,  and  went  on  in  still 
taking  the  cities;  and  when  they  had  taken  the  greatest  part  of  them,  they  be- 
sieged Jerusalem  ;  and  when  they  had  taken  the  lower  city,  which  was  not  under 
a  considerable  time,  they  slew  all  the  inhabitants  ;  but  the  upper  city  was  not  to 
be  taken  without  great  difficulty,  through  the  strength  of  its  walls,  and  the  nature 
of  the  place. 

3.  For  which  reason  they  removed  their  camp  to  Hebron ;  and  when  they 
had  taken  it,  they  slew  all  the  inhabitants.  There  were  till  then  left  the  race 
of  giants  who  had  bodies  so  large,  and  countenances  so  entirely  different  from 
other  men,  that  they  were  surprising  to  the  sight,  and  terrible  to  the  hearing. 
The  bones  of  these  men  are  still  shown  to  this  very  day,  unlike  to  any  credible 
relations  of  other  men.  Now  they  gave  this  city  to  the  Levites  as  an  extraordi- 
nary  reward,  with  the  suburbs  of  two  thousand  cities  ;  but  the  land  thereto  be- 
longing  they  gave  as  a  free  gift  to  Caleb,  according  to  the  injunctions  of  Moses. 
This  Caleb  was  one  of  the  spies  which  Moses  sent  into  the  land  of  Canaan. 
They  also  gave  land  for  habitation  to  the  posterity  of  Jethro  the  Midianite,  who 
was  the  father-in-law  to  Moses,  for  they  had  left  their  own  country,  and  followed 
them,  and  accompanied  them,  in  the  wilderness. 

4.  Now  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Simeon  took  the  cities  which  were  in  the 
mountainous  part  of  Canaan,  as  also  Askelon  and  Ashod,  of  those  that  lay  near 
the  sea  ;  but  Gaza  and  Ekron  escaped  them ;  for  they,  lying  in  a  flat  country, 
and  having  a  great  number  of  chariots,  they  sorely  galled  those  that  attacked 
them.  So  these  tribes,  when  they  were  grown  very  rich,  by  this  war,  retired  to 
their  own  cities,  and  laid  aside  their  weapons  of  war. 

5.  But  the  Benjamites,  to  whom  belonged  Jerusalem,  permitted  its  inhabi- 
tants to  pay  tribute  ;  so  they  all  left  off,  the  one  to  kill,  and  the  other  to  expose 
themselves  to  danger,  and  had  time  to  cultivate  the  ground.  The  rest  of  the 
tribes  imitated  that  of  Benjamin,  and  did  the  same  ;  and  contenting  themselves 
■\vith  the  tributes  that  were  paid  them,  permitted  the  Canaanites  to  live  in  peace. 

6.  However,  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  when  they  besieged  Bethel,  made  no  ad- 
vance, nor  performed  any  thing  worthy  of  the  time  they  spent,  and  of  the  pains 
they  took  about  that  siege,  yet  did  they  persist  in  it,  still  sitting  down  before  the 
city,  though  they  endui-ed  great  trouble  thereby.  But  after  some  time,  they 
caught  one  of  the  citizens  that  came  to  them  to  get  necessaries,  and  they  gave 
him  some  assurances  that,  if  he  would  deliver  up  the  city  to  them,  they  would 
preserve  him  and  liis  kindi'ed ;  so  he  sware,  that  upon  those  terms  he  would  put 
the  city  into  their  hands.  Accordingly  he  that  thus  betrayed  the  city  was  pre- 
served, with  his  family ;  and  the  Israelites  slew  all  the  inhabitants,  and  retained 
the  city  for  themselves. 

7.  After  this,  the  Israelites  grew  effeminate  as  to  fighting  any  more  against 
their  enemies,  but  applied  themselves  to  the  cultivation  of  the  land,  which  produ- 
eing  them  great  plenty  and  riches,  they  neglected  the  regular  disposition  of  their 
settlement,  and  indulged  themselves  in  luxury  and  pleasures ;  nor  were  they  any 
longer  careful  to  hear  the  lav>'s  that  belonged  to  their  pohtical  government. 
Whereupon  God  was  provoked  to  anger,  and  put  them  in  mind,  first,  how  con- 
town  with  its  nelgtibouring  villages,  was  a  distinct  governinent  by  itself;  wliich  is  the  more  remarkabie, 
because  this  was  certainly  the  form  of  ecclesiastical  government  that  was  settled  by  the  apostles,  and 
preserved  throughout  the  Christian  church  in  the  first  ages  of  (Christianity.  Mr.  Addison  is  of  opinion 
that"  it  would  certainly  be  for  the  good  of  mankind,  to  have  all  the  mighty  empires  and  monarchies  of 
tlie  world  cantoned  out  into  petty  states  and  principalities,  which,  iike  so  many  large  families,  might  lie 
ymder  the  observation  of  their  proper  governors,  so  that  the  care  of  the  prince  might  extend  itself  to  every 
individual  person  under  his  protection  ;  though  he  despairs  of  such  a  scheme  being  brought  about,  and 
thinks  that,  if  it  were,  it  would  quickly  be  destroyed."  Remarks  on  Italy,  4to.  p.  151.  Nor  is  it  unfit  to 
be  observed  liere,  that  the  Armenian  records,  though  they  give  us  the  history  of  thirty  nine  of  their  an- 
cientcst  heroes  or  governors  after  the  flood,  before  the  days  of  Sardanapalis,  had  no  proper  king  till  tho 
fortieth  Para,-rus.  See  Moses  Chorenensis,  p.  55.  And  that  Almighty  God  does  not  approve  of  such  ab- 
solute or  tyrannical  monarchies,  any  one  may  learn  that  reads  Deut.xvit.  14 — 20,  and  ISam.  viii.  1 — 22; 
although,  if  such  kings  are  set  up  as  own  him  for  their  supreme  King,  and  aim  to  govern  according  to  his 
^aws-  he  hath  admitted  of  them,  and  protected  them  and  their  subjects  in  all  generations. 


C.  IL  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  157 

trary  to  his  directions  they  had  spared  the  Canaanitcs,  and,  after  that,  how  those 
Canaanites,  as  opportunity  served,  used  them  very  barbarously.  But  the  Israel- 
ites, though  they  were  in  heaviness  at  these  admonitions  from  God,  yet  were 
ihey  still  very  unwilling  to  go  to  war  ;  and  since  they  got  large  tributes  from  the 
Canaanites,  and  were  indisposed  for  taking  pains  by  their  luxury,  they  suflered 
(heir  aristocracy  to  be  corrupted  also,  and  did  not  ordain  themselves  a  senate, 
nor  any  such  magistrates  as  their  laws  had  formerly  required,  but  they  were  very 
much  given  to  cultivating  their  fields  in  order  to  get  wealth;  which  great  indo- 
lence of  theirs  brought  a  terrible  sedition  upon  them,  and  they  proceeded  so  far 
as  to  fight  one  against  another,  from  the  following  occasion. 

8.  There  was  a  Levite,*  a  man  of  a  vulgar  family,  that  belonged  to  the  tribe 
of  Ephraim,  and  dwelt  therein  ;  this  man  married  a  wife  from  Bethlehem,  which 
is  a  place  belonging  to  the  tribe  of  Judah.  Now  he  was  very  fond  of  his  wife, 
and  overcome  with  her  beauty  ;  but  he  was  unhappy  in  this,  that  he  did  not  meet 
with  the  like  return  of  affection  from  her,  for  she  was  averse  to  him,  which  did 
more  inflame  his  passion  for  her,  so  that  they  quarrelled  one  with  another  per- 
petually ;  and  at  last  the  woman  was  so  disgusted  at  these  quarrels  that  she  left 
her  husband,  and  went  to  her  parents  in  the  fourth  month.  The  husband  being 
very  uneasy  at  this  her  departure,  and  that,  out  of  his  fondness  for  her,  came  to 
his  father  and  mother-in-law,  and  made  up  their  quarrels,  and  was  reconciled  to 
her,  and  lived  with  them  there  four  days,  as  being  kindly  treated  by  her  parents. 
On  the  fifth  day  he  resolved  to  go  home,  and  went  away  in  the  evening  ;  for  his 
wife's  parents  were  loath  to  part  with  their  daughter,  and  delayed  the  time  till 
the  day  was  gone.  Now  they  had  one  servant  that  followed  them,  and  an  ass  on 
which  the  woman  rode  ;  and  when  they  were  near  Jerusalem,  having  gone  al- 
ready  thirty  furlongs,  tlie  servant  advised  them  to  take  up  their  lodgings  some- 
where, lest  some  misfortune  should  befall  them  if  they  traveled  in  the  night, 
especially  since  they  were  not  far  off  enemies,  that  season  often  giving  reason 
for  suspicion  of  dangers  from  even  such  as  are  friends  ;  but  the  husband  was  not 
pleased  with  this  advice,  nor  was  he  willing  to  take  up  his  lodging  among  stran- 
gers  ;  for  the  city  belonged  to  the  Canaanites,  but  desired  rather  to  go  twenty 
furlongs  farther,  and  so  to  take  their  lodgings  in  soma  Israelite  city.  Accord- 
ingly he  obtained  his  purpose,  and  came  to  Gibeah,  a  city  of  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin,  when  it  was  just  dark ;  and  while  no  one  that  li\  ed  in  the  market  place 
invited  him  to  lodge  with  him,  there  came  an  old  man  out  of  the  field,  one  that 
was  indeed  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  but  resided  in  Gibeah,  and  met  him,  and 
asked  him.  Who  he  was  ?  and  for  what  reason  he  came  thither  so  late  ;  and  why 
he  was  looking  out  for  provisions  for  supper  when  it  was  dark  ?  To  which  he  re- 
plied that  he  was  a  Levite,  and  was  bringing  his  wife  from  her  parents,  and  was 
going  home,  but  he  told  him  his  habitation  was  in  the  tribe  of  Ephraim  :  so  the 
old  man,  as  well  because  of  their  kindred,  as  because  they  lived  in  the  same 
tribe,  and  also  because  they  had  thus  accidentally  met  together,  took  him  into 
lodge  with  him.  Now  certain  young  men,  of  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeah,  having 
seen  the  woman  in  the  market-place,  and  admiring  her  beauty,  when  they  undcM-- 
stood  that  she  lodged  with  the  old  man,  came  to  the  doors,  as  contemning  the 
weakness  and  fewness  of  the  old  man's  family;  and  when  the  old  man  desired 
them  to  go  away,  and  not  to  offer  any  violence  or  abuse  there,  tliey  desired  hnn 
to  yield  them  up  the  strange  woman,  and  then  he  should  have  no  harm  done  to 
him.  And  when  the  old  man  alleged,  that  the  Levite  was  of  iiis  kindred,  and 
that  they  would  be  guilty  of  horrid  wickedness  if  they  suffered  themselves  to  l)e 
overcome  by  their  pleasures,  and  so  oflx-nd  against  their  laws,  they  despised  his 
righteous  admonition,  and  laughed  him  to  scorn.     They  also  threatened  to  kill 

*  Josephus's  early  date  of  this  history  before  the  beginning  of  the  judges,  or  when  there  was  no  king 
in  Israel,  Judges,  xix.  1,  is  strongly  confirmed  by  t!ie  lar^e  nuinberof  Ikiijamites  both  m  the  days  ol  Asa 
and  Jehosliapliat,  2Chron.  xlv.'o.and  xvi.  17,  who  yet  were  iiere  reduced  to  UDO  men  ;  nor  can  those 
numbers  beat  all  supposed  genuine,  if  they  were  reduced  so  late  as  the  end  of  the  Judges,  wliere  out 
otiier  copies  place  this  reduction. 


J  58  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

him  if  he  became  an  obstacle  to  their  inclinations ;  whereupon,  when  he  found 
himself  in  great  distress,  and  yet  was  not  willing  to  overlook  his  guests,  and  see  them 
abused,  he  produced  his  own  daughter  to  them,  and  told  them,  that  it  was  a  smaller 
breach  of  the  law  to  satisfy  their  lust  upon  her  than  to  abuse  his  guests,  supposing 
that  he  himself  should  by  this  means  prevent  any  injury  to  be  done  to  those  guests. 
When  they  no  way  abated  of  their  earnestness  for  the  strange  woman,  but  insisted 
absolutely  on  their  desires  to  have  her,  he  entreated  them  not  to  perpetrate  any 
such  act  of  injustice  ;  but  they  proceeded  to  take  her  away  by  force,  and  indul- 
cinor  still  more  the  violence  of  their  inclinations,  they  took  the  woman  away  to 
their  house  ;  and  when  they  had  satisfied  their  lust  upon  her  the  whole  night, 
they  let  her  go  about  day  break.  So  she  came  to  the  place  where  she  had  been 
entertained,  under  great  affliction  at  Avhat  had  happened,  and  was  very  sorrowful 
upon  occasion  of  what  she  had  suffered,  and  durst  not  look  her  husband  in  the 
face  for  shame,  for  she  concluded  that  he  would  never  forgive  her  for  what  she 
had  done,  so  she  fell  down  and  gave  up  the  ghost ;  but  her  husband  supposed  that 
his  wife  was  only  fast  asleep,  and  thinking  nothing  of  a  more  melancholy  nature 
had  happened,  endeavoured  to  raise  her  up,  resolving  to  speak  comfortably  to  her, 
since  she  did  not  voluntarily  expose  herself  to  these  men's  lust,  but  was  forced 
away  to  their  house  ;  but  as  soon  as  he  perceived  she  was  dead,  he  acted  as  pru- 
dently as  the  greatness  of  his  misfortunes  would  admit,  and  laid  his  dead  wife  up- 
on  the  beast,  and  carried  her  home  ;  and  cutting  her  limb  by  limb  into  twelve 
pieces,  he  sent  tliem  to  every  tribe,  and  gave  it  in  charge  to  those  that  carried 
them,  to  inform  the  tribes  of  those  that  were  the  causes  of  his  wife's  death,  and  of 
the  violence  they  had  offered  to  her. 

9.  Upon  this  the  people  were  greatly  disturbed  at  what  they  saw,  and  at  what 
they  heard,  as  never  having  had  the  experience  of  such  a  thing  before  ;  so  they 
gathered  themselves  to  Shiloh,  out  of  a  prodigious  and  a  just  anger,  and  assem- 
bhng  in  a  great  congregation  before  the  tabernacle,  they  immediately  resolved  to 
take  arms,  and  to  treat  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeah  as  enemies;  but  the  senate  re- 
strained them  from  doing  so,  and  persuaded  them,  that  they  ought  not  so  hastily 
to  make  war  upon  people  of  the  same  nation  with  them,  before  they  discoursed 
with  them  by  words  concerning  the  accusation  laid  against  them,  it  being  part  of 
their  law,  that  they  should  not  bring  an  army  against  foreigners  themselves  when 
they  appear  to  have  been  injurious,  without  sending  an  emhassage  first,  and  trying 
thereby  whether  they  will  repent  or  not ;  and  accordingly  they  exhorted  them  to 
do  what  they  ought  to  do  in  obedience  to  their  laws,  that  is,  to  send  to  the  inha- 
bitants of  Gibeah,  to  know  whether  they  would  deliver  up  the  offenders  to  them, 
and  if  they  deliver  them  up,  to  rest  satisfied  with  the  punishment  of  those  offend, 
ers,  but  if  they  despise  the  message  that  was  sent  them,  to  punish  them,  by  taking 
up  arms  against  them.     Accordingly  they  sent  to  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeah,  and 
accused  the  young  men  of  the  crimes  committed  in  the  aflTair  of  the  Levite's 
■wife,  and  required  of  them  those  that  had  done  what  was  contrary  to  the  law,  that 
they  might  be  punished,  as  having  justly  deserved  to  die  for  what  they  had  done ; 
but  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeah  would  not  deliver  up  the  young  men,  and  thought 
it  too  reproachful  for  them,  out  of  fear  of  war,  to  submit  to  other  men's  demands 
upon  them,  vaunting  themselves  to  be  no  way  inferior  to  any  in  war,  nehher  in 
their  number  nor  in  courage.  The  rest  of  their  tribe  were  also  making  great  prepa- 
ration  for  war,  for  they  were  insolently  mad  as  also  to  resolve  to  repel  force  by  force. 
10.  When  it  was  related  to  the  Israelites,  what  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeah  had 
resolved  upon,  they  took  their  oath  that  no  one  of  them  would  give  his  daughter 
in  marriage  to  a  Benjamite,  but  make  war  with  greater  fury  against  them  than 
we  have  learned  our  forefathers  made  war  against  the  Canaanites,  and  sent  out 
presently  an  army  of  four  hundred  thousand  against  them,  while  the  Benjamitcs' 
army  was  twenty-five  thousand  and  six  hundred ;  five  hundred  of  which  was  ex- 
cellent at  slinging  stones   with  their  left  hands,   insomuch   that  when  battle  was 
joined  at  Gibeah  the  Benjamites  beat  the  Israelites,  and  of  them  there  fell  two 


C.  II.       '.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  159 

thousand  men ;  and  probably  more  had  been  destroyed  had  not  the  niglit  como 
on  and  prevented  it,  and  broken  off  the  tight ;  .so  the  Bcnjaniites  returned  to  the 
city  with  joy,  and  the  Israehtes  returned  to  their  camp  in  a  great  frifht  at  what 
had  happened.  On  the  next  day,  when  they  fought  again,  the  Bcnjaniites  beat 
them,  and  eighteen  thousand  of  the  Israehtes  were  skiin,  and  tlie  rest  deserted 
their  camp  out  of  fear  of  a  great  slaughter.  So  they  came  to  Bethel,*  a  city 
that  was  near  their  camp,  and  fasted  on  the  next  day ;  and  besought  God  by 
Phineas  the  high  priest,  that  his  wrath  against  them  might  cease,  and  that  he 
would  be  satisfied  with  these  two  defeats,  and  give  them  the  victory  and  power 
over  their  enemies.  Accordingly  God  promised  them  so  to  do  by  the  prophesy- 
ing of  Phineas. 

11.  When  therefore  they  had  divided  the  army  into  two  parts,  they  laid  the 
one  half  of  them  in  ambush  about  the  city  Gibeah  by  night,  while  the  other  half 
attacked  the  Benjamites,  who  retiring  upon  the  assault,  the  Bcnjamites  pursued 
them,  while  the  Hebrews  retired  by  slow  degrees,  as  very  desirous  to  draw  them 
entirely  from  the  city,  and  the  other  followed  them  as  they  retired,  till  botli  the 
old  men  and  young  men  that  were  left  in  the  city,  as  too  weak  to  fight,  came 
running  out  together  with  them,  as  willing  to  bring  their  enemies  under.  How- 
ever, when  they  were  a  great  way  from  the  city  the  Hebrews  ran  away  no  lon- 
ger, but  turned  back  to  light  them,  and  lift  up  the  signal  they  had  agreed  on  to 
those  that  lay  in  ambush,  wlio  rose  up,  and  with  a  great  noise  fell  upon  the  ene- 
my. Now,  as  soon  as  ever  they  perceived  themselves  to  be  deceived,  tliey  knew 
not  what  to  do,  and  when  they  were  driven  into  a  certain  hollow  place  wliich 
was  in  a  valley,  they  there  shot  at  by  those  that  encompassed  them,  fill  they  were 
all  destroyed,  excepting  six  hundred,  which  formed  themselves  into  a  close  bo- 
dy of  men,  and  forced  their  passage  through  the  midst  of  their  enemies,  and  fled 
to  the  neighbouring  mountains,  and,  seizing  upon  them,  remained  there  ;  but  the 
rest  of  them,  being  about  twenty-five  thousand,  were  slain.  Then  did  the  Isra- 
elites burn  Gibeah,  and  slew  the  women,  and  the  males  that  were  under  age  ; 
and  did  the  same  also  to  the  other  cities  of  the  Benjamites.  And  indeed  they 
were  enraged  to  that  degree  that  they  sent  twelve  thousand  men  out  of  the  ar- 
my and  gave  them  orders  to  destroy  Jabesh  Gilead,  because  it  did  not  join  with 
them  in  lighting  against  the  Benjamites.  Accordingly  those  that  were  sent  slew 
the  men  of  war,  with  the  children  and  wives,  excepting  four  hundred  virgins. 
To  such  a  degree  had  they  proceeded  in  their  anger,  because  they  not  only  had 
the  suffering  of  the  Levite's  Avite  to  avenge,  but  the  slaughter  of  their  own  sol- 
diers. 

12.  However,  they  afterward  were  sorry  for  the  calamity  they  had  brought 
upon  the  Benjamites,  and  appointed  a  fast  on  that  account,  although  they  suppo- 
sed  those  men  had  suffered  justly  for  their  offence  again.st  the  laws,  so  they  re- 
called by  their  ambassadors  those  six  hundred  which  had  escaped.  Tliese  had 
seated  themselves  on  a  certain  rock  called  liimmon,  whicli  was  in  the  wilderness  ; 
so  the  ambassadors  lamented  not  only  tiic  disaster  tiiat  liad  befallen  tlie  Benja. 
mites,  but  themselves  also,  by  this  destruction  of  their  kindred,  and  persuaded 
tliem  to  take  it  patiently,  and  to  come  and  unite  with  them,  and  not,  so  far  as  in 
them  lay,  to  give  their  suffrage  to  the  utter  destruction  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin ; 
and  said  to  them,  "  We  give  you  leave  to  take  the  whole  land  of  Benjamin  to 
yourselves,  and  as  much  prey  as  you  are  able  to  carry  away  with  you."  So 
these  men  with  sorrow  confessed,  that  what  liad  been  done  was  according  to  the 
decree  of  God,  and  had  happened  lor  tlieir  own  wickeducss,  ami  assented  to  tliose 
that  invited  them,  and  came  down  to  their  own  tribe.  The  Israelites  also  gave 
them  the  four  hundred  virgins  of  Jabesh  Gilead  for  wives  :  but  as  to  the  remain- 

*  Josephiis  seems  here  to  have  made  a  small  mistake,  when  he  took  the  Hebrew  word  Beih-El,  wliich 
denotes  the  house  of  God,  or  tlie  tabernacle,  Jiidg.  xx.  13,  for  tlie  proper  name  of  a  place  Btthcl,  it  no 
way  appearing  that  the  tabernacle  was  ever  at  Heihcl;  only  so  far  it  is  true,  that  ishiloh,  the  place  o/ 
the  tabernacle  in  the  days  of  the  Judges,  was  nut  far  from  liethcl. 


1(50  ANTIQUITIES  OF  .THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

ing  two  hundred,  they  deUberated  about  it  how  they  might  compass  wives 
enough  for  tliem,  and  that  they  might  have  cliildren  by  them  ;  and  whereas  they 
had  before  the  war  began  taken  an  oath,  that  no  one  would  give  his  daughter  to 
wife  to  a  Benjamite,  some  advised  them  to  have  no  regard  to  what  they  had 
sworn,  because  the  oath  had  not  been  taken  advisedly  and  judiciously,  but 
in  a  passion,  and  thought  that  they  should  do  nothing  against  God,  if  they  were 
able  to  save  a  whole  tribe  which  was  in  danger  of  perishing,  and  that  perjury 
was  then  a  sad  and  dangerous  thing,  not  when  it  is  done  out  of  necessity,  but 
when  it  is  done  with  a  wicked  intention.  But  when  the  senate  were  afirighted, 
at  the  very  name  of  perjury,  a  certain  person  told  them,  that  he  could  show  them 
a  way  whereby  they  might  procure  the  Benjamites  wives  enough,  and  yet  keep 
their  oath.  They  asked  him  what  this  proposal  was  ?  He  said,  "  that  three 
times  in  a  year,  when  we  meet  in  Shiloh,  our  wives  and  our  daughters  accompa-, 
ny  us,  let  then  the  Benjamites  be  allowed  to  steal  away,  and  marry  such  women 
as  they  can  catch,  while  we  will  neither  incite  them  nor  forbid  them  ;  and  when 
their  parents  take  it  ill,  and  desire  us  to  inflict  punishment  upon  them,  we  will 
tell  them,  that  they  were  themselves  the  cause  of  what  had  happened,  by  ne- 
glecting to  guard  their  daughters,  and  that  they  ought  not  to  be  over  angry  at  the 
Benjamites,  since  that  anger  was  permitted  to  rise  too  high  already."  So  tho 
Israelites  v/ere  persuaded  to  follow  this  advice,  and  decreed,  that  the  Benjamites 
should  be  allowed  thus  to  steal  themselves  wives.  So  when  the  festival  was 
coming  on,  these  two  hundred  Benjamites  lay  in  ambush  before  the  city,  by  two 
and  three  together,  and  waited  for  the  coming  of  the  virgins,  in  the  vineyards 
and  other  places  where  they  could  lie  concealed.  Accordingly  the  virgins  came 
along  playing,  and  suspected  nothing  of  what  was  coming  upon  them,  and  walked 
after  an  unguarded  manner,  so  those  that  lay  scattered  in  the  road  rose  up,  and 
caught  hold  of  them  :  by  this  means  these  Benjamites  got  them  wives  and  fell  to 
agriculture,  and  took  good  care  to  recover  their  former  happy  state.  And  thus 
was  this  tribe  of  the  Benjamites,  after  they  had  been  in  danger  of  entirely  pe- 
rishing, saved  in  the  manner  forementioned  by  the  wisdom  of  the  Israelites  ;  and 
accordingly  it  presently  flourished,  and  soon  increased  to  be  a  multitude,  and 
came  to  enjoy  all  other  degrees  of  happiness.  And  such  was  the  conclusion  of 
this  war. 


CHAP.  HL 

How  the  Israelites  after  this  Misfortune  grew  wicJced,  and  served  the  Assyrians,  and 
how  God  delivered  them  hy  Othnid,  who  ruled  over  them  Forty  Years. 

§  1.  Now  it  happened,  that  the  tribe  of  Dan  suffered  in  like  manner  with  the 
tribe  of  Benjamin ;  and  it  came  to  do  so  on  the  occasion  following  :  When  the 
Israelites  had  already  left  oflf  the  exercise  of  their  arms  for  war,  and  were  in- 
tent  upon  their  husbandry,  the  Canaanites  despised  them,  and  brought  together 
an  army,  not  because  they  expected  to  suffer  by  them,  but  because  they  had  a 
mind  to  have  a  sure  prospect  of  treating  the  Hebrews  ill  when  they  pleased,  and 
might  thereby  for  the  time  to  come  dwell  in  their  own  cities  the  more  securely  ; 
Ihey  prepared  therefore  their  chariots,  and  gathered  their  soldiery  together,  their 
cities  also  combined  together,  and  drew  over  to  them  Askelon  and  Ekron,  which 
were  within  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  many  more  of  those  that  lay  in  the  plain. 
They  also  forced  the  Danites  to  fly  into  the  mountainous  country,  and  left  them 
not  the  least  portion  of  the  plain  country  to  set  their  foot  on.  Since  then  these 
Danites  were  not  able  to  fight  them,  and  had  not  land  enough  to  sustain  them, 
they  sent  five  of  their  men  into  the  midland  country  to  see  for  a  land  to  which 
Ihey  might  remove  their  habitation  :  So  these  men  went  as  far  as  the  neighbour- 


r.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  jqj 

hood  of  Mount  Libanus,  and  the  fountains  of  the  lesser  Jordan,  at  the  great  plain 
of  Sidon,  a  day's  journey  from  the  city;  and  when  they  had  taken  a  view  of  the 
land,  and  found  it  to  be  good  and  exceeding  fruitful,  they  acquainted  their  tribe 
with  it,  whereupon  they  made  an  expedition  with  the  army,  and  built  there  the 
city  Dan,  of  the  same  name  with  the  son  of  Jacob,  and  of  the  same  name  with 
their  own  tribe. 

2.  The  Israehtes  grew  so  indolent,  and  unready  of  taking  pains,  that  misfor. 
(unes  came  heavier  upon  them,  which  also  proceeded  in  part  from  their  contempt 
of  the  divine  worship  ;  for  when  they  had  once  fallen  off  from  the  regularity  of 
their  political  government,  they  indulged  themselves  farther  in  living  according 
to  their  own  pleasure,  and  according  to  their  own  will,  till  they  were  full  of  the 
evil  doings  that  were  common  among  the  Canaanites.  God  therefore  was  angry 
with  them,  and  they  lost  that  their  happy  state,  which  they  had  obtained  by  innu- 
merable  labours,  by  their  luxury  :  for  when  Chushan,  king  of  the  Assyrians,  had 
made  war  against  them,  they  lost  many  of  their  soldiers  in  the  battle,  and  when 
they  were  besieged,  they  were  taken  by  force  ;  nay,  there  were  some  who,  out 
of  fear,  voluntarily  submitted  to  him,  and  though  the  tribute  laid  upon  them  was 
more  than  they  could  bear,  yet  did  they  pay  it,  and  underwent  all  sort  of  oppres- 
sion for  eight  years ;  after  which  time  they  were  freed  from  them  in  the  following 
manner. 

3.  There  was  one  whose  name  was  Othniel,  the  son  of  Kenez,  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah,  an  active  man,  and  of  great  courage.  He  had  an  admonition  from  God 
not  to  overlook  the  Israelites  in  such  a  distress  as  they  were  now  in,  but  to  en- 
deavour boldly  to  gain  them  their  liberty;  so  when  he  had  procured  some  to 
assist  him  in  this  dangerous  undertaking  (and  few  they  were,  who,  either  out  of 
shame  at  their  present  circumstances,  or  out  of  a  desire  of  changing  them,  could 
be  prevailed  on  to  assist  him,)  he  first  of  all  destroyed  that  garrison  which  Chu- 
shan had  set  over  them  :  but  when  it  was  perceived  that  he  had  not  failed  in  his 
first  attempt,  more  of  the  people  came  to  his  assistance  ;  so  they  joined  battle 
with  the  Assyrians,  and  drove  them  entirely  before  them,  and  compelled  them 
to  pass  over  Euphrates.  Hereupon  Othniel,  who  had  given  such  pi'oofs  of  his 
valour,  received  from  the  multitude  authority  to  judge  the  people  :  and  when  he 
had  ruled  over  them  forty  years,  he  died. 


CHAP.  IV. 

How  our  People  served  the  Modbites  Eighteen  Years,  and  were  then  delivered 
from  Slavery  by  one  Ehud,  wlio  retained  tJie  Dominion  Eighty  Years. 

§  1.  When  Othniel  was  dead,  the  affairs  of  the  Israelites  fell  again  into  disor- 
der :  and  while  they  neither  paid  to  God  the  honour  due  to  him  nor  were  obedient 
to  the  laws,  their  afflictions  increased,  till  Eglon,  king  of  the  Moabites,  did  so 
greatly  despise  them  on  account  of  the  disorders  of  their  political  government, 
that  he  made  war  upon  them  and  overcame  them  in  several  battles,  and  made  the 
most  courageous  to  submit,  and  entirely  subdued  their  army,  and  ordered  them 
to  pay  him  tribute.  And  when  he  had  built  him  a  royal  palace  at  Jericho,*  ho 
omitted  no  method  whereby  he  might  distress  them,  and  indeed  he  reduced  them 
to  poverty  for  eighteen  years.     But  when  God  had  once  taken  pity  of  the  Israel- 

*  It  appears  by  the  sacred  history,  Judg.  i.  16  ;  iii.  13,  that  Eglon's  pavilion  or  palace,  was  at  the  city 
of  palm  trees,  as  the  place  where  Jericho  had  stood  iscnlled  after  its  destruction  l)y  Josliiia,  that  is,  at 
or  near  the  demolished  city.  Accordinj^ly,  Josephus  says  it  was  at  Jericiio  or  rather  in  that  fine  coun- 
try of  palm  trees,  upon  or  near  to  the  same  spot  of  ground  on  which  Jericho  had  formerly  stood,  and  on 
which  it  wasrehuih  by  Hicl,  1  Kin:'s,  xvi.  34.  Our  other  copies  that  avoid  its  proper  name,  Jericho, 
and  rail  it  the  city  of  palm,  trees  onl> .  spvut.  nexe  men  accurately  than  Josephus 

VOk   -  X 


162  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

ites,  on  account  of  their  afflictions,  and  was  moved  to  compassion  by  their  sup. 
pUcations  put  up  to  him,  he  freed  them  from  the  hard  usage  they  had  met  with 
under  the  Moabites.     This  liberty  he  procured  for  them  in  the  following  manner. 

2.  There  was  a  young  man  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  whose  name  was  Ehud, 
the  son  of  Gera,  a  man  of  very  great  courage  in  bold  undertakings,  and  of  a 
very  strong  body  fit  for  hard  labour,  but  best  skilled  in  using  his  left  hand,  in 
which  was  his  whole  strength  ;  and  he  also  dwelt  at  Jericho.  Now  this  man  be- 
came familiar  with  Eglon,  and  that  by  means  of  presents,  with  which  he  obtained 
his  favour,  and  insinuated  himself  into  his  good  opinion,  whereby  he  was  also 
beloved  of  those  that  were  about  the  king.  Now,  when  on  a  time  he  was  bring- 
ing presents  to  the  king,  and  had  two  servants  with  him,  he  put  a  dagger  on  his 
right  thigh  secretly,  and  went  in  to  him  :  it  was  then  summer  time,  and  the  mid- 
dle of  the  day,  when  the  guards  were  not  strictly  on  their  watch,  both  because 
of  the  heat,  and  because  they  were  gone  to  dinner.  So  the  young  man  when 
he  had  offered  his  presents  to  the  king,  who  then  resided  in  a  small  parlour  that 
stood  conveniently  to  avoid  the  heat,  he  fell  into  discourse  with  him,  for  they 
were  now  alone,  the  king  having  bid  his  servants  that  attended  him  to  go  their 
ways,  because  he  had  a  mind  to  talk  with  Ehud.  He  was  now  sitting  on  his 
throne  ;  and  fear  seized  upon  Ehud  lest  he  should  miss  his  stroke  and  not  give 
him  a  deadly  wound,  so  he  raised  himself  up,  and  said  he  had  a  dream  to  impart 
to  him  by  the  command  of  God ;  upon  which  the  king  leaped  out  of  his  throne 
for  joy  of  the  dream ;  so  Ehud  smote  him  to  the  heart,  and  leaving  his  dagger 
in  his  body,  he  went  out  and  shut  the  door  after  him.  Now  the  king's  servants 
were  very  still,  as  supposing  that  the  king  had  composed  himself  to  sleep. 

3.  Hereupon  Ehud  informed  the  people  of  Jericho  privately  of  what  he  had 
done,  and  exhorted  them  to  recover  their  liberty ;  who  heard  him  gladly,  and 
went  to  their  arms,  and  sent  messengers  over  the  country,  that  should  sound 
trumpets  of  rams'  horns,  for  it  was  our  custom  to  call  the  people  together  by 
them.  Now  the  attendants  of  Eglon  were  ignorant  of  what  misfortune  had  be- 
fallen him  for  a  great  while ;  but  towards  the  evening,  fearing  some  uncommon 
accident  had  happened,  they  entered  into  his  parlour,  and  when  they  found  him 
dead,  they  were  in  great  disorder,  and  knew  not  what  to  do ;  and  before  the 
guards  could  be  got  together,  the  multitude  of  the  Israelites  came  upon  them,  so 
that  some  of  them  were  slain  immediately,  and  some  were  put  to  flight,  and  ran 
away  toward  the  country  of  Moab,  in  order  to  save  themselves.  Their  number 
was  above  ten  thousand.  The  Israelites  seized  upon  the  ford  of  Jordan,  and 
pursued  them,  and  slew  them,  and  many  of  them  they  killed  at  the  ford,  nor  did 
one  of  them  escape  out  of  their  hands  :  and  by  this  means  it  was  that  the  He- 
brews freed  themselves  from  slavery  under  the  Moabites.  Ehud  also  was  on 
this  account  dignified  with  the  government  over  all  the  multitude,  and  died  after 
he  had  held  the  government  eighty  years.*  He  was  a  man  worthy  of  commen- 
dation,  even  besides  what  he  deserved  for  the  forementioned  act  of  his.  Afler 
him  Shamgar,  the  son  of  Anath,  was  elected  for  their  governor,  but  died  in  the 
first  year  of  his  government. 

*  These  80  years  for  the  government  of  Ehud  are  necessary  to  Josephiis's  usual  large  numbers  be- 
tween l)  e  Exodus  and  the  building  of  the  temple,  of  592  or  612  years,  but  not  to  the  smallest  number  ol 
480  years,  1  Kings,  vi.  1,  which  lesser  number  Josephus  seems  sometimes  to  have  followed.  And  since 
in  the  beginning  of  the  next  chapter  it  is  said  by  Josej)hus,  that  here  vvas  hardly  a  breathing  time  for  the 
Israelites  before  Jabin  came  and  enslaved  them,  it  is  highly  probable  that  some  of  the  copies  in  his  time 
had  here  only  8  years  instead  of  80;  as  had  Ihatof  Theophilus  of  Antioch,  AdAuiolyc,  L.  iii.  and  this 
most  probably  from  his  copy  of  Josephus 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  103 


CHAP.  V. 

How  the  Canaanites  brought  the  Israelites  under  Slavery  for  Twenli/  Years  :  after 

which  they  were  delivered  by  Barak  and  Deborah,  wlio  ruled  over 

them  for  Forty  Years. 

§  1.  And  now  it  was  that  the  IsraeUtes,  taking  no  warning  by  their  former  mis. 
fortunes  to  amend  their  manners,  and  neither  worshipping  God  nor  subniittiii"- 
to  the  laws,  were  brought  into  slavery  by  Jabin,  the  king  of  the  Canaanites, 
and  that  before  they  had  a  short  breathing  time  alter  the  slavery  under  tiie  Mo- 
abites  ;  for  this  Jabin  came  out  of  Hazor,  a  city  that  was  situate  over  tiie  lake 
Semechonitis,  and  had  in  pay  three  hundred  thousand  footmen,  and  ten  thousand 
horsemen,  with  no  fewer  than  three  thousand  chariots.  Sisera  was  the  con), 
mander  of  all  his  army,  and  was  the  principal  person  in  the  king's  favour.  He 
so  sorely  beat  the  Israelites  when  they  fought  with  him  that  he  ordered  them  to 
pay  tribute. 

2.  So  they  continued  to  undergo  that  hardship  for  twenty  years,  as  not  good 
enough  of  themselves  to  grow  wise  by  their  misfortunes.  God  was  willing  also 
hereby  the  more  to  subdue  their  obstinacy  and  ingratitude  towards  himself.  So 
when  at  length  they  were  become  penitent,  and  were  so  wise  as  to  learn  that 
their  calamities  arose  from  their  contempt  of  the  laws,  they  besought  Deborah, 
a  certain  prophetess  among  them  (which  name  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  signifies  a 
Bee,)  to  pray  to  God  to  take  pity  on  them,  and  not  to  overlook  them,  now  they 
were  ruined  by  the  Canaanites.  So  God  granted  them  deliverance,  and  chose 
them  a  general,  Barak,  one  that  -was  of  the  tribe  of  Naphtali  (now  Barak,  in  the 
Hebrew  tongue,  signifies  lightning.) 

3.  So  Deborah  sent  for  Barak,  and  bid  him  choose  him  out  ten  thousand  young 
men,  to  go  against  the  enemy,  because  God  had  said,  that  that  number  was  suf- 
ficient, and  promised  them  victory.  But  when  Barak  said,  that  he  would  not  bo 
the  general  unless  she  would  also  go  as  a  general  with  him,  she  had  indignation 
at  what  he  said,  and  replied,  "  Thou,  O  Barak,  deliverest  up  meanly  that  autho- 
rity  which  God  hath  given  thee,  into  the  hand  of  a  woman,  and  I  do  not  reject 
it."  So  they  collected  ten  thousand  men,  and  pitched  their  camp  at  Mount  Ta- 
bor,  where,  at  the  king's  command  Sisera  met  them,  and  pitched  his  camp  not 
far  from  the  enemy  ;  whereupon  the  Israelites,  and  Barak  himself,  were  so  af- 
frighted at  the  multitude  of  those  enemies  that  they  were  resolved  to  marcli  off, 
had  not  Deborah  retained  them,  and  commanded  them  to  fight  the  enemy  that 
very  day,  for  that  they  should  conquer  them,  and  God  would  be  their  assistance. 

4.  So  the  battle  began  ;  and  when  they  were  come  to  a  close  fight,  there  came 
down  from  heaven  a  great  storm,  with  a  vast  quantity  of  rain  and  hail,  and  the 
wind  blew  the  rain  in  the  face  of  the  Canaanites,  and  so  darkened  tlicir  eyes, 
their  arrows  and  slings  were  of  no  advantage  to  them ;  nor  would  the  coldness 
of  the  air  permit  the  soldiers  to  make  use  of  their  swords,  while  this  storm  did 
not  so  much  incommode  the  Israelites,  because  it  came  in  their  backs.  They 
also  took  such  courage,  upon  the  apprehension  that  God  was  assisting  ihcm,  that 
they  fell  upon  the  very  midst  of  their  enemies,  and  slew  a  great  number  of  Iheni, 
so  that  some  of  them  fell  by  the  Israelites,  some  fell  by  their  own  horses,  whicii 
were  put  into  disorder,  and  not  a  few  were  killed  by  their  own  chariots.  At  last 
Sisera,  as  soon  as  he  saw  himself  beaten,  fled  away,  and  came  to  a  woman 
whose  name  was  Jael,  a  Kenite,  who  received  him,  when  he  desired  to  be  con- 
cealed ;  and  when  he  asked  for  somewhat  to  drink,  she  gave  him  sour  milk,  of 
which  he  drank  so  unmeasurably  that  he  fell  asleep;  but  when  he  was  asleep, 
Jacl  took  an  iron  nail,  and  drove  it  through  his  temples  with  a  hammer,  into  ti\o 
floor  :  and  when  Barak  came  a  little  afierward,  siie  showed  Sisera  nailed  to  the 
ground.     And  thus  was  this  victoiy  gained  by  a  woman,  as  Deborah  had  fore- 

X  2 


1^  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

told.  Barak  also  fought  with  Jabin  at  Hazor ;  and  when  he  met  with  him,  he 
slew  him :  and  when  the  general  was  fallen,  Barak  overthrew  the  city  to  the 
foundation,  and  was  the  commander  of  the  Israelites  for  forty  years. 


CHAP.  VI. 

How  the  3Edianites  and  otJier  Nations  fought  against  the  Israelites  and  heat  them, 

and  afflicted  their  Country  for  Seven    Years.     How  they  were  delivered 

by  Gideon,  who  ruled  over  the  Multitude  for  Forty  Years. 

§  1.  Now  when  Barak  and  Deborah  were  dead,  whose  deaths  happened  about 
the  same  time,  afterwards  the  Midianites  called  the  Amalekites  and  Arabians  to 
their  assistance,  and  made  war  against  the  Israelites,  and  were  too  hard  for  thoss 
that  fought  against  them  ;  and  when  they  had  burnt  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  they 
carried  otf  the  prey.  Now  when  they  had  done  this  for  three  years,  the  multi- 
tude  of  the  Israelites  retired  to  the  mountains,  and  forsook  the  plain  country. 
They  also  made  themselves  hollows  under  ground,  and  caverns,  and  preserved 
therein  whatsoever  had  escaped  their  enemies  ;  for  the  Midianites  made  expedi- 
tions in  harvest-time,  but  permitted  them  to  plough  the  land  in  winter,  that  so 
when  the  others  had  taken  the  pains,  they  might  have  fruits  for  them  to  carry 
away.  Indeed  there  ensued  a  famine,  and  a  scarcity  of  food,  upon  which  they 
betook  themselves  to  their  supplications  to  God,  and  besought  him  to  save  them. 

2.  Gideon  also,  the  son  of  Joasha,  one  of  the  principal  persons  of  the  tribe  of 
Manasseh,  brought  his  sheaves  of  corn  privately,  and  threshed  them  at  the  wine- 
press, for  he  was  too  fearful  of  their  enemies  to  thresh  them  openly  in  the  thresh, 
ing-floor.  At  this  time  somewhat  appeared  to  him  in  the  shape  of  a  young  man, 
and  told  him,  "  That  he  was  a  happy  man,  and  beloved  of  God."  To  which  he 
immediately  replied,  "  A  mighty  indication  of  God's  favour  to  me,  that  I  am 
forced  to  use  this  wine-press  instead  of  a  threshing-floor!"  But  the  appearance 
exhorted  him  to  be  of  good  courage,  and  to  make  an  attempt  for  the  recovery  of 
their  liberty.  He  answered,  That  "  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  recover  it,  be- 
cause the  ti'ibe  to  which  he  belonged  was  by  no  means  numerous,  and  because 
he  was  but  young  himself,  and  too  inconsiderable  to  think  of  such  great  actions." 
But  the  other  promised  him,  that  God  would  supply  what  he  was  defective  in, 
and  would  aflbrd  the  Israelites  victory  under  his  conduct. 

3.  Now,  therefore,  as  Gideon  was  relating  this  to  some  young  men,  they  be- 
lieved  him,  and  immediately  there  was  an  army  of  ten  thousand  men  got  ready 
for  fighting.  But  God  stood  by  Gideon  in  his  sleep,  and  told  him.  That  "  man- 
kind were  too  fond  of  themselves,  and  were  enemies  to  such  as  excelled  in  virtue. 
Now  that  they  might  not  pass  God  over,  but  ascribe  the  victory  to  him,  and  might 
not  fancy  it  obtained  by  their  own  power  because  they  were  a  great  arm}%  and 
able  of  themselves  to  fight  their  enemies,  but  might  confess  that  it  w^as  owing  to 
his  assistance,  he  advised  him  to  bring  his  army  about  noon  in  the  violence  of 
the  heat,  to  the  river,  and  to  esteem  those  that  bent  down  on  their  knees,  and  so 
drank,  to  be  men  of  courage,  but  for  all  those  that  drank  tumultuously,  that  he 
should  esteem  them  to  do  it  out  of  fear,  and  as  in  dread  of  their  enemies."  And 
when  Gideon  had  done  as  God  had  suggested  to  him,  there  were  found  three 
hundred  men  that  took  water  with  their  hands  tumultuously,  so  God  bid  him  take 
these  men  and  attack  the  enemy.  Accordingly  they  pitched  their  camp  at  the 
river  Jordan,  as  ready  the  next  day  to  pass  over  it. 

4.  But  Gideon  was  in  great  fear,  for  God  had  told  him  beforehand,  that  he 
should  set  upon  his  enemies  in  the  night-time  :  but  God  being  willing  to  free  him 
from  his  fear,  bid  him  take  one  of  his  soldiers,  and  go  near  to  the  Midianites' 
tents,  for  that  he  should  from  that  veiy  place  have  his  courage  raised,  and  grow 


C.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  1(J5 

bold.  So  he  obeyed,  and  went  and  took  his  servant  Phurah  with  him  ;  and  as 
he  came  near  to  one  of  the  tents  he  discovered  that  those  that  were  in  it  were 
awake,  and  that  one  of  them  was  telhng  to  his  fellow-soldier  a  dream  of  his  own 
and  that  so  plainl}^  that  Gideon  could  hear  him.  Tl\e  dream  was  this  :  lie 
thought  he  saAv  a  barley  cake,  such  a  one  as  could  hardly  be  eaten  by  men,  it 
was  so  vile,  rolling  through  the  camp,  and  overthrowing  the  royal  tent,  and  tiio 
tents  of  all  the  soldiers.  Now  the  other  soldier  explained  this  vision  to  mean  the 
destruction  of  the  army,  and  told  them  what  his  reason  was  which  made  him  so 
to  conjecture,  viz.  that  the  seed  called  harley  was  all  of  it  allowed  to  be  of  the 
vilest  sort  of  seed,  and  that  the  Israelites  were  known  to  be  the  vilest  of  all  the 
people  of  Asia,  agreeably  to  the  seed  of  barley,  and  that  what  seemed  to  look  big 
among  the  Israelites  was  this  Gideon  and  the  army  that  was  with  him  :  and  since 
thou  saycst  thou  didst  see  the  cake  over-turning  our  tents,  I  am  afraid  lest  God 
hath  granted  the  victory  over  us  to  Gideon. 

5.  When  Gideon  had  heard  this  dream,  good  hope  and  courage  came  upon 
him  ;  and  he  commanded  his  soldiers  to  arm  themselves,  and  told  them  of  this 
vision  of  their  enemies.  They  also  took  courage  at  what  was  told  them,  and  wero 
ready  to  perform  what  he  should  enjoin  them:  so  Gideon  divided  his  army  into 
three  parts,  and  brought  it  about  the  fourth  watch  of  the  night,  each  part  contain- 
ing a  hundred  men :  they  all  bore  empty  pitchers,  and  lighted  lamps  in  their 
hands,  that  their  onset  might  not  be  discovered  by  their  enemies.  They  had  also 
each  of  them  a  ram's  horn  in  his  right  hand,  which  he  used  instead  of  a  trumpet. 
The  enemies'  camp  took  up  a  large  space  of  ground;  for  it  happened  they  had  a 
great  many  camels :  and  as  they  were  divided  into  ditferent  nations,  so  they  were 
all  contained  in  one  circle.  Now  when  the  Hebrews  did  as  they  were  ordered 
beforehand,  upon  their  approach  to  their  enemies,  and  on  the  signal  given,  sounded 
with  the  rams'  horn,  and  brake  their  pitchers,  and  set  upon  their  enemies  with 
their  lamps,  and  a  great  shout,  and  cried,"  Victory  to  Gideon,  by  God's  assistance," 
a  disorder  and  a  fright  seized  upon  the  other  men  while  they  were  half  asleep, 
for  it  was  night-time,  as  God  would  have  it;  so  that  a  iew  of  them  were  slain  by 
their  enemies,  but  the  greatest  part  by  their  own  soldiers,  on  account  of  the  diver- 
sity  of  their  language,  and  when  they  were  once  put  into  disorder,  they  killed  all 
that  they  met  with,  as  thinking  them  to  be  enemies  also.  Thus  there  was  a  great 
slaughter  made.  And  as  the  report  of  Gideon's  victory  came  to  the  Israelites, 
they  took  their  weapons  and  pursued  their  enemies,  and  overtook  them  in  a  cer- 
tain  valley,  encompassed  with  torrents,  a  place  which  these  could  not  get  over; 
so  they  encompassed  them,  and  slew  them  all,  with  their  kings,  Oreb  and  Zceb. 
But  the  remaining  captains  led  those  soldiers  that  were  left,  which  were  about 
eighteen  thousand,  and  pitched  their  camp  a  great  way  off' the  Israelites.  How- 
ever, Gideon  did  not  grudge  his  pains,  but  pursued  them  with  all  his  army,  and 
joining  battle  with  them,  cut  off'  the  whole  enemies'  army,  and  took  the  other 
leaders,  Zebah  and  Zalmuna,  and  made  them  captives.  Now  there  were  slain  in 
this  battle  of  the  Midianites,  and  of  their  auxiliaries  the  Arabians,  about  a  lum- 
dred  and  twenty  thousand,  and  the  Hebrews  took  a  great  prey,  gold  and  silver, 
and  garments,  and  camels,  and  asses.  And  when  Gideon  was  come  to  his  own 
country  of  Ophrah,  he  slew  the  kings  of  the  Midianites. 

6.  However,  the  tribe  of  Ephraim  was  so  displeased  at  the  good  success  of 
Gideon,  that  they  resolved  to  make  Avar  against  him,  accusing  him  because  he 
did  not  tell  them  of  his  expedition  against  their  enemies.  But  Gideon,  as  a  man 
of  temper,  and  that  excelled  in  every  virtue,  pleaded,  "  That  it  was  not  the  result 
of  his  own  authority  or  reasoning,  that  made  him  attack  the  enemy  without  them, 
but  that  it  was  the  command  of  God,  and  still  the  victory  belonged  to  them  as 
well  as  those  in  the  army."  And  by  this  method  of  cooling  their  passions,  he 
brought  more  advantage  to  the  Hebrews  than  by  the  success  he  had  against 
these  enemies,  for  he  thereby  delivered  them  from  a  sedition  .which  was  arising 


IQQ  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

among  them ;  yet  did  this  tribe  afterwards  suffer  the  punishment  of  this  their  in- 
jurious treatment  of  Gideon,  of  which  we  will  give  an  account  in  due  time. 

7.  Hereupon  Gideon  would  have  laid  down  the  government,  but  was  over- 
persuaded  to  take  it,  which  he  enjoyed  forty  years,  and  distributed  justice  to  them, 
as  the  people  came  to  him  in  their  differences ;  and  what  he  determined  was 
esteemed  valid  by  all.  And  when  he  died,  he  was  buried  in  his  own  country  of 
Ophrah , 


CHAP.  VH. 

That  the  Judges  who  succeeded  Gideon  made  War  with  the  adjoining  Nations 

for  a  long  Time. 

§  1.  Now  Gideon  had  seventy  sons  that  were  legitimate,  for  he  had  many  wives, 
but  he  had  also  one  that  was  spurious  by  his  concubine  Drumah,  whose  name 
was  Abimelech,  who,  after  his  father's  death  retired  to  Shechem  to  his  mother's 
relations,  for  they  were  of  that  place  :  and  when  he  had  got  money  of  such  of 
them  as  were  eminent  for  many  instances  of  injustice,  he  came  with  them  to  his 
father's  house,  and  slew  all  his  brethren,  except  Jotham,  for  he  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  escape  and  be  preserved ;  but  Abimelech  made  the  government  tyranni- 
cal,  and  constituted  himself  a  lord,  to  do  what  he  pleased,  instead  of  obeying  the 
laws,  and  he  acted  most  rigidly  against  those  that  were  the  patrons  of  justice. 

2.  Now,  when  on  a  certain  time  there  was  a  public  festival  at  Shechem,  and 
all  the  multitude  was  there  gathered  together,  Jotham  his  brother,  whose  escape 
we  before  related,  went  up  to  Mount  Gerizzim,  which  hangs  over  the  city  She- 
chem,  and  cried  out  so  as  to  be  heard  by  the  multitude,  who  were  attentive  to  him. 
He  desired  they  would  consider  what  he  was  going  to  say  to  them  ;  so  when  si- 
lence was  made,  he  said,  "  That  when  the  trees  had  a  human  voice,  and  there 
was  an  assembly  of  them  gathered  together,  they  desired  that  the  fig-tree  would 
rule  over  them  ;  but  when  that  tree  refused  so  to  do,  because  it  was  contented 
to  enjoy  that  honour  which  belonged  peculiarly  to  the  fruit  it  bare,  and  not  that 
which  should  be  derived  to  it  from  abroad,  the  trees  did  not  leave  off  their  inten- 
tions to  have  a  ruler,  so  they  thought  proper  to  make  the  offer  of  that  honour  to 
the  vine  ;  but  when  the  vine  was  chosen,  it  made  use  of  the  same  words  which 
the  fig  tree  had  used  before,  and  excused  itself  from  accepting  the  government : 
and  when  the  olive  tree  had  done  the  same,  the  brier,  whom  the  trees  had  desired 
to  take  the  kingdom  (it  is  a  sort  of  wood  good  for  firing,)  it  promised  to  take  the 
government,  and  to  be  zealous  in  the  exercise  of  it,  but  that  then  they  must  sit 
down  under  its  shadow,  and  if  they  should  plot  against  it  to  destroy  it,  the  prin- 
ciple of  fire  that  was  in  it  should  destroy  them.  He  told  them,  that  what  he  had 
said  was  no  laughing  matter  :  for  that  when  they  had  experienced  many  blessings 
from  Gideon,  they  overlooked  Abimelech,  when  he  overruled  all,  and  had  joined 
with  them  in  slaying  his  brethren :  and  that  he  was  no  better  than  a  fire  himself." 
So  when  he  had  said  this,  he  went  away,  and  lived  privately  in  the  mountains  for 
three  years,  out  of  fear  of  Abimelech. 

3.  A  little  v*'hile  after  this  festival  the  Shechemites,  who  had  now  repented 
themselves  of  having  slain  the  sons  of  Gideon,  drove  Abimelech  away,  both  from 
their  city  and  their  tribe  ;  whereupon  he  conti-ived  how  he  might  distress  their 
city.  Now  at  the  season  of  vintage,  the  people  were  afraid  to  go  out  and  gather 
their  fi-uits,  for  fear  Abimelech  should  do  them  some  mischief.  Now  it  happened 
that  there  had  come  to  them  a  man  of  authority,  one  Gaal,  that  sojourned  with 
them,  having  his  armed  men  and  his  kinsmen  with  him,  so  the  Shechemites  de- 
sired that  he  would  allow  them  a  guard  during  their  vintage,  whereupon  he  ac- 


C.  Vn.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  167 

cepted  of  their  desires,  and  so  the  people  went  out,  and  Gaal  with  them  at  the 
head  of  his  soldiery  :  so  they  gathered  their  fruit  with  safety ;  and  when  they 
were  at  supper  in  several  companies,  they  then  ventured  to  curse  Abimelech 
openly,  and  the  magistrates  laid  ambushes  in  places  about  the  city,  and  cau'dit 
many  of  Abimelecli's  followers,  and  destroyed  them. 

4.  Now  there  was  one  Zcbul,  a  magistrate  of  the  Shechemites,  that  had  en- 
tertained  Abimelech.  He  sent  messengers,  and  informed  him,  how  much  Gaal 
had  irritated  the  people  against  him,  and  excited  him  to  lay  ambushes  before  the 
city,  for  that  he  would  persuade  Gaal  to  go  out  against  him,  which  would  leave 
it  in  his  power  to  be  revenged  on  him,  and  when  that  was  once  done,  he  would 
bring  him  to  be  reconciled  to  the  city.  So  Abimelech  laid  ambushes,  and  himself 
lay  with  them.  Now  Gaal  abode  in  the  suburbs,  taking  little  care  of  himself; 
and  Zebul  was  with  him.  Now  as  Gaal  saw  the  armed  men  coming  on,  he  said 
to  Zebul,  tliat  some  armed  men  were  coming ;  but  the  other  repHed,  they  were 
only  shadows  of  huge  stones  ;  and  when  they  were  come  nearer,  Gaal  perceived 
what  was  the  reality,  and  said,  they  were  not  shadows,  but  men  lying  in  ambush. 
Then  said  Zebul,  Didst  not  thou  reproach  Abimelech  for  cowardice '?  why  dost 
thou  not  then  show  how  very  courageous  thou  art  thyself,  and  go  and  fight  him] 
So  Gaal,  being  in  disorder,  joined  battle  with  Abimelech,  and  some  of  his  men 
fell ;  whereupon  he  fled  into  the  city,  and  took  his  men  with  him.  But  Zebul 
managed  his  matters  so  in  the  city  that  he  procured  them  to  expel  Gaal  out  of 
the  city,  and  this  by  accusing  him  of  cowardice  in  this  action  with  the  soldiers 
of  Abimelech.  But  Abimelech,  when  he  had  learned  that  the  Sheciiemites  were 
again  coming  out  to  gather  their  grapes,  placed  ambushes  before  the  city,  and 
when  they  were  come  out,  the  third  part  of  his  army  took  possession  of  the 
gates  to  hinder  the  citizens  from  returning  in  again,  while  the  rest  pursued  those 
that  were  scattered  abroad,  and  so  there  was  slaughter  every  where  ;  and  when 
he  had  overtlirown  the  city  to  the  very  foundations,  for  it  was  not  able  to  bear  a 
siege,  and  had  sown  its  ruins  with  salt,  he  proceeded  on  with  liis  army  till  all 
the  Shechemites  were  slain.  As  for  those  that  were  scattered  about  the  coun- 
try, and  so  escaped  the  danger,  they  were  gathered  together  unto  a  certain 
strong  rock,  and  settled  themselves  upon  it,  and  prepared  to  build  a  wall  about  it : 
and  when  Abimelech  knew  their  intentions,  he  prevented  them,  and  came  upon 
them  with  his  forces,  and  laying  faggots  of  dry  wood  round  the  place,  he  himself 
bringing  some  of  them,  and  by  his  example  encouraging  the  soldiers  to  do  tlie 
same.  And  Avhen  the  rock  was  encompassed  round  about  with  these  fag- 
gots, they  set  them  on  fire,  and  threw  in  whatsoever  by  nature  caught  fire  tlio 
most  easily ;  so  a  mighty  tlame  was  raised,  and  nobody  could  fly  away  from  the 
rock,  but  every  man  perished,  with  their  wives  and  cliildren,  in  all  about  fifteen 
hundred  men,  and  the  rest  were  a  great  number  also.  And  such  was  the  ca- 
lamity which  fell  upon  the  Shechemites;  and  men's  grief  on  their  accoimt  had 
been  greater  than  it  was,  had  they  not  brought  so  much  mischief  on  a  person  wlio 
son  who  had  so  well  deserved  of  them,  and  had  they  not  themselves  esteemed 
this  as  a  punishment  for  the  same. 

5.  Now  Abimelech,  when  he  had  alTrighted  the  Israelites,  with  the  miseries 
he  had  brought  upon  the  Shechemites,  seemed  openly  to  affect  greater  authority 
than  he  now  had,  and  appeared  to  set  no  bounds  to  his  violence,  unless  it  were  with 
the  destruction  of  all.  Accordingly  he  marched  to  Thebes,  and  took  the  city  on 
the  sudden  ;  and  there  being  a  great  tower  therein,  whereimto  the  whole  mul- 
titude  fied,  he  made  preparation  to  besiege  it.  Now  as  he  was  rushing  with 
violence  near  the  gates,  a  woman  threw  a  piece  of  millstone  upon  his  head,  upon 
which  Abimelech  fell  down;  and  desired  his  armour-bearer  to  kill  him,  lest  his 
death  should  be  thought  to  be  the  work  of  a  woman  ;  who  did  what  he  was  bid 
to  do.  So  he  underwent  this  death  as  a  punishment  for  tlie  wirkcflness  he  had 
perpetrated  against  his  brethren,  and  his  insolent  barbarity  to  the  Shechemites. 
Now  the  calamity  that  happened  to  those  Shechemites  was  according  to  the  pre . 


168  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

diction  of  Jolham.     However,  the  army  that  was  with  Abimelech,  upon  his  fall, 
was  scattered  abroad,  and  went  to  their  own  homes. 

6.  Now  it  was  that  Jair  the'  Gileadite,*  of  the  tribe  of  M anasseh,  took  the  go- 
vernment. He  was  a  man  happy  in  other  respects  also,  but  particularly  in  his 
children,  who  were  of  a  good  character.  They  were  thirty  in  number,  and 
verj  skilful  in  riding  on  horses,  and  were  entrusted  Avith  the  government  of  the 
cities  of  Gilead.  He  kept  the  government  twenty-two  years,  and  died  an  old 
man  ;  and  he  was  buried  in  Camon,  a  city  of  Gilead.      , 

7.  And  now  all  the  affairs  of  the  Hebrews  were  managed  uncertainly,  and 
tended  to  disorder,  and  to  the  contempt  of  God  and  of  the  laws.  So  the  Ammo- 
nites and  Philistines  had  them  in  contempt,  and  laid  waste  the  country  with  a 
great  army  ;  and  when  they  had  taken  all  Perea,  they  were  so  insolent  as  to  at- 
tempt  to  gain  the  possession  of  all  the  rest ;  but  the  Hebrews,  being  now  amend- 
ed by  the  calamities  they  had  undergone,  betook  themselves  to  supplications  to 
God  ;  and  brought  sacrifices  to  him,  beseeching  him  not  to  be  too  severe  upon 
them,  but  to  be  moved  by  their  prayers  to  leave  ofi'  his  anger  against  them.  So 
God  became  more  merciful  to  them,  and  was  ready  to  assist  them. 

8.  When  the  Ammonites  had  made  an  expedition  into  the  land  of  Gilead,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  country  met  them  at  a  certain  mountain,  but  wanted  a  com- 
mander. Now  there  was  one  whose  name  was  Jephtha,  who,  both  on  account 
of  his  father's  virtue,  and  on  account  of  that  army  which  he  maintained  at  his 
own  expenses,  was  a  potent  man  :  the  Israelites  therefore  sent  to  him,  and  en- 
treated him  to  come  to  their  assistance,  and  promised  him  the  dominion  over  them 
all  his  lifetime.  But  he  did  not  admit  of  their  entreaty  ;  and  accused  them,  that, 
they  did  not  come  to  his  assistance  when  he  was  unjustly  treated,  and  this  in  an 
open  manner  by  his  brethren  ;  for  they  cast  him  off,  as  not  having  the  same 
mother  with  the  rest,  but  born  of  a  strange  mother,  that  was  introduced  among 
them  by  his  father's  fondness,  and  this  they  did  out  of  a  contempt  of  his  inability 
[to  vindicate  himself.]  So  he  dwelt  in  the  country  of  Gilead,  as  it  is  called,  and 
received  all  that  came  to  him,  let  them  come  from  what  place  soever,  and  paid 
them  wages.  However,  when  they  pressed  him  to  accept  the  dominion,  and 
swore  that  they  would  grant  him  the  government  over  them  all  his  life,  he  led 
them  to  the  war. 

9.  And  when  Jephtha  had  taken  immediate  care  of  their  affairs,  he  placed  his 
army  at  the  city  Mispeh,  and  sent  a  message  to  the  Ammonite  [liing,]  complain- 
ing  of  his  unjust  possession  of  their  land.  But  that  king  sent  a  contrary  mes- 
sage ;  and  complained  of  the  Exodus  of  the  Israelites  out  of  Egypt,  and  desired 
him  to  go  out  of  the  land  of  the  Amorites,  and  yield  it  up  to  him,  as  at  first  his 
paternal  inheritance.  But  Jephtha  returned  this  answer,  "  That  he  did  not  justly 
complain  of  his  ancestors  about  the  land  of  the  Amorites,  and  ought  rather  to 
thank  them  that  they  left  the  land  of  the  Ammonites  to  them,  since  Moses  could 
have  taken  it  also  ;  and  that  neither  would  he  recede  from  that  land  of  their  own, 
wliich  God  had  obtained  for  them,  and  thej'^  had  now  inhabited  [above]  three  hun- 
dred years,  but  would  fight  with  them  about  it." 

10.  And  when  he  had  given  them  this  answer,  he  sent  the  ambassadors  away. 
And  when  he  had  prayed  for  victory,  and  had  vowed  to  perform  sacred  offices ; 
and  if  he  came  home  in  safety,  to  offer  in  sacrifice  what  living  creatures  soever 
sliould  first  meet  himf,  he  joined  in  battle  with  the  enemy,  and  gained  a  great 
victory,  and  in  his  pursuit  slew  the  enemies  all  along  as  far  as  the  city  Minnith. 
He  then  passed  over  to  the  land  of  the  Anmionites,  and  overthrew  many  of  their 

*  Our  present  copies  of  Joseplius  all  omit  Tola  among  the  Judges,  though  the  other  copies  have  him 
next  after  Abimelecli,  and  allot  twenty-tliree  years  to  his  administration,  Judges,  x.  1,  2  ;  yet  do  all  Jo- 
^ephus's  conimentatois  conclude,  liiat  in  Josephiis's  sum  of  the  years  of  the  Judges  his  twenty-three 
years  are  included  ;  hence  we  are  to  confess,  tliat  soniewliat  has  been  here  lost  out  of  his  copies. 

+  Josephus  jubtly  coudennis  Jephtlia,  as  do  the  Apostolical  Constitutions,  B.  vii.  ch.  xxxvii.  for  his 
liish  vow,  whether  it  were  for  sacrificing  his  daughter,  as  Josephus  thought,  or  for  dedicating  her 
who  was  his  only  child,  to  perpetual  virginity,  at  llie  tajjernacle  or  elsewhere,  which  I  rather  supoosa, 


G.  VII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  KJ^ 

cities,  and  took  their  prey,  and  freed  his  own  people  from  that  slavery  which 
they  had  undergone  for  eighteen  years.  But  as  he  came  back,  he  fell  into  a 
calamity  no  way  correspondent  to  the  great  actions  he  had  done ;  for  it  was  his 
daughter  that  came  to  meet  him  ;  she  was  also  an  only  child  and  a  virgin  ;  upon 
this  Jephtha  heavily  lamented  the  greatness  of  his  aflliction,  and  blamed  his 
daughter  for  being  so  forward  in  meeting  him,  for  he  had  vowed  to  sacrifice  her  to 
God.  However,  this  action  that  was  to  befal  her  was  not  ungrateful  to  her,  since 
she  should  die  upon  occasion  of  her  father's  victory,  and  the  liberty  of  her  fellow 
citizens,  she  only  desired  her  father  to  give  her  leave  for  two  months,  to  bewail 
her  youth  with  her  fellow-citizcns  ;  and  then  she  agreed  that  at  the  fore-men- 
tioned time  he  might  do  with  her  according  to  his  vow.  Accordingly  when  that 
time  was  over,  he  sacrificed  his  daughter  as  a  burnt-offering,  oflering  such  an 
oblation  as  was  neither  comformable  to  the  laAv,  nor  acceptable  to  God,  not 
weighing  witli  himself  what  opinion  the  hearers  would  have  of  such  a  practice. 

11.  Now  the  tribe  of  Ephraim  fought  against  him,  because  he  did  not  take 
them  along  with  him  in  his  expedition  against  the  Ammonites,  but  because  he 
alone  had  the  prey,  and  the  glory  of  what  was  done  to  himself.  As  to  which 
he  said  first,  that  they  were  not  ignorant  how  his  kindred  had  fought  against 
him,  and  that  when  they  were  invited,  they  did  not  come  to  his  assistance, 
whereas  they  ought  to  have  come  quickly,  even  before  they  were  invited.  And 
in  the  next  place,  they  were  going  to  act  unjustly  ;  for  while  they  had  not  cou- 
rage  enough  to  fight  their  enemies,  they  came  hastily  against  their  own  kindred  : 
and  he  threatened  them,  that,  with  God's  assistance,  he  would  intlict  a  punish- 
ment upon  them,  unless  they  would  grow  wiser.  But  when  he  could  not  per- 
suade  them,  he  fought  with  them  with  those  forces  which  he  sent  for  out  of  Gi- 
lead,  and  he  made  a  great  slaughter  among  them  ;  and  when  they  were  beaten, 
he  pursued  them,  and  seized  on  the  passages  of  Jordan  by  a  part  of  his  army 
which  he  had  sent  before,  and  slew  about  forty-two  tliousand  of  them. 

12.  So  when  Jephtha  had  ruled  six  years  he  died,  and  was  buried  in  his  own 
country,  Sebee,  which  is  a  place  in  the  land  of  Gilead. 

13.  Now  when  Jephtha  was  dead,  Ibzan  took  the  government,  being  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  and  of  the  city  of  Bethlehem.  He  had  sixty  children,  thirty  of 
them  sons,  and  the  rest  daughters  ;  all  which  he  left  alive  behind  him,  giving 
the  daughters  in  marriage  to  husbands,  and  taking  wives  for  his  sons.  He  did 
nothing  in  the  seven  years  of  his  administration  that  was  worth  recording,  or 
deserved  a  memorial.  So  he  died  an  old  man,  and  was  buried  in  his  own 
country. 

14.  When  Ibzan  waa  dead  after  (his  manner,  neither  did  Helen  who  succeed- 
ed him  in  the  government,  and  kept  it  ten  years,  do  any  thing  remarkable  ;  ho 
was  of  the  tribe  of  Zebulon. 

15.  Abdon,  also  the  son  of  Hilel,  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  and  born  at  tho 
city  of  Pyrathon,  was  ordained  their  supreme  governor  after  Helen.  He  is  only 
recorded  to  have  been  happy  in  his  children  ;  for  the  public  affairs  Mere  then 
so  peaceable,  and  in  such  security,  that  neither  did  he  perform  any  glorious  ac- 
tion. Ho  had  forty  sons,  and  by  them  left  thirty  grandchildren;  and  he  march- 
ed in  state,  with  these  seventy,  who  were  all  very  skilful  in  riding  horses,  and 
he  left  them  all  alive  after  him.  He  died  an  old  man ;  and  obtained  a  magnifi- 
cent  burial  in  Pyrathon. 

If  he  had  vowed  her  for  a  sacrifice  she  ought  to  have  been  redeemed,  Lev.  xxvii.  1—8 ;  hut  of  the  sense 
of  ver.  28,  29,  as  relating  not  to  things  vowed  to  God,  butdevoted  to  destruction,  seo  die  note  on  Autiq. 
B.  V.  ch.  i.  sect.  8. 


VOL.  I. 


170  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 


CHAP.  VIII. 

Concerning  the  Fortitude  of  Samson,  and  what  Mischiefs  lie  brought  upon  the 

Philistines. 

§  1.  After  Abdon  was  dead,  the  Philistines  overcame  the  IsraeUtes,  and  received 
tribute  of  them  for  forty  years  ;  from  which  distress  they  were  dehvered  after 
this  manner. 

2.  There  was  one  Manoah,  a  person  of  such  great  virtue  that  he  had  few  men 
his  equals,  and  without  dispute  the  principal  person  of  his  country.  He  had  a 
wife  celebrated  for  her  beauty,  and  excelling  her  contemporaries.  He  had  no 
children  ;  and  being  uneasy  at  his  want  of  posterity,  he  entreated  God  to  give 
them  seed  of  their  own  bodies  to  succeed  them ;  and  with  that  intent  he  came 
constantly  into  the  suburbs,*  together  with  his  wife,  which  suburbs  were  in  the 
great  plain.  Now  he  was  fond  of  his  wife  to  a  degree  of  madness,  and  on  that 
account  was  unmeasurably  jealous  of  her.  Now  when  his  wife  was  once  alone, 
an  apparition  was  seen  by  her  ;  it  was  an  angel  of  God,  and  resembled  a  young 
man,  beautiful  and  tall,  and  brought  her  the  good  news,  that  she  should  have  a 
son,  born  by  God's  providence,  that  should  be  a  goodly  child,  of  great  strength, 
by  whom,  when  he  was  grown  up  to  man's  estate,  the  Philistines  should  be  af- 
flicted.  He  exhorted  her  also  not  to  poll  his  hair,  and  that  he  should  avoid  all 
other  kinds  of  drink  (for  so  had  God  commanded,)  and  be  entirely  contented  with 
water.  So  the  angel,  when  he  had  delivered  that  message,  went  his  way,  his 
coming  having  been  by  the  will  of  God. 

3.  Now  the  wife  informed  her  husband,  when  he  came  home,  of  what  the 
angel  had  said,  who  showed  so  great  an  admiration  of  the  beauty  and  tallness  of 
the  young  man  that  had  appeared  to  her,  that  her  husband  was  astonished,  and 
out  of  himself  for  jealousy,  and  such  suspicions  as  are  excited  by  that  passion  : 
but  she  was  desirous  to  have  her  husband's  unreasonable  sorrow  taken  away  ; 
accordingly  she  entreated  God  to  send  the  angel  again  that  he  might  be  seen  by 
her  husband.  So  the  angel  came  again  by  the  favour  of  God,  while  they  were 
in  the  suburbs,  and  appeared  to  her  when  she  was  alone,  without  her  husband. 
She  desired  the  angel  to  stay  so  long  till  she  might  bring  her  husband  ;  and  that 
request  being  granted,  she  goes  to  call  Manoah.  When  he  saw  the  angel  he 
was  not  yet  free  from  suspicion,  and  he  desired  him  to  inform  him  of  all  that  he 
had  told  his  wife  :  but  when  he  said  it  was  sufficient  that  she  alone  knew  what 
he  had  said,  he  then  requested  of  him  to  tell  him  who  he  was,  that  when  the  child 
was  born  they  might  return  him  thanks,  and  give  him  a  present.  He  rephed, 
that  he  did  not  want  any  present,  for  that  he  did  not  bring  them  the  good  news 
of  the  birth  of  a  son,  out  of  the  want  of  any  thing.  And  when  Manoah  had  en- 
treated  him  to  stay,  and  partake  of  his  hospitality,  he  did  not  give  his  consent. 
However,  he  was  persuaded,  at  the  earnest  request  of  Manoah,  to  stay  so  long 
as  while  he  brought  him  one  mark  of  his  hospitality  :  so  he  slew  a  kid  of  the 
goats,  and  bid  his  wife  boil  it.  When  all  was  ready,  the  angel  enjoined  them  to 
set  the  loaves  and  the  flesh,  but  without  the  vessels,  upon  the  rock  ;  which  when 
they  had  done,  he  touched  the  flesh  with  the  rod  which  he  had  in  his  hand,  which, 
upon  the  breaking  out  of  a  flame,  was  consumed,  together  with  the  loaves. 
And  the  angel  ascended  openly,  in  their  sight,  up  to  heaven,  by  means  of  the 
smoke,  as  by  a  vehicle.  Now  Manoah  was  afraid  that  some  danger  would  come 
to  them  from  this  sight  of  God,  but  his  wife  bid  him  be  of  good  courage  ;  for  thai 
God  appeared  to  them  for  their  benefit. 

4.  So  the  woman  proved  with  child,  and  was  careful  to  observe  the  injunctions 
that  were  given  her,  and  they  called  the  child,  when  he  was  born,  Samson,  which 

*  I  can  discover  no  reason  vvhj'  Manoah  and  his  wife  came  so  constantly  ijito  the  suburbs  to  pray  f(J 
children,  but  because  there  was  a  synagogue  or  place  of  devotion  in  those  suburbs 


C.  VIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


171 


name  signifies  one  that  is  strong.  So  the  child  grew  apace,  and  it  appeared  evi- 
dently  that  he  would  be  a  prophet,*  both  by  the  moderation  of  hi.s  diet,  and  the 
permission  of  his  hair  to  grow. 

5.  Now  when  he  once  came  with  his  parents  to  Timnath,  a  citv  of  the  Philis- 
tines,  when  there  was  a  great  festival,  he  fell  in  love  with  a  maid  of  that  country 
and  he  desired  of  his  parents  that  they  would  procure  him  the  damsel  for  his  wife  • 
but  they  refused  so  to  do,  because  she  was  not  of  the  stock  of  Israel  •  vet  be! 
cause  this  marriage  was  of  God,  who  intended  to  convert  it  to  the  benefit  of  the 
Hebrews,  he  overpersuaded  them  to  procure  her  to  be  espoused  to  him.  And 
as  he  was  continually  coming  to  her  parents,  he  met  a  lion,  and  thou-di  he  M'as 
naked,  he  received  his  onset,  and  strangled  him  with  his  hands,  and  cast  the  wild 
beast  into  a  woody  piece  of  ground  on  the  inside  of  the  road. 

6.  And  when  he  was  going  another  time  to  the  damsel,  he  lighted  upon  a 
swarm  of  bees  making  their  combs  in  the  breast  of  that  lion,  and  takin"-  three 
honeycombs  away,  he  gave  them,  together  with  the  rest  of  his  presents"  to  the 
damsel.  Now  the  people  of  Timnath,  out  of  a  dread  of  the  youno-  man's 
strength,  gave  him,  during  the  time  of  the  wedding-feast  (for  he  then  feasted  Ihcm 
all,)  thirty  of  the  most  stout  of  their  youth,  in  pretence  to  be  his  companions,  but 
in  reality  to  be  a  guard  upon  him,  that  he  might  not  attempt  to  give  them  any  dis- 
turbance.  Now  as  they  were  drinking  merrily,  and  playing,  Samson  .saul,  as 
was  usual  at  such  times,  "  Come,  if  I  propose  you  a  riddle,  and  you  can  expound 
it  in  these  seven  days  time,  I  will  give  you  every  one,  a  linen  sliirt  and  a  "-ar. 
ment,  as  the  reward  of  your  wisdom."  So  they  being  very  ambilious  to  obtain 
the  glory  of  wisdom,  together  with  the  gains,  desired  him  to  propose  his  riddle  : 
he  said,  "  that  a  great  devourer  produced  sweet  food  out  of  itself,  thouo-h  itself 
were  very  disagreeable."  And  when  they  were  not  able,  in  three  days  time,  to 
find  out  the  meaning  of  the  riddle,  they  desired  the  damsel  to  discover  it  by  the 
means  of  her  husband,  and  tell  it  them,  and  they  threatened  to  burn  her  if  she 
did  not  tell  it  them.  So  when  the  damsel  entreated  Samson  to  tell  it  her,  he  at 
first  refused  to  do  it,  but  when  she  lay  hard  at  him,  and  fell  into  tears,  and  made 
his  refusal  to  tell  it  a  sign  of  his  unkindness  to  her,  he  informed  her  of  Ins  slauo-h- 
ter  of  a  lion,  and  how  he  found  bees  in  his  breast,  and  carried  away  three  honev- 
combs,  and  brought  them  to  her.  Thus  he  suspecting  nothing  of  deceit,  informed 
her  of  all,  and  she  revealed  it  to  those  that  desired  to  know  it.  Then  on  tlie  se- 
venth day,  whereon  they  were  to  expound  the  riddle  proposed  to  them,  they  met 
together  before  sun-setting,  and  said,  "  Nothing  is  more  disagreeable  than  a  lion 
to  those  that  light  on  it,  and  nothing  is  sweeter  than  honey  to  those  that  make  use 
of  it."  To  which  Samson  made  this  rejoinder  :  "  Nothing  is  more  deceitful 
than  a  woman,  for  such  was  the  person  that  discovered  my  interpretation  to  you." 
Accordingly  he  gave  them  the  presents  he  had  promised  them,  making  such  As- 
kelonites  as  met  him  upon  the  road  his  prey,  who  were  themselves  rhilistincs 
also.  Bjit  he  divorced  this  his  wife,  and  the  girl  despised  his  anger,  and  was 
married  to  his  companion,  who  made  the  former  match  between  them. 

7.  At  this  injurious  treatment  Samson  was  so  provoked  that  he  resolved  to  pu. 
nish  all  the  Philistines,  as  well  as  her :  so  it  being  then  summer-time,  and  the 
fruits  of  the  land  being  almost  ripe  enough  for  reaping,  he  caught  three  hundred 
foxes,  and  joining  lighted  torches  to  their  tails,  he  sent  them  into  tiio  fields  ol'tlie 
Philistines,  by  which  means  the  fruits  of  the  fields  perished.  Now  when  the  Phi. 
listines  knew  that  this  was  Samson's  doing,  and  knew  also  for  what  cause  he  did 
it,  they  sent  their  rulers  to  Timnath,  and  burned  his  former  wife,  and  her  rela. 
tions,  who  had  been  the  occasion  of  their  misfortunes. 

8.  Now  when  Samson  had  slain  many  of  the  Philistines  in  the  plain  country, 

*  Here  hy  a. prophet  Josephus  seems  only  to  mean  one  that  was  born  by  a  particular  providence,  lived 
after  the  manner  of  a  Nazarite  devoted  lo  God,  and  was  to  have  an  extraordinaiy  commission  and 
strength  from  God  for  the  judging  and  avenging  his  people  Israel,  without  any  proper  prophetic  revela- 
liuns  at  all. 

y2 


|iyg  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

iie  dwelt  at  Etam,  which  is  a  strong  rock  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  ;  for  the  Philistines 
at  that  time  made  an  expedition  against  that  tribe  :  but  the  people  of  Judah  said, 
that  they  did  not  act  justly  with  them,  in  inflicting  punishments  upon  them  while 
they  paid  their  tribute,  and  this  only  on  account  of  Samson's  offences.  They 
answered,  that  in  case  they  would  not  be  blamed  themselves,  they  must  deliver 
up  Sampson,  and  put  him  into  their  power.  So  they,  being  desirous  not  to  be 
blamed  themselves,  came  to  the  rock  with  three  thousand  armed  men,  and  com- 
plained to  Samson  of  the  bold  insults  he  had  made  upon  the  Philistines,  who  wero 
men  able  to  bring  calamity  upon  the  whole  nation  of  the  Hebrews  ;  and  they  told 
him  they  were  come  to  take  him,  and  to  deliver  him  up  to  them,  and  put  him  into 
their  power,  so  they  desired  him  to  bear  this  -willingly.  Accordingly  when  he 
had  received  assurance  from  them  upon  oath,  that  they  would  do  him  no  other 
harm  than  only  to  deliver  him  into  his  enemies'  hands,  he  came  down  from  the 
rock,  and  put  himself  into  the  power  of  liis  countrymen.  Then  did  they  bind  him 
with  two  cords,  and  led  him  on,  in  order  to  deliver  him  to  the  Phihstines ;  and 
when  they  came  to  a  certain  place  which  is  now  called  The  Jawbone,  on  account 
of  the  great  action  there  performed  by  Samson,  though  of  old  it  had  no  particu- 
lar name  at  all,  the  Philistines,  who  had  pitched  their  camp  not  far  off,  came  to 
meet  them  with  joy  and  shouting,  as  having  done  a  great  thmg,  and  gained  what 
they  desired  ;  but  Samson  broke  his  bonds  asunder,  and  catching  up  the  jawbone 
of  an  ass  that  lay  down  at  his  feet,  fell  upon  his  enemies,  and  smiting  them  with 
his  jawbone,  slew  a  thousand  of  them,  and  put  the  rest  to  flight  and  into  great 
disorder. 

9.  Upon  this  slaughter  Samson  was  too  proud  of  what  he  had  performed,  and 
said  that  this  did  not  come  to  pass  by  the  assistance  of  God,  but  that  his  success 
was  to  be  ascribed  to  his  own  courage  ;  and  vaunted  himself,  that  "  it  was  out 
of  a  dread  of  him,  that  some  of  his  enemies  fell,  and  the  rest  ran  away  upon  his 
use  of  the  jawbone."  But  when  ti  great  thirst  came  upon  him,  he  considered 
that  human  courage  is  nothing,  and  bare  his  testimon_>  that  all  is  to  be  ascribed 
to  God,  and  besought  him  that  he  would  not  be  angry  at  any  thing  he  had  said, 
nor  give  him  up  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  but  afford  him  help  under  his  af. 
fliction,  and  deliver  him  from  the  misfortunes  he  was  under.  Accordingly  God 
was  moved  with  his  entreaties,  and  raised  him  up  a  plentiful  fountain  of  sweet 
water  at  a  certain  rock  ;  whence  it  was  that  Samson  called  the  place  The  JaW' 
hoTie,*  and  so  it  is  called  to  this  day. 

10.  After  this  fight  Samson  had  the  Philistines  in  contempt,  and  came  to  Gaza, 
and  took  up  his  lodgings  in  a  certain  inn.  AVhen  the  rulers  of  Gaza  were  in- 
formed of  his  coming  thither,  they  seized  upon  the  gates,  and  placed  men  in  am- 
bush about  them,  that  he  might  not  escape  without  being  perceived.  But  Samson, 
who  was  acquainted  with  their  contrivances  against  him,  arose  about  midnight, 
and  ran  by  force  upon  the  gates,  with  their  posts  and  beams  and  the  rest  of  their 
wooden  furniture,  and  carried  them  away  on  his  shoulders,  and  bare  them  to  the 
mountain  that  is  over  Hebron,  and  there  laid  them  down. 

11.  However,  he  at  length  transgressedf  the  laws  of  his  country,  and  altered 
his  own  regular  way  of  living,  and  imitated  the  strange  customs  of  foreigners ; 
which  thing  was  the  beginning  of  his  miseries  ;  for  he  fell  in  love  with  a  woman 
that  was  a  harlot,  among  the  Philistines  ;  her  name  was  Delilah,  and  he  lived 
with  her.  So  those  that  administered  the  public  affairs  of  the  Philistines,  came 
to  her,  and  with  promises  induced  her  to  get  out  of  Samson  what  was  the  cause 
of  that  his  strength,  by  which  he  became  unconquerable  to  his  enemies.  Accor- 
dingly, when  they  were  drinking,  and  had  the  like  conversation  together,  she 
pretended  to  admire  the  actions  he  had  done,  and  contrived  to  get  out  of  him  by 

•  This  fountain  called  Lehi,  or  the  Jawbone,  is  still  in  being  as  travellers  assure  us,  and  was  known 
by  this  very  name  in  the  days  of  Josephus,  and  has  been  known  by  the  same  name  in  all  these  past  ages. 
See  Antiq.  B.  vii.  cli.  xii.  sect.  4. 

•}■  See  this  justly  oliservcd  in  tho  Apostolical  Constitutions,  B.  vii.  ch.  xsxvij.  that  Samson's  prayer  wa* 
lieard,  but  that  it  was  befiire  tliis  his  tiansgression. 


r,  IX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  173 

snbtility,  by  what  means  he  so  much  excelled  others  in  strength.  Samson,  in 
order  to  delude  Delilah,  for  he  had  not  yet  lost  his  senses,  replied,  that  if  ho  were 
bound  with  seven  sucii  green  withes  of  a  vine  as  might  still  be  wreathed,  lie 
should  be  weaker  than  any  other  man.  The  woman  said  no  more  then,  but  told 
this  to  the  rulers  of  the  Philistines,  and  hid  certain  of  the  soldiers  in  ambush 
■within  the  house,  and  when  he  was  disordered  in  drink,  and  asleep,  she  bound 
him  as  fast  as  possible  with  the  withes,  and  then  upon  her  awakening  him,  she 
told  him  some  of  the  people  v.'ere  upon  him  ;  but  he  broke  the  withes,  and  en- 
deavoured  to  defend  himself,  as  though  some  of  the  people  Avere  upon  him.  Now 
this  woman,  in  the  constant  conversation  Samson  had  with  her,  pretended  that 
she  took  it  very  ill  that  he  had  such  little  confidence  in  her  afiections  to  him,  that 
he  would  not  tell  her  what  she  desired,  as  if  she  would  not  conceal  what  she 
knew  it  was  for  his  interest  to  have  concealed.  However,  he  deluded  her  ao-ain, 
and  told  her,  that  if  they  bound  him  with  seven  cords,  he  should  lose  his  strength. 
And  when,  upon  doing  this,  she  gained  nothing,  he  told  her  the  third  time,  that 
his  hair  should  be  woven  into  a  web  ;  but  when  upon  doing  this,  the  truth  was  not 
yet  discovered,  at  length  Samson,  upon  Delilah's  prayer  (for  he  was  doomed  to 
fall  into  some  afiliction,)  was  desirous  to  please  her,  and  told  her.  That  "  God 
took  care  of  him,  and  that  he  was  born  by  his  providence,  and  that  thence  it  is 
that  I  suffer  my  hair  to  grow,  God  having  charged  me  never  to  poll  my  head, 
and  thence  my  strength  is  according  to  the  increase  and  continuance  of  my  hair." 
When  she  had  learned  thus  much,  and  had  deprived  him  of  his  hair,  she  delivered 
him  up  to  his  enemies,  when,  he  w^as  not  strong  enough  to  defend  himself  from 
their  attempts  upon  him  ;  so  they  put  out  his  eyes,  and  bound  him,  and  had  him 
led  about  among  them. 

12.  But  in  process  of  time  Samson's  hair  grew  again.  And  there  was  a  pub- 
lic festival  among  the  Philistines,  when  the  rulers,  and  those  of  the  most  eminent 
character,  were  feasting  together  (now  the  room  wherein  they  were  had  its  roof 
supported  by  two  pillars,)  so  they  sent  for  Samson,  and  he  was  brought  to  their 
feast,  that  they  might  insult  him  in  their  cups.  Hereupon  he,  thinking  it  one  of 
the  greatest  misfortunes,  if  he  should  not  be  able  to  revenge  himself  when  he  was 
thus  insulted,  persuaded  the  boy  that  led  him  by  the  hand,  that  he  was  weary 
and  wanted  to  rest  himself,  and  desired  he  would  bring  him  near  the  pillars  ;  and 
as  soon  as  he  came  to  them,  he  rushed  with  force  against  them,  and  overthrew 
the  house  by  overthrowing  its  pillars,  with  three  thousand  men  in  it,  who  were  all 
slain,  and  Samson  with  them.  And  such  was  the  end  of  this  man,  when  he  had 
ruled  over  the  Israelites  twenty  years.  And  indeed  this  man  deserves  to  be  ad- 
mired  for  his  courage  and  strength,  and  magnanimity  at  his  death,  and  that  his 
wrath  against  his  enemies  went  so  far  as  to  die  himself  with  them.  But  as  for  hia 
being  ensnared  by  a  woman,  that  is  to  be  ascribed  to  human  nature,  which  is  too 
weak  to  resist  the  temptations  to  that  sin ;  but  we  ought  to  bear  him  witness,  that  in 
all  other  respects  he  was  one  of  extraordinary  virtue.  But  his  kindred  took  away 
his  body,  and  buried  it  in  Sarasat,  liis  own  country,  with  the  rest  of  his  family. 


CHAP.  IX. 

How  under  EWs  Government  of  tJie  Israelites,  Booz  married  Ruth,  from  wlwm  came 
Obed,  the  Grandfather  of  David. 

§  1.  Now  after  the  death  of  Samson,  Eli  the  high  priest  was  governor  of  the 
Israelites.  Under  him,  when  the  country  was  afllictcd  with  a  famine,  Elimelech 
of  Bethlehem,  which  is  a  city  of  the  tribe  of  Judnh,  being  not  able  to  support  his 
family  under  so  sore  a  distress,  took  with  him  Naomi  his  witc,  and  the  children 
that  were  born  to  him  by  her,  Chilion  and  Mahlon,  and  removed  his  habitation 
into  the  land  of  Moab ;  and  upon  the  happy  prosperity  of  his  affairs  there,  ho 
took  for  his  sons  wives  of  the  Moabites,  Orphah  for  Chilion,  and  Ruth  for  I\Iahlon. 


174  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V. 

But  in  the  compass  of  ten  years,  both  Elimclech,  and  a  little  while  aflor  him,  the 
sons  died;  and  Naomi,  being  very  uneasy  at  these  accidents,  and  not  able  to  bear 
her  lonesome  condition,  now  those  that  wore  dearest  to  her  were  dead,  on  whose 
account  it  was  that  she  had  gone  away  from  her  own  country,  she  returned  to  it 
again,  for  she  had  been  informed  it  was  now  in  a  flourishing  condition.  How- 
ever,  her  daughters-in-law  were  not  able  to  think  of  parting  with  her,  and  when 
they  had  a  mind  to  go  out  of  the  country  with  her,  she  could  not  dissuade  them 
from  it,  but  when  they  insisted  upon  it,  she  wished  them  a  more  happy  wedlock 
than  they  had  had  with  her  sons,  and  that  they  might  have  prosperity  in  other  re- 
spects  also ;  and  seeing  her  own  affairs  were  so  low,  she  exhorted  them  to  stay 
where  they  were,  and  not  to  think  of  leaving  their  own  country,  and  partaking 
with  her  of  that  uncertainty  under  which  she  must  return.  Accordingly  Orphah 
stayed  behind,  but  she  took  Ruth  along  with  her,  as  not  to  be  persuaded  to  stay 
behind  her,  but  would  take  her  fortune  with  her,  whatsoever  it  should  prove. 

2.  When  Ruth  was  come  with  her  mother-in-law  to  Bethlehem,  Booz,  who 
was  near  of  kin  to  Elimelech,  entertained  her;  and  when  Naomi  was  so  called 
by  her  fellow-citizens,  according  to  her  true  name,  she  said,  "You  might  more 
truly  call  me  Mara."  Now  Naomi  signifies  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  happiness, 
and  Mara,  sorrow.  It  was  now  reaping  time;  and  Ruth,  by  the  leave  of  her  mo- 
ther-in-law, went  out  to  glean,  that  they  might  get  a  stock  of  corn  for  their  food. 
Now  it  happened  that  she  came  into  Booz's  field ;  and  after  some  time  Booz 
came  thither,  and  when  he  saw  the  damsel,  he  inquired  of  his  servant  that  was 
set  over  the  reapers  concerning  the  girl.  The  servant  had  a  little  before  in- 
quired  about  all  her  circumstances,  and  told  them  to  his  master,  who  kindly  em- 
braced  her,  both  on  account  of  her  affection  to  her  mother-in-law  and  her  re- 
membrance of  that  son  of  hers,  to  whom  she  had  been  married,  and  wished  that 
she  might  experience  a  prosperous  condition ;  so  he  desired  her  not  to  glean,  but 
to  reap  what  she  was  able,  and  gave  her  leave  to  carry  it  home.  He  also  gave 
it  in  charge  to  that  servant  who  was  over  the  reapers,  not  to  hinder  her  when  she 
took  it  away,  and  bid  him  give  her  dinner,  and  make  her  drink,  when  he  did  the 
like  to  the  reapers.  Now  what  corn  Ruth  received  of  him  she  kept  for  her  mo- 
ther-in-law, and  came  to  her  in  the  evening,  and  brought  the  ears  of  corn  with 
her;  and  Naomi  had  kept  for  her  a  part  of  such  food  as  her  neighbours  had 
plentifully  bestowed  upon  her.  Ruth  also  told  her  mother-in-law  what  Booz  had 
said  to  her ;  and  when  the  other  had  informed  her  that  he  was  near  of  kin  to 
them,  and  perhaps  was  so  pious  a  man  as  to  make  some  provision  for  them,  she 
went  out  again  on  the  days  following  to  gather  the  gleanings  with  Booz's  maid- 
eervants. 

3.  It  was  not  many  days  before  Booz,  afler  the  barley  was  winnowed,  slept  in 
his  threshing-floor.  When  Naomi  was  informed  of  this  circumstance,  she  con- 
trived it  so  that  Ruth  should  lie  down  by  him,  for  she  thought  it  might  be  for  their 
advantage,  that  he  should  discourse  with  the  girl.  Accordingly  she  sent  the 
damsel  to  sleep  at  his  feet,  who  went  as  she  bade  her,  for  she  did  not  think  it 
consistent  with  her  duty  to  contradict  any  command  of  her  mother-in-law's. 
And  at  first  she  lay  concealed  from  Booz  as  he  was  fast  asleep ;  but  when  he 
awakened  about  midnight,  and  perceived  a  woman  lying  by  him,  he  asked  who 
she  was ;  and  when  she  told  him  her  name,  and  desired,  that  he  \\'hom  she  owned 
for  her  lord  would  excuse  her,  he  then  said  no  more,  but  in  the  morning  before 
the  servants  began  to  set  about  their  work  he  awakened,  and  bid  her  take  as 
much  barley  as  she  was  able  to  carry,  and  go  to  her  mother-in-law  before  any 
body  there  should  see  that  she  had  lain  down  by  him,  because  it  was  but  pru- 
dent  to  avoid  any  reproach  that  might  arise  on  that  account,  especially  when 
there  had  been  nothing  done  that  was  ill.  But  as  to  the  main  point  she  aimed 
at,  the  matter  should  rest  here,  "  He  that  is  nearer  of  kin  than  I  am  shall  be  asked 
whether  he  wants  to  take  thee  to  wife  ;  if  he  says  he  does,  thou  shalt  follow  him; 
but  if  he  refuse  it,  I  will  marry  thee  according  to  the  law." 


ex.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  I75 

4.  When  she  had  informed  her  mother-in-law  of  this,  they  were  very  glad  of 
it,  out  of  the  hope  they  had  that  Booz  would  make  provision  for  them.  Now, 
about  noon,  Booz  went  down  into  the  city,  and  gathered  the  senate  together,  and 
when  he  had  sent  for  Ruth,  he  called  for  her  kinsman  also  ;  and  when  he  was 
come,  he  said,  "  Dost  thou  retain  the  inheritance  of  Elimelech  and  his  sons  ?" 
He  confessed  that  he  did  retain  it,  and  that  he  did  as  he  was  permitted  to  do  by 
the  laws,  because  he  was  their  nearest  kinsman.  Then  said  Booz,  "  Thou  must 
not  remember  the  laws  by  halves,  but  do  every  thing  according  to  them  ;  for  the 
wife  of  Mahlon  is  come  hither,  whom  thou  must  marry,  according  to  the  laws, 
in  case  thou  wilt  retain  their  fields."  So  the  man  yielded  up  both  the  field  and 
the  wife  to  Booz,  who  was  himself  of  kin  to  those  that  were  dead,  as  alleging  that 
he  had  a  wife  already,  and  children  also  ;  so  Book  called  the  senate  to  witness, 
and  bid  the  woman  to  loose  his  shoe,  and  spit  in  his  face,  according  to  the  law  ; 
and  when  this  was  done,  Booz  married  Ruth,  and  they  had  a  son  within  a  year's 
time.  Naomi  Mas  herself  a  nurse  to  this  child  ;  and  by  the  advice  of  the  wo- 
man called  him  Obed,  as  being  to  be  brought  up  in  order  to  be  subservient  to  her 
in  her  old  age,  for  Obed  in  the  Hebrew  dialect  signifies  a  servant.  The  son  of 
Obed  was  Jesse,  and  David  was  his  son,  who  was  king,  and  left  his  dominions 
to  his  sons  for  one  and  twenty  generations.  I  was  therefore  obliged  to  relate 
this  history  of  Ruth,  because  I  had  a  mind  to  demonstrate  the  power  of  God, 
who,  without  difficulty  can  raise  those  that  are  of  ordinary  parentage  to  dignity 
and  splendour,  to  which  he  advanced  David,  though  he  were  born  of  such  mean 
parents. 


CHAP.  X. 

Concerning  the  Birth  of  Samuel ;  and  hoio  he  foretold  the  Calamity  that  hefcl  the 

So7is  of  Eli. 

§  1.  And  now,  upon  the  ill  state  of  the  affairs  of  the  Hebrews,  they  made  war 
again  upon  the  Philistines.  The  occasion  was  this  ;  Eli  the  high  priest  had  two 
sons,  Hophni  and  Phineas.  These  sons  of  Eli  were  guilty  of  injustice  towards 
men,  and  of  impiety  towards  God,  and  abstained  from  no  sort  of  wickedness. 
Some  of  their  gifts  they  carried  ofl^,  as  belonging  to  the  honourable  employment 
they  had,  others  they  took  away  by  violence.  They  also  were  guilty  of  impurity 
with  the  women  that  came  to  worship  God  [at  the  tabernacle,]  obliging  some  to 
submit  to  their  lust  by  force,  and  enticing  others  by  bribes ;  nay,  the  whole 
course  of  their  lives  was  no  better  than  tyranny.  Their  father  therefore  was  an- 
grv  at  them  for  such  their  wickedness,  and  expected  that  God  would  suddenly 
inflict  his  punishments  upon  them  for  what  they  h?d  done.  The  multitude  took 
it  heinously  also.  And  as  soon  as  God  had  foretold  what  calamity  would  befall 
Eli's  sons,  which  he  did  both  to  Eli  himself,  and  to  Samuel  the  prophet,  who 
Avas  yet  but  a  child,  he  openly  showed  his  sorrow  for  his  sons'  destruction. 

2.  I  will  first  despatch  what  I  have  to  say  about  the  prophet  Samuel,  and  after 
that  will  proceed  to  speak  of  the  sons  of  Eli,  and  the  miseries  they  brought  on  the 
whole  people  of  the  Hebrews.  Elcanah,  a  Levitc,  one  of  a  middle  condition 
among  his  fellow-citizens,  and  one  that  dwelt  at  Ramathaim,  a  city  of  the  tribe 
of  Ephraim,  married  two  wives,  Hannah  and  Peninnah.  He  had  children  by 
the  latter,  but  he  loved  the  other  best,  although  she  were  barren.  Now  Elcanah 
came  with  his  wives  to  the  city  Shiloh  to  sacrifice,  for  there  it  was  that  the  taber- 
nacle  of  God  was  fixed,  as  we  have  formerly  said.  Now,  when  after  he  had  sa- 
crificed,  he  distributed  at  that  festival  portions  of  the  flo.'^h  to  his  wives  and  chil- 
dren ;  and  when  Hannah  saw  the  other  wife's  children  sitting  round  about  their 
mother,  she  fell  into  tears,  and  lamented  herself  on  account  of  her  barrenness 
and  lonesomeness  ;  and  suffering  her  grief  to  prevail  over  her  husliand's  conso- 
lations  to  her,  she  went  to  the  tabernacle  to  beseech  God  to  give  her  seed,  and 


170  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THfi  JEWS.  B.  V. 

to  make  her  a  mother ;  and  to  vow  to  consecrate  the  first  son  she  should  bear  to 
the  service  of  God,  and  this  in  such  a  way  that  his  manner  of  Uving  should  not 
be  like  that  of  ordinary  men.  And  as  she  continued  at  her  prayers  a  long  time, 
Eli  the  high  priest,  for  he  sat  there  before  the  tabernacle,  bid  her  go  away,  think- 
ing she  had  been  disordered  with  wine ;  but  when  she  said  she  had  drunk  wa- 
ter, but  was  in  sorrow  for  want  of  children,  and  was  beseeching  God  for  them, 
he  bid  her  be  of  good  cheer,  and  told  her  that  God  would  send  her  children. 

3.  So  she  came  to  her  husband  full  of  hope,  and  ate  her  meal  with  gladness  ; 
and  when  they  had  returned  to  their  own  country  she  found  herself  with  child, 
and  they  had  a  son  born  to  them,  to  whom  they  gave  the  name  of  Samuel,  which 
may  be  styled  one  that  was  ashed  of  God.  They  therefore  came  to  the  taberna- 
cle to  ofier  sacrifice  for  the  birth  of  the  child,  and  brought  their  tithes  with  them ; 
but  the  woman  remembered  the  vow  she  had  made  concerning  her  son,  and  de- 
livered him  to  Eli,  dedicating  him  to  God,  that  he  might  become  a  prophet.  Ac- 
cordingly his  hair  was  suffered  to  grow  long,  and  his  drink  was  water.  So  Sa- 
mucl  dwelt,  and  was  brought  up  in  tl>e  temple.  But  Elcauah  had  other  sons  by 
Hannah,  and  three  daughters. 

4.  Now  when  Samuel  was  twelve  years  old  he  began  to  prophesy  ;  and  when 
he  was  once  asleep,  God  called  to  him  by  his  name,  but  he  supposing  he  had  been 
called  by  the  high  priest,  came  to  him  ;  but  when  the  high  priest  said,  he  did  not 
call  him,  God  did  so  thrice.  Eli  was  then  so  far  illuminated,  that  he  said  to  him, 
"  Indeed,  Samuel,  I  was  silent  now  as  well  as  before ;  it  is  God  that  calls  thee ; 
do  thou,  therefore,  signify  it  to  him,  and  say,  I  am  here  ready."  So  when  he 
heard  God  speak  again,  he  desired  him  to  speak  and  to  deliver  what  oracles  he 
pleased  to  him,  for  he  would  not  fail  to  perform  any  ministration  whatsoever  he 
should  make  use  of  him  in  ;  to  which  God  replied,  "Since  thou  art  here  ready, 
learn  what  miseries  are  coming  upon  the  Israelites,  such  indeed  as  words  cannot 
declare,  nor  faith  believe ;  for  the  sons  of  Eli  shall  die  on  one  day,  and  the  priest, 
hood  shall  be  transferred  into  the  family  of  Eleazar,  and  Eli  hath  loved  his  sons 
more  than  he  hath  loved  my  worship,  and  to  such  a  degree  as  is  not  for  their  ad- 
vantage." Which  message  Eli  obliged  the  prophet  by  oath  to  tell  him,  for  other- 
Avise  he  had  no  inclination  to  afflict  him  by  telling  it.  And  now  Eli  had  a  far 
more  sure  expectation  of  the  perdition  of  his  sons  ;  but  the  glory  of  Samuel  in- 
creased more  and  more,  it  being  found  by  experience,  that  whatsoever  he  pro- 
phesied came  to  pass  accordingly.* 


CHAP.  XL 

Herein  is  declared  what  befell  the  Sons  of  Eli,  tJie  Arh,  and  the  People ;  and  how 
EU'himself  died  miserably. 

§  1 .  About  this  time  it  was  that  the  Philistines  made  war  against  the  Israe- 
lites, and  pitched  their  camp  at  the  city  Aphek.  Now  when  the  Israelites  had 
expected  them  a  little  while,  the  very  next  day  they  joined  battle,  and  the  Phi- 
listines were  conquerors,  and  slew  above  four  thousand  of  the  Hebrews,  and  pur- 
sued the  rest  of  their  multitude  to  their  camp. 

2.  So  the  Hebrews,  being  afraid  of  the  worst,  sent  to  the  senate,  and  to  the 
high  priest,  and  desired  that  they  would  bring  the  ark  of  God,  that  by  putting 
themselves  in  array  when  it  was  present  with  them,  they  might  be  too  hard  for 
their  enemies,  as  not  reflecting  that  he  who  had  condemned  them  to  endure  these 
calamities  was  greater  than  the  ark,  and  for  whose  sake  it  was  that  this  ark 

*  Although  there  had  been  a  few  occasional  prophets  before,  yet  was  this  Samuel  the  first  of  a  con- 
stant succession  of  Prophets  in  the  Jewish  nation,  as  is  implied  in  St.  Peter's  words,  Acts,  iii.  24,  "  Yea, 
and  all  the  prophets  from  Samuel,  and  those  that  followed  after,  as  many  as  have  spoken,  have  likewise 
foretold  of  those  days."  See  also  Acts,  xjii.  20 ;  the  other  were  rather  sometimes  called  righteous  men, 
Mat.  X.  41 ;  xiii.  17. 


C.  VIII.  ANTIQUniES  OF  THE  JEWS.  l^f 

came  to  be  lionourecl.  So  the  ark  came,  and  the  eons  of  the  high  priest  with  it, 
having  received  a  charge  from  their  father,  that  if  they  pretended  to  survive  the 
taking  of  the  ark,  they  should  come  no  more  into  his  presence  ;  for  Phineas 
officiated  already  as  high  priest,  his  father  having  resigned  his  office  to  him  by 
reason  of  his  great  age.  So  the  Hebrews  were  full  of  courage,  as  supposing  that 
by  the  coming  of  the  ark  they  should  be  too  hard  for  their  enemies ;  their  ene. 
mies  also  were  greatly  concerned,  and  were  afraid  of  the  ark's  coming  to  tho 
Israelites ;  however  the  upshot  did  not  prove  agreeable  to  the  e.\pectations  of 
both  sides,  but  when  the  battle  was  joined,  that  victory  which  the  Hebrews  e.\. 
peeted  was  gained  by  the  Philistines,  and  that  defeat  the  Philistines  were  afraid 
of  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Israelites,  and  thereby  they  found  that  they  had  put  their 
trust  in  the  ark  in  vain,  for  they  were  presently  beaten  as  soon  as  they  came  to 
a  close  fight  with  their  enemies,  and  lost  about  thirty  thousand  men,  among  which, 
were  the  sons  of  the  high  priest;  but  the  ark  was  carried  away  by  the  enemies, 

3.  When  the  news  of  this  defeat  came  to  Sliiloh,  with  that  of  the  captivity  of 
the  ark  (for  a  certain  young  man,  a  Benjamite,,  who  was  in  the  action,  came  as  a 
messenger  thiiher),  the  whole  city  was  full  of  lamentations.  And  Eli  the  high 
priest,  who  sat  upon  a  high  throne  at  one  of  the  gates,  heard  their  mournful  cries, 
and  supposed  that  some  strange  thing  had  befallen  his  family ;  so  he  sent  for  the 
young  man ;  and  when  he  understood  what  had  happened  in  the  battle,  he  was 
not  much  uneasy  as  to  his  sons,  or  what  was  told  him  withal  about  the  army,  as  hav- 
ing  beforehand  known  by  divine  revelation  that  those  things  would  happen,  and 
having  himself  declared  them  beforehand,  for  what  sad  things  come  unexpectedly 
they  distress  men  the  most :  but  as  soon  as  the  ark  was  carried  captive  by  their 
enemies,  he  was  very  much  grieved  at  it,  because  it  fell  out  quite  difficrently  from 
what  he  expected ;  so  he  fell  down  from  his  throne,  and  died,  having  in  all  lived 
ninety-eight  years,  and  of  them  retained  the  government  forty. 

4.  On  the  same  day  his  son  Phineas's  wife  died  also,  as  not  able  to  survive  the 
misfortune  of  her  husband  ;  for  they  told  her  of  her  husband's  death  as  she  was 
in  labour.  However  s;he  bare  a  son  at  seven  months,  which  lived,  and  to  which 
they  gave  the  name  o^  Icabod,  which  name  signifies  disgrace,  and  this  because  the 
army  received  a  disgrace  at  this  time. 

5.  Now  Eli  was  the  first  of  the  family  of  Itharaar,  the  other  son  of  Aaron,  that 
had  the  government,  for  the  family  of  Eleazar  officiated  as  high  priest  at  first, 
the  son  still  receiving  that  honour  from  the  father  which  Eleazar  bequeathed  to 
his  son  Phineas,  after  whom  Abiezer  his  son  took  the  honour,  and  delivered  it  to 
his  son  whose  name  was  Bukki,  from  whom  his  son  Ozi  received  it ;  after  whom 
Eli,  of  whom  we  have  been  speaking,  had  the  priesthood,  and  so  he  juid  his  pos- 
terity until  the  time  of  Solomon's  reign ;  but  then  the  posterity  of  Eleazar  ro» 
assumed  it. 


VOL.  I. 


178  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


BOOK  VI. 


CONTAINING  THE  INTERVAIi  OF  THIETY-TWO  7EABS 
FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  ELI  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  SAUL. 


CHAP.  I. 

The  Destruction  that  came  upon  the  Philistines,  and  iqwn  their  Land,  by  the  Wrath 

of  God,  on  account  of  their  having  carried  the  Ark  away  captive  ;  and 

after  what  Manner  they  sent  it  back  to  the  Hebrews. 

§  1.  When  the  Philistines  had  taken  the  ark  of  the  Hebrews  captive,  as  I  said  a 
little  before,  they  carried  it  to  the  city  Ashdod,  and  put  it  by  their  own  god,  who 
was  called  Z>a^o?i,*  as  one  of  their  spoils  ;  but  when  they  went  into  his  temple  the 
next  morning  to  worship  their  god,  they  found  him  paying  the  same  worship  to 
the  ark,  for  he  lay  along,  as  having  fallen  down  from  the  basis  whereon  he  had 
stood  :  so  they  took  him  up  and  set  him  on  his  basis  again,  and  were  much  trou- 
bled at  what  had  happened  ;  and  as  they  frequently  came  to  Dagon  and  found  him 
still  lying  along,  in  a  posture  of  adoration  to  the  ark,  they  were  in  very  great 
distress  and  confusion.  At  length  God  sent  a  very  destructive  disease  upon  the 
city  and  country  of  Ashdod,  for  they  died  of  the  dysentery  or  flux,  a  sore  distem- 
per, that  brought  death  upon  them  very  suddenly ;  for  before  the  soul  could,  as 
usual  in  easy  deaths,  be  well  loosed  from  the  body,  they  brought  up  their  entrails, 
and  vomited  up  what  they  had  eaten,  and  what  was  entirely  corrupted  by  the 
disease.  And  as  to  the  fruits  of  their  country,  a  great  multitude  of  mice  arose 
out  of  the  earth  and  hurt  them,  and  spared  neither  the  plants  nor  the  fruits. 
Now  while  the  people  of  Ashdod  were  under  these  misfortunes,  and  were  not 
able  to  support  themselves  under  their  calamities,  they  perceived  that  they  suf- 
fered thus  because  of  the  ark,  and  that  the  victory  they  had  gotten,  and  their 
having  taken  the  ark  captive,  had  not  happened  for  their  good  ;  they  therefore 
sent  to  the  people  of  Askelon,  and  desii-ed  that  they  would  receive  the  ark  among 
them.  This  desire  of  the  people  of  Ashdod  was  not  disagreeable  to  those  of 
Askelon,  so  they  granted  them  that  favour.  But  when  they  had  gotten  the  ark, 
they  were  in  the  same  miserable  condition,  for  the  ark  carried  along  with  it  the 
disasters  that  the  people  of  Ashdod  had  suffered,  to  those  who  received  it  from 
them.  Those  of  Askelon  also  sent  it  away  from  themselves  to  others  :  nor  did 
it  stay  among  those  others  neither,  for  since  they  were  pursued  by  the  same  dis- 
asters  they  still  sent  it  to  the  neighbouring  cities  ;  so  that  the  ark  went  round, 
after  this  manner,  to  the  five  cities  of  the  Philistines,  as  though  it  exacted  these 
disasters  as  a  tribute  to  be  paid  it  for  its  coming  among  them. 

2.  When  those  that  had  experienced  these  miseries  were  tired  out  with  them, 
and  when  those  that  heard  of  them  were  tauglit  thereby  not  to  admit  the  ark 
among  them,  since  they  paid  so  dear  a  tribute  for  it,  at  length  they  »ought  for 
some  contrivance  and  method  how  they  might  get  free  from  it ;  so  the  gover. 
nors  of  the  five  cities,  Gath,  mid  Ekron,  and  Askelon,  as  also  of  Gaza  tind  Ash. 
dod,  met  together,  and  considered  what  was  fit  to  be  done  ;  and  at  the  first  they 
thought  proper  to  send  the  ark  back  to  its  own  people,  as  allowing  that  God  had 

*  Dagon,  a  famous  maritime  god  or  idol,  is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  like  a  man  above  the 
navel,  and  like  a  Jish  beneath  it. 


C.  I.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  j79 

avenged  its  cause ;  that  the  miseries  they  had  undergone  came  alon^-  with  it 
and  that  these  were  sent  on  their  cities  upon  its  account  and  to"-ethcr  with  it. 
However,  there  were  those  that  said,  tliey  shoukl  not  do  so,  nor  suflbr  them- 
selves  to  be  deluded,  as  ascribing  the  cause  of  their  miseries  to  it,  because  it 
could  not  have  such  power  and  force  upon  them  ;  for  had  God  had  such  a  rcf^ard 
to  it,  it  would  not  have  been  delivered  into  the  hands  of  men :  So  they  exhorted 
them  to  be  quiet,  and  to  take  patiently  what  had  befallen  tliem,  and  to  suppose 
there  was  no  other  cause  of  it  but  nature,  which  at  certain  revolutions  of  time 
produces  such  mutations  in  the  bodies  of  men,  in  the  earth,  in  plants,  and  in 
all  things  that  grow  out  of  the  earth.  But  the  counsel  that  prevailed  over  those 
already  described  was  that  of  certain  men,  who  were  belie; ved  to  have  distin- 
guished themselves  in  former  times  for  their  understanding  and  prudence,  and 
who,  in  their  present  circumstances,  seemed  above  all  the  rest  to  sjjcak  properly. 
These  men  said  it  was  not  right  either  to  send  the  ark  away,  or  to  retain  it,  but  to 
dedicate  five  golden  images,  one  for  every  city,  as  a  thank-ofTering  to  God,  on 
account  of  his  having  taken  care  of  their  preservation,  and  having  kept  them  alive 
when  their  lives  were  likely  to  be  taken  away  by  such  distempers  as  they  were 
not  able  to  bear  up  against.  They  also  would  have  them  make  live  golden  mice* 
like  those  that  had  devoured  and  destroyed  their  country,  to  put  them  in  a  bag,  and 
lay  them  upon  the  ark  ;  and  to  make  them  a  new  cart  also  for  it,  and  to  yoke 
milch  kine  to  it,f  but  to  shut  up  their  calves  ;  and  keep  them  from  them,  lest  by 
following  after  them  they  should  prove  a  hindrance  to  their  dams,  and  that  the 
dams  might  return  the  faster  out  of  a  desire  of  their  calves  ;  then  to  drive  these 
milch  kine  that  carried  the  ark,  and  leave  it  at  a  place  where  three  ways  met, 
and  to  leave  it  to  the  kine  to  go  along  which  of  those  ways  they  pleased,  that  in 
case  they  went  the  way  to  the  Hebrews,  and  ascended  to  their  country,  they 
should  suppose  that  the  ark  was  the  cause  of  their  mislbrtuues;  but  if  tliey  turned 
into  another  road,  they  said,  "  We  will  pursue  after  it,  and  conclude  that  it  has 
no  such  force  in  it." 

S.  So  they  determined  that  these  men  spake  well ;  and  they  immediately  con- 
firmed  their  opinion  by  doing  accordingly  ;  and  when  they  had  done  as  hath  been 
already  described,  they  brought  the  cart  to  a  place  where  three  ways  met,  and 
left  it  there,  and  went  their  ways;  but  the  kine  went  the  right  way,  and  as  if 
some  persons  had  driven  them  while  the  rulers  of  the  Philistines  followed  after 
them,  as  desirous  to  know  where  they  would  stand  still,  and  to  whom  they  would 
go.  Now  there  was  a  certain  village  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  whose  name  was 
Bethshemesh,  and  to  that  village  did  the  kine  go  ;  and  though  tliere  was  a  great 
and  a  good  plain  before  them  to  proceed  in,  they  went  no  farther,  but  stopped 
the  cart  there.  This  was  a  sight  to  those  of  that  village,  and  they  were  very 
glad  ;  for  it  being  then  summer-time,  and  all  the  hihabitants  being  then  in  their 
fields  gathering  in  their  fruits,  they  left  off  the  labours  of  their  hands  for  joy,  as 
soon  as  they  saw  the  ark,  and  ran  to  the  cart,  and  taking  the  ark  down,  and  the 
vessel  that  had  the  images  in  it,  and  the  mice,  they  set  them  upon  a  certain  rock 
which  was  in  the  plain ;  and  when  they  had  ofiered  a  splendid  sacrifice  to  God, 
and  feasted,  they  offered  the  cart  and  the  kine  as  a  burnt  oliering:  And  when  the 
lords  of  the  Philistines  saw  this,  they  returned  back. 

4.  But  now  it  was  that  the  wrath  of  God  overtook  them,  and  struck  seventy 

»  Spanhcim  informs  us  here,  that  upon  the  coins  of  Tenedos,  and  those  of  other  cities,  a  field  mouse 
is  engraven,  together  with  Apollo  Smi7itheus,  or  Apollo,  the  driver  away  of  field  mice,  on  account  of  his 
being  supposed  to  have  freed  certain  tracts  of  srcund  from  those  mice  ;  whicli  coins  sliow  liow  g'^at  a 
yidsiiieiit  such  mice  liave  somctimos  been,  and  liow  the  deliverance  from  tliem  was  then  esteemed  the 
effect  of  a  divine  power;  wliich  observations  are  hi^hlv  suitable  to  tliis  liistory. 

+  The  device  of  the  Philistines,  of  having  a  yoke  of  kine  to  draw  this  cart  into  which  they  put  the  ark 
of  the  Hebrews,  is  greatly  illustrated  by  Sancoiiiatho's  account,  under  his  ninth  generation,  tliat  Agrou- 
erus,  or  Agrotes  the  husbandman,  had  a  much  worshipped  statue  and  temple,  carried  about  by  one  or 
more  yoke  of  oxen,  or  kine,  in  Phxnicia,  in  the  neigiibourhood  of  these  riuhstincs.  See  Cumberland  g 
Sanchoniatho,  p.  27,  and  247,  and  Essay  on  the  Old  Testaraant,  Append,  p.  172. 
Z2 


jgQ  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VI. 

persons*  dead  of  the  village  of  Bethshemesh,  who  not  being  priests,  and  so  not 
worthy  to  touch  the  ark,  had  approached  to  it.  Those  of  that  village  wept  for 
those  that  thus  suffered,  and  made  such  a  lamentation  as  was  naturally  to  be  ex- 
pected  on  so  great  a  misfortune  that  was  sent  from  God,  and  every  one  mourned 
for  his  own  relation.  And  since  they  acknowledged  themselves  unworthy  of  the 
ark's  abode  with  them,  they  sent  to  the  public  senate  of  the  Israelites,  and  informed 
them  that  the  ark  was  restored  by  the  Philistines ;  which  when  they  knew,  they 
brought  it  away  to  Kirjathjearim,  a  city  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bethshemesh. 
In  this  city  lived  one  Abiimdab,  by  birth  a  Levite,  and  who  was  greatly  commcn- 
ded  for  his  righteous  and  religious  course  of  life,  so  they  brought  the  ark  to  his 
house,  as  to  a  place  fit  for  God  himself  to  abide  in,  since  therein  did  inhabit  a 
righteous  man.  His  sons  also  ministered  to  the  divine  service  of  the  ark,  and 
were  the  principal  curators  of  it  for  twenty  years,  for  so  many  years,  it  continued 
in  Kirjatlyearim,  having  been  but  four  months  with  the  Philistines. 


CHAP.  II. 

The  Expedition  of  the  Philistines  against  the  Hebrews,  and  the  Heorews'  Victory 
under  tlie  conduct  of  Samuel  the  Prophet,  who  was  their  General. 

^  1.  Now  while  the  city  of  Kirjathjearim  had  the  ark  with  them,  the  whole  body 
of  the  people  betook  themselves  all  that  time  to  offer  prayers  and  sacrifices  to 
God,  and  appeared  greatly  concerned  and  zealous  about  his  worship.  So  Sa- 
muel the  prophet,  seeing  how  ready  they  were  to  do  their  duty,  thought  this  a 
proper  time  to  speak  to  them,  while  they  were  in  this  good  disposition  about  the 
recovery  of  their  liberty,  and  of  the  blessings  that  accompanied  the  same.  Ac- 
cordingly he  used  such  words  to  them  as  he  thought  were  most  likely  to  excite 
that  inclination,  and  to  persuade  them  to  attempt  it :  "  O  you  Israelites,"  said  he 
*'  to  whom  the  Philistines  are  still  grievous  enemies,  but  to  whom  God  begins  to 
be  gracious,  it  behoves  you  not  only  to  be  desirous  of  liberty,  but  to  take  the  pro- 
per methods  to  obtain  it.  Nor  are  you  to  be  contented  with  an  inclination  to  get 
clear  of  your  lords  and  masters,  while  you  still  do  what  will  procure  your  con- 
tinuance under  them :  Be  righteous  then,  and  cast  wickedness  out  of  your  souls, 
and  by  your  worship  supplicate  the  divine  Majesty  with  all  your  hearts,  and  per- 
severe in  the  honor  you  pay  to  him  ;  for  if  you  act  thus,  you  will  enjoy  prospe- 
rity ;  you  will  be  freed  from  your  slavery,  and  will  get  the  victory  over  your 
enemies  ;  which  blessings  it  is  not  possible  you  should  attain,  neither  by  weapons 
of  war  nor  by  the  strength  of  your  bodies,  nor  by  the  multitude  of  your  assis- 
tants ;  for  God  has  not  promised  to  grant  these  blessings  by  those  means,  but  by 
being  good  and  righteous  men  ;  and  if  you  will  he  such,  I  will  be  security  to  you 
for  the  performance  of  God's  promises."  When  Samuel  had  said  thus,  the  mul- 
titude applauded  his  discourse,  and  were  pleased  with  his  exhortation  to  them, 
and  gave  their  consent  to  resign  themselves  up  to  do  what  was  pleasing  to  God. 
So  Samuel  gathered  them  together  to  a  certain  city  called  Mizpeh,  which  signifies 
in  the  Hebrew  tongue  a  watch  tower ;  there  they  drew  water  and  poured  it  out  to 
God,  and  fasted  all  day,  and  betook  themselves  to  their  prayers." 

2.  This  their  assembly  did  not  escape  the  notice  of  the  Philistines  :  so  when 
they  had  learned  that  so  large  a  company  had  met  together,  they  fell  upon  the 
Hebrews  with  a  great  army  and  mighty  forces,  as  hoping  to  assault  them  when 
they  did  not  expect  it,  nor  were  prepared  for  it.  This  thing  affrighted  the  He- 
brews, and  put  them  into  disorder  and  terror  ;  so  they  came  running  to  Samuel, 

*  These  70  men,  being  not  so  much  as  Levites,  touched  the  ark  in  a  rash  or  profane  manner,  and  were 
slain  by  the  hand  of  God  for  such  their  rashness  and  profaneness,  according  to  the  divine  threatening*. 
Num.  iv.  iS,  20;  but  liow  our  other  copies  came  to  add  such  an  incredible  number  as  50,000  in  this  oa© 
town,  or  small  city,  I  know  not.    See  Dr.  Wall's  critical  notes  on  I  Sam.  vi.  19 


C  in.  ANTIQUITfES  OF  THE  JEWS.  igj 

and  said,  that  "  their  souls  were  sunk  by  their  fears,  and  by  the  former  defeat 
they  had  received,  and  that  thence  it  was  that  we  lay  still,  lest  we  should  excite 
the  power  of  our  enemies  against  us.  Now  while  thou  hast  brought  us  hither  to 
offer  up  our  prayers  and  sacrifices,  and  take  oaths  [to  be  obedient,]  our  enemies 
are  making  an  expedition  against  us,  while  we  are  naked  and  unarmed;  wherefore 
we  have  no  other  hope  of  deliverance  but  that  by  thy  means,  and  by  the  assis- 
tance God  shall  aflbrd  us  upon  thy  prayers  to  him,  we  shall  obtain  deliverance 
from  the  Philistines."  Hereupon  Samuel  bid  them  be  of  good  cheer,  and  jjro- 
mised  them  that  God  would  assist  them  ;  and  taking  a  sucking  lamb,  he  sacri- 
ficed it  for  the  multitude,  and  besought  God  to  hold  his  protecting  hand  over 
them  when  they  should  fight  with  the  Philistines,  and  not  to  overlook  them,  nor 
suffer  them  to  come  under  a  second  misfortune.  Accordingly  God  hearkened 
to  his  prayers,  and  accepting  their  sacrifices  whh  a  gracious  intention,  and  such 
as  was  disposed  to  assist  them,  he  granted  them  victory  and  power  over  their 
enemies.  Now  while  the  altar  had  the  sacrifice  of  God  upon  it,  and  had  not  yet 
consumed  it  wholly  by  its  sacred  fire,  the  enemies'  army  marched  out  of  their 
camp,  and  was  put  in  order  of  battle,  and  this  in  hope  that  they  should  be  con- 
querors, since  the  Jews*  wei"e  caught  in  distressed  circumstances,  as  neither 
having  their  weapons  with  them,  nor  being  assembled  there  in  order  to  fight. 
But  things  so  fell  out'  that  they  would  hardly  have  been  credited  though  they  had 
been  foretold  by  any  body ;  for,  in  the  first  place,  God  disturbed  the  enemies 
with  an  earthquake,  and  moved  the  ground  under  them  to  such  a  degree,  that  he 
caused  it  to  tremble,  and  made  them  to  shake,  insomuch  that  l)y  its  trem- 
bling, he  made  some  unable  to  keep  their  feet,  and  made  them  fall  down,  and 
by  opening  its  chasms,  he  caused  that  others  should  be  hurried  down  into  them  : 
after  which  he  caused  such  a  noise  of  thunder  to  come  among  them,  and  made 
fiery  lightning  shine  so  terribly  round  about  them  that  it  was  ready  to  burn  their 
faces  ;  and  he  so  suddenly  shook  their  weapons  out  of  their  hands  that  he  made 
them  fly  and  return  home  naked.  So  Samuel  with  the  multitude  pursued  them 
to  Bethcar,  a  place  so  called;  and  there  he  set  up  a  stone  as  a  boundary  of  their 
victory  and  their  enemies' flight,  and  called  it  the  Stone  of  power,  as  a  signal  of 
that  power  God  had  given  them  against  their  enemies. 

3.  So  the  Philistines,  after  this  stroke,  made  no  more  expeditions  against  the 
Israelites,  but  lay  still  out  of  fear,  and  out  of  remembrance  of  what  had  befallea 
them :  and  what  courage  the  Philistines  had  formerly  against  the  Hebrews,  that 
after  this  victory  was  transferred  to  the  Hebrews.  Samuel  also  made  an  expedi- 
tion against  the  Philistines,  and  slew  many  of  them,  and  entirely  humbled  their 
proud  hearts,  and  took  from  them  that  country  which,  when  they  were  formerly 
conquerors  in  battle,  they  had  cut  oflffrom  the  Jews,  which  was  the  coimtry  tiiat 
extended  from  the  borders  of  Gath,  to  the  city  of  Ekron  :  but  the  remains  of  the 
Canaanites  were  at  this  time  in  friendship  with  the  Israelites. 


CHAP.  III. 

How  Samuel,  when  he  was  so  infirm  with  old  Age  that  he  could  not  tale  Care  of  the 

public  Affairs,  entrusted  them  to  his  Sons;  and  hov)  vpon  the  evil  Administra- 

Hon  of  the  Government  by  them,  the  Mvltilude  were  so  angry  that  they 

required  to  have  a  King  to  govern  them,  although  Samuel  was  much 

displeased  thereat. 

§  1.  But  Samuel  the  prophet,  when  he  had  ordered  the  aflliirs  of  the  people 
after  a  convenient  manner,  and  had  appointed  a  city  for  every  district  ot  them, 
he  commanded  them  to  come  to  such  cities,  to  have  the  controversies  that  they 

»  This  is  the  first  place,  so  far  as  I  remember,  in  these  Antiquities,  where  Josephus  l.epns  to  call  hi«. 
nation  Jews,  he  havin?  hitherto  usually,  if  not  constantly,  called  them  either  IhOnws  or  IsradiUs.  1  he 
second  place  soon  follows,  chap.  iii.  sect.  5. 


182  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWa  B.  VI. 

had  one  with  another  determined  in  them,  he  himself  going  over  those  cities 
twice  in  a  year,  and  doing  them  justice ;  and  by  that  means  he  kept  them  in  very 
good  order  for  a  long  time. 

2.  But  afterwards  he  found  himself  oppressed  with  old  age,  and  not  able  to  do 
what  he  used  to  do,  so  he  committed  the  government  and  the  care  of  the  multi- 
tude to  his  sons  ;  the  elder  of  which  was  called  Joel,  and  the  name  of  the  younger 
was  Abiah.  He  also  enjoined  them  to  reside  and  judge  the  people,  the  one  at 
the  city  Bethel,  and  the  other  at  Beersheba,  and  divided  the  people  into  dis- 
tricts that  should  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  each  of  them.  Now  these  men 
afford  us  an  evident  example  and  demonstration,  how  some  children  are  not  of 
the  like  dispositions  with  their  parents,  but  sometimes  perhaps  good  and  mode- 
rate, though  born  of  wicked  parents,  and  sometimes  showing  themselves  to  be 
wicked,  though  born  of  good  parents ;  for  these  men,  turning  aside  from  their 
father's  good  courses,  and  taking  a  course  that  was  contrary  to  them,  perverted 
justice  for  the  filthy  lucre  of  gifts  and  bribes,  and  made  their  determinations  not 
according  to  truth,  but  according  to  bribery,  and  turned  aside  to  luxury,  and  a 
costly  way  of  living,  so  that  as  in  the  first  place,  they  practised  what  was  con- 
trary to  the  will  of  God,  so  did  they,  in  the  second  place,  what  was  contrary  to 
the  will  of  the  prophet  their  father,  who  had  taken  a  great  deal  of  care,  and 
made  a  very  careful  provision  that  the  multitude  should  be  righteous. 

3.  But  the  people,  upon  these  injuries  offered  to  their  former  constitution 
and  government  by  the  prophet's  sons,  were  very  uneasy  at  their  actions,  and 
came  running  to  the  prophet,  who  then  lived  at  the  city  Ramah,  and  informed 
him  of  the  transgressions  of  his  sons ;  and  said  that  "  as  he  was  himself  old 
already,  and  too  infirm  by  that  age  of  his  to  oversee  their  affairs  in  the  manner 
he  used  to  do,  so  they  begged  of  him,  and  entreated  him  to  appoint  some  person 
to  be  king  over  them,  who  might  rule  over  the  nation,  and  avenge  them  of  the 
Eliilistines,  we  ought  to  be  punished  fortheir  former  oppressions."  These  words 
greatly  afflicted  Samuel,  on  account  of  his  innate  love  of  justice,  and  his  hatred 
to  kingly  government,  for  he  was  very  fond  of  an  aristocracy,  as  what  made  the 
men  that  used  it  of  a  divine  and  happy  disposition;  nor  could  he  either  think  of 
eating  or  sleeping,  out  of  his  concern  and  torment  of  mind  at  what  they  had 
said,  but  all  the  night  long  did  he  continue  awake,  and  resolved  these  notions  in 
his  mind. 

4.  While  he  was  thus  disposed,  God  appeared  to  him,  and  comforted  him, 
saying,  "  That  he  ought  not  to  be  uneasy  at  what  the  multitude  desired,  because 
it  was  not  he  but  Himself  v/hom  they  so  insolently  despised,  and  would  not  have 
to  be  alone  their  King  :  that  they  had  been  contriving  these  things  from  the  very 
day  that  they  came  out  of  Egypt ;  that  however  in  no  long  time  they  would  sorely 
repent  of  what  they  did,  which  repentance  yet  could  not  undo  what  was  thus 
done  for  futurity :  that  they  would  be  sufficiently  rebuked  for  their  contempt  and 
the  ungrateful  conduct  they  have  used  towards  me,  and  towards  the  prophetic 
office.  &o  I  command  thee  to  ordain  them  such  a  one  as  I  shall  name  before- 
hand to  be  their  king,  M'hen  thou  hast  first  described  what  mischiefs  kingly 
government  will  bring  upon  them,  and  openly  testified  before  the^u  unto  what  a 
great  change  of  affairs  they  are  hasting." 

5.  When  Samuel  had  heard  this,  he  called  the  Jews  early  in  the  morning,  and 
confessed  to  them  that  he  was  to  ordain  them  a  king,  but  he  said  that  he  was  first 
to  describe  to  them  what  would  follow,  what  treatment  they  would  receive  from 
their  kings,  and  with  how  many  mischiefs  they  must  struggle.  "For  know  ye," 
said  he,  "that,  in  the  first  place,  they  will  take  your  sons  away  from  you,  and 
they  will  command  some  of  them  to  be  drivers  of  their  chariots,  and  some  to  be 
their  horsemen,  and  the  guards  of  their  body,  and  others  of  them  to  be  runners 
before  them,  and  captains  of  thousands  and  captains  of  hundreds  ;  they  will  also 
make  them  their  artificers,  makers  of  armour,  and  of  chariots,  and  of  instru- 
ments ;  they  will  make  them  their  husbandmen  also,  and  the  curators  of  their 


r.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.'  183 

own  fields,  and  the  diggers  of  their  own  vineyards ;  nor  will  there  be  any  thing 
which  they  will  not  do  at  their  commands,  as  if  they  were  slaves  bouo-ht  with 
money.  They  will  also  appoint  your  daughters  to  be  confectioners,  and  cooks, 
and  bakers;  and  these  will  be  obliged  to  do  all  sorts  of  work,  which  women  slaves, 
that  are  in  fear  of  stripes  and  torments,  submit  to.  Tliey  will,  besides  this,  take 
away  your  possessions,  and  bestow  them  upon  their  eunuciis  and  the  guards  of 
their  bodies,  and  will  give  the  herds  of  your  cattle  to  their  own  servants  ;  and  to 
say  briefly  all  at  once,  you,  and  all  that  is  yours,  will  be  servants  to  your  king,  and 
will  become  no  way  superior  to  his  slaves:  and  wlien  you  suller  tlius,  you  will 
thereby  be  put  in  mind  of  what  I  now  say.  And  when  you  repent  of  what  you 
have  done,  you  will  beseech  God  to  have  mercy  upon  you,  and  to  grant  you  a  quick 
deliverance  from  your  kings  ;  but  he  will  not  accept  your  prayers,  but  will  ne- 
glectyou,  and  permit  you  to  sutler  the  punishment  your  evil  conduct  has  deserved." 
6.  But  the  multitude  was  still  so  foolish  as  to  be  deaf  to  these  predictions  of 
what  would  befall  them:  and  too  peevish  to  suifcr  a  determination  which  they 
had  injudiciously  once  made  to  be  taken  out  of  their  mind,  for  they  could  not  be 
turned  from  their  purpose ;  nor  did  they  regard  the  words  of  Samuel,  but  per 
remptorily  insisted  on  their  resolution,  and  desired  him  to  ordain  thorn  a  king 
immediately,  and  not  to  trouble  himself  with  fears  of  what  would  happen  here- 
after  ;  for  that  it  was  necessary  they  should  have  with  them  one  to  light  the  bat- 
tles, and  to  avenge  them  of  their  enemies,  and  that  it  was  no  way  absurd,  when 
their  neighbours  were  under  kingly  government,  that  they  should  have  the  same 
form  of  government  also.  So  when  Samuel  saw  that  what  he  had  said  had  not 
diverted  them  from  their  purpose,  but  that  they  continued  resolute,  he  said,  "  Go 
you  every  one  home  for  the  pi-esent ;  when  it  is  fit,  I  will  send  for  you,  as  soon 
as  I  shall  have  learned  from  God  who  it  is  that  he  will  give  you  lor  your  king." 


CHAP.  IV. 

The  Appointment  of  a  King  over  the  Israelites,  wJiose  name  was  Saul;  and 
this  by  the  Command  of  God. 

§  1.  There  was  one  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  a  man  of  a  good  family  and  of  a 
virtuous  disposition  ;  his  name  was  Kish.  He  had  a  son,  a  young  man,  of  a 
comely  countenance,  and  of  a  tall  body,  but  his  understanding  and  his  mind  were 
preferable  to  what  was  visible  in  him  ;  they  called  him  Saul.  Now  this  Kish  had 
some  fine  she  asses  thadlverc  wandered  out  of  the  pasture  wherein  they  fed,  lor 
he  was  more  delighted  with  these  than  with  any  other  cattle  he  had  ;  so  he  sent 
out  his  son,  and  one  servant  with  him,  to  search  for  the  beasts  ;  but  w  hen  he  had 
gone  over  his  own  tribe  in  search  after  the  asses,  he  went  to  other  tribes,  and 
when  he  found  them  not  there  neither,  he  determined  to  go  his  way  home,  lest  he 
should  occasion  any  concern  to  his  father  about  himself.  But  when  his  servant 
that  followed  him,  as  they  were  near  the  city  Ramah,  that  there  was  a  true  pro- 
phet in  that  city,  and  advised  him  to  go  to  him,  for  that  by  him  they  should  know 
the  upshot  of  the  affair  of  their  asses,  he  replied,  That  if  they  should  go  to  him, 
they  had  nothing  to  give  him  as  a  reward  for  his  prophecy,  for  their  subsistence 
money  was  spent.  The  servant  answered,  that  he  had  still  the  fourtli  part  of  a 
shekel,  and  he  would  present  him  v/ith  that ;  for  they  were  mistaken  out  of  igno- 
ranee,  as  not  knowing  that  the  prophet  received  no  such  reward.*  So  they  went 
to  him,  and  when  they  were  before  the  gates,  they  lighted  upon  certain  maidens 
that  were  going  to  fetch  water,  and  they  asl;ed  them  which  was  tlie  prophet's  house  ? 
They  showed  them  which  it  was  ;  and  bid  them  make  haste  before  he  sat  down 
to  supper,  for  he  had  invited  many  guests  to  a  feast,  and  that  he  used  to  sit  down 

»  Of  this  great  mistake  of  Saul's  and  his  servant's,  as  if  a  true  prophet  of  God  would  accept  of  a  gift  or 
present,  for  foretelliag  what  was  desired  of  him ;  sec  iJio  note  on  B.  iv.  ch.  vi.  scot.  2. 


184  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Vt. 

before  thofio  that  were  invited.  Now  Samuel  had  then  gathered  many  together 
to  feast  with  him  on  this  very  account ;  for  while  he  every  day  prayed  to 
God  to  tell  him  beforehand,  whom  he  would  make  king,  he  had  informed  him  of 
this  man  tiie  day  before,  for  that  he  would  send  a  certain  young  man,  out  of  the 
tribe  of  Benjamin,  about  this  hour  of  the  day;  and  he  sat  on  the  top  of  the  house 
in  expectation  of  that  time's  being  come.  And  when  the  time  was  completed,  he 
came  down  and  went  to  supper  ;  so  he  met  with  Saul,  and  God  discovered  to  him 
that  this  was  he  who  should  rule  over  them.  Then  Saul  went  up  to  Samuel  and 
saluted  him,  and  desired  him  to  inform  him  which  was  the  prophet's  house  ?  for 
he  said  he  was  a  stranger  and  did  not  know  it.  When  Samuel  had  told  him  that 
he  was  himself  the  person,  he  led  him  in  to  supper,  and  assured  him  that  the  asses 
were  found  which  he  had  been  to  seek,  and  that  the  greatest  of  good  things  were 
assured  to  him  ;  he  replied,  "  Sir,  I  am  too  inconsiderable  to  hope  for  ciny  such 
thing,  and  of  a  tribe  too  small  to  have  kings  made  out  of  it,  and  of  a  family 
smaller  than  several  other  families  ;  but  thou  tellest  me  this  in  jest,  and  makest 
me  an  object  of  laughter  when  thou  discoursest  with  me  of  greater  matters  than 
what  I  stand  in  need  of."  However,  the  prophet  led  him  unto  the  feast,  and 
made  him  sit  down,  him  and  his  servant  that  followed  him,  above  the  other  guests 
that  were  invited,  which  were  seventy  in  number  ;*  and  he  gave  order  to  the 
servants  to  set  the  royal  portion  before  Saul.  But  when  the  time  of  going  to  bed 
was  come,  the  rest  rose  up,  and  every  one  of  them  went  home,  but  Saul  stayed 
with  the  prophet,  he  and  his  servant,  and  slept  with  him. 

2.  But  as  soon  as  it  was  day,  Samuel  raised  up  Saul  out  of  his  bed,  and  con- 
ducted  him  homeward  ;  and  when  he  was  out  of  the  city,  he  desired  him  to  cause 
hia  servant  to  go  before,  but  to  stay  behind  himself,  for  that  he  had  somewhat 
to  say  to  him^  when  nobody  else  was  present.  Accordingly  Saul  sent  away  his 
servant  that  followed  him ;  then  did  the  prophet  take  a  vessel  of  oil,  and  poured 
it  upon  the  head  of  the  young  man,  and  kissed  him,  and  said,  "  Be  thou  a  king, 
by  the  ordination  of  God,  against  the  Philistines,  and  for  avenging  the  Hebrews 
for  what  they  have  suffered  by  them  ;  of  this  thou  shalt  have  a  sign  which  I 
would  have  thee  take  notice  of;  as  soon  as  thou  art  departed  hence,  thou  wilt 
find  three  men  upon  the  road,  going  to  worship  God  at  Bethel,  the  first  of  which 
thou  wilt  see  carrying  three  loaves  of  bread,  the  second  carrying  a  kid  of  the 
goats,  and  the  third  will  follow  them  carrying  a  bottle  of  wine.  These  men  will 
salute  thee,  and  speak  kindly  to  thee,  and  will  give  thee  two  of  their  loaves, 
which  thou  shalt  accept  of.  And  thence  thou  shalt  come  to  a  place  called  Ra- 
cheVs  Monument,  where  thou  shalt  meet  with  those  th^  will  tell  thee  thy  asses 
are  found  ;  after  this,  when  thou  comest  to  Gabatha,  tnou  shalt  overtake  a  com- 
pany of  prophets,  and  thou  shalt  be  seized  with  the  divine  spirit,')'  and  prophesy 
along  with  them,  untill  every  one  that  sees  thee  shall  be  astonished,  and  wonder, 
and  say,  Whence  is  it  that  the  son  of  Kish  has  arrived  at  this  degree  of  happi- 
ness 1  And  when  these  signs  have  happened  to  thee,  know  that  God  is  with  thee  : 
then  do  thou  salute  thy  father,  and  thy  kindred.  Thou  shalt  also  come  when  I 
send  for  thee  to  Gilgal,  that  we  may  offer  thank-offerings  to  God  for  these  bles- 
sings."  When  Samuel  had  said  this,  and  foretold  these  things,  he  sent  the  young 
man  away.    Now  all  things  fell  out  to  Saul  accoiding  to  the  prophecy  of  Samuel. 

3.  But  as  soon  as  Saul  came  into  the  house  of  his  kinsman  Abner,  whom 
indeed  he  loved  better  than  the  rest  of  liis  relations,  he  was  asked  by  him  con- 
eerning  his  journey,  and  what  accidents  happened  to  him  therein  ;  and  he  con- 
cealed  none  of  the  other  things  from  him,  no,  not  his  coming  to  Samuel  the 

*  It  seems  to  me  not  improbable,  that  these  70  guests  of  Samuel,  as  here  with  himself  at  the  head  of 
tlium,  were  a  Juwisli  Sanhedrim,  and  that  hereby  Saiinicl  intimated  to  Saul  that  these  71  were  to  be  his 
constant  counsellors,  and  that  he  was  not  to  act  like  a  sole  monarch,  but  with  the  advice  and  direction 
fit  these  71  members  of  that  Jewish  Sanhedrim  upon  all  occasions,  which  we  never  read  3'et  that  he  con- 
sulted afterward. 

+  -Xii  itistanceof  this  divine  fury  we  have  after  this  in  Saul,  chap.  v.  sect.  2, 3;  1  Sam.  xi.  6.  Seethe 
like,  Jud^.  iii.  10;  vi.  34;  xi.  y ;  xiu.  25;  and  x;v.  6. 


C,  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  jq^ 

prophet,  nor  how  he  told  him  the  asses  were  found  :  but  he  said  nothing  to  him 
about  the  kingdom,  and  what  belonged  thereto,  which  he  thought  would  procure 
him  envy,  and  when  such  things  arc  heard,  they  arc  not  easily  believed  ;  nor 
did  he  think  it  prudent  to  tell  those  things  to  him,  ahhough  he  appeared  very 
friendly  to  him,  and  one  whom  he  loved  above  tiie  rest  of  his  relations,  con- 
sidering,  I  suppose,  what  human  nature  really  is,  that  no  one  is  a  firm  friend, 
neither  among  our  intimates,  nor  of  our  kindred,  nor  do  they  preserve  that  kind 
of  disposition  when  God  advances  men  to  great  prosperity,  "but  they  are  still  ill- 
natured  and  envious  to  those  that  are  in  eminent  stations. 

4.  Then  Samuel  called  the  people  together  to  the  city  Mispeh,  and  spake  to 
them  in  the  words  following,  which  he  said  he  was  to  speak  by  the  command  of 
God  :  that  "  Avlien  he  had  granted  them  a  state  of  liberty,  and  bromdit  their 
enemies  into  subjection,  tliey  were  become  unmindful  of  his  benefits,  and  rejected 
God  that  he  should  not  be  their  King,  as  not  considering  that  it  would  be  most 
for  their  advantage  to  be  presided  over  by  the  best  of  Beings,  for  God  is  the  best 
of  beings  ;  and  they  chose  to  have  a  man  for  their  king ;  while  kino-.s  will  use 
their  subjects  as  beasts,  according  to  the  violence  of  their  own  wills  and  inclina- 
tions, and  other  passions,  as  wholly  carried  away  by  the  lust  of  power,  but  will 
not  endeavour  so  to  preserve  the  race  of  mankind  as  his  own  workmanship  and 
creation,  which  for  that  very  reason,  God  would  take  care  of.  But  since  you 
have  come  to  a  fixed  resolution,  and  this  injurious  treatment  of  God  has  quito 
prevailed  over  you,  dispose  yourselves  by  your  tribes  and  sceptres,  and  cast 
lots." 

5.  When  the  Hebrews  had  so  done,  the  lot  fell  upon  the  tribe  of  Benjamin ; 
and  when  the  lot  was  cast  for  the  families  of  this  tribe,  that  which  was  called 
Matriwas  taken  ;  and  when  the  lot  was  cast  for  the  single  persons  of  that  family, 
Saul,  the  son  of  Kish,  was  taken  for  their  king.  When  the  young  man  knew 
this,  he  prevented  [their  sending  for  him],  and  immediately  went  away  and  hid 
himself.  1  suppose  it  was  because  he  would  not  have  it  thought  that  he  willingly 
took  the  government  upon  him  ;  nay,  he  showed  such  a  degree  of  command  over 
himself,  and  of  modesty,  that  while  the  greatest  part  are  not  able  to  contain  their 
joy,  even  in  the  gaining  of  small  advantages,  but  presently  show  themselves 
publicly  to  all  men,  this  man  did  not  only  show  nothing  of  that  nature,  when  he 
was  appointed  to  be  the  lord  of  so  many,  and  so  great  tribes,  but  crcpJt  away, 
and  concealed  himself  out  of  the  sight  of  those  he  was  to  reign  over,  and  made 
thezn  seek  him,  and  that  with  a  good  deal  of  trouble.  So  when  the  people  were 
at  a  loss,  and  solicitous,  because  Saul  disappeared,  the  prophet  besought  God  to 
show  where  the  young  man  was,  and  to  produce  him  before  them.  So  when 
they  had  learned  of  God  the  place  where  Saul  was  hidden,  they  sent  men  to 
bring  him,  and  when  he  was  come,  they  set  him  in  the  midst  of  the  multitude. 
Now  he  was  taller  than  any  of  them,  and  his  stature  was  veiy  majestic. 

6.  Then  said  the  prophet,  God  gives  you  this  man  to  be  your  king  :  sec  how 
he  is  higher  than  any  of  the  people,  and  worthy  of  this  dominion.  So  as  soon 
as  the  people  had  made  acclamation,  God  save  the  King,  the  prophet  wrote  down 
what  would  come  to  pass  in  a  book,  and  read  it  in  the  hearing  of  the  king,  and 
laid  up  the  book  in  the  tabernacle  of  God,  to  be  a  witness  to  future  generations 
of  what  he  had  foretold.  So  when  Samuel  had  finished  this  matter,  he  dismissed 
the  multitude,  and  came  himself  to  the  city  Ramah,  for  it  was  his  own  country. 
Saul  also  went  away  to  Gibeah,  where  he  was  born :  and  many  good  men  there 
were  who  paid  him  the  respect  that  was  due  to  him,  but  the  greater  part  were  ill 
men,  who  despised  him,  and  derided  the  others,  who  neither  did  bring  him 
presents,  nor  did  they  in  affection,  or  even  in  words,  regard  to  please  him. 

VOL.  I.         2  A 


186  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  II, 


CHAP.  V. 

Saul's  Expedition  against  the  Nation  of  the  Ammonites,  and  Victory  over  them, 
and  tlie  spoils  he  took  from  them. 

5  1.  After  one  month,  the  war  which  Saul  had  with  Nahash,  the  king  of  the 
Ammonites,  obtained  him  respect  from  all  the  people  ;  for  this  Nahash  had  done 
a  great  deal  of  mischief  to  the  Jews  that  lived  beyond  Jordan  by  the  expedition 
he  had  made  against  them  with  a  great  and  Avarlike  army.  He  also  reduced 
their  cities  into  slavery,  and  that  not  only  by  subduing  them  for  the  present, 
which  he  did  by  force  and  violence  ;  but  weakened  them  by  subtility  and  cun- 
ning, that  they  might  not  be  able  afterward  to  get  clear  of  the  slavery  they  were 
under  to  him ;  for  he  put  out  the  right  eyes*  of  those  that  either  delivered  them- 
selves to  him  upon  terms  or  were  taken  by  him  in  war ;  and  this  he  did,  that 
Avhen  their  left  eyes  were  covered  by  their  shields,  they  might  be  wholly  useless 
in  war.  Now  when  the  king  of  the  Ammonites  had  served  those  beyond  Jordan 
in  this  manner,  he  led  his  army  against  those  that  were  called  Gileadites  ;  and 
having  pitched  his  camp  at  the  nietropolis  of  his  enemies,  which  was  the  city  of 
Jabesh,  he  sent  ambassadors  to  them,  commanding  them  either  to  deliver  them- 
selves up,  on  condition  to  have  their  right  eyes  plucked  out,  or  to  undergo  a 
siege,  and  to  have  their  cities  overthrovv'n.  He  gave  them  their  choice,  whether 
they  would  cut  off  a  small  number  of  their  body,  or  universally  perish.  How- 
ever the  Gileadites  were  so  afirighted  at  these  oflers,  that  they  had  not  courage 
to  say  any  thing  to  either  of  them,  neither  that  they  would  deliver  themselves  up, 
nor  that  they  would  fight  him  :  but  they  desired  that,  he  would  give  them  seven 
days  respite,  that  they  might  send  ambassadors  to  their  countrymen,  and  entreat 
their  assistance,  and  if  they  came  to  assist  them,  they  would  fight ;  but  if  that 
assistance  were  impossible  to  be  obtained  from  them,  they  said  they  would  deliver 
themselves  up  to  sutler  whatever  he  pleased  to  inflict  upon  them. 

2.  So  Nahash,  contemning  the  multitude  of  the  Gileadites,  and  the  answer 
they  gave,  "allowed  them  a  respite,  and  gave  them  leave  to  send  to  whomsoever 
they  pleased  for  assistance.  So  they  immediately  sent  to  the  Israelites,  city  by 
city,  and  informed  them  what  Nahash  had  threatened  to  do  to  them,  and  what 
great  distress  they  were  in.  Now  the  people  fell  into  tears  and  grief,  at  the 
hearing  of  what  the  ambassadors  from  Jabesh  said,  and  the  terror  they  were  in 
permitted  them  to  do  nothing  more.  But  when  the  messengers  were  come  to 
the  city  of  king  Saul,  and  declared  the  dangers  in  which  the  inhabitants  of  Ja- 
besh were,  the  people  were  in  the  same  affliction  as  those  in  the  other  cities, 
for  they  lamented  the  calamity  of  those  related  to  them.  And  when  Saul  was 
returned  from  his  husbandry  into  the  city,  he  found  his  fellow  citizens  weeping  ; 
and  when  upon  inquiry,  he  had  learned  the  cause  of  the  confusion  and  sadness 
they  were  in,  he  was  seized  with  a  divine  fury,  and  sent  away  the  ambassadors 
from  the  inhabitants  of  Jabesh,  and  promised  them  to  come  to  their  assistance  on 
the  third  day,  and  to  beat  their  enemies  before  sunrising,  that  the  sun,  upon  its 
rising,  might  see  that  they  had  already  conquered,  and  were  freed  from  the  fears 
they  were  under ;  but  he  bid  some  of  them  stay  to  conduct  them  the  right  way 
to  Jabesh. 

3.  So  being  desirous  to  turn  the  people  to  this  war  against  the  Ammonites  by 
fear  of  the  losses  they  should  otherwise  undergo,  and  that  they  might  the  more 
suddenly  be  gathered  together,  he  cut  the  sinews  of  his  oxen,  and  threatened  to 
do  the  same  to  all  such  as  did  not  come  with  their  armour  to  Jordan  the  next 
day,  and  follow  him  and  Samuel  the  prophet  whithersoever  they  should  lead  them. 

*  Take  licic  Theodoret's  note,  cited  by  Dr.  Hudson  :  "  lie  that  exposes  his  shield  to  the  rncmy  with 
his  left  hand,  thereby  iiidcs  his  left  eye,  and  looks  at  the  enemy  with  his  right  eye  :  he  therefore  that 
ptucks  out  rtiat  eye  makes  lueu  useless  in  war." 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  J87 

So  they  came  together,  out  of  fear  of  the  losses  tlioy  were  threatened  v/ith,  at 
the  appointed  time.  And  the  niultitucle  were  numbered  at  the  city  Bezek.  And 
he  found  the  number  of  those  that  were  gathered  together,  besides  that  of  liie 
tribe  of  Judah,  to  be  seven  hundred  thousand,  mIuIc  those  of  that  tribe  vere  so. 
venty  thousand.  So  he  passed  over  Jordan,  and  proceeded  in  marching  all  that 
night,  thirty  furlongs,  and  came  to  Jabesh  before  sunrising.  So  he  divided  tlie 
army  into  three  companies ;  and  fell  upon  their  enemies  on  every  si(U)  on  the 
isudden,  and  when  they  expected  no  such  thing  ;  and  joining  battle  with  them, 
they  slew  a  great  many  of  the  Ammonites;  as  also  tlieir  king  Nahash.  This 
glorious  action  was  done  by  Saul ;  and  was  related  witii  great  commendation  of 
him  to  all  the  Hebrews ;  and  he  thence  gained  a  wonderful  reputation  lor  his 
valour :  for  although  there  were  some  of  them  that  contemned  him  before,  they 
now  changed  their  minds,  and  honoured  him,  and  esteemed  him  as  the  best  of 
men  ;  for  he  did  not  content  himself  with  having  saved  the  inhabitants  of  Jabesh 
only,  but  he  made  an  expedition  into  the  country  of  the  Ammonites,  and  laid  it 
all  waste,  and  took  a  large  prey,  and  so  returned  to  his  own  country  most  glo 
riously.  So  the  people  were  greatly  pleased  at  these  excellent  performances  of 
Saul's,  and  rejoiced  that  they  had  constituted  him  their  king.  They  also  made 
a  clamour  against  those  that  pretended  he  would  be  of  no  advantage  to  their  af- 
fairs ;  and  they  said.  Where  now  arc  these  men?  let  them  be  brought  to  punish- 
ment :  with  all  the  like  things  tliat  multitudes  do  usually  say,  when  they  are 
elevated  with  prosperity,  against  those  that  lately  had  despised  the  authors  of  it. 
But  Saul,  although  he  took  the  good-will  and  the  affection  of  these  men  very 
kindly,  yet  did  he  swear  that  he  would  not  sec  any  of  his  countrymen  slain  that 
day,  since  it  was  absurd  to  mix  this  victory,  which  CJod  had  given  them,  with  the 
blood  and  slaughter  of  those  that  were  of  the  same  lineage  with  themselves;  and 
that  it  was  more  agreeable  to  be  then  of  a  friendly  disposition,  and  so  to  bctaJvC 
themselves  to  feasting. 

4.  And  when  Samuel  had  told  them  that  he  ought  to  confirm  the  kingdom  to 
Saul  by  a  second  ordination  of  him,  they  all  came  together  to  the  city  of  CJilgal, 
for  thither  did  he  command  them  to  come.  So  the  prophet  anointed  Saul  with 
the  holy  oil,  in  the  sight  of  the  multitude,  and  declared  him  to  be  king,  the  second 
time.  And  so  the  government  of  the  Helirews  was  changed  into  a  regal  go- 
vernment ;  for  in  the  days  of  Moses,  and  his  disciple  Joshua,  who  was  their 
general,  they  continued  under  an  aristocracy  ;  but  after  the  death  of  Joshua,  for 
eighteen  years  in  all,  the  multitude  had  no  settled  form  of  government,  but  were 
in  an  anarchy;  after  Avhicli  they  returned  to  their  former  government;  they  then 
j^ermitting  themselves  to  be  judged  by  him  who  appeared  to  be  the  best  warrior, 
and  most  courageous,  w  hence  it  was  that  they  called  this  interval  of  their  go- 
A  ernment  the  Judges. 

5.  Then  did  Samuel  the  prophet  call  another  assembly  also,  and  said  to  them, 
"  I  solemnly  adjure  you  by  God  Almighty,  who  brought  those  excellent  brethren, 
I  mean  Moses  and  Aaron,  into  the  world,  and  delivered  our  fathers  Irom  the 
Egyptians,  and  from  the  slavery  they  endured  under  them,  that  you  will  not  speak 
what  )'ou  say  to  gratify  me,  nor  suppress  any  thing  out  of  fear  of  me,  nor  be  over- 
borne by  any  other  passion,  but  say,  what  have  I  ever  done  that  M'as  cmel  or  un- 
just ?  or  what  have  I  done  out  of  lucre  or  covetousness,  or  to  gratify  others? 
Bear  witness  against  me,  if  I  have  taken  an  ox  or  a  sheep,  or  any  such  thing,  which 
yet,  when  they  are  taken  to  support  men, it  is  esteemed  blameless  ;  or  have  I  taken 
an  ass  for  my  own  use  of  any  one  to  his  grief?  Lay  some  one  such  crime  to  my 
charge,  now  we  are  in  your  king's  presence."  But  they  cried  out,  That,  "  no 
such  thing  had  heen  done  by  him,  but  that  he  had  presided  over  the  nation  uflcr 
a  holy  and  righteous  manner." 

0.  Hereupon  Samuel,  when  such  a  testimony  had  been  given  by  them  all,  said, 
"  Since  you  grant  that  you  are  not  able  to  lay  any  ill  thing  to  my  charge  hitherto, 
come  on  now,  and  do  you  hearken  while  I  speali  with  great  freedom  to  you.  Yon 


Igg  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VI. 

have  been  guilty  of  great  impiety  against  God  in  asking  you  a  king.  It  behoves 
you  to  remember,  that  our  grandfather  Jacob  came  down  into  Egypt  b}"^  reason 
of  a  famine,  with  seventy  souls  only  of  our  family,  and  that  their  posterity  mul- 
tiplied there  to  many  ten  thousands,  whom  the  Egyptians  brought  into  slaveiy 
and  hard  oppression ;  that  God  himself,  upon  the  prayers  of  our  fathers,  sent 
Moses  and  Aaron,  who  were  brethren,  and  gave  them  power  to  deliver  the  mul- 
titude out  of  their  distress,  and  this  without  a  king.  These  brought  us  into  this 
very  land  which  you  now  possess.  And  when  you  enjoyed  these  advantages 
from  God,  you  betrayed  his  worship  and  religion ;  nay,  moreover,  when  you  were 
brought  under  the  bands  of  your  enemies,  he  delivered  you,  first  by  rendering 
you  superior  to  the  Assyrians  and  their  forces,  he  then  made  you  to  overcome 
the  Ammonites  and  Moabites,  and  last  of  all  the  PhiUstines ;  and  these  things 
have  been  achieved  under  the  conduct  of  Jephtha  and  Gideon.  What  madness, 
therefore,  possessed  you  to  fly  from  God,  and  to  desire  to  be  under  a  king!  yet 
have  I  ordained  him  for  king  whom  he  chose  for  you.  However,  that  I  may 
make  it  plain  to  you,  that  God  is  angry  and  displeased  at  your  choice  of  kingly 
government,  I  will  so  dispose  him  that  he  shall  declare  this  very  plainly  to  you 
by  strange  signals,  for  what  none  of  you  ever  saw  here  before,  I  mean  a  winter- 
storm*  in  the  midst  of  harvest;  I  will  entreat  God,  and  will  make  it  visible  to 
you."  Now,  as  soon  as  he  had  said  this,  God  gave  such  great  signals,  by  thun- 
der and  lightning  and  the  descent  of  hail,  as  attested  the  truth  of  all  that  the 
prophet  had  said,  insomuch  that  they  were  amazed  and  terrified,  and  confessed 
they  had  sinned,  and  had  fallen  into  that  sin  through  ignorance ;  and  besought 
the  prophet,  as  one  that  was  a  tender  and  gentle  father  to  them,  to  render  God  so 
merciful  as  to  forgive  this  their  sin,  which  they  had  added  to  those  other  offences 
whereby  they  had  affi'onted  him  and  transgressed  against  him.  So  he  promised 
them  that  he  would  beseech  God,  and  persuade  him  to  forgive  them  these  their 
sins.  However,  he  advised  them  to  be  righteo-^s  and  to  be  good,  and  ever  to 
remember  the  miseries  that  had  befallen  them  on  account  of  their  departure  from 
virtue ;  as  also  to  remember  the  strange  signs  God  had  showed  them,  and  the 
body  of  laws  that  Moses  had  given  them,  if  they  had  any  desire  of  being  pre- 
served and  made  happy  with  their  king.  But  he  said,  that  if  they  should  grow 
careless  of  these  things,  great  judgments  would  come  from  God  upon  them,  and 
upon  their  king.  And  when  Samuel  had  thus  prophesied  to  the  Hebrews,  he 
dismissed  them  to  their  own  homes,  having  confirmed  the  kingdom  to  Saul  the 
second  time. 


CHAP.  VI. 

How  the  Philistines  maae  another  Expedition  against  the  Hebrews,  and  were  beaten. 

§  1.  Now  Saul  chose  out  of  the  multitude  about  three  thousand  men,  and  he  took 
two  thousand  of  them  to  be  the  guards  of  his  own  body,  and  abode  in  the  city 
Bethel ;  but  he  gave  the  rest  of  them  to  Jonathan  his  son  to  be  the  guards  of  his 
body  ;  and  sent  him  toGibeah,  where  he  besieged  and  took  a  certain  garrison  of 
the  Philistines,  not  far  from  Gilgal;  for  the  Philistines  of  Gibeah  had  beaten  the 
Jews,  and  taken  their  weapons  away,  and  had  put  garrisons  into  the  strongest 
places  of  the  country,  and  had  forbidden  them  to  carry  any  instrument  of  iron, 
or  at  all  to  make  use  of  any  iron  in  any  case  whatsoever.  And  on  account  of  this  pro. 
hibition,  it  was,  that  the  husbandmen,  if  they  had  any  occasion  to  sharpen  any  of 
their  tools,  w  hether  it  were  the  coulter  or   the  spade,  or  any  instrument  of  hus- 

t  ^\  ^cl^"^  observes  here,  and  proves  elsewhere,  in  his  note  on  Antiq.  B.  iii.  ch.  i.  sect.  6  ;  that 
although  thunder  and  lightning  with  us  happen  usually  in  summer,  yet  in  Palestine  and  Syria  they  ar^ 
chiefly  CQqhned  to  winter.     Josephus  takes  notice  of  the  sanie  thing  again,  Of  the  War,  B.  iv.  eh.  iy 


C.  Vr.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  1Q9 

bandry,  they  came  to  the  Philistines  to  do  it.  Now  as  soon  as  the  PhiHstines 
heard  of  this  slaughter  of  tlieir  garrison,  they  were  in  a  rage  about  it,  and,  look- 
ing  on  this  contempt  as  a  terrible  aflront  offered  them,  they  made  war  ao-ainst 
the  Jews,  with  three  hundred  thousand  footmen,  and  thirty  thousand  chariots,  and 
six  thousand  horses,  and  they  pitched  their  camp  at  the  city  Micmash.  When 
Saul  the  king  of  the  Hebrews  was  informed  of  this,  he  went  down  to  the  city 
Gilgal,  and  made  proclamation  over  all  the  country,  that  they  should  try  to 
regain  their  liberty  ;  and  called  them  to  the  war  against  the  Philistines,  dimi- 
nishiug  their  forces,  and  despising  them  as  not  veiy  considerable,  and  as  not  so 
great  but  they  might  hazard  a  battle  with  them.  But  when  the  people 
about  Saul  observed  how  numerous  the  Philistines  were,  they  were  under  a  great 
consternation  ;  and  some  of  them  hid  themselves  in  caves  and  in  dens  under 
ground,  but  the  greater  part  fled  into  the  land  beyond  Jordan,  which  belonged  to 
Gad  and  Reubel. 

2.  But  Saul  sent  to  the  prophet,  and  called  him  to  consult  with  him  about  the 
war  and  the  public  affairs  ;  so  he  commanded  him  to  stay  there  for  him,  and  to 
prepare  sacrifices,  for  he  would  come  to  him  within  seven  days,  that  they 
might  offer  sacrifices  on  the  seventh  day,  and  might  then  join  battle  with  their 
enemies.  So  he  waited*  as  the  prophet  sent  to  him  to  do  ;  yet  did  not  he,  how- 
ever,  observe  the  command  that  was  given  him  ;  but  when  he  saw  that  the 
prophet  tarried  longer  than  he  expected,  and  that  he  was  deserted  by  the  sol- 
diers, he  took  the  sacrifices,  and  offered  them ;  and  when  he  heard  that  Samuel 
was  come,  he  went  out  to  meet  him.  But  the  prophet  said  he  had  not  done  well 
in  disobeying  the  injunctions  he  had  sent  to  him,  and  had  not  stayed  till  his 
coming,  which  being  appointed  according  to  the  will  of  God,  he  had  prevented 
him  in  offering  up  those  prayers  and  those  sacrifices  that  he  should  have  made 
for  the  multitude,  and  that  he  therefore  had  performed  divine  offices  in  an  ill 
manner,  and  had  been  rash  in  performing  them.  Hereupon  Saul  made  an 
apology  for  himself,  and  said,  That  he  had  waited  as  many  days  as  Samuel  had 
appointed  him  ;  that  he  had  been  so  quick  in  offering  his  sacrifices  upon  account 
of  the  necessity  he  was  in,  and  because  his  soldiers  were  departing  from  him, 
out  of  their  fear  of  the  enemies'  camp  at  Micmash,  the  report  being  gone  abroad 
that  they  were  coming  down  upon  him  to  Gilgal."  To  which  SauHiel  replied, 
"  Nay,  certainly  if  thou  hadst  been  a  righteous  manf ,  and  hadst  not  disobeyed 
me,  nor  slighted  the  commands  which  God  suggested  to  me  concerning  the  pre- 
sent state  of  affairs,  and  hadst  not  acted  more  hastily  than  the  present  circimi- 
stances  required,  thou  wouldst  have  been  permitted  to  reign  a  long  time,  and  thy 

*  Saul  seems  to  have  stayed  till  near  the  time  of  the  evening  sacrifice,  on  the  seventh  day,  which 
Samuel  the  prophet  of  God  had  appointed  liim,  but  not  till  the  end  of  that  day,  as  lie  ought  to  have 
done  ;  and  Samuel  appears,  by  delaying  to  come  till  the  full  time  of  the  evening  sacrifice  on  that  scvenih 
day,  to  have  tried  him  (who  seems  to  have  been  already  for  some  time  declining  fiom  his  strict  and 
bounden  subordination  to  God  and  his  pro])het,  to  liave  taken  lifeguards  for  himself  and  Ids  son,  which 
was  entirely  a  new  thing  in  Israel,  and  savoured  of  a  distrust  of  God's  providence,  and  to  have  aflected 
more  than  he  ought  tliat  independent  authority  which  the  Fagan  kings  took  to  themselves^  ;  Samuel,  1 
say,  seems  to  have  tried  Saul,  whether  he  would  stay  till  the  priest  came,  who  alone  could  lawfully  offer 
the  sacrifices,  nor  would  boldly  and  profanely  usurp  the  priest's  office  ;  which  he  venturing  upon,  was 
justly  rejected  for  his  profancness.  See  Constit.  Apost.  15.  ii.  ch.  xxvii.  And  indeed  since  Saul  had 
accepted  kingly  power,  which  naturally  becomes  ungovernable  and  tyrannical,  as  God  foretold,  and  the 
experience  of  all  ages  has  shown,  the  divine  seitlement  by  Moses  had  soon  been  laid  aside  under  the 
kings,  had  not  God,  by  keeping  strictly  to  his  laws,  and  severely  executing  the  thrcatenings  therem  con 
tained,  restrained  Saul  and  other  kings  in  some  degree  of  obedience  to  himself.  Nor  was  even  this 
severity  sufficient  to  restrain  most  of  the  future  kings  of  Israel  and  Judah  from  the  grossest  idolatry  and 
impiety.  Of  the  advantage  of  which  strictness  in  observing  divine  laws  and  inflicting  their  threatened 
penalties,  see  Antiq.  b.  vi.  ch.  xii.  sect.  7,  and  contra  Apion,  b.  ii.  sect.  .30,  where  Josephiis  speaks  of 
that  matter  ;  though  it  must  be  noted,  that  it  seems,  at  least  in  three  instances,  that  good  men  did  not 
ahvays  immediately  approve  of  such  divine  severity.  There  seems  to  be  one  instance,  1  Sam.  vi.  19, 
20  ;  another,  1  Sam.  xv.  11  ;  and  a  third,  2  Sam.  vi.  8,  9  ;  Antiq.  b.  vi.  ch.  vii.  sect.  2;  though  they  all 
at  last  acquiesced  in  tlie  divine  conduct,  as  knowing  that  God  is  wiser  than  men. 

t  By  this  answer  of  Samuel,  and  that  from  a  Divine  commission,  which  is  fuller  in  1  Sam.  xni.  14  ;  and 
by  that  parallel  note  in  the  Apostolical  Constitutions  just  now  quoted,  concerning  the  great  wickedness 
of  Saul  in  venturing,  even  under  a  seeming  necessity  of  affairs,  to  usurp  the  priest's  office,  and  oftcr 
sacrifice  without  the  priest,  we  are  in  some  degree  able  toanswer  that  question,  which  I  have  ever  thought 
a  very  hard  one,  viz.    Whether,  if  there  were  a  city  or  country  of  lay  Christians  without  any  clergyman, 


IQQ  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VI. 

posterity  after  thee."      So  Samuel  being  grieved  at  what  happened,  returned 
home,  but  Saul  came  to  the  city  Gibeah,  with  his  son  Jonathan,  having  only  six 
hundred  men  with  him  ;  and  of  these  the  greater  part  had  no  weapons,  because 
of  the  scarcit}^  of  iron  in  that  country,  as  well  as  of  those  that  could  make  such 
weapons  ;  for,  as  we  showed  a  little  before,  the  Phihstines  had  not  suffered  them 
to  have  such  iron  or  such  workmen.     Now  the  Philistines  divided  their  army  into 
three  companies,  and  took  as  many  roads,  and  laid  waste  the  country  of  the  He- 
brews, while  king  Saul  and  his  son  Jonathan  saw  what  was  done,  but  were  not  able 
to  defend  the  land,  having  no  more  than  six  hundred  men  with  them.     But  as  he 
and  his  son,  and  Abiah  the  high-priest,  who  was  of  the  posterity  of  Eli  the  high- 
priest,  were  sitting  upon  a  pretty  high  hill,  and  seeing  the  land  laid  waste,  they 
were  mightily  disturbed  at  it.     Now  Saul's  son  agreed  with  his  armour-bearer, 
that  they  would  go  privately  totlie  enemy's  camp,  and  make  atumult  and  a  disturb- 
ance among  them.    And  when  the  armour-bearer  had  readily  promised  to  follow 
him  whithersoever  he  should  lead  him,  though  he  should  be  obliged  to  die  in  the 
attempt,  Jonathan  made  use  of  the  young  man's  assistance,  and  descended  from 
the  hill,  and  went  to  their  enemies.     Now  the  enemies'  camp  was  upon  a  preci- 
pice which  had  three  tops  that  ended  in  a  small  but  sharp  and  long  extremity, 
while  there  was  a  rock  that  surrounded  them,  like  lines  made  to  prevent  the 
attacks  of  an  enemy.     There  it  so  happened,  that  the  outguards  of  the  camp 
were  neglected,  because  of  the  security  that  here  arose  from  the  situation  of  the 
place,  and  because  they  thought  it  altogether  impossible  not  only  to  ascend  up  to 
the  camp  in  that  quarter,  but  so  much  as  to  come  near  it.     As  soon,  therefore, 
as  they  came  to  the  camp,  Jonathan  encouraged  his  armour-bearer,  and  said  to 
him,  "  Let  us  attack  our  enemies  ;  and  if,  when  they  see  us,  they  bid  us  come 
up  to  them,  take  that  for  a  signal  of  victory  ;    but  if  they  say  nothing,  as  not 
intending  to  invite  us  to  come  up,  let  us  return  back  again."     So  when  they 
were  approaching  to  the  enemy's  camp,  just  after  break  of  day,  and  the  Phi- 
listines saw  them,  they  said  one  to  another,    "  The  Hebrews  come  out  of  their 
dens  and  caves  ;"  and  they  said  to  Jonathan  and  to  his  armour-bearer,  "  Come 
,on,  ascend  up  to  us,  that  we  may  inflict  a  just  punishment  upon  you  for  your 
rash  attempt  upon  us."     So  Saul's  son  accepted  of  that  invitation,  as  what  sig- 
nified to  him  victory,  and  he  immediately  came  out  of  the  place  whence  they  v/ere 
seen  by  their  enemies ;  so  he  changed  his  place,  and  came  to  the  rock  which 
had  none  to  guard  it,  because  of  its  own  strength :  from  thence  they  crept  up 
with  great  labour  and  diihculty,  and  so  far  overcame  by  force  the  nature  of  the 
place,  till  they  were  able  to  fight  with  their  enemies.     So  they  fell  upon  them  as 
they  were  asleep,  and  slew  about  twenty  of  them,  and  thereby  filled  them  with 
disorder  and  surprise,  insomuch  that  some  of  them  threw  away  their  entire 
armour  and  fled,  but  the  greatest  part  not  knowing  one   another,  because  they 
were  of  different  nations,  suspected  one  another  to  be  enemies  (for  they  did  not 
imagine  there  were  only  two  of  the  Hebrews  that  came  up),  and  so  they  fought 
one  against  another ;    and  some  of  them  died  in  the  battle,  and  some,  as  they 
were  flying  away,  were  thrown  down  from  the  rock  headlong. 

3.  Now  Saul's  watchmen  told  the  king,  that  the  camp  of  the  Philistines  was  in 
■.^.confusion  ;  then  he  inquired  whether  any  body  was  gone  away  from  the  army  ; 
'.and  when  he  heard  that  his  son,  and  with  him  his  armour-bearer,  were  absent, 
■he  bid  the  high-priest  take  the  garments  of  his  high-priesthood,  and  prophesy  to 
him  what  success  they  should  have  ;  who  said,    "  That  they  should  get  the  vic- 
tory, and  prevail  against  their  enemies."     So  he  went  out  after  the  Philistines, 

It  were  lawful  for  the  laity  alone  to  baptise,  orcelcliratc  the  eiicharist,  itc.  or  indeed  whether  they  alone 
coiiid  ordain  themselves  either  bishops,  priests,  or  deacons,  for  the  due  performance  of  such  sacerdotal 
ministratiniis?  or,  wliether  thej  ought  not  rather,  till  tlicy  procure  clers^ynien  to  come  among  them,  to 
confine  themselves  within  those  bounds  of  piely  and  Christianity  whicii  belong  alone  to  the  laity  ?  such 
particularly  as  are  recommended  in  the  first  book  of  tlie  Apostolical  Constitutions,  which  peculiarly 
concern  tlie  laity,  and  arc  intimated  in  Clement's  undoubted  epistle,  sect.  40 ;  to  whicli  latter  opinion  I 
incline. 


r.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  191 

and  set  them  up  as  tlicy  wore  slaying  one  another.  Those  also  came  nmning  to 
him,  who  had  fled  to  dens  and  caves,  upon  hearing  that  Saul  was  gaining  a  vic- 
tory. When,  therefore,  the  number  of  the  Hebrews  that  came  to  Saul  amounted 
to  about  ten  thousand,  he  pursued  the  enemy,  who  were  scattered  all  over  the 
country ;  but  then  he  fell  into  an  action  which  was  a  very  unhappy  one,  and 
liable  to  be  very  much  blamed  ;  for  whether  out  of  ignorance,  or  whether  out  of 
joy  for  a  victory  gained  so  strangely,  for  it  frequently  happens  that  persons  so 
fortunate  are  not  then  able  to  use  their  reason  consistcntlv,  as  he  was  desirous  to 
uvenge  himself,  and  to  exact  a  due  punishment  of  the  rinlistines,  he  denounced 
a  curse*  on  the  Hebrews,  "  That  if  any  one  put  a  stop  to  his  slaughter  of  the 
enemy,  and  fell  on  eating,  and  left  off  the  slaughter  or  tlie  pursuit,  before  the 
night  came  on  and  obliged  them  so  to  do,  he  should  be  accursed."  Now  after  Saul 
had  denounced  this  curse,  since  they  were  now  in  a  wood  belonging  to  the  tribe 
of  Ephraim,  which  was  thick  and  full  of  bees,  Saul's  son,  who  did  not  hear  his 
father  denounce  that  curse,  nor  hear  of  tlie  ai)probation  the  multitude  gave  to  it, 
broke  off  a  piece  of  a  honeycomb,  and  eat  part  of  it.  But  in  the  meantime,  he 
was  informed  with  what  a  curse  lus  fatlicr  had  forbidden  them  to  taste  any  thing 
before  sun-setting;  so  he  left  off  eating,  and  said,  "His  father  had  not  done 
well  in  liis  proliibition  ;  because  had  they  taken  some  food,  they  had  pursued  the 
enemy  with  greater  vigour  and  alacrity,  and  had  both  taken  and  slain  many  more 
of  their  enemies." 

4.  When  therefore  thej^  had  slain  many  ten  thousands  of  the  Philistines,  they 
fell  upon  spoiling  the  camp  of  the  Pliilistincs,  but  not  till  late  in  the  evening.  They 
also  took  a  great  deal  of  prey,  and  cattle,  and  killed  them,  and  ate  them  with 
their  blood.  This  was  told  to  the  king  by  the  Scribes,  that  the  multitude  were 
sinning  against  Cod,  as  they  sacrificed,  and  were  eating  before  the  blood  was 
well  washed  away,  and  the  flesh  was  made  clean.  Then  did  Saul  give  order, 
that  a  great  stone  should  be  rolled  into  the  midst  of  them,  and  he  made  proclama- 
tion  that  they  should  kill  their  sacrifices  upon  it,  and  not  feed  upon  the  flesh  with 
tlie  blood,  for  that  was  not  acceptable  to  God.  And  when  all  the  people  did  as 
the  king  commanded  tliem,  Saul  erected  an  altarf  there,  and  oflcred  burnt-oflcr- 
ings  upon  it  to  God.     This  was  the  first  altar  that  Saul  built. 

5.  So  when  Saul  was  desirous  of  leading  his  men  to  the  enemy's  camp  before 
it  was  day,  in  order  to  plunder  it,  and  when  the  soldiei-s  were  not  unwilling  to  %\- 
low  him,  but  indeed  showed  great  readiness  to  do  as  he  commanded  them,  the 
king  called  Ahitub  the  higli-priest,  and  enjoined  him  to  know  of  God,  whether  he 
would  grant  them  the  favour  and  permission  to  go  against  the  enemy's  camp,  in 
order  to  destroy  those  that  were  in  it.  And  when  the  priest  said,  That  God  did 
not  give  any  answer.  "And  not  without  some  cause,"  said  Saul,  "  does  God  re- 
fuse to  answer  what  we  inquire  of  him,  while  yet  a  little  while  ago  he  declared  to 
us  all  beforehand,  and  even  prevented  us  in  his  answer.  To  be  sure  there  is 
some  sin  against  him  that  is  concealed  from  us,  which  is  the  occasion  of  lus  si- 
lence. Now  I  swear  by  him  himself,  that  though  he  that  hath  committed  this  sin 
should  prove  to  be  mine  own  son  Jonathan,  I  will  slay  him,  and  by  that  means 
will  appease  the  anger  of  God  against  us,  and  that  in  the  very  same  manner  as 
if  I  were  to  punish  a  stranger,  and  one  not  at  all  related  to  me,  for  tlie  same  of- 
fence." So  when  the  multitude  cried  out  to  him  so  to  do,  he  presently  set  all 
the  rest  on  one  side,  and  he  and  his  son  stood  on  the  other  side,  and  he  sought 

i  This  rash  vow  or  curse  of  Saul's,  which  Josephus  savs  was  cotifirmed  by  the  pooplo,  and  yet  not 
executed,  I  suppose  i)ri\ici|ially  because  Jonathan  did  not  know  of  it,  is  very  reinarkiihlc,  it  hi'mgol  Iho 
essence  of  tlie  oblit^ation  of  nil  laws,  that  they  be  sufficienily  known  and  proimiiuatw),  otherw.se  the 
conduct  of  providence,  as  to  the  saciediicss  of  solemn  oaths  and  vows,  in  (iod's  relusing  to  answer  )y 
Urim,  till  this  breach  of  Saul's  vow  or  curse  was  iiiidfislood  and  set  riiiiit,  and  (iod  propitiated  by 
public  prayer,  is  here  very  remarkable,  as  indeed  it  is  every  where  else  in  the  Old  Tcstaincnt. 

{  Here  we  still  have  more  indications  of  Saul's  aflectation  of  despotic  i)owcr,  and  of  his  entrenching 
-.ipon  the  priesthood,  and  makmn  and  endeavouring  to  execute  a  rash  vow  or  curse  williout  consulting 
Samuel,  o:  the  Sanhedrim.  In  this  view  it  is  also  that  I  look  upon  this  erection  of  a  new  altar  by  Saul, 
and  his  offering  of  binut-ofilriiigo  himself  upon  it,  and  not  as  any  piopet  instances  of  devotion  or  rcligiop 
with  other  conainer.tutors. 


192  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  D.  VL 

to  discover  tlie  oflendcr  by  lot.  Now  the  lot  appeared  to  fall  upon  Jonatlian  him- 
self. So  wiicn  he  was  asked  by  his  father  what  sin  he  had  been  guilty  of? 
and  what  he  was  conscious  of  in  the  course  of  his  life  that  might  be  esteemed  in* 
stances  of  guilt  or  profaneness  ?  His  answer  was  this  :  "  O  father,  I  have  done 
nothintr  more  than  that  yesterday,  without  knowing  of  the  curse  and  oath  thou 
liadst  denounced  while  I  was  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  I  tasted  of  an  honeycomb." 
But  Saul  sware  he  would  slay  him,  and  prefer  the  observation  of  his  oath  before 
all  the  ties  of  birth  and  of  nature.  And  Jonathan  was  not  dismayed  at  this  threat- 
enino-  of  death,  but  offering  himself  to  it  generously  and  undauntedly,  he  said, 
"  Nor  do  I  desire  you,  father,  to  spare  me.  Death  will  be  to  me  very  accepta- 
ble, when  it  proceeds  from  thy  piety,  and  after  a  glorious  victory;  for  it  is  the 
greatest  consolation  to  me,  that  I  leave  the  Hebrews  victorious  over  the  Philis- 
tines." Hereupon  all  the  people  were  very  sorry,  and  greatly  afflicted  for  Jona- 
than, and  they  sware  that  they  would  not  overlook  Jonathan,  and  see  him  die, 
who  was  the  author  of  their  victory.  By  which  means  they  snatched  him  out  of 
the  danger  he  was  in  from  his  father's  curse,  while  they  made  their  prayers  to 
God  also  for  the  young  man,  that  he  would  remit  his  sin. 

6.  So  Saul  having  slain  about  sixty  thousand  of  the  enemy,  returned  home  to 
his  own  city,  and  reigned  happily.  And  he  also  fought  against  the  neighbour- 
ing nations,  and  subdued  the  Ammonites,  and  Moabites,  and  Philistines,  and 
Edomites,  and  Amalekites,  as  also  the  king  of  Zobah.  He  had  three  male  chil- 
dren, Jonathan,  and  Ishui,  and  Melchi-shua  ;  with  Merab  and  Michal  his  daugh- 
ters. He  had  also  Abner  his  uncle's  son,  for  the  captain  of  his  host ;  that  un- 
cle's name  was  Ner.  Now  Ner,  and  Kish  the  father  of  Saul,  were  brothers. 
Saul  had  also  a  great  many  chariots  and  horsemen,  and  against  whomsoever  he 
made  war,  he  returned  conqueror,  and  advanced  the  affairs  of  the  Hebrews  to  a 
great  degree  of  success  and  prosperity,  and  made  them  superior  to  other  nations  ; 
and  he  made  such  of  the  young  men  that  were  remarkable  for  tallness  and  come- 
liness the  guards  of  his  body. 


CHAP.  vn. 

SauVs  War  vnth  the  Amalekiies,  and  Conquest  of  them. 

§  1.  Now  Samuel  came  unto  Saul,  and  said  to  him,  That  "  he  was  sent  by  God 
to  put  him  in  mind  that  God  had  preferred  him  before  all  others,  and  ordained 
him  king  ;  that  he  therefore  ought  to  be  obedient  to  him,  and  to  submit  to  his  au- 
thority,  as  considering,  that  though  he  had  the  dominion  over  the  other  tribes,  yet 
that  God  had  the  dominion  over  him,  and  over  all  things.  That  accordingly  God 
said  to  him,  that  because  the  Amalekites  did  the  Hebrews  a  great  deal  of  mis- 
chief while  they  were  in  the  wilderness,  and  when,  upon  their  coming  out  of 
Egypt,  they  were  making  their  way  to  that  country  which  is  now  their  own,  I 
enjoin  thee  to  punish  the  Amalekites,  by  making  war  upon  them  ;  and  when  thou 
hast  subdued  them,  to  leave  none  of  them  alive,  but  to  pursue  them  through 
every  age,  and  to  slay  them  beginning  with  the  women  and  the  infants,  and  to 
require  this  as  a  punishment  to  be  inflicted  upon  them  for  the  mischief  they  did  to 
our  forefathers.  To  spare  nothing,  neither  asses  nor  other  beasts,  not  to  reserve 
any  of  them  for  your  own  advantage  and  possession,  but  to  devote  them  univer 
sally  to  God,  and  in  obedience  to  the  commands  of  Moses,  to  blot  out  the  name 
of  AmaMc*  entirely." 

»  The  reason  of  this  severity  is  distinctly  given,!  Sam.  xv.  18,  Go  and  utterly  destroy  the  sinners  the 
Amalekites.  Nor  indeed  do  we  ever  meet  with  these  Amalekites  but  as  very  cruel  and  bloody  people, 
and  particularly  seeking  to  injure  and  utterly  to  destroy  the  nation  of  Israel.  See  Exod.  xvii.  8--16;  Numb, 
xiv.  45;  Dent.  xxv.  17— 19;"Juds.  vi.  8—6;  1  Sam.  xv.  33  .  Psalm  Ixxxiii.  7 ;  and  above  all,  the  most 
barbarous  of  all  cruelties  that  cfliamanajeAsasite,  01  one  of  the  posterity  of  A  gag,  the  old  king  of  the 
Amalekites,  Esth.  iil  I — 15. 


C.  VII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


193 


2.  So  Saul  promised  to  do  what  ho  was  commanded  ;  and  supposing  that  his 
obedience  to  God  would  be  shown  not  only  in  making  war  ao-ainst  the  Amale- 
kitea,  but  more  fully  in  the  readiness  and  quickness  of  his  procecdinfrs,  he  made 
no  delay,  but  immediately  gathered  together  all  his  forces  ;  and  wlfen  he  had 
numbered  them  in  Gilgal,  he  found  them  to  be  about  four  hundred  thousand  of 
the  Israelites,  besides  the  tribe  of  Judah,  for  that  tribe  contained  by  itself  thirty 
thousand.  Accordingly  Saul  made  an  irruption  into  the  country  of  the  Amalc- 
kites,  and  set  many  men  in  several  parties  in  ambush  at  the  river,  that  so  ho 
might  not  only  do  them  a  mischief  by  open  fighting,  but  might  fall  ujjon  them 
unexpectedly  in  the  ways,  and  might  thereby  compass  them  round  about,  and  kill 
them.  And  when  he  had  joined  battle  with  the  enemy,  he  beat  them  ;  and  pur- 
suing them  as  they  fled,  he  destroyed  them  all.  And  when  that  undertaking  had 
succeeded  according  as  God  had  foretold,  he  set  upon  tlie  cities  of  the  Amale- 
kites  ;  he  besieged  them,  and  took  them  by  force,  partly  by  warlike  machines, 
partly  by  mines  dug  under  ground,  and  partly  by  building  walls  on  the  outsides. 
Some  they  starved  out  with  famine,  and  some  they  gained  by  other  methods  ; 
and  after  all,  he  betook  himself  to  slay  the  women  and  the  children,  and  thouo-ht 
he  did  not  act  therein  either  barbarously  or  inhumanly,  fust,  because  they  were 
enemies  whom  he  thus  treated  ;  and,  in  the  next  place,  because  it  was  done  by 
the  command  of  God,  whom  it  was  dangerous  not  to  obey.  He  also  took  Agag, 
the  enemies'  king,  captive  ;  the  beauty  and  tallness  of  whose  body  he  admired  so 
much  that  he  thought  him  worthy  of  preservation.  Yet  was  not  this  done,  how. 
ever,  according  to  the  will  of  God,  but  by  giving  way  to  human  passions,  and 
suffering  himself  to  be  moved  with  an  unseasonable  commisscration,  in  a  point 
where  it  was  not  safe  for  him  to  indulge  it ;  for  God  hated  the  nation  of  the 
Amaleldtes  to  such  a  degree  that  he  commanded  Saul  to  have  no  pity  on  even 
those  infants  which  we  by  nature  chiefly  compassionate.  But  Saul  preserved 
their  king  and  governor  from  the  miseries  which  the  Hebrews  brought  on  the 
people,  as  if  he  preferred  the  fine  appearance  of  the  enemy  to  the  memory  of 
what  God  had  sent  him  about.  The  multitude  were  also  guilty,  together  with 
Saul ;  for  they  spared  the  herds  and  the  flocks,  and  took  them  for  a  pi'ey,  when 
God  had  commanded  they  should  not  spare  them.  They  also  caiTied  otiwith  them 
the  rest  of  their  wealth  and  riches,  but  if  there  were  anything  that  was  not  wor- 
thy of  regard,  that  they  destroyed. 

3.  But  when  Saul  had  conquered  all  these  Amalekites  that  reached  from  Pe- 
lusium  of  Egypt  to  the  Red  Sea,  he  laid  waste  all  the  rest  of  the  enemies'  coun- 
try ;  but  for  the  nation  of  (lie  Shechemites,  he  did  not  touch  them,  although  they 
dwelt  in  the  very  middle  of  the  country  of  Midian  ;  for  before  the  battle  Saul  had 
sent  to  them,  and  charged  them  to  depart  thence,  lest  they  should  be  partakers  of 
the  miseries  of  the  Amalekites,  for  he. had  a  just  occasion  for  saving  them,  since 
they  were  of  the  kindred  of  Raguel,  Moses's  father-in-law. 

4.  Hereupon  Saul  returned  home  with  joy,  for  the  glorious  things  he  had  done, 
and  for  the  conquest  of  his  enemies,  as  though  he  had  not  neglected  any  thing 
which  the  prophet  had  enjoined  him  to  do,  when  he  was  going  to  make  war  with 
the  Amalekites,  and  as  though  he  had  exactly  observed  all  that  he  ought  to  have 
done.  But  God  was  grieved  that  the  king  of  the  Amalekites  was  preserved 
alive,  and  that  the  multitude  had  seized  on  the  cattle  for  a  prey,  because  these 
things  were  done  without  his  permission  ;  for  he  thought  it  an  intolerable  thing, 
that  they  should  conquer  and  overcome  their  enemies  by  that  power  which  he 
gave  them,  and  then  that  he  himself  should  be  so  grossly  despised  and  disobeyed 
by  them  that  a  mere  man  that  was  a  king  would  not  bear  it.  Ho  there  lore  told 
Samuel  the  prophet,  that  he  repented  that  he  had  made  Saul  king,  while  he^  did 
nothing  that  he  had  commanded  him,  but  indulged  his  own  inclinations.  When 
Samuel  heard  thiit,  he  was  in  confusion  ;  and  began  to  beseech  God  all  that 
night  to  be  reconciled  to  Saul,  and  not  to  be  angry  with  him  ;  but  he  did  not 
grant  that  forgiveness  to  Suul  which  the  prophet  asked  for,  as  not  deemmg  it  a 

VOL.  I.  2  B 


J  94  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VL 

fit  thing  to  grant  forgiveness  of  [such]  sins  at  his  entreaties,  since  injuries  do  not 
otherwise  grow  so  great  as  by  the  easy  tempers  of  those  that  are  injured ;  for 
while  they  hunt  after  the  glory  of  being  thought  gentle  and  goodnatured,  before 
thev  are  aware  they  produce  other  sins.  As  soon  therefore  as  God  had  rejected 
the' intercession  of  the  prophet,  and  it  plainly  appeared  he  would  not  change  his 
mind,  at  break  of  day  Samuel  came  to  Saul  at  Gilgal.  When  the  king  saw  hira, 
he  ran  to  him,  and  embraced  him,  and  said,  "  I  return  thanks  to  God  who  hath 
given  me  the  victory,  for  I  have  performed  every  thing  that  he  hath  commanded 
me."  To  which  Samuel  replied,  "How  is  it  then  that  I  hear  the  bleating  of  the 
sheep,  and  the  lowing  of  the  greater  cattle  in  the  camp  ?"  Saul  made  answer, 
That  "  the  people  had  reserved  them  for  sacrifices ;  but  that,  as  to  the  nation  of 
the  Amalckites,  it  was  entirely  destroyed,  as  he  had  received  it  in  command  to 
see  done,  and  that  no  one  man  was  left,  but  that  he  had  saved  alive  the  king 
alone,  and  brought  him  to  him,  concerning  whom  he  said  they  would  advise  to- 
gether what  should  be  done  with  him."  But  the  prophet  said,  "  God  is  not  de- 
lighted with  sacrifices,  but  with  good  and  with  righteous  men,  who  are  such  as 
follow  his  will  and  his  laws,  and  never  think  that  anything  is  well  done  by  them, 
but  when  they  do  it  as  God  had  commanded  them  ;  that  he  then  looks  upori  hiiB- 
self  as  aftronted,  not  when  any  one  does  not  sacrifice,  but  when  any  one  appears 
to  be  disobedient  to  him.  But  that  from  those  who  do  not  obey  him,  nor  pay 
him  that  duty  which  is  the  alone  true  and  acceptable  worship,  he  will  not  kindly 
accept  their  oblations,  be  those  they  offer  never  so  many  and  so  fat,  and  be  the 
presents  they  make  him  never  so  ornamental,  nay  though  they  were  made  of 
gold  and  silver  themselves,  but  he  will  reject  them,  and  esteem  them  instances 
of  wickedness,  and  not  of  piety.  And  that  he  is  delighted  with  those  that  still 
bear  in  mind  this  one  thing,  and  this  only,  how  to  do  that,  whatsoever  it  be, 
which  God  pronounces  or  commands  for  them  to  do,  and  to  choose  rather  to  die 
than  to  trangress  any  of  those  commands;  nor  does  he  require  so  much  as  a 
sacrifice  from  them.  And  when  these  do  sacrifice,  though  it  be  a  mean  oblation, 
he  better  accepts  of  it  as  the  honour  of  poverty,  than  such  oblations  as  come 
from  the  richest  men  that  offer  them  to  him.  Wherefore  take  notice,  that  thou 
art  under  the  wrath  of  God,  for  thou  hast  despised  and  neglected  what  he  com. 
manded  thee.  How  dost  thou  then  suppose  he  will  respect  a  sacrifice  out  of  such 
things  as  he  hath  doomed  to  destruction  ?  unless  perhaps  thou  dost  imagine  that 
it  is  almost  all  one  to  offer  it  in  sacrifice  to  God  as  to  destroy  it.  Do  thou  there- 
fore expect  that  thy  kingdom  will  be  taken  from  thee,  and  that  authority  which 
thou  hast  abused  by  such  insolent  behaviour,  as  to  neglect  that  God  who  bestowed 
it  upon  thee."  Then  did  Saul  confess,  that  he  had  acted  unjustly,  and  did  not 
deny  that  he  had  sinned,  because  he  had  transgressed  the  injunctions  of  the 
prophet ;  but  he  said,  that  it  was  out  of  a  dread  and  fear  of  the  soldiers,  that  he 
(lid  not  prohibit  and  restrain  them  when  they  seized  on  the  prey.  "  But  forgive 
me,"  said  he,  "  and  be  merciful  to  me,  for  I  will  be  cautious  how  I  offend  for  the 
time  to  come."  He  also  entreated  the  prophet  to  go  back  with  him,  that  he 
might  offer  his  thank-offerings  to  God ;  but  Samuel  went  home,  because  he  saw 
that  God  would  not  be  reconciled  to  him. 

5.  But  then  Saul  was  so  desirous  to  retain  Samuel,  that  he  took  hold  of  his 
cloak,  and  because  the  vehemence  of  Samuel's  departure  made  the  motion  to  be 
violent,  the  cloak  was  rent.  Upon  which  the  prophet  said,  that  afler  the  same 
manner  should  the  kingdom  be  rent  from  him,  and  that  a  good  and  a  just  man 
should  take  it ;  that  God  persevered  in  what  he  had  decreed  about  him  ;  that  to 
he  mutable  and  changeable  in  what  is  determined  is  agreeable  to  human  passions 
only,  but  is  not  agreeable  to  the  divine  power.  Hereupon  Saul  said,  that  he  had 
been  wicked,  but  that  what  was  done  could  not  be  undone.  He  therefore  de- 
sired him  to  honour  him  so  far,  that  the  multitude  might  see  that  he  would  accom- 
pany  him  in  worshiping  God.  So  Samuel  granted  him  that  favour,  aiid  went 
with  him  and  worshiped  God.     Agag  also,  the  king  of  the  Amalckites,  was 


C.  Vill.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  I95 

forougbt  to  him  ;  and  when  tlic  king  aslced,  Hoav  bitter  death  was  ?  Samuel  said  : 
'•As  thou  hast  made  many  of  the  Hebrew  mothers  to  hmient  and  bewail  their 
children,  so  shalt  thou,  by  thy  death,  cause  tliy  mother  to  lament  thee  also." 
Accordingly  he  gave  orders  to  slay  him  immediately  at  Gilgal,  and  then  went 
away  by  the  city  Ramah. 


CHAP.  vni. 

How,  upon  SauVs  Transgression  of  the  Prophet^  Commands,  Samuel  ordained 

another  Person  to  be  King  privalely,  whose  name  was  David,  as 

God  commanded  him. 

§  1.  Now  Saul  being  sensible  of  the  miserable  condition  he  had  brought  him- 
self  into,  and  that  he  had  made  God  to  be  his  enejuy,  he  went  up  to  his  roval 
palace  at  Gibeah,  which  name  denotes  a  hill,  and  after  that  day  lie  came  no 
more  into  the  presence  of  the  prophet.  And  when  Samuel  mourned  fur  him, 
God  bid  him  leave  ofi'  his  concern  for  him,  and  to  take  the  holy  oil,  and  o-o  to 
Bethlehem  to  Jesse,  the  son  of  Obed,  and  to  anoint  such  of  his  sons  as  he  should 
show  him  for  their  future  king.  But  Samuel  said,  he  was  afraid  lest  Saul  when 
he  came  to  know  of  it,  should  kill  him,  either  by  some  private  method,  or  even 
openly.  But  upon  God's  suggesting  to  him  a  safe  way  of  going  thither,  he  camo 
to  the  forementioned  city ;  and  when  they  all  saluted  him,  and  asked,  What  was 
the  occasion  of  his  coming?  he  told  them,  he  came  to  sacrifice  to  God.  When 
therefore  he  had  gotten  the  sacrifice  ready,  he  called  Jesse  and  his  sons  to  par- 
take  of  those  sacrifices ;  and  when  he  saw  his  eldest  son  to  be  a  tall  and  hand- 
some man,  he  guessed  by  his  comeliness  that  he  was  the  person  who  was  to  be 
their  future  king.  But  he  was  mistaken  in  judging  about  God's  providence;  for 
when  Samuel  inquired  of  God,  whether  he  should  anoint  this  youth,  whom  he  so 
admired,  and  esteemed  worthy  of  the  kingdom?  God  said,  "jMen  do  not  see  as 
God  seeth.  Thou  indeed  hast  respect  to  the  fine  appearance  of  this  youth,  and 
thence  esteemest  him  worthy  of  the  kingdom,  while  I  propose  the  kingdom  as  a 
reward,  not  of  the  beauty  of  bodies,  but  of  the  virtue  of  souls,  and  I  inquire  after 
one  that  is  perfectly  comely  in  that  respect.  I  mean  one  who  is  beautiful  in  piety, 
and  righteousness,  and  fortitude,  and  obedience ;  for  in  them  consists  the  come- 
liness of  the  soul."  When  God  had  said  this,  Samuel  bid  Jesse  to  show  him  all 
his  sons.  So  he  made  five  others  of  his  sons  to  come  to  him  ;  of  all  which,  Eliab 
was  the  eldest,  Aminadab  the  second,  Shammah  the  third,  Nathaniel  the  fourth, 
Rael  the  fifth,  and  x\sam  the  sixth.  And  when  the  prophet  saw  that  these  were 
no  way  inferior  to  the  eldest  in  their  countenances,  he  inquired  of  God,  which  of 
them  it  was  whom  he  chose  for  their  king  ?  And  when  God  said  it  was  none  of 
them,  he  asked  Jesse,  whether  he  had  not  some  other  sons  beside  these  ?  and 
when  he  said  that  he  had  one  more,  named  David,  but  that  he  was  a  shcpiicrd, 
and  took  care  of  the  flocks,  Samuel  bid  them  call  him  immediately,  for  (hat  till 
he  was  come  they  could  not  possibly  sit  down  to  the  feast.  Now  as  soon  as  his 
father  had  sent  for  David  and  he  was  come,  he  appeared  to  be  of  a  yellow  com- 
plexion, of  a  sharp  sight,  and  a  comely  person  in  other  respects  also.  This  is 
he,  said  Samuel  privately  to  himself,  whom  it  pleased  God  to  make  our  king.  So 
he  sat  down  to  the  feast,  and  placed  the  youth  under  him,  and  Jesse  also,  with 
his  other  sons ;  after  which  he  took  oil,  in  the  presence  of  David,  and  anointed 
him,  and  whispered  him  in  the  ear,  and  acquainted  him,  that  God  chose  him  to 
be  their  king  ;  and  exhorted  him  to  be  righteous  and  obedient  to  his  commands, 
for  that  by  this  means  his  kingdom  would  continue  for  a  long  time,  and  that  his 
house  should  be  of  great  splendour,  and  celebrated  in  the  world  ;  that  he  should 
overthrow  the  Phihstines ;  and  that  against  what  nations  soever  he  should  niake 
war,  he  should  be  the  conqueror,  and  survive  the  figlit:  and  that  while  he  lived 
he  should  enjoy  a  glorious  name,  and  leave  cuch  a  name  to  his  posterity  also. 
26  2 


196  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VI. 

2.  So  Samuel  when  he  had  given  him  these  admonitions,  went  away.  But  the 
divine  power  departed  from  Saul,  and  removed  to  David ;  who,  upon  this  re- 
moval of  the  divine  spirit  to  him,  began  to  prophecy.  But  as  for  Saul,  some 
strange  and  demoniacal  disorders  came  upon  him,  and  brought  upon  him  such  suf- 
focations as  were  ready  to  choke  him ;  for  which  the  physicians  could  find  no 
other  remedy  but  this,  that  if  any  person  could  charm  those  passions  by  singing 
and  playing  upon  the  harp,  they  advised  them  to  inquire  for  such  a  one,  and  to 
observe  when  these  demons  came  upon  him  and  disturbed  him,  and  to  take  caro 
that  such  a  person  might  stand  over  him  and  play  on  the  harp,*  and  recite  hymns 
to  him.  Accordingly  Saul  did  not  delay,  but  commanded  them  to  seek  out  such 
a  man.  And  when  a  certain  stander-by  said,  that  he  had  seen  in  the  city  of 
Bethlehem  a  son  of  Jesse,  who  was  yet  no  more  than  a  child  in  age,  but  comely 
and  beautiful,  and  in  other  respects  one  that  was  deserving  of  great  regard,  who 
was  skilful  in  playing  on  the  harp,  and  in  singing  of  hymns,  and  an  excellent 
soldier  in  war,  he  sent  to  Jesse,  and  desired  him  to  take  David  away  from  the 
flocks,  and  send  him  to  him  ;  for  he  had  a  mind  to  see  him,  as  having  heard  an  ad- 
vantageous chai'acter  of  his  comeliness  and  his  valour.  So  Jesse  sent  his  son  and 
gave  him  presents  to  carry  to  Saul.  And  when  he  was  come,  Saul  was  pleased  with 
liim,  and  made  him  his  armour-bearer,  and  had  him  in  very  great  esteem,  for  he 
charmed  his  passion,  and  was  the  only  physician  against  the  trouble  he  had  from 
the  demons  whensoever  it  was  that  it  came  upon  him,  and  this  by  reciting  of 
hymns  and  playing  upon  the  harp,  and  bringing  Saul  to  his  right  mind  again. 
However,  he  sent  to  Jesse,  the  father  of  the  child,  and  desired  him  to  permit 
David  to  stay  with  him,  for  that  he  was  delighted  with  his  sight  and  company ; 
which  stay,  that  he  might  not  contradict  Saul,  he  granted. 


CHAP.  IX. 

How  the  Philistines  made  another  Expedition  against  the  Hebrews  under  the 
Reign  of  Saul ;  and  how  they  were  overcome  by  David's  slaying  Goliath 

in  single  Combat. 

§  1.  Now  the  Philistines  gathered  themselves  together  again  no  very  long  time 
afterward,  and  having  gotten  together  a  gi-eat  army,  they  made  war  against  the 
Israelites,  and  having  seized  a  place  between  Shochoh  and  Azekah,  they  there 
pitched  their  camp.  Saul  also  drew  out  his  army  to  oppose  them  ;  and  by 
pitching  his  own  camp  on  a  certain  hill,  he  forced  the  Philistines  to  leave  their 
former  camp,  and  to  encamp  themselves  upon  such  another  hill,  over  against  that 
on  which  Saul's  army  lay,  so  that  a  valley  which  was  between  the  two  hills  on 
Avhich  they  laj^  divided  their  camps  asunder.  Now  there  came  down  a  man  out 
of  the  camp  of  the  Philistines,  whose  name  was  Goliath,  of  the  ciiy  of  Gath,  a  man 
of  vast  bulk,  for  he  was  four  cubits  and  a  span  in  tallness,  and  had  about  him 
weapons  suitable  to  the  largeness  of  his  body,  for  he  had  a  breastplate  on  that 
weighed  five  thousand  shekels  ;  he  had  also  an  helmet,  and  greaves  of  brass,  as 
large  as  you  would  naturally  suppose  miglit  cover  the  limbs  of  so  vast  a  body. 
His  spear  was  also  such  as  was  not  carried  like  a  light  thing  in  his  right  hand, 
but  he  carried  it  as  lying  on  his  shoulders.  He  had  also  a  lance  of  six  hundred 
shekels  ;  and  many  followed  him  to  carry  his  armour.  Wherefore  this  Goliath 
stood  between  the  two  armies  as  they  were  in  battle  array,  and  sent  out  a  loud 
voice,  and  said  to  Saul  and  to  the  Hebrews,  "  I  will  free  you  from  fighting  and 
from  dangers  ;  for  what  necessity  is  there  that  your  army  should  fall  and  be  af- 
flicted ?  Give  me  a  man  of  you  that  will  fight  with  me,  and  he  that  conquers  shall 

*  Spanheim  takes  notice  here,  tliat  the  Greeks  had  such  singers  of  hymns,  and  that  usually  children 
or  youths  were  picked  out  for  that  service ;  as  also  that  those  called  s>ngc7-s  to  the  harp  did  the  samo 
that  David  did  here,  i.  e.  join  their  own  vocal  and  instruinentul  music  together. 


C.  IX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  [Cff 

have  the  reward  of  the  conqueror,  and  determine  the  war ;  for  these  shall  servo 
those  others  to  whom  the  conqueror  shall  hclong.  And  certainly  it  is  much  bet- 
ter  and  more  prudent  to  gain  what  you  desire  by  the  hazard  of  one  man  than  of 
all."  When  he  had  said  this,  he  retired  to  his  own  camp  ;  but  the  next  day  he 
came  again,  and  used  the  same  words,  and  did  not  leave  off  for  forty  days  to- 
gether, to  challenge  the  enemy  in  the  same  words,  till  Saul  and  his  army  were 
therewith  terrified,  while  they  put  themselves  in  array  as  if  they  would  fight,  but 
did  not  come  to  a  close  battle. 

2.  Now  while  this  war  between  the  Hebrews  and  the  Philistines  was  going  on, 
Saul  sent  away  David  to  his  father  Jesse,  and  contented  himself  with  those  three 
sons  of  his  whom  he  had  sent  to  his  assistance,  and  to  be  partners  in  the  dangers 
of  the  war:  and  at  first  David  returned  to  feed  his  sheep  and  his  flocks;  but 
after  no  long  time  he  came  to  the  camp  of  the  Hebrews,  as  sent  by  his  father  to 
carry  provisions  to  his  brethren,  and  to  know  what  they  were  doing.  While 
Goliath  came  again,  and  challenged  them,  and  reproached  them,  that  they  had 
no  man  of  valour  among  them  that  durst  come  down  to  fight  him  ;  and  as  David 
was  talking  with  his  brethren  about  the  business  for  which  his  father  had  sent 
him,  he  heard  the  Philistine  reproaching  and  abusing  the  army,  and  had  indig. 
nation  at  it,  and  said  to  his  brethren,  I  am  ready  to  fight  a  single  combat  with  tliia 
adversary.  Whereupon  Eliab,  his  eldest  brother,  reproved  him,  and  said  that  he 
spake  too  rashly  and  improperly  for  one  of  his  age,  and  bid  him  go  to  his  flocks, 
and  to  his  father.  So  he  was  abashed  at  his  brother's  words,  and  went  away,  but 
still  he  spake  to  some  of  the  soldiers,  that  he  was  Avilling  to  fight  with  him  that 
challenged  them.  And  when  they  had  informed  Saul  what  was  the  resolution  of 
the  young  man,  the  king  sent  for  him  to  come  to  him.  And  when  the  king  asked 
what  he  had  to  say,  he  replied,  "  O  king,  be  not  cast  down  nor  afraid,  fori  will 
depress  the  insolence  of  this  adversary,  and  will  go  down  and  fight  with  him,  and 
will  bring  him  under  me,  as  tall  and  as  great  as  he  is,  till  he  shall  be  sufliciently 
laughed  at,  and  thy  army  shall  get  great  glory,  when  he  shall  be  slain  by  one 
that  is  not  yet  of  man's  estate,  neither  fit  for  fighting,  nor  capable  of  being  en, 
trusted  with  the  marshalling  an  army,  or  ordering  a  battle,  but  by  one  that  looks 
like  a  child,  and  is  really  no  older  in  age  than  a  child." 

3.  Now  Saul  wondered  at  the  boldness  and  alacrity  of  David,  but  durst  not 
presume  on  his  ability,  by  reason  of  his  age  :  but  said  he  must  on  that  account 
be  too  weak  to  fight  with  one  that  was  skilful  in  the  art  of  war.  "  I  undertake 
this  enterprise,"  said  David,  "  in  dependence  on  God's  being  with  me,  for  1  have 
had  experience  already  of  his  assistance ;  for  I  once  pursued  after  and  caught  a 
lion  that  assaulted  my  flocks,  and  took  away  a  lamb  from  them,  and  I  snatched 
the  lamb  out  of  the  wild  beast's  mouth,  and  when  he  leaped  upon  me  with  vio- 
lence, I  took  him  by  the  tail  and  dashed  him  against  the  ground.  In  the  same 
manner  did  I  avenge  myself  on  a  bear  also  ;  and  let  this  adversary  of  ours  be 
esteemed  like  one  of  these  wild  beasts,  since  he  has  a  long  while  reproaclied 
our  army,  and  blasphemed  our  God,  who  yet  will  reduce  hiin  under  my  power." 

4.  However  Saul  prayed  t'  at  the  end  might  be,  by  God's  assistance,  not  dis- 
agreeable to  the  alacrity  and  boldness  of  the  child;  and  said,  "  Go  thy  way  to 
the  fight."  So  he  put  about  him  his  breastplate,  and  girded  on  his  sword,  and 
fitted  the  helmet  to  his  head,  and  sent  him  away.  But  David  was  burdened  with 
his  armour,  lor  he  had  not  been  exercised  to  it,  nor  had  he  learned  to  walk  with 
it;  so  he  said,  "  Let  this  armour  be  thine,  O  king,  who  art  able  to  bear  it,  but 
give  me  leave  to  fight  as  thy  servant,  and  as  I  myself  desire."  Accordingly  ho 
laid  by  the  armour,  and  taking  his  staff  with  him,  and  putting  five  stones  out  of 
the  brook  into  a  shepherd's  bag,  and  having  a  sling  in  his  right  hand,  he  M'cnt  to- 
wards  Goliath.  But  the  adversary  seeing  him  come  in  such  a  manner  disdained 
him,  and  jested  upon  him,  as  if  he  had  not  such  weapons  with  him  as  are  usual 
when  one  man  fights  against  another,  but  such  as  are  used  in  driving  awav  and 
avoiding  of  dogs  ;  and  said,  "  Dost  thou  take  me  not  for  a  man,  but  a  dog  T"  To 


198  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VL 

■which  he  repHed,  "No,  not  for  a  dog,  but  for  a  creature  worse  than  a  dog."  This 
provoked  Goliath  to  anger,  who  thereupon  cursed  him  by  the  name  of  God,  and 
threatened  to  give  his  flesh  to  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  and  to  tlie  fowls  of  the  air,  to 
be  torn  in  pieces  by  them.  To  whom  David  answered,  "  Thou  comest  to  me  with  a 
sword,  and  with  a  spear,  and  with  a  breastplate,  but  I  have  God  for  my  armour,  in 
coming  against  thee,  who  will  destroy  thee  and  all  thy  army  by  my  hands;  for  I 
will  this  day  cut  off  thy  head,  and  cast  the  other  parts  of  thy  body  to  the  dogs, 
and  all  men  shall  learn  that  God  is  the  protector  of  the  Hebrews,  and  that  our 
armour  and  our  strength  is  in  his  providence,  and  that  without  God's  assistance, 
all  other  warlike  preparations  and  power  is  useless."  So  the  Philistine  being  re- 
tarded  by  the  weight  of  his  armour,  when  he  attempted  to  meet  David  in  haste, 
came  on  but  slowly,  as  despising  him,  and  depending  upon  it  that  he  should  slay 
him,  who  was  both  unarmed  and  a  child  also,  without  any  trouble  at  all. 

5.  But  the  youth  met  his  antagonist,  being  accompanied  with  an  invisible  as- 
sistant, who  was  no  other  than  God  himself.  And  taking  one  of  the  stones  that 
he  had  out  of  the  brook,  and  had  put  into  his  shepherd's  bag,  and  fitting  it  to  his 
sling,  he  slung  it  against  the  Philistine.  This  stone  fell  upon  his  forehead  and 
sank  into  his  brain,  insomuch  that  Goliath  was  stunned,  and  fell  upon  his  face. 
So  David  ran  and  stood  upon  his  adversary  as  he  lay  down,  and  cut  off  his  head 
with  his  o'wn  sword  ;  for  he  had  no  sword  himself.  And  upon  the  fall  of  Goliath, 
the  Philistines  were  beaten,  and  fled  ;  for  when  they  saw  their  champion  pros- 
trate  on  the  ground,  they  were  afraid  of  the  entire  issue  of  their  affairs,  and  re- 
solved not  to  stay  any  longer,  but  committed  themselves  to  an  ignominious  and 
indecent  flight,  and  thereby  endeavoured  to  save  themselves  from  the  dangers 
they  were  in.  But  Saul,  and  the  entire  army  of  the  Hebrews,  made  a  shout,  and 
rushed  upon  them,  and  slew  a  great  number  of  them,  and  pursued  the  rest  to  the 
borders  of  Gath,  and  to  the  gates  of  Ekron,  so  that  there  were  slain  of  the  Phi- 
listines  thirty  thousand,  and  twice  as  many  wounded.  But  Saul  returned  to  their 
camp,  and  pulled  their  fortification  to  pieces,  and  burned  it ;  but  David  carried 
the  head  of  Goliath  into  his  own  tent,  but  dedicated  his  sword  to  God  [at  the 
tabernacle.] 


CHAP.  X. 

Savl  envies  David  for  his  glorious  Success,  and  tales  an  Occasion  of  entrapping 

him  from  the  Promise  he  made  him  of  giving  him  his  Daughter  in  Marriage, 

hut  this  upon  condition  of  his  bringing  him  Six  Hundred  Heads  of  the 

Philistines. 

§  1.  Now  the  women  were  an  occasion  of  Saul's  envy  and  hatred  to  David  ;  for 
they  came  to  meet  their  victorious  army  with  cymbals,  and  drums,  and  all  de- 
monstrations  of  joy,  and  sang  thus  ;  the  wives  said,  that  "  Saul  has  slain  his  ma- 
ny thousands  of  the  Philistines  :"  the  virgins  replied  that  "  David  hath  slain  his 
ten  thousands."  Now  when  the  king  heard  them  singing  thus,  and  that  he  had 
himself  the  smallest  share  in  their  commendations,  and  that  the  greater  number, 
the  ten  thousands,  were  ascribed  to  the  young  man ;  and  when  he  considered 
with  himself,  that  there  was  nothing  more  wanting  to  David,  after  such  mighty 
applause,  but  the  kingdom,  he  began  to  be  afraid  and  suspicious  of  David.  Ac- 
cordingly he  removed  him  from  the  station  he  was  in  before,  for  he  was  his 
armour-bearer,  v/hich  out  of  fear  seemed  to  him  much  too  near  a  station  for  him, 
and  so  he  made  him  captain  over  a  thousand,  and  bestowed  on  him  a  post  better  in- 
deed in  itself,  but,  as  he  thought,  more  for  his  own  security  ;  for  he  had  a  mind 
to  send  him  against  the  enemy,  and  into  battles,  as  hoping  he  would  be  slain  in 
such  dangerous  conflicts. 

2.  But  David  had  God  going  along  with  him  whithersoever  he  went,  and  ac- 
cordingly ho  greatly  prospered  in  his  undertakings,  and  it  was  visible  that  he  had 


ex.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  jgg 

mighty  successes,  insomuch  that  Saul's  daughter,  who  was  still  a  virTin,  fell  in 
love  with  him  ;  and  her  affection  so  far  prevailed  over  her  that  it  could  not  be 
concealed,  and  her  father  became  acquainted  with  it.  Now  Saul  heard  this  gladly, 
as  intending  to  make  use  of  it  for  a  snare  against  David,  and  he  lioped  tliat  it 
would  prove  the  cause  of  destruction  and  of  hazard  to  him  ;  so  he  told  tliose  that 
informed  him  of  his  daughter's  affection,  that  he  would  "  willinfrlv  f^ive  David  the 
virgin  in  marriage,"  and  said,  "I  engage  myself  to  marry  my  daughter  to  him 
if  he  will  bring  me  six  hundred  heads  of  my  enemies,*  supposing  that  when  a 
reward  so  ample  was  proposed  to  him,  and  when  he  should  aim  to  get  him  great 
glory,  by  undertaking  a  thing  so  dangerous  and  incredible,  he  would  immediately 
set  about  it,  and  so  perish  by  the  Philistines,  and  my  designs  about  him  will  sue- 
ceed  finely  to  my  mind,  for  I  shall  be  freed  from  him,  and  get  him  slain,  not  by 
myself  but  by  another  man."  So  he  gave  order  to  his  servants  to  try  how  David 
would  relish  this  proposal  of  marrying  the  damsel.  Accordingly  they  began  to 
speak  thus  to  him,  that  king  Saul  loved  him,  as  well  as  did  all  the  people,  and 
that  he  was  desirous  of  his  alfinity  by  the  marriage  of  this  damsel.  To  which 
he  gave  this  answer :  "  Seemeth  it  to  you  a  light  thing  to  be  made  the  king's 
son-in-law?  It  does  not  seem  so  to  me,  especially  when  I  am  one  of  a  family 
that  is  low,  and  without  any  glory  or  honour."  Now  when  Saul  Avas  informed 
by  his  servants  what  answer  David  had  made,  he  said,  "  Tell  him,  that  I  do  not 
want  any  money,  nor  dowry  from  him,  which  would  be  rather  to  set  my  daugh- 
ter  to  sale  than  to  give  her  in  marriage,  but  I  desire  only  such  a  son-in-law  as 
hath  in  him  fortitude,  and  all  other  kinds  of  virtue,  of  which  he  saw  David  was 
possessed,  and  that  his  desire  was  to  receive  of  him,  on  account  of  his  marrying 
his  daughter,  neither  gold,  nor  silver,  nor  that  he  should  brhig  such  wealth  out 
of  his  father's  house,  but  only  some  revenge  on  the  Philistines,  and  indeed  six 
hundred  of  their  heads,  than  which  a  more  desirable  or  a  more  glorious  present 
could  not  be  brought  him,  and  that  he  had  much  rather  obtain  this  than  any  of 
the  accustomed  dowries,  for  his  daughter,  viz.  that  she  should  be  married  to  a 
man  of  that  character,  and  to  one  who  had  a  testimony  as  having  conquered  his 
enemies."  ^^ 

3.  When  these  words  of  Saul  were  brought  to  David,  he  was  pleased  with 
them,  and  supposed  that  Saul  was  really  desirous  of  this  affmity  with  him  :  so 
that  without  bearing  to  deliberate  any  longer,  or  casting  about  in  his  mind 
wliether  what  was  proposed  was  possible,  or  was  difficult  or  not,  he  and  his  com- 
panions immediately  set  upon  the  enemy,  and  went  about  doing  Avhat  was  pro- 
posed  as  the  condition  of  the  marriage.  Accordingly,  because  it  was  God  who 
made  all  things  easy  and  possible  to  David,  he  slew  many  [of  the  Philistines,]  and 
cut  ofl'the  heads  of  six  hundred  of  them,  and  came  to  the  king,  and  by  showing 
him  these  heads  of  the  Philistines,  required  that  he  might  have  his  daughter  in 
marriage.  Accordingly  Saul  having  no  way  of  getting  off  his  engagements,  as 
thinking  it  a  base  thing  either  to  seem  a  liar  when  he  promised  him  this  marriage, 
or  to  ap[)ear  to  have  acted  treacherously  by  liim,  in  putting  him  upon  what  was 
in  a  manner  impossible,  in  order  to  have  him  slain,  he  gave  him  his  daughter  in 
marriage  ;  her  name  was  Michal. 

*  Josepluts  savs  thrice  in  this  cliaptor,  anrl  twice  afterwards,  chap.  xi.  sect.  2,  and  15.  vii.  cliap.  i.  &»:t 
4,  !.  e.  five  times  in  all,  that  Saul  recpiived  not  a  bare  hundred  of  the  fureskins  oi  the  l'hili!.tiiic<,_  but  six 
hxmdred  of  their  heads.  Tlio  Septuai;int  have  ]()()  fc)re^kins,  but  the  Svriac  and  Arabic  200.  Now  tliat 
these  were  not  foreskins  with  our  other  copies,  but  heads  with  Josephiis's  copy,  seems  somewhat  proba- 
ble, from  1  Sam.  .\xix.  4,  where  all  copies  say,  that  it  was  with  the  heads  of  such  Philistines  that  David 
Diight  reconcile  liimself  to  his  master  Saul. 


200  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VL 


CHAP.  XI. 

How  David,  upon  SauVs  laying  Snares  for  him,  did  yet  escape  the  Dangers  he  was 

in  by  the  Affection  and  Care  of  Jonathan,  and  the  Contrivances  of  his  Wife 

Michal;  and  how  he  came  to  Samuel  the  Prophet. 

§  1.  However,  Saul  was  not  disposed  to  persevere  long  in  the  state  wherein 
he  was ;  for  when  he  saw  that  David  was  in  great  esteem  both  with  God  and 
with  the  muhitude,  he  was  afraid  ;  and  being  not  able  to  conceal  his  fear  as  con- 
earning  grqat  things,  his  kingdom  and  his  life,  to  be  deprived  of  either  of  which 
was  a  very  great  calamity,  he  resolved  to  have  David  slain,  and  commanded  his 
son  Jonathan  and  his  most  faithful  servants  to  kill  him  :  but  Jonathan  wondered 
at  his  father's  change  with  relation  to  David,  that  it  should  be  made  to  so  great  a 
degree,  from  showing  him  no  small  good  will  to  contrive  how  to  have  him  killed. 
Now  because  he  loved  the  young  man,  and  reverenced  him  for  his  virtue,  he  in- 
formed him  of  the  secret  charge  his  father  had  given,  and  what  his  intentions 
were  concerning  him.  However,  he  advised  him  to  take  care  and  be  absent  the 
next  day,  for  that  he  would  salute  his  father ;  and  if  he  met  with  a  favourable 
opportunity,  he  would  discourse  with  him  about  him,  and  learn  the  cause  of  his 
disgust,  and  show  how  little  ground  there  was  for  it,  and  that  for  it  he  ought  not 
to  kill  a  man  that  had  done  so  many  good  things  to  the  multitude,  and  had  been  a 
benefactor  to  himself,  on  account  of  which  he  ought  in  reason  to  obtain  pardon, 
had  he  been  guilty  of  the  greatest  crimes  ;  and  I  will  then  inform  thee  of  my  fa- 
ther's  resolution.  Accordingly  David  complied  with  such  an  advantageous  advice, 
and  kept  himself  then  out  of  the  king's  sight. 

2.  On  the  next  day  Jonathan  came  to  Saul  as  soon  as  he  saw  him  in  a  cheer- 
ful and  joyful  disposition,  and  began  to  introduce  a  discourse  about  David : 
"  What  unjust  action,  O  father,  either  httle  or  great,  hast  thou  found  so  excep- 
tionable in  David  as  to  induce  thee  to  order  us  to  slay  a  man  who  hath  been  of 
great  advantage  to  thy  own  preservation,  and  of  still  greater  to  the  punishment 
of  the  Philistines  ?  A  man  who  hath  delivered  the  people  of  the  Hebrews  from 
reproach  and  derision,  which  they  underwent  for  forty  days  together,  when  he 
alone  had  courage  enough  to  sustain  the  challenge  of  the  adversary,  and  after 
that  brought  as  many -heads  of  our  enemies  as  he  was  appointed  to  bring,  and 
had,  as  a  reward  for  the  same,  my  sister  in  marriage ;  insomuch  that  his  death 
Avould  be  very  sorrowful  to  us,  not  only  on  account  of  his  virtue,  but  on  account 
of  the  nearness  of  our  relation  ;  for  thy  daughter  must  be  injured  at  the  same 
time  that  he  is  slain,  and  must  be  obliged  to  experience  widowhood,  before  she 
can  come  to  enjoy  any  advantage  from  their  mutual  conversation.  Consider 
these  things,  and  change  your  mind  to  a  more  merciful  temper,  and  do  no  mis- 
chief to  a  man,  who  in  the  first  place,  hath  done  us  the  great  kindness  of  preser- 
ving  thee  ;  for  when  an  evil  spirit  and  demons  had  seized  upon  thee,  he  cast  them 
out,  and  procured  rest  to  thy  soul  from  their  incui'sions  :  and,  in  the  second  place, 
hath  avenged  us  of  our  enemies;  for  it  is  a  base  thing  to  forget  such  benefits." 
So  Saul  was  pacified  with  these  words ;  and  sware  to  his  son  that  he  would  do 
David  no  harm ;  for  a  righteous  discourse  proved  too  hard  for  the  king's  anger 
and  fear.  So  Jonathan  sent  for  David,  and  bi'ought  him  good  news  from  his  fa- 
ther, that  he  was  to  be  preserved.  He  also  brought  him  to  his  father  ;  and  David 
continued  with  the  king  as  formerly. 

3.  About  this  time  it  was,  that,  upon  the  Philistines  making  a  new  expedition 
against  the  Hebi'ews,  Saul  sent  David  with  an  army  to  fight  with  them  ;  and  join- 
ing battle  with  them  he  slew  many  of  them,  and  after  his  victory  he  returned  to 
the  king.  But  his  reception  by  Saul  was  not  as  he  expected  upon  such  sue- 
cess,  for  he  was  grieved  at  his  prosperity,  because  he  thought  he  would  be  more 
dangerous  to  him  by  having  acted  so  gloriously  ;  but  when  the  demoniacal  spirit 


C    XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  OQl 

came  upon  him,  and  put  liim  into  disorder,  and  disturbed  him,  he  called  for  David 
mto  his  bedchamber  wherein  he  lay,  and  liaving  a  spear  in  his  hand,  he  ordered 
him  to  charm  him  with  playing  on  his  harp,  and  with  singinn^  hymns:  which, 
when  David  did  at  his  command,  he  with  great  force  threw  tlie  spear  at  him,  but 
David  was  aware  of  it  before  it  came,  and  avoided  it,  and  lied  to  his  own  house, 
and  abode  there  all  that  day. 

4.  But  at  night  the  king  sent  officers,  and  commanded  that  he  should  be  watched 
till  the  morning,  lest  he  should  get  quite  away,  that  he  migiit  come  into  the  judo-, 
ment-hall,  and  so  might  be  delivered  up,  and  condemned,  and  slain.  Uut  when 
Michal,  David's  wife  the  king's  daughter,  understood  what  her  father  designed, 
she  came  to  her  husband,  as  having  small  hopes  of  his  deliverance,  and  as  greatly 
concerned  about  her  own  life  also,  for  she  could  not  bear  to  live  in  case  she  were 
deprived  of  liim;  and  she  said,  "Let  not  the  sun  find  thee  here  when  it  rises,  for 
if  it  do,  that  will  bo  the  last  time  it  will  see  thee;  fly  away  then  while  the  night 
may  afibrd  thee  the  opportunity,  and  may  God  lengthen  it  for  thy  sake ;  for  know 
this,  that  if  my  father  find  thee,  thou  art  a  dead  man."  So  she  let  him  down  by 
a  cord  out  of  the  window,  and  saved  him.  And  after  she  had  so  done,  she  fitted 
up  a  bed  for  him  as  if  he  were  sick,  and  put  under  the  bed  clothes  a  goat's 
liver  ;*  and  when  her  father,  as  soon  as  it  was  day,  sent  to  seize  David,  she  said 
to  those  that  were  there,  that  he  had  not  been  well  that  night,  and  showed  them 
the  bed  covered,  and  made  them  believe,  by  the  leaping  of  the  liver,  which  caused 
the  bed-clothes  to  move  also,  that  David  breathed  like  one  that  was  asthmatic. 
So  when  those  that  were  sent  told  Saul  that  David  had  not  been  well  in  the  night, 
he  ordered  him  to  be  brought  in  that  condition,  for  he  intended  to  kill  him.  Now 
when  they  came,  and  uncovered  the  bed,  and  found  out  the  woman's  contrivance, 
they  told  it  to  the  king.  And  when  her  father  complained  of  her,  that  she  had 
saved  his  enemy,  and  had  put  a  trick  upon  himself,  she  invented  this  plausible 
defence  for  herself,  and  said,  "That  when  he  threatened  to  kill  her,  she  lent  him 
her  assistance  for  his  preservation,  out  of  fear;  for  which  her  assistance  she 
ought  to  be  forgiven,  because  it  was  not  done  of  her  own  free  choice,  but  out  of 
necessity;  for,  said  she,  I  do  not  suppose  that  thou  wast  so  zealous  to  kill  the 
enemy,  as  thou  wast  that  I  should  be  saved."  Accordingly  Saul  forgave  the 
damsel :  but  David,  when  he  had  escaped  this  danger,  came  to  the  prophet  Samuel 
to  Ramah,  and  told  him  what  snares  the  king  had  laid  for  him,  and  how  he  was 
very  near  to  death  by  Saul's  throwing  a  spear  at  him,  although  he  had  been  no 
way  guilty  with  relation  to  him,  nor  had  he  been  cowardly  in  his  battles  with  his 
enemies,  but  had  succeeded  well  in  them  all,  by  God's  assistance ;  which  thing 
was  indeed  the  cause  of  Saul's  hatred  to  David. 

5.  When  the  prophet  was  made  acquainted  with  the  unjust  proceedings  of  the 
king,  he  left  the  city  Ramah,  and  took  David  with  him  to  a  certain  place  called 
Naiolh,  and  there  he  abode  with  him.  But  when  it  was  told  Saul  that  David  ^ya3 
with  the  prophet,  he  sent  soldiers  to  him,  and  ordered  them  to  take  him  and  bruig 
him  to  him.  And  when  they  came  to  Samuel,  and  found  there  a  congregaiion 
of  prophets,  they  became  partakers  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and  began  to  prophesy ; 
which  when  Saul  heard  of,  he  sent  others  to  David,  who  i)ri)i)hesying  in  like 
manner  as  did  the  first,  he  again  sent  others,  which  third  sort  i)roplicsyiiig  also, 
at  last  he  was  angry,  and  went  thither  in  great  haste  himself;  and  when  he  was 
just  by  the  place,  Samuel,  before  he  saw  him,  made  him  prophesy  also.  And 
when  Saul  came  to  him,  he  was  disordered  in  mindf,  and  under  the  vehement 

*  Since  the  modern  Jews  have  lost  the  signification  of  the  Hebrew  word  here  used,  Cf/xV ,•  and  since 
the  LXXII,  as  well  as  Josenhus,  render  it  the  liver  of  tlie  goat,  and  since  this  rendering,  and  Josephus  s 
account,  are  here  so  much  more  clear  and  probable  than  those  of  others,  it  is  almost  unaccountable  that 
our  commentators  should  so  much  as  hesitate  about  its  true  interpretaiinn.      ,        ,        ,  .       ,         j 

t  These  violent  and  wild  agitations  of  Saul  seem  to  me  to  have  been  no  other  than  demoniacal ;  and 
that  the  same  den.on  which  used  to  seize  him  since  ho  was  forsaken  of  God,  and  which  the  divine 
hvmns  and  psalms  which  were  sung  to  the  harp  by  David,  used  to  expel,  was  now  in  a  judic  i^l  way 
brought  upon  him,  not  only  in  order  to  disappointhis  intentions  against  innocent  David,  but  to  exposa 
nm  To  the  laughter  and  contempt  of  al)  that  saw  hiin,  or  beard  ot  those  his  agitaltons,  such  violent  and 
VOL.  I.  2  0 


202  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VI. 

afrltation  of  a  spirit,  and  putting  off  his  garments*,  he  fell  down,  and  lay  on  the 
ground  all  that  day  and  night,  in  the  presence  of  Samuel  and  David. 

6.  And  David  went  thence,  and  came  to  Jonathan  the  son  of  Saul,  and  la- 
mented to  him  what  snares  were  laid  for  him  by  his  father ;  and  said,  that  "  though 
he  had  been  guilty  of  no  evil,  nor  had  offended  against  him,  yet  he  was  very 
zealous  to  get  him  killed."  Hereupon  Jonathan  exhorted  him  not  to  give  credit 
to  such  his  own  suspicions,  nor  to  the  calumnies  of  those  that  raised  those  re- 
ports, if  there  were  any  that  did  so,  but  to  depend  on  him,  and  take  courage ; 
for  that  his  father  had  no  such  intentions,  since  he  would  have  acquainted  him 
with  that  matter,  and  taken  his  advice,  had  it  been  so,  as  he  used  to  consult  with 
him  in  common,  when  he  acted  in  other  affairs.  But  David  sware  to  him  that 
so  it  was,  and  he  desired  him  rather  to  believe  him,  and  to  provide  for  his  safety, 
than  to  despise  w'hat  he  with  great  sincerity  told  him  ;  that  he  Avould  believe  what 
he  said,  when  he  should  either  see  him  killed  himself,  or  learn  it  upon  inquiry 
from  others ;  and  that  the  reason  why  his  father  did  not  tell  him  of  these  things, 
was  this,  that  he  knew  of  the  friendship  and  affection  that  he  bore  towards  him. 

7.  Hereupon,  when  Jonathan  found  that  this  intention  of  Saul's  was  so  well 
attested,  he  asked  him,  "  What  he  would  have  him  do  for  him  ?"  To  which  David 
replied,  "  I  am  sensible  that  thou  art  willing  to  gratify  me  in  every  thing,  and 
procure  me  what  I  desire.  Now  to-morrow  is  the  new  moon,  and  I  was  accus- 
tomed to  sit  down  then  whh  the  king  at  supper ;  now  if  it  seem  good  to  thee,  I 
w  ill  go  out  of  the  city,  and  conceal  myself  privately  there  ;  and  if  Saul  inquire 
Avhy  I  am  absent,  tell  him  that  I  am  gone  to  my  own  cityBethlehem,tokeep  a  fes- 
tival  with  my  own  tribe ;  and  add  this  also,  that  thou  gavest  me  leave  so  to  do. 
And  if  he  say,  as  is  usually  said  in  the  case  of  friends  that  are  gone  abroad,  it  is 
well  that  he  went,  then  assure  thyself  that  no  latent  mischief  or  enmity  may  be 
feared  at  his  hands  ;  but  if  he  answer  otherwise,  that  will  be  a  sure  sign  that  he 
hath  some  designs  against  me.  Accordingly  thou  shalt  inform  me  of  thy  father's 
inclinations  ;  and  that  out  of  pity  to  my  case,  and  out  of  thy  friendship  for  me,  as 
instances  of  which  friendship  thou  hast  vouchsafed  to  accept  of  the  assurances  of 
my  love  to  thee,  and  to  give  the  like  assurances  to  me,  that  is,  those  of  a  master 
to  his  servant ;  but  if  thou  discoverest  any  wickedness  in  me,  do  thou  prevent  thy 
father,  and  kill  me  thyself." 

b.  But  Jonathan  heard  these  last  words  with  indignation,  and  promised  to  do 
what  he  desired  of  him,  and  to  inform  him  if  his  father's  answers  implied  any 
thing  of  a  melancholy  nature,  and  any  enmity  against  him.  And  that  he  might 
the  more  firmly  depend  upon  him,  he  took  him  out  into  the  open  field,  into  the 
pure  air,  and  sware  that  he  would  neglect  nothing  that  might  tend  to  the  preser- 
vation of  David  ;  and  he  said,  "  I  appeal  to  that  God  who,  as  thou  seest,  is  diffu- 
sed every  where,  and  knoweth  this  intention  of  mine  before  I  explain  it  in  words, 
as  the  witness  of  this  my  covenant  with  thee,  that  I  will  not  leave  ofl"  to  make  fre- 
quent  trials  of  the  purpose  of  my  father,  till  I  learn  whether  there  be  any  lurking 
distemper  in  the  secretest  parts  of  his  soul ;  and  when  I  have  learned  it,  I  will 
not  conceal  it  from  thee,  but  will  discover  it  to  thee,  whether  he  be  gentle  or 
peevishly  disposed  ;  for  this  God  himself  knows,  that  I  pray  he  may  always  be 
with  thee  ;  for  he  is  with  thee  now,  and  will  not  forsake  thee,  and  Avill  make  thee 
superior  to  thine  enemies,  whether  my  father  be  one  of  them,  or  whether  I  my- 
self be  such.     Do  thou  only  remember  what  we  now  do ;  and  if  it  fall  out  that  I 

wild  agitations  being  never  observed  in  true  prophets,  when  they  were  under  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit 
of  God.  Our  other  copies,  which  say  the  Spirit  of  God  came  upon  him,  seern  not  so  ri^ht  here  as  Jo- 
sephiis's  copy,  which  mentions  notliiug  of  God  at  all.  Kordoes  Joseplius  seem  to  ascribe  this  impiilte 
and  ecstasy  of  Said's  to  any  other  than  to  his  old  demoniacal  spirit,  which  en  all  accounts  appears  the 
most  probable.  Nor  does  the  former  description  of  Saul's  real  inspiration  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  1  Sam. 
X.  9 — 12  ;  Antiq.  B.  vi.  chap.  iv.  sect.  2 ;  which  was  beiore  he  was  become  wicked,  well  agree  with  the 
descriptions  before  us. 

*  \Vhal  is  meant  by  Saul's  lying  down  naked  all  that  day  and  all  that  night,  1  Sam.  xix.  24,  and 
whether  any  more  than  laying  aside  liis  royal  apparel,  or  upper  garments,  as  Josephus  seems  to  under- 
•Uind  it,  is  by  no  means  certain.     See  the  note  on  Antiq.  B.  viii.  cli.  xiv,  sect.  2. 


C.  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  203 

die,  preserve  my  children  alive,  and  requite  what  kindnesses  thou  hast  now  re- 
ceived to  them."  "When  he  had  thus  sworn,  he  dismissed  David,  biddintf  him  to 
go  to  a  certain  place  of  that  plain  wherein  he  used  to  perform  his  exercises  for 
that  as  soon  as  lie  knew  the  mind  of  his  father,  he  would  come  thither  to  him  with 
one  servant  only ;  and  "  if,"  says  he,  "  I  slioot  three  darts  at  the  mark,  and 
then  bid  my  servant  to  carry  these  three  darts  away,  for  tliey  are  before  him 
know  thou  that  there  is  no  mischief  to  be  feared  from  my  father;  but  if  thou 
hearest  me  say  the  contrary,  expect  the  contrary  from  the  king.  However,  thou 
Bhalt  gain  security  by  my  means,  and  shalt  by  no  means  sutler  any  harm  ;  but 
see  thou  dost  not  forget  what  I  have  desired  of  thee,  in  the  time  of  thy  prosperity, 
and  be  serviceable  to  my  children."  Now  David,  when  he  had  received  these 
assurances  from  Jonathan,  went  his  way  to  the  place  appointed. 

9.  But  on  the  next  day,  which  was  the  new  moon,  the  king  when  he  had  pari. 
fled  himself,  as  the  custom  was,  came  to  supper  ;  and  when  there  sat  by  him  his 
son  Jonathan  on  his  right  hand,  and  Abner,  the  captain  of  his  host,  on'the  other 
hand,  he  saw  David's  seat  was  empty,  but  said  nothing,  supposing  that  he  had 
not  purified  himself  since  he  had  accompanied  with  his  wife,  and  so  could  not  be 
pi-esent ;  but  when  he  saw  that  he  was  not  there  the  second  day  of  the  month 
neither,  he  inquired  of  his  son  Jonathan  why  the  son  of  Jesse  did  not  come  to 
the  supper  and  the  feast  neitlier  the  day  before  nor  that  day.  So  Jonathan  said 
That  "  he  was  gone,  according  to  the  agreement  between  them,  to  his  own  city, 
■where  his  tribe  kept  a  festival,  and  that  by  his  permission  ;  that  he  also  invited 
him  to  come  to  their  sacrilice  ;  and,  says  Jonathan,  if  thou  wilt  give  me  leave,  I 
will  go  thither,  for  thou  knowest  the  good  -will  that  I  bear  him."  And  then  it  was 
that  Jonathan  understood  his  father's  hatred  to  David,  and  plainly  saw  his  entire 
disposition  ;  for  Saul  could  not  restrain  his  anger,  but  reproached  Jonathan,  and 
called  him  the  son  of  a  runagate,  and  an  enemy  ;  and  said,  "  He  was  a  partner 
with  David,  and  his  assistant,  and  that  by  his  behaviour  he  showed  lie  had  no  re- 
gard to  himself,  or  to  his  mother,  and  would  not  be  persuaded  of  this,  that  while 
David  is  alive,  their  kingdom  was  not  secure  to  them  ;  yet  did  he  bid  him  send 
for  himy  that  he  might  be  punished."  And  when  Jonathan  said,  in  answer, 
"  What  hath  he  done  that  thou  wilt  punish  him  ?"  Saul  no  longer  contented  him- 
self to  express  his  anger  in  bare  words  but  snatched  up  his  spear,  and  leaped  upon 
him,  and  was  desirous  to  kill  him.  He  did  not  indeed  do  what  he  intended,  be- 
cause he  was  hindered  by  his  friends ;  but  it  appeared  plainly  to  his  son  that  he 
hated  David,  and  greatly  desired  to  despatch  him,  insomuch  that  he  had  abnost 
slain  his  son  with  his  own  hands  on  his  account. 

10.  And  then  it  was  that  the  king's  son  rose  hastily  from  supper  ;  and  being 
not  able  to  admit  any  thing  into  his  mouth  for  grief,  he  wept  all  night,  both  be- 
cause he  had  himself  been  near  destruction,  and  because  the  death  of  David  was 
determined.  But  as  soon  as  it  was  day,  he  went  out  into  the  plain  that  was  be- 
fore  the  city,  as  going  to  perform  his  exercises,  but  in  reahty  to  inform  his 
friend  what  disposition  his  fatlier  was  in  towards  him,  as  he  had  agreed  with  him 
to  do.  And  when  Jonathan  had  done  what  had  been  thus  agreed,  he  dismissed 
his  servant  that  followed  him,  to  return  to  the  city,  but  he  hunsclf  went  into  the 
desert,  and  came  into  his  presence,  and  communed  with  him.  So  David  appeared, 
and  fell  at  Jonathan's  feet,  and  bowed  down  to  him,  and  called  him  the  i>rescrver 
of  his  soul.  But  he  lifted  him  up  from  the  earth,  and  they  mulnally  embraced 
one  another,  and  made  a  long  greeting,  and  that  not  witlinut  tears.  They  also 
lamented  their  age,  and  that  familiarity  which  emy  would  deprive  them  of,  nnd 
that  separation  which  must  now  be  expected  which  seemed  to  them  no  better  than 
death  itself.  So  recollecting  themselves  at  length  from  their  lamentation,  and 
exhorting  one  another  to  be  mindful  of  the  oaths  they  had  sworn  to  each  other, 
they  parted  asunder. 

2C2 


2Q4  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VI. 


CHAP.  XII. 

How  David  fled  to  Ahimelech,  and  afterwards  to  the  Kings  of  the  Philistines,  and 
of  the  Moabites  ;  and  how  Saul  slew  Ahimelech  and  his  Family. 

§  1.  But  David  fled  from  the  king,  and  that  death  he  was  in  danger  of  by  him, 
and  came  to  the  city  Nob,  to  Ahimelech  the  priest,  who,  when  he  saw  him 
coming  all  alone,  and  neither  a  friend  nor  a  servant  with  him,  he  wondered  at  it, 
and  desired  to  learn  of  him  the  cause  why  there  was  nobody  with  him  I  To 
which  David  answered,  "  That  the  king  had  commanded  him  to  a  cer  ain  thing 
lliat  was  to  be  kept  secret,  to  which,  if  he  had  a  mind  to  know  so  much,  he  had  no 
occasion  for  any  one  to  accompany  him ;  however,  I  have  ordered  my  servants 
to  meet  me  at  such  and  such  a  place."  So  he  desired  him  to  let  liim  have 
somewhat  to  eat ;  and  that  in  case  he  would  supply  him  he  would  act  the  part  of 
a  friend,  and  be  assisting  to  the  business  he  was  now  about :  and  when  he  had 
obtained  what  he  desired,  he  also  asked  him  whether  he  had  any  weapons  with 
him,  either  sword  or  spear?  Now  there  was  at  Nob  a  servant  of  Saul's,  by  birth 
a  Syrian,  whose  name  was  Doeg,  one  that  kept  the  king's  mules.  The  high 
priest  said,  that  he  had  no  such  weapons,  but  he  added,  "  Here  is  the  sword  of 
Goliath,  which,  when  thou  hadst  slain  the  Philistines,  thou  didst  dedicate  to  God." 

2.  When  David  had  received  the  sword,  he  fled  out  of  the  country  of  the  He- 
brews into  that  of  the  Philistines,  over  which  Achish  reigned.  And  when  the 
king's  servants  knew  him,  and  he  was  made  known  to  the  king  himself,  the 
servants  informiitg  him  that  he  was  that  David  who  had  killed  many  ten  thousands 
of  the  Philistines,  David  was  afraid  lest  the  king  should  put  him  to  death,  and  that 
he  should  experience  that  danger  from  him  which  he  had  escaped  from  Saul ;  so  he 
pretended  to  be  distracted  and  mad,  so  that  his  spittle  ran  out  of  his  mouth,  and 
he  did  the  other  like  actions  before  the  king  of  Gath,  which  might  make  him  be- 
lieve that  they  proceeded  from  such  a  distemper.  Accordingly  the  king  was 
very  angry  at  hi"  servants  that  they  had  brought  him  a  madman  ;  and  he  gave 
orders  that  they  should  eject  David  immediately  [out  of  the  city]. 

3.  So  when  David  had  escaped  in  this  manner  out  of  Gath,  he  came  to  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  and  abode  in  a  cave  by  the  city  of  AduUam.  Then  it  was  that 
he  sent  to  his  brethren,  and  informed  them  where  he  was,  who  then  came  to  him 
with  all  their  kindred,  and  as  many  others  as  were  either  in  want,  or  in  fear  of 
king  Saul,  came  and  made  a  body  together,  and  told  him  they  were  ready  to 
obey  his  orders.  There  were  in  all  about  four  hundred.  Whereupon  he  took 
courage,  now  such  a  force  and  assistance  was  come  to  him,  so  he  removed  thence, 
and  came  to  the  king  of  the  Moabites,  and  desired  him  to  entertain  his  parents 
in  his  country,  while  the  issue  of  his  affairs  was  in  such  an  uncertain  condition. 
The  king  granted  him  this  favour,  and  paid  great  respects  to  David's  parents  all 
the  time  they  were  with  him. 

4.  As  for  himself,  upon  the  prophet's  commanding  him  to  leave  the  desert, 
and  to  go  into  the  portion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  abide  there,  he  complied 
therewith  ;  and  coming  to  the  city  Hareth,  which  was  in  that  tribe,  he  remained 
there.  Now  when  Saul  heard  that  David  had  been  seen  with  a  multitude  about 
him,  he  fell  into  no  small  disturbance  and  trouble.  But  as  he  knew  that  David 
was  a  bold  and  courageous  man,  he  suspected  that  somewhat  extraordinary  would 
appear  from  him,  and  that  openly  also,  which  would  make  him  weep,  and  put  him 
into  distress  ;  so  he  called  together  to  him  his  friends,  and  his  commanders,  and 
the  tribe  from  which  he  was  himself  derived,  to  the  hill  where  his  palace  was  ; 
and  sitting  upon  a  place  called  Aroura,  his  courtiers  that  were  in  dignities  and 
the  guards  of  his  body  being  with  him,  he  spake  thus  to  them  :  "  You  that  are 
men  of  my  own  tribe,  I  conclude  that  you  remember  the  benefits  that  I  have  be- 
stowed  upon  you  ;  and  that  I  have  made  some  of  you  owners  of  land,  and  made 
you  commanders,  and  bestowed  posts  of  honour  upon  you,  and  set  some  of  you 


C.  XII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  205 

over  the  common  people,  and  others  over  the  soldiers :  I  ask  you,  tlierefurc,  whe- 
ther you  expect  greater  and  more  donations  from  tlie  son  ol'  Jesse  ?  for  1  know 
that  you  are  all  inclinable  to  him:  even  my  own  son  Jonathan  himself  is  of  that 
opinion,  and  persuades  you  to  be  of  the  same;  fori  am  not  unacquainted  with  the 
oaths  and  the  covenant  that  are  between  him  and  David,  and  that  JonatJian  is  a 
counsellor  and  an  assistant  to  those  that  conspire  against  me,  and  none  of  vou  are 
concerned  about  these  things,  but  you  keep  silence  and  watch  to  see  what' will  be 
the  upshot  of  these  things."  When  the  king  had  done  his  speech,  not  one  of  the 
rest  of  those  that  were  present  made  any  answer ;  but  Doeg  the  Syrian,  who  fed 
his  mules,  said,  that  he  saw  David  when  he  came  to  the  city  Nob  to  Aliimclech 
the  high  priest,  and  that  he  learned  future  events  by  his  prophesying;  thit  he  re- 
ceived food  from  him,  and  the  sword  of  Goliath,  and  was  conducted  bv  him  with 
security  to  such  as  he  desired  to  go  to. 

5.  Saul  therefore  sent  for  the  high  priest,  and  for  all  his  kindred,  and  said  to 
them,  "  What  terrible  or  ungrateful  thing  hast  thou  sufiered  from  me,  tliat  thou 
hast  received  the  son  of  Jesse,  and  hast  bestowed  on  him  both  food  and  weapons, 
when  he  was  contriving  to  get  the  kingdom?  And  farther,  why  didst  thou  deliver 
oracles  to  him  concerning  liiturities  ?  for  thou  couldst  not  be  unacquainted  that 
he  was  fled  from  me,  and  that  he  hated  my  family."  But  tbe  high  priest  did  not 
betake  himself  to  deny  what  he  had  done,  but  confessed  boldly  that  he  had  sup- 
plied  him  with  these  things,  not  to  gratify  David,  but  Saul  himself;  and  he  said, 
"I  did  not  know  that  he  was  thy  adversary,  but  a  servant  of  thine,  who  was  very 
faithful  to  thee,  and  a  captain  over  a  thousand  of  thy  soldiers;  and,  what  is  more 
than  these,  thy  son-in-law  and  kinsman.  Men  do  not  use  to  confer  such  favours 
on  their  adversaries,  but  on  those  who  are  esteemed  to  bear  the  highest  good  will 
and  respect  to  them.  Nor  is  this  the  first  time  that  I  prophesied  for  him,  but  I 
have  doiie  it  often,  and  at  other  times  as  well  as  now.  And  wlien  he  told  me  that 
he  was  sent  by  thee  in  great  ha.ste  to  do  somewhat,  if  I  had  furnished  liini  with 
nothing  that  he  desired,  I  should  have  thought  that  it  was  rather  in  contradiction 
to  thee  than  to  him.  Wherefore  do  not  tliou  entertain  any  ill  opinion  of  me,  nor 
do  thou  have  a  suspicion  of  what  I  then  thought  an  act  ol"  iuunanity  from  what  is 
now  told  thee  of  David's  attempts  against  thee  ;  for  I  did  then  to  him  as  to  thy 
friend  and  son-in-law,  and  captain  of  a  thousand,  and  not  as  to  tliine  adversary." 

6.  When  the  high  priest  had  spoken  thus,  he  did  not  persuade  Saul ;  iiis  ("ear 
was  so  prevalent  that  he  could  not  give  credit  to  an  apology  that  was  very  just. 
So  he  commanded  his  armed  men  that  stood  about  him  to  kill  him,  and  all  his 
kindred;  but  as  they  durst  not  touch  the  high  priest,  but  were  more  afraid  of  dis- 
obeying God  than  the  king,  he  ordered  Doeg  the  Syrian  to  kill  them.  Accord- 
ingly he  took  to  his  assistance  such  wicked  men  as  were  like  himself,  and  slew 
Ahimelech  and  all  his  family,  which  were  in  all  three  hundred  and  eighty-five. 
Saul  also  sent  to  Nob,*  the  city  of  the  priests,  and  slew  all  tiuit  Avcre  there,  with- 
out  sparing  cither  women  or  children,  or  any  other  age,  and  burnt  it ;  only  there 
was  one  son  of  Ahimelech,  whose  name  was  Ahiatliar,  who  escaped.  However, 
these  things  came  to  pass  as  God  had  foretold  to  Eli  the  high  priest,  when  he  said, 
that  his  posterity  should  be  destroyed,  on  account  of  the  transgression  of  his  two 
sons. 

7.  |Now  this  king  Saul,  by  perpetrating  so  barbarous  a  crime,  and  murdering  the 

*  This  city  Nob  was  not  a  city  allotted  to  the  priests,  nor  had  the  prophets,  that  we  know  of,  any 
particular  cities  allotted  to  them.  "Jt  seems  the  tabernacle  was  now  at  Nob,  and  jirobably  a  school  of  the 
prophets  was  here  also.  It  was  full  two  days' journey  on  foot  from  Jerusalem,  1  ^ain.  xxi.  5.  The  num- 
ber of  priests  here  slain  in  .losephus  is  three  hundred  and  eighty-five,  and  but  eighty-five  in  our  Hebrew 
copies,  yet  are  they  three  hundred  and  five  in  the  Septuagint.  I  prefer  Joscphus's  number,  the  Hebrew 
having,  I  suppose,  only  dropped  the  hundreds,  the  other  the  tens.  This  cily  Nob  seems  to  have  been 
the  chief,  or  perhaps  the  only  seat  of  the  fainily  of  Ithamar,  which  here  ])erifbrd,  according  to  God's 
former  terrible  tlireatenings  to  Kli,  1  Sam.  ii.  27—36  ;  iii-  11—18.     See  chap.  xiv.  sect.  9,  hereafter. 

t  This  section  contains  an  admirable  reflection  of  Josephus  concerning  the  general  wickedness  of  men 
in  great  authority,  and  the  danger  they  are  in  of  rejecting  that  regard  to  justice  and  humanity,  to  divine 
providence  and  '.he  fear  of  God,  which  they  either  really  had,  or  pretended  to  have,  while  liiey  were  in  a 
lower  condition.    It  can  never  be  too  often  perused  by  kings  and  great  men,  nor  by  those  who  expect  to  ob- 


206  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VI. 

whole  family  of  the  high-priestly  dignity,  by  having  no  pity  of  the  infants  nor  re- 
verence  for  the  aged,  and  by  overthrowing  the  city  which  God  had  chosen  for  the 
property  and  for  the  support  of  the  priests  and  prophets  which  were  there,  and 
had  ordained  as  the  only  city  allotted  for  the  education  of  such  men,  gives  all  to 
understand  and  consider  the  disposition  of  men,  that  while  they  are  private  per- 
sons, and  in  a  low  condition,  because  it  is  not  in  their  power  to  indulge  nature, 
nor  to  venture  upon  what  they  wish  for,  they  are  equitable  and  moderate,  and  pur- 
sue nothing  but  what  is  just,  and  bend  their  whole  minds  and  labours  that  way; 
then  it  is  that  they  have  this  belief  about  God,  that  he  is  present  to  all  the  ac- 
tions of  their  lives,  and  that  he  does  not  only  see  the  actions  that  are  done  but 
clearly  knows  those  their  thoughts  also,  whence  those  actions  do  arise.  But 
when  once  they  are  advanced  into  power  and  authority,  then  they  put  off  all  such 
notions  ;  and,  as  if  they  were  no  other  than  actors  upon  a  theati'e,  they  lay  aside 
their  disguised  parts  and  manners,  and  take  up  boldness,  insolence,  and  contempt 
of  both  human  and  divine  laws,  and  this  at  a  time  when  they  especially  stand  in 
need  of  piety  and  righteousness,  because  they  are  then  most  of  all  exposed  to 
envy,  and  all  they  think  and  all  they  say  are  in  the  view  of  all  men  :  then  it  is 
tliat  they  become  so  insolent  in  their  actions,  as  though  God  saw  them  no  longer, 
or  were  afraid  of  them  because  of  their  power;  and  whatsoever  it  is  that  they 
cither  are  afraid  of  by  the  rumours  they  hear,  or  they  hate  by  inclination,  or 
tiiey  love  without  reason,  these  seem  to  them  to  be  authentic,  and  firm,  and  true 
and  pleasing  both  to  men  and  to  God :  but  as  to  what  w  ill  come  hereafter,  they 
have  not  the  least  regard  to  it.  They  raise  those  to  honour  indeed  who  have 
been  at  a  great  deal  of  pains  for  them,  and  after  that  honour  they  envy  them  ;  and 
when  they  have  brought  them  into  high  dignity,  they  do  not  only  deprive  them  of 
what  they  had  obtained,  but  also  on  that  very  account  of  their  lives  also,  and  that 
on  wicked  accusations,  and  such  as  on  account  of  their  extravagant  nature  are  in- 
credible. They  also  punish  men  for  their  actions,  not  such  as  deserve  condem- 
nation but  from  calumnies  and  accusations  without  examination;  and  this  ex- 
tends  not  only  to  such  as  deserve  to  be  punished,  but  to  as  many  as  thej^  are 
able  kill.  This  reflection  is  openly  confirmed  to  us  from  the  example  of  Saul  the 
son  of  Kish,  Avho  was  the  first  king  who  reigned  after  our  aristocracy  and  govern- 
ment under  the  judges  were  over;  and  that  by  his  slaughter  of  three  hundred 
priests  and  prophets  on  occasion  of  his  suspicion  about  Ahimelech,and  by  the  ad- 
ditional wickedness  of  the  overthrow  of  their  city,  and  this  as  if  he  were  endea- 
vouring in  some  sort  to  render  the  temple  [tabernacle]  destitute  both  of  priests 
and  prophets ;  which  endeavour  he  showed  by  slaying  so  many  of  them,  and 
not  suffering  the  very  city  belonging  to  them  to  remain,  that  soothers  might  suc- 
ceed them. 

8.  But  Abiathar  the  son  of  Ahimelech,  who  alone  could  be  saved  out  of  the 
family  of  priests  slain  by  Saul,  fled  to  David,  and  informed  him  of  the  calamity 
that  had  befallen  their  family,  and  of  the  slaughter  of  his  father ;  who  hereupon 
said,  "  He  was  not  unapprized  of  what  would  follow  with  relation  to  them  when 
he  saw  Doeg  there ;  for  he  had  then  a  suspicion  that  the  high  priest  would  be 
falsely  accused  by  him  to  the  king,  and  he  blamed  himself  as  having  been  the 
cause  of  this  misfortune."  But  he  desired  him  to  stay  there  and  abide  with 
him,  as  in  a  place  where  he  might  be  better  concealed  than  any  where  else. 

tain  such  elevated  rlignities  among  mankinri.  See  the  like  reflections  of  our  Josephus,  Antiq.  B.  vii.  ch.  i. 
sect.  5,  at  the  end,  and  B.  viii.  ch.  x.  sect.  2,  at  the  beginning.  They  are  to  the  like  purpose  with  one 
branch  of  Agur's  prajer.  One  thing  have  I  required  of  thee,  deny  it  me  not  before  I  die  ;  give  me  no 
riclus,  lest  I  be  full  and  deny  thee,  and  say,  who  is  the  Lord  ? 


r.  XIIL  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


CHAP.  XIIL 


207 


How  David,  when  he  had  twice  tlie  Opportunity  of  killing  Saul,  did  not  Ml  him. 
Also  concerning  the  Death  of  Samuel  and  Nahal. 

§  1.  About  this  time  it  was  that  David  heard  how  tlie  Pliihstines  had  made  aa 
inroad  into  the  country  of  Keilah,  and  robbed  it ;  so  lie  otiered  himself  to  fi^hL 
against  them,  if  God,  when  he  sliould  be  consulted  by  the  prophet,  would  grant 
him  the  victory.  And  when  the  prophet  said  that  God  gave  a  signal  of  victory, 
he  made  a  sudden  onset  upon  the  Philistines  with  his  companions,  and  he  shed  a 
great  deal  of  their  blood,  and  carried  off'  their  prey,  and  stayed  with  the  inha- 
bitants  of  Keilah  till  they  had  securely  gathered  in  their  corn  and  their  fruits. 
However,  it  was  told  Saul  the  king,  that  David  was  with  the  men  of  Keilah ;  for 
what  had  been  done,  and  the  great  success  that  had  attended  him,  were  not  con- 
fined among  the  people  where  the  things  were  done,  but  the  fame  of  it  went  all 
abi'oad,  and  came  to  the  hearing  of  others,  and  both  the  fact  as  it  stood,  and  the 
author  of  the  fact,  were  carried  to  the  king's  ears.  Then  was  Saul  glad  when 
he  heard  David  was  in  Keilah  ;  and  he  said,  "  God  hath  now  put  him  into  my 
hands,  since  he  hath  obliged  him  to  come  into  a  city  that  hath  walls,  and  gates, 
and  bars."  So  he  commanded  all  the  people  to  set  upon  Keilah  suddenly,  and 
when  they  had  besieged  and  taken  it,  to  kill  David.  But  when  David  perceived 
this,  and  learned  of  God,  that  if  he  stayed  there  the  men  of  Keilah  would  de- 
liver him  up  to  Saul,  he  took  his  four  hundred  men  and  retired  into  a  desert 
that  was  over  a  city  called  Engedi.  So  when  the  king  heard  that  he  was  fled 
away  from  the  men  of  Ceilah,  he  left  oft'  his  expedition  against  him. 

2.  Then  David  removed  thence,  and  came  to  a  cei'tain  place  called  the  New 
Place,  belonging  to  Ziph  ;  where  Jonathan  the  son  of  Saul  came  to  him,  and 
saluted  him,  and  exhorted  him  to  be  of  good  courage,  and  to  hope  well  as  to  his 
condition  hereafter,  and  not  to  despond  at  his  present  circumstances,  for  that  he 
should  be  king,  and  have  all  the  forces  of  the  Hebrews  under  him  ;  but  told  him, 
that  such  hap})iness  uses  to  come  with  great  labour  and  pains  ;  they  also  took  oaths, 
that  they  would  all  their  lives  long  continue  in  good  will  and  fidelity  one  to  ano- 
ther ;  and  he  called  God  to  witness,  as  to  what  execrations  he  had  made  upoa 
himself,  if  he  should  transgress  his  covenant,  and  should  change  to  a  contrary 
behaviour.  So  Jonathan  left  him  there,  having  rendered  his  cares  and  fear 
somewhat  lighter,  and  returned  home.  Now  the  men  of  Ziph,  to  gratify  Saul, 
informed  him  that  David  abode  with  them,  and  [assured  him]  that  if  he  would 
come  to  them,  they  would  deliver  him  up  ;  lor  if  the  king  would  seize  on  the 
straits  of  Ziph,  David  could  not  escape  to  any  other  people.  So  the  king  com- 
mended them,  and  confessed  that  he  had  reason  to  thank  them,  because  they 
had  given  him  informaiion  of  his  enemy  :  and  he  promised  them,  that  it  should 
not  be  long  ere  he  would  requite  their  kindness.  He  also  sent  men  to  seek  for 
David,  and  to  search  the  wilderness  wherein  he  was  ;  and  he  answered,  that  he 
himself  would  follow  them.  Accordingly  they  went  before  the  king,  to  hunt  for 
and  to  catch  David,  and  used  endeavours,  not  only  to  show  their  good  will  to 
Saul,  by  informing  him  where  his  enemy  was,  but  to  evidence  the  same  more 
plainly  by  delivering  him  up  into  his  power.  But  these  men  fliilcd  of  those  their 
unjust  and  wicked  desires,  who  while  they  underwent  no  hazard  by  not  discover- 
ing such  an  ambition  of  revealing  this  to  Saul,  yet  did  they  falsely  accuse,  and 
promise  to  deliver  up  a  man  beloved  of  God,  and  one  that  was  unjustly  sought 
for  to  be  put  to  death.,  and  one  that  might  otherwise  have  been  concealed,  and 
this  out  of  flattery,  and  expectation  of  gain  I'rom  the  king ;  for  when  David  was 
apprised  of  the  malignant  intentions  of  the  men  of  Zipii,  and  of  the  approach 
of  Saul,  he  left  the  straits  of  that  country,  and  fled  to  (he  great  rock  that  was  in 
the  wilderness  of  Maoa. 


20g  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  .      B.  V^. 

3.  Hereupon  Saul  made  haste  to  pursue  him  thither  ;  for  as  he  was  marching, 
he  learned  that  David  was  gone  away  from  the  straits  [of  Ziph,]  and  Saul  remo- 
ved to  the  other  side  of  the  rock.  But  the  report  that  the  Philistines  had  again 
made  an  incursion  into  the  country  of  the  Hebrews  called  Saul  another  way 
from  the  pursuit  of  David,  when  he  was  ready  to  be  caught,  for  he  turned  back 
a"-ain  to  oppose  those  Philistines,  who  were  naturally  their  enemies,  as  judging 
it  more  necessary  to  avenge  himself  of  them,  than  to  take  a  great  deal  of  pains 
to  catch  an  enemy  of  his  own,  and  to  overlook  the  ravage  that  was  made  in  the 
land. 

4.  And  by  this  means  David  unexpectedly  escaped  out  of  the  danger  he  was 
in,  and  came  to  the  straits  of  Engedi.     And  when  Saul  had  driven  the  Philistines 
out  of  the  land,  there  came  some  messengers  who  told  him  that  David  abode 
within  the  bounds  of  Engedi :  so  he  took  three  thousand  chosen  men,  that  were 
armed,  and  made  haste  to  him;  and  when  he  ,M'as  not  far  from  those  places,  he 
saw  a  deep  and  hollow  cave  by  the  way  side  ;  it  was  open  to  a  great  length  and 
breadth,  and  there  it  was  tliat  David  with  his  four  hundred  men  were  concealed. 
When  therefore  he  had  great  occasion  to  ease  nature,  he  entered  into  it  by  him- 
self alone  ;  and  being  seen  by  one.  of  David's  companions,  and  he  that  saw  him 
saying  to  him,  that  "  he  had  now,  by  God's  providence,  an  opportunity  of  aveng- 
ino-  himself  of  his  adversary  ;  and  advising  him  to  cut  off  his  head,  and  so  de- 
liver himself  out  of  that  tedious  wandering  condition,  and  the  distress  he  was  in," 
he  rose  up,  and  only  cut  otf  the  skirt  of  that  garment  which  Saul  had  on.     But 
he  soon  repented  of  what  he  had  done  ;  and  said,  it  was  not  right  to  kill  him  that 
was  his  master,  and  one  whom  God  had  thought  worthy  of  the  kingdom ;  for  that 
although  he  were  wickedly  disposed  towards  us,  yet  does  it  not  behove  me  to  be 
so  disposed  towards  him.     But  when  Saul  had  left  the  cave,  David  came  near, 
and  cried  out  aloud,  and  desired  Saul  to  hear  him ;  whereupon  the  king  turned 
his  face  back,  and  David  according  to  custom  fell  down  on  his  face  before  the 
king,  and  bowed  to  him ;  and  said,  "  O  king,  thou  oughtest  not  to  hearken  to 
wicked  men,  not  to  such  as  forge  calumnies,  nor  to  gratify  them  so  far  as  to  be- 
lieve what  they  say,  nor  to  entertain  suspicions  of  such  as  are  your  best  friends, 
but  to  judge  of  the  disposition  of  all  men  by  their  actions :  for  calumny  deludes 
men,  but  men's  own  actions  are  a  clear  demonstration  of  their  kindness.  Words 
indeed,  in  their  own  nature,  may  be  either  true  or  false,  but  men's  actions  expose 
their  intentions  nakedly  to  our  view.     By  these,  therefore,  it  would  be  well  of 
thee  to  believe  me,  as  to  my  regard  to  thee  and  to  thy  house,  and  not  to  believe 
those  that  frame  such  accusations  against  me  as  never  came  into  my  mind,  nor 
are  possible  to  be  executed,  and  do  this  farther  by  pursuing  after  my  hfe,  and 
have  no  concern  either  day  or  night,  but  how  to  compass  my  life  and  to  murder 
me,  which  thing  I  think  thou  dost  unjustly  prosecute.     For  how  comes  it  about, 
that  thou  hast  embraced  tliis  false  opinion  about  me,  as  if  I  had  a  desire  to  kill 
thee  ?     Or  how  canst  thou  escajjc  the  crime  of  impiety  towards  God,  when  thou 
wishest  thou  couldst  kill,  and  deemest  thine  adversary,  a  man  who  had  it  in  his 
power  this  day  to  avenge  himself,  and  to  punish  thee,  but  would  not  do  it  ?  nor 
make  use  of  such  an  opportunity,  which,  if  it  had  fallen  out  to  thee  against  me, 
thou  hadst  not  let  it  slip  ;  for  when  I  cut  oft' the  skirt  of  thy  garment,  I  could  have 
done  the  same  to  thy  head."     So  he  showed  him  the  piece  of  his  garment,  and 
thereby  made  him  agree  to  what  he  said  to  be  true  ;  and  added,  "  I,  for  certain, 
have  abstained  from  taking  a  just  revenge*  upon  thee,  yet  art  not  thou  ashamed 
to  prosecute  me  with  unjust  hatred.     May  God  do  justice,  and  determine   about 
each  of  our  dispositions."     But  Saul  was  amazed  at  the  strange  delivery  he  had 
received  ;  and  being  greatly  affected  with  the  moderation  and  disposition  of  the 
young  man,  he  groaned ;  and  when  David  had  done  the  same,  the  king  answered, 

*  The  phrase  in  David's  speech  to  Saul,  asset  down  in  Josephus,  that  he  had  abstained  from  just  re- 
venge, puts  me  in  mind  of  the  like  words  in  the  Apostolical  Constitutions,  B.  vii.  chap.  ii.  that  revenge  is 
not  eoU,  but  patience  is  more  honourable. 


C.  XII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


209 


that  he  had  the  justest  occasion  to  groan,  '*  for  thou  hast  been  the  author  of  "-ood 
to  me,  as  I  have  been  the  author  of  calamity  to  thee.  And  thou  hast  demon- 
strated this  day,  that  thou  possessest  the  righteousness  of  the  ancients,  who  de. 
termined  that  men  ought  to  save  their  enemies  though  they  caught  them  in  a  de- 
sert  place.  I  am  now  persuaded  that  God  reserves  the  kingdom  for  thee,  and 
that  thou  wilt  obtain  the  dominion  over  all  the  Hebrews.  Give  me  then  assu- 
ranees  upon  oath,  that  thou  wilt  not  root  out  my  family,  nor,  out  of  remembrance 
of  what  evil  I  have  done  thee,  destroy  my  posterity,  but  sa\e  and  preserve  my 
house."  So  David  sware  as  he  desired,  and  sent  back  Saul  to  his  own  kingdom  ; 
but  he  and  those  that  were  with  him  went  up  to  the  straits  of  Mastheroth. 

5.  About  this  time  Samuel  the  prophet  died.  He  was  a  man  whom  the  He- 
brews honoured  in  an  extraordinary  degree ;  for  that  lamentation  which  the  people 
made  for  nim,  and  this  during  a  long  time,  manifested  his  virtue,  and  the  aflec- 
tion  which  the  people  bore  for  him ;  as  also  did  the  solemnity  and  concern  that 
appeared  about  his  funei'al,  and  about  the  complete  observation  of  all  his  funeral 
rites.  They  buried  him  in  his  own  city  Ramah;  and  wept  for  him  a  very  great 
number  of  days,  not  looking  on  it  as  a  sorrow  for  the  death  of  another  man,  but 
as  that  in  which  they  were  every  one  themselves  concerned.  He  was  a  righteous 
man,  and  gentle  in  his  nature  ;  and  on  that  account,  he  was  very  dear  to  God. 
Now  he  governed  and  presided  over  the  people  alone,  after  the  death  of  Eli  the 
high  priest,  twelve  years,  and  eighteen  years  together  with  Saul  the  king.  And 
thus  we  have  finished  the  history  of  Samuel. 

6.  There  was  a  man  that  was  a  Ziphite,  of  the  city  of  IMaon,  ^^ho  was  rich, 
and  had  a  vast  number  of  cattle ;  for  he  fed  a  flock  of  three  thousand  sheep, 
and  another  flock  of  a  thousand  goats.  Now  David  had  charged  his  associates 
to  keep  these  fiocks  without  hurt  and  without  damage,  and  to  do  them  no  mis. 
chief,  neither  out  of  covetousness,  nor  because  they  were  in  want,  nor  because 
they  were  in  the  wilderness,  and  so  could  not  easily  be  discovered,  but  to  esteem 
freedom  from  injustice  above  all  other  motives,  and  to  look  upon  the  touching  of 
what  belonged  to  another  man  as  a  horrible  crime,  and  contrary  to  the  will  of 
God.  These  were  the  instructions  he  gave,  thinking  that  the  favours  he  granted 
this  man  were  granted  to  a  good  man,  and  one  that  deserved  to  have  such  care 
taken  of  his  affairs.  This  man  was  Nabal,  for  that  was  his  name ;  a  harsh  man, 
and  of  a  very  wicked  life,  being  like  a  cynic  in  the  course  of  his  behaviour,  but 
still  had  obtained  for  his  wife  a  woman  of  a  good  character,  wise  and  handsome. 
To  this  Nabal,  therefore,  David  sent  ten  men  of  his  attendants  at  the  time  when 
he  sheared  his  sheep,  and  by  them  saluted  him ;  and  also  wished  he  might  do 
what  he  now  did  for  many  years  to  come,  but  desired  him  to  make  him  a  present 
of  what  he  was  able  to  give  him,  since  he  had,  to  be  sure,  learned  from  his 
shepherds,  that  we  had  done  them  no  injury,  but  had  been  their  guardians  a  long 
time  together,  while  we  continued  in  the  wilderness ;  and  he  assured  him  he 
should  never  repent  of  giving  any  thing  to  David.  When  the  messengers  had 
carried  this  message  to  Nabal,  he  accosted  them  after  an  inhuman  and  rough 
manner;  for  he  asked  them,  who  David  was?  and  when  he  heard  that  he  ^\^aa 
the  son  of  Jesse,  "  Now  is  the  time,"  said  he,  "  that  fugitives  grow  insolent,  and 
make  a  figure,  and  leave  their  masters."  When  they  told  David  this,  he  was 
wroth ;  and  commanded  four  hundred  armed  men  to  follow  him,  and  left;  two 
hundred  to  take  care  of  the  stuff  (for  he  had  already  six  hundred,)*  and  went 
against  Nabal.  He  also  swore  that  he  would  that  night  utterly  destroy  the  whole 
house  and  possessions  of  Nabal,  for  that  he  was  grieved,  not  only  that  he  had 
proved  ungrateful  to  them,  without  making  any  return  for  the  humanity  they  had 
showed  him,  but  that  he  had  also  reproached  them,  and  used  ill  language  to 
them,  when  he  had  received  no  cause  of  disgust  from  them. 

»  The  number  of  men  that  came  first  to  David,  are  distinctly  in  Joseplius,  and  in  our  common  copies, 
but  four  hundred.     When  he  was  at  Keilah  still  but  four  hundred,  both  in  Josephus  and  in  the  LXXJI ; 
but  six  hundred  in  our  Hebrew  copies,  1   Sam.  xxiii.  13  ;  seexxx.  9,  10.    Now  the  si.\  hundred  there 
VOL.  I.  2D 


210  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VI. 

7.  Hereupon  one  of  those  that  kept  the  flocks  of  Nabal  said  to  his  mistress, 
Nubal's  wife,  "That  when  David  sent  to  her  husband  he  had  received  no  civil 
answer  at  all  from  him,  but  that  Iier  husband  had  moreover  added  very  reproach- 
ful language,  while  yet  David  had  taken  extraordinary  care  to  keep  his  flocks 
from  harm,  and  that  what  had  passed  would  prove  very  pernicious  to  his  master." 
When  the  servant  had  said  this,  Abigail,  for  that  was  the  wife's  name,  saddled 
her  asses,  and  loaded  them  with  all  sorts  of  presents  ;  and  without  telling  her 
husband  any  thing  of  what  she  was  about  (for  he  was  not  sensible  on  account  of 
his  drunkenness),  she  went  to  David.  She  was  then  met  by  David  as  she  was 
descending  a  hill,  who  was  coming  against  Nabal  with  four  hundred  men.  When 
the  woman  saw  David,  she  leaped  down  from  her  ass,  and  fell  on  her  face,  and 
bowed  down  to  the  ground  ;  and  entreated  him  not  to  bear  in  mind  the  words  of 
Nabal,  since  he  knew  that  he  resembled  his  name  ;  now  Nabal  in  the  Hebrew 
tongue  signifies  folly.  So  she  made  her  apology,  "That  she  did  not  see  the 
messengers  whom  he  sent.  Forgive  me,  therefore,"  said  she,  "  and  thank  God 
who  hath  hindered  thee  from  shedding  human  blood  ;  for  so  long  as  thou  keepest 
thyself  innocent,*  he  will  avenge  thee  of  wicked  men;  for  what  miseries  await 
Nabal,  they  will  fall  upon  the  heads  of  thine  enemies.  Be  thou  gracious  to  me, 
and  think  me  so  far  worthy  as  to  accept  these  presents  from  me ;  and  out  of  re- 
gard to  me,  remit  that  wrath  and  that  anger  which  thou  hast  against  my  husband 
and  his  house,  for  mildness  and  humanity  become  thee,  especially  as  thou  art  to 
be  our  king."  Accordingly  David  accepted  her  presents,  and  said,  "  Nay,  but, 
O  woman,  it  was  no  other  than  God's  mercy  which  brought  thee  to  us  to-day,  for 
otherwise  thou  hadst  never  seen  another  day,  I  having  swornf  to  destroy  Nabal's 
house  this  very  night,  and  to  leave  alive  not  one  of  you  who  belonged  to  a  man 
that  was  wicked  and  ungrateful  to  me  and  my  companions  ;  but  now  hast  thou 
prevented  me,  and  seasonably  mollified  my  anger,  as  being  thyself  under  the  care 
of  God's  providence ;  but  as  for  Nabal,  although  for  thy  sake  he  now  escape 
punishment,  he  will  not  always  avoid  justice,  for  his  evil  conduct  on  some  other 
occasion  will  be  his  ruin." 

8.  When  David  had  said  this,  he  dismissed  the  woman.  But  when  she  came 
home  and  found  her  husband  feasting  with  a  great  company,  and  oppressed  with 
wine,  she  said  nothing  to  him  then  about  what  had  happened,  but  on  the  next 
day  when  he  was  sober,  she  told  him  all  the  particulars,  and  made  his  whole 
body  to  appear  like  t'  ^t  of  a  dead  man  by  her  words,  and  by  that  grief  which 
arose  from  them ;  so  Nabal  survived  ten  days,  and  no  more,  and  then  died.  And 
when  David  heard  of  his  death,  he  said,  that  "  God  had  justly  avenged  him  of 
this  man,  for  that  Nabal  died  by  his  own  wickedness,  and  had  suffered  punish, 
ment  on  his  account,  while  he  had  kept  his  own  hands  clean."  At  which  time 
he  understood  that  the  wicked  are  prosecuted  by  God  ;  that  he  does  not  overlook 
any  man,  but  bestows  on  the  good  what  is  suitable  to  them,  and  inflicts  a  deser- 
ved punishment  on  the  wicked.  So  he  went  to  Nabal's  wife,  and  invited  her  to 
come  to  him,  to  live  with  him,  and  to  be  his  wife.  Whereupon  she  replied  to 
those  that  came,  that  she  was  not  worthy  to  touch  his  feet;  however,  she 
came  with  all  her  servants,  and  became  his  wife,  having  received  that  honour  on 

nicntionefl,  are  here  intimated  by  Joseplius  to  have  been  so  many,  only  by  an  augmentation  of  two 
hundred  afterward,  which,  I  suppose,  is  the  true  solution  of  this  seeming  disagreement. 

*  In  this,  and  the  two  nest  sections,  we  may  perceive  how  Josephus,  nay,  how  Abigail  herself  would 
understand  the  not  avenging  ourselves,  hvt  heaping  coals  of  fire  on  the  head  of  the  injurious.  Prov.  xxv. 
25;  Honi.  xii.  20  ;  not  as  we  coiiinionly  do  now,  of  melting  them  into  lundness,  but  of  leaving  them  to 
the  judgment  of  God,  to  whom  vengeance  belongeth,  Deut.  xxxii.  35  ;  Psalm  xciv.  1  ;  Heb.  x.  30  ;  and  who 
will  take  vengeance  on  the  wicked.  And  since  all  God's  judgments  are  just,  and  all  fit  to  be  executed, 
and  all  at  length  for  good  of  the  persons  punished,  I  incline  to  think  that  to  oe  the  meannig  of  this  phrase, 
of  heaping  coals  of  fire  on  their  heads. 

f  We  may  note  here,  that  iiow  sacred  soever  an  oath  was  esteemed  among  the  people  of  God  in  old 
times,  they  did  not  think  it  obligatory  where  the  action  was  plainly  unlawful :  for  so  we  see  it  was  in  this 
case  of  David,  who,  although  he  had  sworn  to  destroy  Nabal  and  his  family,  yet  does  he  here,  and  1  Sam. 
XV.  32 --SI,  blcbsGod  for  preventing  his  keeping  this  oatii,  and  from  shedding  of  blood,  as  he  had  s\vorf> 
to  <*>.  •* 


C.  XIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  211 

account  of  her  wise  and  righteous  course  of  hfe.  She  also  obtained  the  .same 
honour  partly  on  account  of  her  beauty.  Now  David  had  a  wife  before,  which 
he  married  from  the  city  Abesar;  for  as  to  Michal,  tlie  daughter  of  king  Saul, 
who  had  been  David's  wife,  her  father  had  given  her  in  marriage  to  Phalti,  the 
son  of  Laish,  who  was  of  the  city  of  Gallim. 

9.  After  this  came  certain  of  the  Ziphites,  and  told  Saul  that  David  was  come 
again  into  their  country,  and  that  if  he  would  afford  them  his  assistance,  they 
could  catch  him.  So  ho  came  to  them  with  three  thousand  armed  men ;  and  up. 
on  the  approach  of  the  night,  he  pitched  his  camp  at  a  certain  place  called  Hacld- 
lah.  But  when  David  heard  that  Saul  was  coming  against  him,  he  sent  spies,  and 
bid  them  to  let  him  know  to  what  place  of  tlie  country  Saul  was  already  come ; 
and  when  they  told  him  that  he  was  at  Ilachilah,  he  concealed  his  going  away 
from  his  own  companions,  and  came  to  Saul's  camp,  having  taken  with  him  Abi- 
shai,  his  sister  Zeruiah's  son,  and  Ahimelech  the  Hittite.  Now  Saul  was  asleep; 
and  the  armed  men,  with  Abner  their  commander,  lay  round  about  him  in  a  cir- 
cle.  Hereupon  David  entered  into  the  king's  tent,  but  he  did  neither  kill  Saul, 
though  he  knew  where  he  lay,  by  the  spear  that  was  struck  down  by  him,  nor 
did  he  give  leave  to  Abishai,  who  would  have  killed  him,  and  was  earnestly  bent 
upon  it  so  to  do  ;  for  he  said,  "  It  was  a  horrid  crime  to  kill  one  tliat  was  or- 
dained  king  by  God,  although  he  was  a  wicked  man ;  for  that  he  who  gave  him 
'the  dominion  would,  in  time,  inflict  punishment  upon  him."  So  he  restrained 
his  eagerness  ;  but  that  it  might  appear  to  have  been  in  his  power  to  have  killed 
him,  when  he  refrained  from  it,  he  took  his  spear  and  the  cruse  of  water  which 
stood  by  Saul  as  he  lay  asleep,  without  being  perceived  by  any  in  the  camp,  who 
were  all  asleep ;  and  went  securely  av/ay,  having  performed  every  thing  among 
the  king's  attendants  that  the  opportunity  afforded,  and  his  boldness  encouraged 
him  to  do.  So  when  he  had  passed  over  a  brook,  and  was  gotten  up  to  the  top 
of  a  hill,  whence  he  might  be  sufficiently  heard,  he  cried  aloud  to  Saul's  soldiers, 
and  to  Abner  their  commander,  and  awaked  them  out  of  their  sleep,  and  called 
both  to  him  and  to  the  people.  Hereupon  the  commander  heard  him,  and  asked 
who  it  was  that  called  him  ?  To  whom  David  replied,  "  It  is  I,  the  son  of  Jesse, 
whom  you  make  a  vagabond.  But  what  is  the  matter?  Dost  thou,  that  art  a 
man  of  so  great  dignity,  and  of  the  first  rank  in  the  king's  court,  take  so  little 
care  of  thy  master's  body  ?  and  is  sleep  of  more  consequence  to  thee  than  his 
preservation,  and  thy  care  of  him?  This  negligence  of  yours  deserves  death  and 
punishment  to  be  inflicted  on  you,  who  never  perceived  when  a  little  while  ago 
some  of  us  entered  into  your  camp,  nay  as  far  as  the  king  himself,  and  to  all 
the  rest  of  you.  If  thou  look  for  the  king's  spear,  and  his  cruse  of  water,  thou 
wilt  learn  what  a  mighty  misfortune  was  ready  to  overtake  you  in  your  very 
camp  without  your  knowing  of  it."  Now,  when  Saul  knew  David's  voice,  and 
understood  that  when  he  had  him  in  his  power  while  he  was  asleep,  and  lii^ 
guards  took  care  of  him,  yet  did  he  not  kill  him,  but  spared  him,  when  he  might 
justly  have  cut  him  off,  he  said  that  "  he  owed  him  thanks  for  his  preservation  ; 
and  exhorted  him  to  be  of  good  courage,  and  not  to  be  afraid  of  suffering  any 
mischief  from  him  any  more,  and  to  return  to  his  own  home;  for  he  was  now 
persuaded  that  he  did  not  love  himself  so  well  as  he  was  loved  by  him ;  and  that 
he  had  driven  away  him  that  could  guard  him,  and  had  given  many  demonstra- 
tions  of  his  good  will  to  him ;  that  he  had  forced  him  to  live  so  long  in  a  state 
of  banishment,  and  in  great  fears  of  his  life,  destitute  of  his  friends  and  his  kin. 
dred,  while  still  he  was  often  saved  by  him,  and  frequently  received  his  life  agam 
when  it  was  evidently  in  danger  of  perishing."  So  David  bid  them  send  for  tho 
spear  and  the  cruse  of  water,  and  take  them  back;  adding  this  withal.  That  (iod 
would  be  the  judge  of  both  their  dispositions  and  of  the  actions  that  flowed  from 
the  same,  who  knows  that  when  it  was  this  day  in  my  power  to  have  killed 
thee,  I  abstained  from  it. 
2D 


212  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VI. 

10.  Thus  Saul,  having  escaped  the  hands  of  David  twice,  he  went  his  way  to 
the  royal  palace,  and  his  own  city.  But  David  was  afraid  that  if  he  stayed  tliere 
he  should  be  caught  by  Saul,  so  he  thought  it  better  to  go  up  into  the  land  of  the 
Phihstines  and  abide  there.  Accordingly,  he  came  with  the  six  hundred  men 
that  were  with  him  to  Achish,  the  kingof  Gath,  which  was  one  of  their  five  cities. 
Now  the  king  received  both  him  and  his  men,  and  gave  them  a  place  to  inhabit 
in.  He  had  with  him  also  his  two  wives,  Ahinoam  and  Abigail,  and  he  dwelt  in 
Gath.  But  when  Saul  heard  this  he  took  no  farther  care  about  sending  to  him, 
or  going  after  him,  because  he  had  been  twice  in  a  manner  caught  by  him  while 
he  was  himself  endeavouring  to  catch  him.  However  David  had  no  mind  to  con- 
tinue in  the  city  of  Gath,  but  desired  the  king,  that,  since  he  had  received  him 
■with  such  humanity,  that  he  would  grant  him  another  favour,  and  bestow  upon  him 
some  place  of  that  country  for  his  habitation ;  for  he  was  ashamed,  by  living  in 
the  city,  to  be  grievous  and  burdensome  to  him.  So  Achish  gave  him  a  cer- 
tain  village  called  Ziklag ;  which  place  David  and  his  sons  were  fond  of  when 
he  was  king,  and  reckoned  it  to  be  their  peculiar  inheritance.  But  about  those 
matters  we  shall  give  the  reader  farther  information  elsewhere.  Now  the  time 
that  David  dwelt  in  Ziklag,  in  the  land  of  the  Philistines,  was  four  months  and 
twenty  days.  And  now  he  privately  attacked  those  Geshurites  and  Amalekites 
that  were  neighbours  to  the  Philistines,  and  laid  waste  their  country,  and  took 
much  prey  of  their  beasts  and  camels,  and  then  returned  home ;  but  David  ab- 
stained  from  the  men,  as  fearing  they  should  discover  him  to  king  Achish,  yet  did 
he  send  part  of  the  prey  to  him  as  a  free  gift.  And  when  the  king  inquired  whom 
they  had  attacked  when  they  brought  away  the  prey,  he  said  those  that  lay  to 
the  south  of  the  Jews,  and  inhabited  in  the  plain ;  whereby  he  persuaded  Achish 
to  approve  of  what  he  had  done  :  for  he  hoped  that  David  had  fought  against  his 
own  nation,  and  that  now  he  should  have  him  for  his  seiTant  all  his  life  long,  and 
that  he  would  stay  in  his  country. 


CHAP.  XIV. 

How  Saul,  upon  God^s  not  answering  him  concerning  the  Fight  with  the  Philistines, 

desired  a  necromantic  Woman  to  raise  up  the  Soul  of  Samuel  to  him ;  and  how 

he  died,  with  his  Sons,  upon  the  Overthrow  of  the  Hebrews  in  Battle. 

§  1.  About  the  same  time  the  Philistines  resolved  to  make  war  against  the  Is- 
raeUtes  and  sent  to  all  their  confederate^  that  they  would  go  along  with  them  to 
the  war  to  Reggen  [near  the  city  Shunem,]  whence  they  might  gather  them- 
selves  together,  and  suddenly  attack  the  Hebrews.  Then  did  Achish,  the  king 
of  Gath,  desire  David  to  assist  them  with  his  armed  men  against  the  Hebrews. 
This  he  readily  promised ;  and  said  that  the  time  was  now  come  wherein  he 
might  requite  him  for  his  kindness  and  hospitality.  So  the  king  promised  to 
make  him  the  keeper  of  his  body  after  the  victory,  supposing  that  the  battle  with 
the  enemy  succeeded  to  their  mind  ;  which  promise  of  honour  and  confidence  he 
made  on  purpose  to  increase  his  zeal  for  his  service. 

2.  Now  Saul,  the  king  of  the  Hebrews,  had  cast  out  of  the  country  the  fortune- 
tellers, and  the  necromancers,  and  all  such  as  exercised  the  like  arts,  excepting 
tlie  prophets.  But  when  he  heard  that  the  Philistines  were  already  come,  and 
had  pitched  their  camp  near  to  the  city  Shunem,  situated  in  the  plain,  he  made 
haste  to  oppose  them  with  his  forces  ;  and  when  he  was  come  to  a  certain  moun- 
tain called  Gilboa,  he  pitched  his  camp  over  against  the  enemy ;  but  when  he 
saw  the  enemy's  army  he  was  greatly  troubled,  because  it  appeared  to  be  nume- 
rous and  superior  to  his  own  ;  and  he  inquired  of  God  by  the  prophets  concern- 
ing  the  battle,  that  he  might  know  beforehand  what  would  be  the  event  of  it 


C.  XIV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  213 

And  when  God  did  not  answer  him,  Saul  was  under  a  still  greater  dread,  and  his 
courage  fell,  foreseeing,  as  was  but  reasonable  to  supi)ose,  that  mischief  would 
befall  him,  now  God  was  not  there  to  assist  him ;  yet  did  he  bid  his  servants  to 
inquire  out  for  him  some  woman  that  v/as  a  necromancer,  and  called  up  the  souls 
of  the  dead,  that  so  he  might  know  whether  his  afiairs  would  succeed  to  his 
mind  ;  for  this  sort  of  necromantic  women,  who  bring  up  the  souls  of  the  dead, 
do  by  them  foretell  future  events  to  such  as  desire  them.  And  one  of  his  ser- 
vants  told  him  that  there  was  such  a  woman  in  the  city  Endor,  but  was  known 
to  nobody  in  the  camp  ;  hereupon  Saul  put  off  his  royal  apparel,  and  took  two 
of  those  his  servants  with  him  whom  he  knew  to  be  most  faithful  to  liim,  and 
came  to  Endor  to  the  woman,  and  entreated  her  to  act  tlie  part  of  a  fortuneteller, 
and  to  bring  up  such  a  soul  to  him  as  he  should  name  to  her.  But  when  the 
woman  opposed  his  motion,  and  said,  "  She  did  not  despise  the  king,  who  had 
banished  this  sort  of  fortunetellers,  and  that  he  did  not  do  well  himself,  when  she 
iiad  done  him  no  harm,  to  endeavour  to  lay  a  snare  for  her,  and  to  discover  that 
she  exercised  a  forbidden  art,  in  order  to  procure  her  to  be  punished ;"  he  sware 
that  nobody  should  know  what  she  did  ;  and  that  he  would  not  tell  any  one  else 
what  she  foretold,  but  that  she  should  incur  no  danger.  As  soon  as  he  had  in- 
duced  her  by  this  oath  to  fear  no  harm,  he  bid  her  bring  up  to  him  the  soul  of 
Samuel.  She  not  knowing  who  Samuel  was,  called  him  out  of  Hades.  When 
he  appeared,  and  the  woman  saw  one  that  was  venerable,  and  of  a  divine  form, 
she  was  in  disorder ;  and  being  astonished  at  the  sight,  she  said,  "  Art  not  thou 
king  Saul  ?"  for  Samuel  had  informed  her  who  he  was.  When  he  had  owned 
that  to  be  true,  and  had  asked  her  whence  her  disorder  arose  ?  she  said,  that 
"  she  saw  a  certain  person  ascend,  who  in  his  form  was  like  to  a  god."  And 
when  he  bid  her  tell  him  what  he  resembled,  in  what  habit  he  appeared,  and  of 
what  age  he  was  ;  she  told  him,  "  He  was  an  old  man  already,  and  of  a  glorious 
personage,  and  had  on  a  sacerdotal  mantle."  So  the  king  discovered  by  these 
signs  that  he  was  Samuel ;  and  he  fell  down  upon  the  ground,  and  saluted,  and 
worshiped  him.  And  when  the  soul  of  Samuel  asked  him,  why  he  had  disturbed 
him,  and  caused  him  to  be  brought  up  ?  he  lamented  the  necessity  he  was  under ; 
for  he  said,  "  That  his  enemies  pressed  heavily  upon  him ;  that  he  was  in  dis- 
tress  what  to  do  in  his  present  circumstances  ;  that  he  was  forsaken  of  God,  and 
could  [obtain  no  prediction  of  what  was  coming,  neither  by  prophets  nor  by 
dreams ;  and  that  these  were  the  reasons  why  I  have  recourse  to  thee,  who  al- 
ways tookst  care  of  me."  But*  Samuel,  seeing  that  the  end  of  Saul's  life  was 
come,  said,  "  It  is  in  vain  for  thee  to  desire  to  learn  of  me  any  thing  farther, 
when  God  hath  forsaken  thee  ;  however,  hear  what  I  say,  that  David  is  to  be 
king,  and  to  finish  this  war  with  good  success  ;  and  thou  art  to  lose  thy  domi- 
nion  and  thy  life,  because  thou  didst  not  obey  God  in  the  Avar  with  the  Amaie- 
kites,  and  hast  not  kept  his  commandments,  as  I  foretold  to  thee  while  I  was  alive. 
Know,  therefore,  that  the  people  shall  be  made  subject  to  their  enemies,  and  that 
thou,  with  thy  sons,  shall  fall  in  the  battle  to-morrow,  and  thou  shalt  then  bo  with 
me  [in  Hades."] 

3.  When  Saul  had  heard  this  he  could  not  speak  for  grief,  and  fell  down  on 
the  floor ;  whether  it  were  from  the  sorrow  that  arose  upon  what  Samuel  iiad 
said,  or  from  his  emptiness,  for  he  had  taken  no  food  the  foregoing  day  nor  night, 
he  easily  fell  quite  down.  And  when  with  difiiculty  he  had  recovered  himself, 
the  woman  would  force  him  to  eat,  begging  this  of  him  as  a  favour,  on  account 

*  This  history  of  Saul's  consultation,  not  with  a  witch,  as  we  render  thellebrew  word  here,  but  with 
a  necromancer,  as  the  whole  history  shows,  is  easily  understood,  especially  if  we  consult  tlie  reco;;iii(ion3 
of  Clement,  B.  i.  chap.  v.  at  large,  and  more  briefly,  and  nearer  the  days  of  Samuel,  Pxclus.  xlvi.  20. 
•'  Samuel  prophesied  after  his  death,  and  showed  the  king  his  end,  and  lift  up  his  voice  from  the  earth  in 
prophecy,"  to  blot  out  "  the  wickedness  of  the  people."  Nor  docs  the  exactness  of  the  accomplishment 
of  this  prediction,  the  very  next  day,  permit  us  to  suppose  any  imposition  upon  Saul  in  the  present  his- 
tory ;  for  as  to  all  modern  hypotheses  against  the  natural  sense  of  such  ancient  and  authentic  histories, 
I  take  tliem  to  be  of  very  small  value  or  consideration. 


214  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  E.  VL 

of  her  concern  in  that  dangerous  instance  of  fortuneteUing,  which  it  was  not  lav/- 
ful  for  her  to  have  done,  because  of  the  fear  she  was  under  of  the  king  while  she 
knew  not  who  he  was,  yet  did  she  undertake  it  and  go  through  with  ;  on  Avhich 
account  slie  entreated  him  to  admit  that  a  table  and  food  might  be  set  before  him, 
that  he  might  recollect  his  strength,  and  so  get  safe  to  his  own  camp.  And  when 
he  opposed  her  motion,  and  entirely  rejected  it,  by  reason  of  his  anxiety,  she 
forced,  and  at  last  persuaded  him  to  it.  Now  she  had  one  calf  that  she  was  very 
fond  of,  and  one  that  she  took  a  great  deal  of  care  of,  and  fed  it  herself,  for  she 
Avas  a  woman  that  got  her  living  by  the  labour  of  her  own  hands,  and  had  no  other 
possession  but  that  one  calf;  this  she  killed,  and  made  ready  its  flesh,  and  set  it 
before  his  servants  and  himself.  So  Saul  came  to  the  camp  while  it  was  yei 
night. 

4.  Now  it  is  but  just  to  recommend  the  generosity  of  this  woman,*  because 
when  the  king  had  forbidden  her  to  use  that  art  whence  her  circumstances  were 
bettered  and  improved,  and  when  she  had  never  seen  the  king  before,  she  still 
did  not  remember  to  his  disadvantage  that  he  had  condemned  her  sort  of  learn- 
ing, and  did  not  refuse  him  as  a  stranger,  and  one  that  she  had  no  acquaintance 
with ;  but  she  had  compassion  upon  him,  and  comforted  him,  and  exhorted  him 
to  do  what  he  was  greatly  averse  to,  and  offered  him  the  only  creature  she  had  as 
a  poor  woman,  and  that  earnestly,  and  with  great  humanity,  while  she  had  no  re- 
quital made  her  for  her  kindness,  nor  hunted  after  any  future  favour  from  him,  for 
she  knew  he  was  to  die  ;  whereas  men  are  naturally  either  ambitious  to  please 
those  that  bestow  benefits  upon  them,  or  are  very  ready  to  serve  those  from  whom 
they  may  receive  some  advantage.  It  would  be  well  therefore  to  imitate  the  ex- 
ample of  this  woman,  and  to  do  kindness  to  all  such  as  are  in  want ;  and  to  think 
that  nothing  is  better,  nor  more  becoming  mankind,  than  such  a  general  benefi- 
cence, nor  what  will  sooner  render  God  favourable  and  ready  to  bestow  good 
things  upon  us.  And  so  far  may  suffice  to  have  spoken  concerning  this  woman. 
But  I  shall  speak  farther  upon  another  subject;  which  will  afford  me  the  opportu- 
nity of  discoursing  on  what  is  for  the  advantage  of  cities  and  people,  and  nations, 
and  suited  to  the  taste  of  good  men,  and  will  encourage  them  all  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  virtue,  and  is  capable  of  showing  them  the  method  of  acquiring  glory  and 
an  everlasting  fame  ;  and  of  imprinting  in  the  kings  of  nations,  and  the  rulers  of 
cities,  great  inclination  and  diligence  of  doing  well ;  as  also  of  encouraging 
them  to  undergo  dangers  and  to  die  for  their  countries,  and  of  instructing  them 
how  to  despise  all  the  most  terrible  adversities ;  and  I  have  a  fair  occasion  offered 
me  to  enter  on  such  a  discourse  by  Saul  the  king  of  the  Hebrews ;  for  although 
he  knew  what  was  coming  upon  him,  and  that  he  was  to  die  immediately  by  the 
prediction  of  the  prophet,  he  did  not  resolve  to  fly  from  death,  nor  so  far  to  in- 
dulge the  love  of  life  as  to  beferay  his  own  people  to  the  enemy  or  to  bring  a  dis- 
grace  on  his  royal  dignity ;  but  exposing  himself,  as  well  as  all  his  family  and 
children,  to  dangers,  he  thought  it  a  brave  thing  to  fall  together  with  them,  as  he 
was  fighting  for  his  subjects ;  and  that  it  was  better  his  sons  should  die  thus, 
showing  their  courage,  than  to  leave  them  to  their  uncertain  conduct  afterward, 
while,  instead  of  succession  and  posterity,  they  gained  a  commendation  and  a  las- 
ting name.  Such  a  one  alone  seems  to  me  to  be  a  just,  a  courageous,  and  a  prudent 
man ;  and  when  any  one  has  arrived  at  these  dispositions,  or  shall  hereafter  ar- 
rive at  them,  he  is  the  man  who  ought  to  be  honoured  by  all  with  the  testmiony  of  a 
virtuous  or  courageous  man ;  for  as  to  those  that  go  out  to  war  with  hopes  of  suc- 
cess, and  that  they  shall  return  safe,  supposing  they  should  have  performed  some 
glorious  action,  I  think  those  do  not  do  well  who  call  these  valiant  men,  as  so  many 

*  These  great  commcndatJonsof  this  necromantic  woman  of  Endor,  and  of  Saul's  martial  courage, 
when  yet  he  knew  he  sliould  die  in  the  battle,  are  somewhat  unusual  digressions  in  Jo&ei)hus.  They  seem 
to  me  extracted  from  some  speeches  or  declamation  of  his,  composed  formerly  in  the  way  of  oratory, 
that  lay  by  him,  and  which  he  thought  fit  to  insert  upon  this  occasion.  See  before  on  Antiq.  B.  iL  ch.  vi- 
sed. 8. 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  215 

historians  and  other  writers  wr:o  treat  ot  tnem  are  wont  to  do,  although  I  confess 
those  do  justly  deserve  some  commendation  also ;  but  those  only  may  be  styled 
courageous  and  bold  in  great  undertakings,  and  despisers  of  adversities,  who  imi- 
tate  Saul;  for  as  for  those  that  do  not  know  what  the  event  of  war  will  be  as  to 
themselves,  and  though  they  do  not  faint  in  it,  but  deliver  themselves  up  to  un- 
certain futurity,  and  are  tossed  this  way  and  that  way,  this  is  not  so  very  emi- 
nent  an  instance  of  a  generous  mind,  although  they  happen  to  perform  many 
great  exploits  ;  but  when  men's  minds  expect  no  good  event,  but  they  know  be- 
forehand  they  must  die,  and  that  they  must  undergo  that  death  in  the  battle  also, 
after  this  neither  to  be  affrighted  nor  to  be  astonished  at  the  terrible  fate  that 
is  coming,  but  to  go  directly  upon  it,  when  they  know  beforehand,  this  it  is  that  I 
esteem  the  character  of  a  man  truly  courageous.  Accordingly  this  Saul  did,  and 
'hereby  demonstrated  that  all  men  who  desire  fame  after  they  are  dead  are  so  to 
act  as  they  may  obtain  the  same.  This  especially  concerns  kings,  who  ouf^ht 
not  to  tiiink  it  enough  in  their  high  station,  that  they  are  not  wicked  in  the  go- 
vernment of  their  subjects,  but  to  be  no  more  than  moderately  good  to  them. 
I  could  say  more  than  this  about  Saul,  and  his  courage,  the  subject  affording 
matter  feifucient,  but  that  I  may  not  appear  to  run  out  improperly  in  his  com- 
mendation, I  return  again  to  that  history  from  which  I  made  this  digression. 

5.  Now  when  the  Philistines,  as  I  said  betore,  had  pitched  their  camp,  and  had 
taken  an  accouat  of  their  forces,  accoi'ding  to  their  nations,  and  kingdoms,  and 
governments,  king  Achish  came  last  of  all  with  his  own  army  ;  after  whom  came 
David  with  his  six  hundred  armed  men.  And  when  the  commanders  of  the  Philis- 
tines saw  him,  they  asked  the  king  whence  these  Hebrews  came,  and  at  whose 
invitation.  He  answered, that  "it  was  David,  who  was  fled  away  from  his  master 
Saul,  and  that  he  had  entertained  him  when  he  came  to  him,  and  that  now  he 
was  willing  to  make  him  this  requital  for  his  favours,  and  to  avenge  himself  upon 
Saul,  and  so  was  become  his  confederate."  The  commanders  complained  of 
this,  that  he  had  taken  him  for  a  confederate  who  was  an  enemy,  and  gave  him 
counsel  to  send  him  away,  lest  he  should  unawares  do  his  friends  a  great  deal  of 
mischief  by  entertaining  him  ;  for  that  he  afforded  him  an  opporttmity  of  being 
reconciled  to  his  master,  by  doing  mischief  to  our  army.  They  thereupon  de- 
sired him,  out  of  a  prudent  foresight  of  this,  to  send  him  away  with  his  four  hun- 
dred armed  men,  to  the  place  he  had  given  him  for  his  habitation  ;  for  that  this 
was  that  David  whom  the  virgins  celebrated  in  their  hymns,  as  having  destroyed 
many  ten  thousands  of  the  Philistines.  When  the  king  of  Gath  heard  this,  he 
thought  they  spake  well ;  so  he  called  David,  and  said  to  him,  "  As  for  myself  I 
can  bear  witness  that  thou  hast  shown  great  diligence  and  kindness  about  me, 
and  on  that  account  it  was  that  I  took  thee  for  my  confederate ;  however  what  I 
have  done,  does  not  please  the  commanders  of  the  Philistines:  go  therefore  with- 
in a  day's  time  to  the  place  I  have  given  thee,  witliout  suspecting  any  harm,  and 
there  keep  my  country,  lest  any  of  our  enemies  should  make  an  incursion  upon 
if,  which  will  be  one  part  of  that  assistance  which  I  clxpect  from  thee."  So  Da- 
vid came  to  Ziklag,  as  the  king  of  Gatli  bade  him  ;  but  it  happened,  that  while  he 
was  gone  to  the  assistance  of  the  Philistines,  the  Amalekites  had  made  an  iticur- 
sion,  and  taken  Ziklag  before,  and  had  burned  it ;  and  when  they  had  taken  a 
great  deal  of  other  prey  out  of  that  place,  and  out  of  the  other  parts  of  the  Philis- 
tines country,  they  departed. 

6.  Now  when  David  found  that  Ziklag  was  laid  waste,  and  that  it  was  all 
spoiled,  and  that  as  well  his  own  wives,  which  were  two,  as  the  wives  of  his  com- 
panions, with  their  cliildren,  were  made  captives,  he  presently  rent  his  clothes, 
weeping  and  lamenting,  together  with  his  friends  ;  and  indeed  he  was  so  cast 
down  with  these  misfortunes  that  at  length  tears  themselves  failed  him.  He  was 
also  in  danger  of  being  stoned  to.  death  by  his  companions,  who  were  greatly 
alfficted  at  the  captivity  of  their  wives  and  children,  for  they  laid  the  blame  upon 
him  of  what  had  happened.      But  when  he  had  recovered  liimself  out  of  his 


215  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VI. 

grief,  and  had  raised  up  his  mind  to  God,  he  desired  the  high  priest  Abiathar  to 
put  on  his  sacerdotal  garments,  and  to  inquire  of  God,  and  to  prophesy  to  him, 
"  Whether  God  would  grant,  that  if  he  pursued  after  the  Amalekites,  he  should 
overtake  them,  and  save  their  wives  and  their  children,  and  avenge  himself  on 
the  enemies."  And  when  the  high  priest  bid  him  to  pursue  after  them,  he 
marched  apace  with  his  four  hundred  men,  after  the  enemy  ;  and  when  he  was 
come  to  a  certain  brook  called  Besor,  and  had  lighted  upon  one  that  was  wander- 
ing about,  an  Egyptian  by  birth,  who  was  almost  dead  with  want  and  famine 
(fdr  he  had  continued  wandering  about  without  food  in  the  wilderness  three 
days),  he  first  of  all  gave  him  sustenance,  both  meat  and  drink,  and  thereby  re- 
freshed  him.  He  then  asked  him  to  whom  he  belonged,  and  whence  he  came  ; 
whereupon  the  man  told  him  he  Was  an  Egyptian  by  birth,  and  was  left  behind 
by  his  master,  because  he  was  so  sick  and  weak  that  he  could  not  follow  him. 
He  also  informed  him  that  he  was  one  of  those  who  had  burned  and  plundered 
not  only  other  parts  of  Judea,  but  Ziklag  itself  also.  So  David  made  use  of 
him  as  a  guide  to  find  out  the  Amalekites :  and  when  he  had  overtaken  them  as 
they  lay  scattered  about  on  the  ground,  some  at  dinner,  some  disordered,  and 
entirely  drunk  with  wine,  and  in  the  fruition  of  their  spoils  and  their  prey,  he 
fell  upon  them  on  the  sudden,  and  made  a  great  slaughter  among  them,  for  they 
were  naked,  and  expected  no  such  thing,  but  had  betaken  themselves  to  drinking 
and  feasting,  and  so  they  were  all  easily  destroyed.  Now  some  of  them  that 
were  overtaken  as  they  lay  at  the  table,  were  slain  in  that  posture,  and  their 
blood  brought  up  with  it  their  meat  and  their  drink.  They  slew  others  of  them 
as  they  were  drinking  to  one  another  in  their  cups,  and  some  of  them  when  their 
full  bellies  had  made  them  fall  asleep ;  and  for  so  many  as  had  time  to  put  on 
all  their  armour,  they  slew  them  with  the  sword,  with  no  less  ease  than  they  did 
those  that  were  naked ;  and  for  the  partisans  of  David,  they  continued  also  the 
slaughter  from  the  first  hour  of  the  day  to  the  evening,  so  that  there  were  not 
above  four  hundred  of  the  Amalekites  left,  and  they  only  escaped  by  getting 
upon  their  dromedaries  and  camels.  Accordingly  David  recovered  not  only  all 
tlie  other  spoils  Avhich  the  enemy  had  carried  away,  but  his  wives  also,  and  the 
wives  of  his  companions.  But  when  they  were  come  to  the  place  where  they  had 
left;  two  hundred  men,  which  were  not  able  to  follow  them,  but  were  left  to  take 
care  of  the  stufi",  the  four  hundred  men  did  not  think  fit  to  divide  amollg  them 
any  other  parts  of  what  they  had  gotten,  or  of  the  prey,  since  they  did  not  ac- 
company them,  but  pretended  to  be  feeble,  and  did  not  follow  them  in  pursuit  of 
the  enemy,  but  said,  they  should  be  contented  to  have  safely  recovered  their 
wives ;  yet  did  David  pronounce,  that  this  opinion  of  theirs  was  evil  and  unjust, 
and  that  when  God  had  granted  them  such  a  favour,  that  they  had  avenged 
themselves  on  their  enemies,  and  had  recovered  all  that  belonged  to  themselves, 
they  should  make  an  equal  distribution  of  what  they  had  gotten  to  all,  because 
the  rest  had  tarried  behind  to  guard  their  stuff;  and  from  that  time  this  law  ob- 
tained among  them,  that  those  who  guarded  the  stuff  should  receive  an  equal 
pliare  with  those  that  had  fought  in  the  battle.  Now  when  David  was  come  to 
Ziklag  he  sent  portions  of  the  spoil  to  all  that  had  been  familiar  with  him,  and  to 
his  friends  in  the  tribe  of  Judah.  And  thus  ended  the  afiairs  of  the  plundering 
of  Ziklag,  and  of  the  slaughter  of  the  Amalekites. 

7.  Now  upon  the  Philistines  joining  battle,  there  followed  a  sharp  engage- 
mcnt,  and  the  Philistines  became  the  conquerors,  and  slew  a  great  number  of 
their  enemies ;  but  Saul  the  king  of  Israel,  and  his  sons,  fought  courageously, 
and  with  the  utmost  alacrity,  as  knowing  that  their  entire  glory  lay  in  nothing 
else  but  dying  honourably,  and  exposing  themselves  to  the  utmost  danger  from 
the  enemy  (for  they  had  nothing  else  to  hope  for),  so  they  brought  upon  them- 
selves  the  whole  power  of  the  enemy  till  they  were  encompassed  round,  and 
slain,  but  not  before  they  had  killed  many  of  the  Philistines.  Now  the  sons  of 
Saul  were  Jonathan,  and  Abinadab,  and  Malchisua ;  and  when  these  were  slain, 


C.  XrV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


217 


the  multitude  of  the  Hebrews  were  put  to  flight,  and  all  was  disorder,  and  confu. 
sion,  and  slaughter,  upon  the  Philistines  pressing  in  upon  them.  But  Saul  him. 
self  fled,  having  a  strong  body  of  soldiers  about  him  ;  and  upon  the  Piuhstuics 
sending  after  them  those  that  threw  javelins  and  sliot  arrows,  he  lost  all  his 
company  except  a  few ;  as  for  himself  he  fought  with  great  bravery,  and  when 
he  had  received  so  many  wounds  that  he  was  not  able  to  bear  up  nor  to  oppose 
any  longer,  and  yet  was  not  able  to  kill  himself,  he  bid  his  armour-bearer 
draw  his  sword,  and  run  him  through,  before  the  enemy  should  take  him 
alive.  But  his  armour-bearer  not  daring  to  kill  his  master,  he  drew  his 
own  sword,  and  placing  himself  over  against  its  point,  he  threw  himself  upon 
it,  and  when  he  could  neitlier  run  it  tlirough  him,  nor,  by  leaning  against  it,  make 
the  sword  pass  through  him,  he  turned  him  round,  and  asked  a  certain  young  man 
that  stood  by,  who  he  was  1  and  when  he  understood  that  he  was  an  Amalekite, 
he  desired  him  to  force  the  sword  through  him,  because  he  was  not  able  to  do  it 
with  his  own  hands,  and  thereby  to  procure  him  such  a  death  as  he  desired. 
This  the  young  man  did  accordingly ;  and  he  took  the  golden  bracelet  that  was 
on  Saul's  arm,  and  his  royal  crown  that  was  on  his  head,  and  ran  away.  And 
when  Saul's  armour-bearer  saw  that  he  was  slain,  he  killed  himself;  nor  did  any 
of  the  king's  guards  escape,  but  they  all  fell  upon  the  mountain  called  Gilhoa. 
But  when  those  Hebrews  that  dwelt  in  the  valley  beyond  Jordan,  and  those  who 
had  their  cities  in  the  plain,  heard  that  Saul  and  his  sons  were  fallen,  and  that 
the  multitude  about  them  were  destroyed,  they  left  their  own  cities,  and  fled  to 
such  as  were  the  best  fortified  and  fenced  ;  and  the  Philistines  finding  those  ci- 
ties deserted,  came  and  dwelt  in  them. 

8.  On  the  next  day,  when  the  Philistines  came  to  strip  their  enemies  thatAvere 
slain,  they  got  the  bodies  of  Saul  and  of  his  sons,  and  stripped  them,  and  cut  off" 
their  heads ;  and  they  sent  messengers  all  about  their  country,  to  acquaint  them 
that  their  enemies  were  fallen  ;  and  they  dedicated  their  armour  in  the  temple  of 
Astarte,  but  hung  their  bodies  on  crosses  at  the  walls  of  the  city  Bethslian,  which 
is  now  called  Scylhopolis.  But  when  the  inhabitants  of  Jabesh  Gilead  heard  tiiat 
they  had  dismembered  the  dead  bodies  of  Saul  and  of  his  sons,  they  deemed  it 
so  horrid  a  thing  to  overlook  this  barbarity,  and  to  suffer  tliem  to  be  without 
funeral  rites,  that  the  most  courageous  and  hardy  among  them  (and  indeed  that 
city  had  in  it  men  that  were  very  stout  both  in  body  and  mind)  journeyed  all 
night,  and  came  to  Bethshan,  and  approached  to  the  enemy's  wall,  and  taking 
down  the  bodies  of  Saul  and  of  his  sons,  they  carried  them  to  Jabesh,  while  the 
enemy  were  not  able  enough  nor  bold  enough  to  hinder  them,  because  of  their 
great  courage.  So  the  people  of  Jabesh  wept  all  in  general,  and  buried  their 
bodies  in  the  best  place  of  their  country  which  was  named  Aroiira ;  and  they 
observed  a  public  mourning  for  them  seven  days,  with  their  wives  and  children, 
beating  their  breasts,  and  lamenting  the  king  and  his  sons,  without  tasting*  either 
meat  or  drink  [till  the  evening]. 

9.  To  this  his  end  did  Saul  come,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  Samuel,  be- 
cause he  disobeyed  the  commands  of  God  about  the  Amalekites,  and  on  the  ac- 
count of  his  destroying  the  family  of  Ahimelech  the  high  priest,  with  Ahimelech 
himself,  and  the  city  of  the  high  priests.  Now  Saul  when  he  had  reigned  eigh- 
teen years,  while  Samuel  was  alive,  and  after  his  death  two  [and  twenty,]  ended 
his  life  in  this  manner. 

*  This  way  of  speaking  in  .Io=ephus,  of  fasting  seven  davs  witliout  meat  or  drink,  is  almost  like  that 
of  St.  Paul's,  Acts,  xxvii.  33.  "  Tliis  day  is  the  fourteenth  day  tliat  ye  have  tarried  and  continued  fast- 
ing, having  taken  nothing  ;"  and  as  the  nature  of  the  thing,  and  the  impossihility  of  strictly  fasting  so 
long,  require  us  here  to  understand  both  Josephus  and  the  sacred  author  of  this  history,  1  Sam.  xx.\i. 
13,  from  whom  he  took  it,  of  only  fasting  till  the  evening  ;  so  must  we  understand  St.  Paul,  either  that 
this  was  reallv  the  fourteenth  dav  of  their  tempestuous  weather  in  the  Adriatic  Sea,  as  ver.  27,  and  that 
on  this  fourteenth  day  alone  thev  had  continued  fasting,  and  had  taken  nolliing  l)elore  the  evening.  1  he 
mention  of  their  long  abstinence,  ver.  21,  inclines  me  to  believe  the  former  explication  to  be  the  truth, 
and  that  the  case  was  then  for  afortnight  what  it  was  here  for  atweA,  that  they  kept  all  those  days  en- 
tirely as  fasts  till  the  evening,  but  not  longer.  See  Judg.  xx.  26  ;  xxi.  2  ;  1  Sam.  i.  24 ;  2  Sam.  i.  12; 
Antiq.  b.  vii.  chap.  vii.  sect.  4. 

VOL.  I.  2E  ' 


218  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS 


BOOK  VII. 


CONTAINING  THE  INTERVAL  OF  FORTY  YEARS. 
FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  SAUL  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  DAVID. 


CHAP.  I 

How  David  reigned  over  one  Tribe  at  Hebron,  while  the  Son  of  Said  reigned  over 

ike  Rest  of  the  Multitude ;  and  how,  in  the  Civil  War  which  then  arose, 

Asahel  and  Abner  were  slain. 

§  1.  This  fight  proved  to  be  on  the  same  day  whereon  David  was  come  back  to 
Ziklag  after  he  had  overcome  the  Amalekites.  Now  when  he  had  been  ah'eady 
two  days  at  Ziklag,  there  came  to  him  the  man  who  slew  Saul,  which  was  the 
third  day  after  the  fight.  He  had  escaped  out  of  the  battle  which  the  Israelites 
had  with  the  Philistines,  and  had  his  clothes  rent,  and  ashes  upon  his  head.  And 
when  he  made  his  obeisance  to  David,  he  inquired  of  him  whence  he  came  ? 
He  replied  from  the  battle  of  the  Israelites ;  and  he  informed  him  that  the  end 
of  it  was  unfortunate,  many  ten  thousands  of  the  Israelites  having  been  cut  off, 
and  Saul,  together  with  his  sons,  slain.  He  also  said,  that  he  could  well  give 
him  this  information,  because  he  was  present  at  the  victory  gained  over  the 
Hebrews,  and  was  with  the  king  when  he  fled  :  nor  did  he  deny  that  he  had 
himself  slain  the  king,  when  he  was  ready  to  be  taken  by  the  enemy,  and  he 
himself  exhorted  him  to  do  it,  because,  when  he  was  fallen  on  his  sword,  his 
great  wounds  had  made  him  so  weak  that  he  was  not  able  to  kill  himself.  He 
also  produced  demonstrations  that  the  king  was  slain,  which  were  the  golden 
bracelets  that  had  been  on  the  king's  arms,  and  his  crown,  which  he  had  taken 
away  from  Saul's  dead  body,  and  had  brought  them  to  him.  So  David,  having 
no  longer  any  room  to  call  in  question  the  truth  of  what  he  said,  but  seeing  most 
evident  marks  that  Saul  was  dead,  he  rent  his  garment,  and  continued  all  that  day 
with  his  companions,  in  weeping  and  lamentation.  This  grief  was  augmented  by 
the  consideration  of  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Saul,  who  had  been  his  most  faithful 
friend,  and  the  occasion  of  his  own  deliverance.  He  also  demonstrated  himself 
to  have  such  great  virtue,  and  such  great  kindness  for  Saul,  as  not  only  to  take 
his  death  to  heart,  though  he  had  been  frequently  in  danger  of  losing  his  life  by 
his  means,  but  to  punish  him  that  slew  him  ;  for  when  David  had  said  to  him,  that 
he  was  become  his  own  accuser,  as  the  very  man  who  had  slain  the  king,  and 
when  he  had  understood  that  he  was  the  son  of  an  Amalekite,  he  commanded 
him  to  be  slain.  He  also  committed  to  writing  some  lamentations  and  funeral 
commendations  of  Saul  and  Jonathan,  which  have  continued  to  my  own  age. 

2.  Now  when  David  had  paid  these  honours  to  the  king,  he  left  off'  his  mourn- 
ing and  inquired  of  God  by  the  prophet,  which  of  the  cities  of  the  tribe  called 
the  tribe  of  Judah  he  would  bestow  upon  him  to  dwell  in  ?  Who  answered,  that 
he  bestowed  upon  him  Hebron.  So  he  left  Ziklag  and  came  to  Hebron,  and  took 
with  him  his  wives,  which  were  in  number  two,  and  his  armed  men  ;  whereupon 
all  the  people  of  the  fore-mentioned  tribe  came  to  him,  and  ordained  him  their 
king.  But  when  he  heard  that  the  inhabitants  of  Jabesh  Gilead  had  buried  Saul 
and  his  sons  [honourably,]  he  sent  to  them,  and  commended  them,  and  took  what 
they  had  done  kindly,  and  promised  to  make  them  amends  for  tkeir  care  of  those 


C.  r.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


219 


that  were  dead ;  and  at  the  same  time  he  mformcd  them,  that  the  tribe  of  Judali 
had  chosen  him  for  their  king. 

3.  But  as  soon  as  Abner,  the  son  of  Ner,  who  was  general  of  Saul's  army,  and 
a  very  active  man,  and  good  natured,  knew  thai  the  king  and  Jonathan,  and  his 
two  other  sons  were  fallen  in  the  battle,  he  made  haste  into  the  camp  ;  and  takino- 
away  with  him  the  remaining  son  of  Saul,  whose  name  was  Ishbosheth,  he  pas^ 
sed  over  to  the  land  beyond  Jordan,  and  ordained  him  the  king  of  the  whole 
multitude,  excepting  the  tribe  of  Judah  ;  and  made  his  royal  seat  in  a  place  called 
in  o-ur  own  language  3Iahanaim,  but  in  the  language  of  the  Grecians,  The  Camps. 
From  whence  Abnor  made  haste,  with  a  select  body  of  soldiers,  to  fifht  with 
such  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  as  were  disposed  to  it,  for  he  was  angry  that  this  tribe 
had  set  up  David  for  their  king.  But  Joab,  whose  father  was  Suri,  and  his  mo- 
ther Zeruiah,  David's  sister,  who  was  general  of  David's  army,  met  him,  accor- 
ding to  David's  appointment.  He  had  with  him  his  brethren  Abishai  and  Asahel, 
as  also  all  David's  armed  men.  Now  when  he  met  Abner  at  a  certain  fountain, 
in  the  city  Gibeon,  he  prepared  to  fight.  And  when  Abner  said  to  him,  that  he 
had  a  mind  to  know  which  of  them  had  the  more  valiant  soldiers  ?  it  was  agreed 
between  them,  that  twelve  soldiers  of  each  side  should  fight  together.  So  those 
that  were  chosen  out  by  both  the  generals  for  this  fight  came  between  the  two 
armies,  and  throwing  their  lances  one  against  the  other,  they  drew  their  swords, 
and  catching  one  another  by  the  head,  tiiey  held  one  another  fast,  and  ran  each 
other's  swords  into  their  sides  and  groins,  until  they  all,  as  it  were  by  mutual 
agreement  perished  together.  When  these  were  fallen  down  dead,  the  rest  of 
the  army  came  to  a  sore  battle,  and  Abner's  men  were  beaten  ;  and  when  they 
were  beaten  Joab  did  not  leave  off" pursuing  them,  but  he  pressed  upon  them,  and 
excited  the  soldiers  to  follow  them  close,  and  not  to  grow  weary  of  killing  them. 
His  brethren  also  pursued  them  with  great  alacrity,  and  especially  the  younger 
Asahel,  who  was  the  most  eminent  of  them.  He  was  very  famous  for  his  swift- 
ness of  foot,  for  he  could  not  only  be  too  hard  for  men,  but  is  reported  to  have 
overrun  a  horse,  when  they  had  a  race  together.  This  Asahel  ran  violently  af- 
ter Abner,  and  would  not  turn  in  the  least  out  of  the  straight  way,  cither  to  the 
one  side  or  to  the  other.  Hereupon  Abner  turned  back,  and  attempted  artfully 
to  avoid  his  violence.  Sometimes  he  bade  him  leave  off" the  pursuit,  and  take  the 
armour  of  one  of  his  soldiers  ;  and  sometimes,  when  he  could  not  persuade  him 
so  to  do,  he  exhorted  him  to  restrain  himself,  and  not  to  pursue  him  any  longer, 
lest  he  should  force  him  to  kill  him,  and  he  should  then  not  be  able  to  look  his 
brother  in  the  face.  But  when  Asahel  would  not  admit  of  any  persuasions,  but 
still  continued  to  pursue  him,  Abner  smote  him  with  his  spear,  as  he  held  it  in 
his  flight,  and  that  by  a  back-stroke,  and  gave  him  a  deadly  wound,  so  that  ho 
died  immediately  ;  but  those  that  were  with  him  pursuing  Abner,  when  they 
came  to  the  place  where  Asahel  lay,  they  stood  round  about  the  dead  body,  and 
left  off*  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy.  However  both  Joab*  himself  and  liis  brother 
Abishai  ran  past  the  dead  corpse,  and  making  their  anger  at  the  dcatli  of  Asahel 
an  occasion  of  greater  zeal  against  Abner,  they  went  on  with  incredible  haste 
and  alacrity,  and  pursued  Abner  to  a  certain  place  called  Ammah ;  it  was  about 
sunset.  Then  did  Joab  ascend  a  certain  hill,  as  he  stood  at  that  place,  having 
the  tribe  of  Beniamin  with  him,  whence  he  took  a  view  of  them  and  of  Abner 
-also.  Hereupon  Abner  cried  aloud,  and  said,  "That  it  was  not  lit  that  they 
should  irritate  men  of  the  same  nation  to  fight  so  bitterly  one  against  another ; 
that  as  for  Asahel  his  brother,  he  was  himself  in  the  wrong,  when  he  would  not 
be  advised  by  him  not  to  pursue  him  any  farther,  which  was  the  occasion  of  his 
wounding  and  death."  So  Joab  consented  to  what  he  said,  and  accepted  these 
his  words  as  an  excuse  [about  Asahel,]  and  called  the  soldiers  back  with  the  sound 

*It  ouRht  here  to  be  noted,  that  Joab  and  Abisliai,  and  Asahel,  were  all  three  David's  nephews,  the 
sons  of  hts  sister  Zeruiah,  as  I  Chroii.ii;  16;  and  that  Amasa  was  also  his  nephew  by  his  other  sister 
Abigail,  ver.  17. 
2E2 


220  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VII. 

of  the  trumpet,  as  a  signal  for  their  retreat,  and  thereby  put  a  stop  to  any  farther 
pursuit.  After  which  Joab  pitched  his  camp  there  that  night?  but  Abner  march 
ed  all  that  night,  and  passed  over  the  river  Jordan,  arid  came  to  Ishbosheth, 
Saul's  son,  to  Mahanaim.  On  the  next  day  Joab  counted  the  dead  men,  and  took 
care  of  all  their  funerals.  Now  there  were  slain  of  Abner's  soldiers  about  three 
hundred  and  sixty,  but  of  those  of  David  nineteen,  and  Asahel,  whose  body  Joab 
and  Abishai  carried  to  Bethlehem;  and  when  they  had  buried  him  in  the  sepul- 
chre  of  their  fathers,  they  came  to  David  to  Hebron.  From  this  time  thereibre 
there  began  an  intestine  war,  which  lasted  a  great  while,  in  which  the  followers 
of  David  grew  stronger  in  the  dangers  they  underwent,  and  the  servants  and 
subjects  of  Saul's  sons  did  almost  every  day  become  weaker. 

4.  About  this  time  David  was  become  the  father  of  six  sons,  born  of  as  many 
mothers.  The  eldest  was  by  Abinoam,  and  he  was  called  Amnon  ;  the  second 
was  Daniel,  by  his  wife  Abigail ;  the  name  of  the  third  was  Ahsalom,  by  Maachah, 
the  daughter  of  Talmai,  king  of  Geshur ;  the  fourth  he  named  Adonijah,  by  his 
wife  Haggith  ;  the  fifth  was  Shephatiah,  by  Abitail ;  the  sixth  he  called  Ithream, 
by  Eglah.  Now  while  this  intestine  war  went  on,  and  while  the  subjects  of  the 
two  kings  came  frequently  to  action  and  to  fighting,  it  was  Abner  the  general  of 
the  host  of  Saul's  son,  who,  by  his  prudence  and  the  great  interest  he  had  among 
the  multitude,  made  them  all  continue  with  Ishbosheth  ;  and  indeed  it  was  a  con- 
siderable time  that  they,  continued  of  his  party  ;  but  afterwards  Abner  was  bla- 
med, and  an  accusation  was  laid  against  him,  that  he  went  in  unto  Saul's  concu- 
bine ;  her  name  was  Rispah,  the  daughter  of  Aiah.  So  when  he  was  complained 
of  by  Ishbosheth,  he  was  very  uneasy  and  angry  at  it,  because  he  had  not  jus- 
tice done  him  by  Ishbosheth,  to  whom  he  had  shown  the  greatest  kindness; 
•whereupon  he  threatened  that  he  would  transferthe  kingdom  to  David,  and  de- 
monstrate that  he  did  not  rule  over  the  people  beyond  Jordan  by  his  own  abili- 
ties and  wisdom,  but  by  his  warlike  conduct  and  fidelity,  in  leading  his  army.  So 
he  sent  ambassadors  to  Hebron  to  David,  and  desired  that  he  would  give  him  se- 
curity upon  oath,  that  he  would  esteem  him  his  companion  and  his  friend,  upon 
Condition  that  he  should  persuade  the  people  to  leave  Saul's  son,  and  to  choose 
him  king  of  the  whole  country.  And  when  David  had  made  that  league  with 
Abner,  for  he  was  pleased  with  his  message  to  him,  he  desired  that  he  would 
give  this  as  the  first  mark  of  performance  of  the  present  league,  that  he  might 
have  his  Avife  Michal  restored  to  him,  as  her  whom  he  had  purchased  with  great 
hazards,  and  with  those  six  hundred  heads  of  the  Philistines  which  he  had  brought 
to  Saul  her  father.  So  Abner  took  Michal  from  Phaltiel,  who  was  then  her  hus- 
band, and  sent  her  to  David,  Ishbosheth  himself  affording  him  his  assistance,  for 
David  had  written  to  him  that  of  I'ight  he  ought  to  have  this  his  wife  restored  to 
him.  Abner  also  called  together  the  elders  of  the  multitude,  the  commanders 
and  captains  of  thousands,  and  spake  thus  to  them  :  "That  he  had  formerly  dis- 
suaded them  from  their  own  resolution  when  they  were  ready  to  forsake  Ishbo- 
sheth, and  to  join  themselves  to  David  ;  that,  however,  he  now  gave  them  leave  so 
to  do,  if  they  had  a  mind  to  do  it ;  for  they  knew  that  God  had  appointed  David 
to  be  king  of  all  the  Hebrews  by  Samuel  the  prophet ;  and  had  foretold  that  he 
should  punish  the  Philistines,  and  overcome  them,  and  bring  them  under."  Now 
when  the  elders  and  rulers  heard  this,  and  understood  that  Abner  was  come  over 
to  those  sentiments  about  the  public  affairs  which  they  were  of  before,  they 
changed  their  measures  and  came  in  to  David.  When  these  men  had  agreed  to 
Abner's  proposal,  he  called  together  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  for  all  of  that  tribe 
were  the  guards  of  Ishbosheth's  body,  and  he  spake  to  them  to  the  same  purpose. 
And  when  he  saw  that  they  did  not  in  the  least  oppose  what  he  said,  but  resigned 
themselves  up  to  his  opinion,  he  took  about  twenty  of  his  friends,  and  came  to 
David,  in  order  to  receive  himself  security  upon  oath  from  him;  for  we  may  justly 
esteem  those  things  to  be  firmer  which  every  one  of  us  do  by  ourselves,  than  those 
which  we  do  by  another.     He  also  gave  him  an  account  oif  what  he  had  said  to 


C.  I.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  221 

the  rulers,  and  to  the  whole  tribe  of  Benjamin.  And  when  David  had  received 
him  in  a  courteous  manner,  and  had  treated  him  with  great  hospitahty  for  many- 
days,  Abner  when  he  was  dismissed,  desired  him  to  permit  him  to  brin<»-  the  mul- 
titude with  him,  ^lat  he  might  deliver  up  the  government  to  him,  when  David 
himself  was  present,  and  a  spectator  of  what  was  done. 

5.  When  David  had  sent  Abner  away,  Joab,  the  general  of  his  army,  came 
immediately  to  Hebron :  and  when  he  had  understood  that  Abner  had  been  with 
David,  and  had  parted  with  him  a  little  before  under  leagues  and  agreements  that 
the  government   should   be   delivered  up  to  David,  he  feared  lest  David  should 
place  Abner,  who  had  assisted  him  to  gain  the  kingdom,  in  the  first  rank  of  dignity, 
especially  since  he  was  a  shrewd  man  in  other  respects,  in  understanding  aHiiirs, 
and  in    managing  them  artfully  as  proper  seasons  should  require,  and  that  he 
should  himself  be  put  lower,  and  be  deprived  of  the  command  of  tlie  army;  so 
he  took  a  knavish  and  a  wicked  course.     In  the  first  place,  he  endeavoured  to 
calumniate  Abner  to  the  king,  exhorting  him  to  have  a  care  of  him,  and   not  to 
give  attention  to  what  he  had  engaged  to  do  for  him,  because  all  he   did  tended 
to  confirm  the  government  to  Saul's  son  ;  that   he  came  to  him  deceitfully,  and 
with  guile,  and  was  gone  away  in  hopes  of  gaining  his  purpose  by  this  manage- 
ment.    But  Avhen  he  could  not  thus  persuade  David,  nor  saw  him  at  all  exas- 
perated, he  betook  himself  to  a  project  bolder  than  the  former.     He  determined 
to  kill  Abner;  and  in  order  thereto  he  sent  some  messengers  after  him,  to  whom 
he  gave  in  charge,  that  when  they  should  overtake  him,  they  should  recall  him 
in  David's  name,  and  tell  him,  that  he  had  somewhat  to  say  to  him  about  his  af- 
fairs, which  he  had  not  remembered  to  speak  of  when  he  was  with  him.     Now 
when  Abner  heard  what  the  messengers  said  [for  they  overtook  him  in  a  certain 
place  called  Bessira,  which  was  distant  from  Hebron  twenty  furlongs],  he  sus- 
pected  none  of  the  mischief  which  was  befalling   him,  and  came  back.     Here- 
upon Joab  met  him  in  the  gate,  and  received  him  in  the  kindest  manner,  as  if  he 
were  Abner's  most  benevolent  acquaintance  and  friend ;  for  sucii   as   undertake 
the  vilest  actions,  in  order  to  prevent  the  suspicion  of  any  private  miscliief  in- 
tended, do   frequently  make  the  greatest  pretences  to  what  really  good  men  sin- 
cerely do.     So  he  took  him  aside  from  his  own  followers,  as  if  he  would  speak 
with  him  in  private,  and  brought  him  into  a  void  place  of  the  gate,  having  him- 
self nobody  with  him  but  his  brother  Abishai ;  then  he  drew  his  sword,  and  smote 
him  in  the  groin;  upon  which  Abner  died  by  this  treachery  of  Joab's,  which,  as 
he  said  himself,  was  in  way  of  punishment  for  his  brother  Asahel,  whom  Abner 
smote  and  slew  as  he  was  pursuing  after  him  in  the  battle  of  Hebron ;  but  as  the 
truth  was,  out  of  fear  of  his  losing  his  command  of  the  army,  and  his  dignity 
with  the  king,  and  lest  he  should  be  deprived  of  those   advantages,  and   Abner 
should  obtain  the  first  rank  in  David's  court.     By  these  examples  any  one  may 
learn,  how  many  and  how  great  instances  of  wickedness  men  will  venture  upon 
for  the  sake  of  getting  money  and  authority,  and  that  they  may  not  fail  ot  either 
of  them ;  for  as,  when  they  are  desirous  of  obtaining  the  same,  they  acquire 
them  by  ten  thousand  evil  practices ;  so,  when  they  are  afraid  cf  losing  them, 
they  get  them  confirmed  to  them  by  practices  much  worse  than  the  former,  as  if 
[noj  other  calamity  so  terrible  could  befall  them  as  the   failure  of  acquiring  so 
exalted  an  authority,  and  when  they  have  acquired  it,  and  by  long  custom  found 
the  sweetness  of  it,  the  losing  it  again;  and  since  this  last  would  be  the  heaviest 
of  all  afflictions,  they  all  of  them  contrive  and  venture  upon   the  most  dilTicuIt 
actions,  out  of  the  fear  of  losing  the  same.     But  let  it  suffice  that  I  have  made 
these  short  reflections  upon  that  subject. 

6.  When  David  heard  that  Abner  was  slain,  it  grieved  his  soul ;  and  he  called 
all  men  to  witness,  with  stretching  out  his  hands  to  God,  and  crying  out,  that  he 
was  not  a  partaker  in  the  m.urder  of  Abner,  and  that  his  death  was  not  procured 
by  his  command  or  approbation.  He  also  wished  the  heaviest  curses  might  light 
upon  him  that  slew  him,  and  upon  his  whole  house ;  and  he  devoted  those  that 


222  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VII. 

had  assisted  him  in  this  murder  to  the  same  pcnahies  on  its  account ;  for  he  took 
care  not  to  appear  to  have  had  any  hand  jn  this  murder,  contrary  to  the  assu- 
rances he  had  given,  and  the  oaths  he  had  taken  to  Abner.  However,  he  com 
manded  all  the  people  to  weep  and  lament  this  man,  and  to  honour  his  dead  body 
■with  the  usual  solemnities  ;  that  is,  by  rending  their  garments,  and  putting  on 
sackcloth,  and  that  this  should  be  the  habit  in  which  they  should  go  betbre  the 
bier;  alter  which  he  followed  it  himself,  with  the  elders,  and  those  that  were 
rulers,  lamenting  Abner,  and  by  his  tears  demonstrating  his  good  will  to  him 
while  he  was  alive,  and  his  sorrow  for  him  now  he  was  dead,  and  that  he 
w  as  not  taken  off  with  his  consent.  So  lie  buried  him  at  Hebron  in  a  magni- 
ficent  manner,  and  indited  funeral  elegies  for  him;  he  also  stood  iirst  over  the 
monument  weeping,  and  caused  others  to  do  the  same ;  nay,  so  deeply  did  the 
death  of  Abner  disorder  him,  that  his  companions  could  by  no  means  force  him 
to  take  any  food,  but  he  affirmed  with  an  oath  that  he  Avould  taste  nothing  till  the 
sun  was  set.  This  procedure  gained  him  the  good  will  of  the  multitude  ;  for 
such  as  had  an  aflection  for  Abner  were  mightily  satisfied  with  the  respect  he 
paid  him  when  he  was  dead,  and  the  observation  of  that  faith  he  had  plighted  to 
him,  which  was  showed  in  his  vouchsafing  him  all  the  usual  ceremonies,  as  if  he 
had  been  his  kinsman  and  his  friend,  and  not  suffering  him  to  be  neglected  and 
injured  with  a  dishonourable  burial,  as  if  he  had  been  his  enemy;  insomuch  that 
the  entire  nation  rejoiced  at  the  king's  gentleness  and  mildness  of  disposition, 
every  one  being  ready  to  suppose  that  the  king  would  have  taken  the  same  care 
of  them  in  the  like  circumstances,  which  they  saw  he  showed  in  the  burial  of  the 
dead  body  of  Abner.  And  indeed  David  principally  intended  to  gain  a  good  re- 
putation,  and  therefore  he  took  care  to  do  what  was  proper  in  this  case,  whence 
none  had  any  suspicion  that  he  was  the  author  of  Abner's  death.  He  also  said 
this  to  the  multitude,  that  "he  was  greatly  troubled  at  the  death  of  so  good  a 
man,  and  that  the  affairs  of  the  Hebrews  had  suffered  great  detriment  by  being 
deprived  of  him,  who  was  of  so  great  abilities  to  preserve  them  by  his  excellent 
advice,  and  by  the  strength  of  his  hands  in  war.  But  he  added,  that  God  who 
hath  a  regard  to  all  men's  actions,  will  not  suffer  this  man  [Joab]  to  go  off  un- 
revenged;  but  know  ye,  that  I  am  notable  to  do  anything  to  these  sons  of 
Zeruiah,  Joab  and  Abishai,  who  have  more  power  than  I  have,  but  God  will  re- 
quite  their  insolent  attempts  upon  their  own  heads."  And  this  was  the  fatal  con- 
elusion  of  the  life  of  Abner. 


CHAP.  n. 

Jliat  vpon  the  Slaughter  of  Ishhosheth,  by  the   Treachery  of  his  Friend,  David 
received  the  whole  Kingdom. 

§  1.  When  Ishbosheth,  the  son  of  Saul,  had  heard  of  the  death  of  Abner,  he 
took  it  to  heart,  to  be  deprived  of  a  man  that  was  of  his  kindred,  and  had  indeed 
given  him  the  kingdom,  but  was  greatly  afihcted,  and  Abner's  death  very  much 
troubled  him ;  nor  did  he  himself  outlive  any  long  time,  but  was  treacherously 
set  upon  by  the  sons  of  Rimmon  (Baanah  and  Rechab  were  their  names,)  and  was 
slain  by  them ;  for  these  being  of  a  family  of  the  Benjamites,  and  of  the  first 
rank  among  them,  thought  that,  if  they  should  slay  Ishbosheth,  they  should  ob- 
tain large  presents  from  David,  and  be  made  commanders  by  him,  or,  however, 
should  have  some  other  trust  committed  to  them.  So  when  they  once  found  him 
alone,  and  asleep  at  noon,  in  an  upper  room,  when  none  of  his  guards  were 
there,  and  when  the  woman  that  kept  the  door  was  not  watching,  but  was  fallen 
asleep  also,  partly  on  account  of  the  labour  she  had  undergone,  and  partly  on 
account  of  the  heat  of  the  day,  these  men  went  into  the  room  in  which  Ishbo- 
■shet!.',  Saufs  son,  lay  asleep,  and  slew  him  ;  they  also  cut  off  his  head;  and  took 


C.  II.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


223 


their  journey  all  that  night,  and  the  next  day,  as  supposing  themselves  flyinc 
away  from  those  they  had  injured,  to  one  that  would  accept  of  this  action  as  a 
favour,  and  would  afford  them  security.  So  they  came  to  Hebron,  and  showed 
David  the  head  of  Ishbosheth,  and  presented  themselves  to  him  as  his  well  wish- 
ers,  and  such  as  had  killed  one  that  was  his  enemy  and  antaoonist.  Yet  David 
did  not  relish  what  they  had  done  as  they  expected,  but  said  to  them,  "  You  vile 
wretches,  you  shall  immediately  receive  the  punishment  you  deserve.  Did  not 
you  know  what  vengeance  I  executed  on  him  that  murdered  Saul,  and  brou<rht 
me  his  crown  of  gold,  and  this  was  while  he  who  made  this  slangliter  did  it  as  a 
favour  to  him,  that  he  might  not  be  caught  by  his  enemies  ?  Or  do  you  imagine 
that  I  am  altered  in  my  disposition,  and  suppose  that  I  am  not  the  same  man  I 
then  was,  but  am  pleased  with  men  that  are  wicked  doers,  and  esteem  your  vile 
actions,  when  you  are  become  murderers  of  your  master,  as  grateful  to  me,  when 
you  have  slain  a  righteous  man  upon  his  bed,  who  never  did  evil  to  any  body, 
and  treated  you  with  great  good  will  and  respect  ?  Wherefore  you  shall  suffer 
the  punishment  due  on  his  account,  and  the  vengeance  I  ought  to  inflict  upon  you 
for  killing  Ishbosheth,  and  for  supposing  that  I  should  take  his  dealh  kindlv  at 
your  hands  ;  for  you  could  not  lay  a  greater  blot  on  my  honour  than  by  makinf 
such  a  supposal."  When  David  had  said  this,  he  tormented  them  with  all  sorts 
of  torments,  and  then  put  them  to  death ;  and  he  bestowed  all  accustomed  rites 
on  the  burial  of  the  head  of  Ishbosheth,  and  laid  it  in  the  grave  of  Abner. 

2.  Wlien  these  things  Avere  brought  to  this  conclusion,  all  the  primipal  men  of 
the  Hebrew  people  came  to  David  to  Hebron,  with  the  heads  of  thousands,  and 
other  rulers,  and  delivered  themselves  up  to  him,  putting  him  in  mind  of  the  good 
will  they  had  borne  to  him  in  Saul's  lifetime,  and  (he  respect  they  then  had  not 
ceased  to  pay  him  when  he  was  captain  of  a  thousand,  as  also  that  he  was  chosen 
of  God  by  Samuel  the  prophet,*  he  and  his  sons ;  and  declaring  besides,  how  God 
had  given  him  power  to  save  the  land  of  the  Hebrews,  and  to  overcome  the 
Philistines.  Whereupon  he  received  kindly  this  their  alacrity  on  his  account; 
and  exhorted  them  to  continue  in  it,  for  that  they  should  have  no  reason  to  repent 
of  being  thus  disposed  to  him.  So  when  he  had  feasted  them,  and  treated  them 
kindly,  he  sent  them  out  to  bring  all  the  people  to  him;  upon  Avhich  there  came 
to  him  about  six  thousand  and  eight  hundred  armed  men  of  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
who  bare  shields  and  spears  for  their  weapons,  for  these  had  [till  noAv]  contiimed 
with  Saul's  son,  when  the  rest  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  had  ordained  David  for  their 
king.  There  came  also  seven  thousand  and  one  hundred  out  of  the  tribe  of 
Simeon.  Out  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  came  four  thousand  and  seven  hundred,  having 
Jehoida  for  their  leader.  After  these  came  Zadok  the  high  priest,  with  twenty- 
two  captains  of  his  kindred.  Out  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  the  armed  men  were 
four  thousand,  but  the  rest  of  the  tribe  continued,  still  expecting  that  some  one  of 
the  house  of  Saul  should  reign  over  them.  Those  of  the  tribe  of  Ei)liraim  were 
twenty  thousand  and  eiglit  hundred,  and  these  mighty  men  of  valour,  and  emi- 
nent for  their  strength.  Out  of  the  half  tribe  of  iVranasseh  came  eighteen  tiiou- 
sand  of  the  most  potent  men.  Out  of  the  tribe  of  Issachar  came  two  hiuuiredf 
who  foreknew  what  was  to  come  hereafter,  but  of  armed  men  twenty  tiiousand. 
Of  the  tribe  of  Zebulon  fifty  thousand  chosen  men.  This  was  the  only  tribe 
that  came  universally  in  to  David,  and  all  these  had  the  same  weapons  with  the 
tribe  of  Gad.  Out  "of  the  tribe  of  Naphtah  the  eminent  men  and  riders  were 
one  thousand,  whose  weapons  were  shields  and  spears,  and  the  tribe  itself  fol- 


*  This  may  be  a  true  observation  of  Joseplnis,  that  Samuel,  by  command  from  CJoH,  rnlailcd  the 
crown  on  David  and  his  posterity,  for  no  farther  did  that  entail  ever  reach,  Solomon  himsell  having  never 
had  aoy  promise  made  him  tliat  his  posterity  should  always  have  the  rii;ht  to  it. 

f  Tliese  words  of  Josephus  concerning  the  tribe  of  Issachar,  "  who  foreknew  wiint  was  to  conic  here- 
after," are  best  paraphrased  bv  the  parallel  text,  1  Chron.  xii.  32;  "Who  had  undersiandinK  of  the 
times,  to  know  what  Israel  ought  to  do ;"  that  is,  who  had  so  much  knowledge  in  astronomy  as  lo  make 
calendars  for  the  Israelites,  that  they  might  keep  tiieir  festivals,  and  plough  and  sow,  and  gather  in  thoir 
harvests  and  vintage  in  due  season. 


224 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VH. 


lowed  after,  being  (in  a  manner)  innumerable  [thirty-seven  thousand.]  Out  of 
the  tribe  of  Dan  there  were  of  chosen  men  twenty-seven  thousand  and  six  hun- 
dred. Out  of  the  tribe  of  Asher  were  forty  thousand.  Out  of  the  two  tribes 
that  were  beyond  Jordan  and  the  rest  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  such  as  used 
shields,  and  spears,  and  head  pieces,  and  swords,  were  a  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand.  The  rest  of  the  tribes  also  made  use  of  swords.  This  multitude 
came  together  to  Hebron  to  David  with  a  great  quantity  of  corn  and  wine,  and 
all  other  sorts  of  food,  and  established  David  in  his  kingdom  with  one  consent. 
And  when  the  people  had  rejoiced  for  three  days  in  Hebron,  David  and  all  the 
people  removed  and  came  to  Jerusalem. 


CHAP.  HI. 

How  David  laid  Siege  to  Jerusalem  ;  and  when  he  had  taken  the  City,  he  cast  the 
Canaanites  out  of  it,  and  brought  in  the  Jews  to  inhabit  therein. 

§  1.  Now  the  Jebusites,  who  were  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  and  were  by 
extraction  Canaanites,  shut  their  gates  and  placed  the  blind,  and  the  lame,  and 
all  their  maimed  persons  upon  the  wall,  in  way  of  derision  of  the  king  ;  and  said, 
that  the  very  lame  themselves  would  hinder  his  entrance  into  it.  This  they  did 
out  of  contempt  of  his  power,  and  as  depending  on  the  strength  of  their  walls. 
David  was  hereby  enraged,  and  began  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  and  employed 
his  utmost  diligence  and  alacrity  therein,  as  intending  by  the  taking  of  this  place 
to  demonstrate  his  power,  and  to  intimidate  all  others  that  might  be  of  the  like 
[evil]  disposition  towards  him.  So  he  took  the  lower  city,  by  force,  but  the  ci- 
tadel*  held  out  still ;  whence  it  was  that  the  king,  knowing  that  the  proposal  of 
dignities  and  rewards  would  encourage  the  soldiers  to  greater  actions,  promised 
that  he  who  should  first  go  over  the  ditches  that  were  beneath  the  citadel,  and 
should  ascend  to  the  citadel  itself  and  take  it,  should  have  the  command  of  the 
entire  people  conferred  upon  him.  So  they  all  were  ambitious  to  ascend,  and 
thought  no  pains  too  great,  in  order  to  ascend  thither  out  of  their  desire  of  the 
chief  command.  However,  Joab  the  son  of  Zeruiah  prevented  the  rest ;  and  as 
soon  as  he  was  got  up  to  the  citadel,  cried  out  to  the  king,  and  claimed  the  chief 
command. 

2.  When  David  had  cast  the  Jebusites  out  of  the  citadel,  he  also  rebuilt  Jeru- 
salem, and  named  it  TJie  City  of  David,  and  abode  there  all  the  time  of  his  reign. 
But  for  the  time  that  he  reigned  over  the  tribe  of  Judah  only  in  Hebron,  it  was  seven 
years  and  six  months.  Now  when  he  had  chosen  Jerusalem  to  be  his  royal  city, 
his  affairs  did  more  and  more  prosper  by  the  providence  of  God,  who  took  care 
that  they  should  improve  and  be  augmented.  Hiram  also,  the  king  of  the  Tyri- 
ans,  sent  ambassadors  to  him,  and  made  a  league  of  mutual  friendship  and  assist- 
ance  with  him.  He  also  sent  him  presents,  cedar  trees,  and  mechanics,  and  men 
skilful  in  building  and  architecture,  that  they  might  build  him  a  royal  palace  at 

*  What  our  other  copies  say  of  Mount  Sion,  as  alone  properly  called  the  city  of  David,  2  Sam.  v.  6— 
9  and  of  this  its  siege  and  conquest  now  by  David,  Josephus  applies  to  the  whole  city  Jerusalem,  though 
includine;  the  citadel  also ;  by  what  authority  we  do  not  know  ;  perhaps  after  David  had  united  them  to- 
ceiher,  or  joined  thecitadel  to  the  lower  city',  as  sect.  2,  Josephus  esteemed  them  as  one  city.  However, 
this  notion  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  what  the  same  Josephus  says  concerning  David's  and  many  other 
kind's  of  Judah's  sepulchres,  which  as  the  authors  of  the  books  of  Kings  and  Chronicles  say,  were 
in  die  city  of  David,  so  does  Josephus  still  say  they  were  in  Jerusalem.  The  sepulchre  of  David  seems 
to  have  been  also  a  known  place  in  the  several  days  of  Hyrcanus,  of  Herod,  and  of  .St.  Peter  ;  Antiq.  B. 
xiii.  ch.  viii.  sect.  4  •  B.  xvi.  ch.  vii.  sect.  1  ;  Acts,  ii.  29.  Kow  no  such  royal  sepulchres  have  been  found 
about  Moimt  Sion,  but  are  found  close  by  the  north  wall  of  Jerusalem,  which  I  suspect  therefore  to  be 
these  very  sepulchres.  See  the  note  on  chap.  xv.  sect.  3.  In  the  mean  time,  Josephus's  explication  of 
tlie  lame,  and  the  blind,  and  themaimed,  asset  to  keep  this  city  or  citadel,  seems  to  be  the  tiuth,  and  gives 


proper  name :  he  still  either  styl 
tjus's  evil  suspicions  about  this  proceedure  of  Josephus's. 


C.  fV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


225 


Jerusalem.,  Now  David  made  buildings  round  about  the  lower  city  ;  he  also 
joined  the  citadel  to  it,  and  made  it  one  body  ;  and  when  he  had  encompassed  all 
with  walls,  he  appointed  Joab  to  take  care  of  tliem.  It  was  David,  therefore, 
who  first  cast  the  Jebusites  out  of  Jerusalem,  and  called  it  by  his  own  name  [The 
City  of  David :]  for  under  our  forefather  Abraham,  it  was  called  [!Salc»i  or]  So- 
lyma  ;*  but  after  that  time  some  say  that  Homer  mentions  it  by  that  name  of  So- 
lyma  [for  he  named  the  temple  Solyma,  according  to  the  llebrew  language, 
which  denotes  security.]  Now  the  whole  time  from  the  warfare  under  Joshua 
our  general  against  the  Canaanites,  and  from  that  war  in  which  he  overcame  them, 
and  distributed  the  land  among  the  Hebrews  (nor  could  the  Israelites  ever  cast 
t!ie  Canaanites  out  of  Jerusalem  until  this  time,  when  David  took  it  by  sief  e,) 
this  whole  time  was  five  hundred  and  fifteen  years. 

3.  I  shall  now  make  mention  of  Araunah,  who  was  a  wealthy  man  amono-  the 
Jebusites,  but  was  not  slain  by  David  in  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  because  of  the 
good  will  he  bore  to  the  Hebrews,  and  a  particular  benignity  and  affection  which 
he  had  to  the  king  himself,  which  I  shall  take  a  more  seasonable  opportunity  to 
speak  of  a  little  afterwards.  Now  David  married  other  wives  over  and  above 
those  which  he  had  before:  he  had  also  concubines.  The  sons  which  he  had 
were  in  number  eleven,  whose  names  were  Amnon,  Emnos,  Eban,  Nathan,  Solo- 
mon, Jeban,  Elien,  Phalna,  Ennaphen,  Janae,  Eliphale;  and  a  daughter  Tamar. 
Nine  of  these  were  born  of  legitimate  wives,  but  the  two  last  named,  of  concu- 
bines  ;  and  Tamar  had  the  same  mother  with  Absalom. 


CHAP.  IV. 

That  when  David  had  conquered  the  Philistines,  who  made  War  against  him  at 
Jerusalem,  he  removed  the  ArJc  to  Jerusalem,  and  had  a  mind  to  build  a  Temple. 

§  1.  When  the  Philistines  understood  that  David  was  made  king  of  the  Hebrews, 
they  made  war  against  him  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  when  they  had  seized  upon  that 
valley  which  is  called  the  valley  of  the  Giants;  and  is  a  place  not  far  from  the  city, 
they  pitched  their  camp  therein.  But  the  king  of  the  Jews,  who  never  permitted 
himself  to  do  anything  without  prophecy,  and  the  command  of  God,  and  without 
depending  on  him  as  a  security  for  the  time  to  come,  bade  the  high  priest  to  fore- 
tell to  him  what  was  the  will  of  God,  and  what  would  be  the  event  of  this  battle. f 
And  when  he  foretold  that  he  should  gain  the  victory  and  the  dominion,  he  led 
out  his  army  against  the  Philistines  ;  and  when  the  battle  was  joined,  he  came 
himself  behind,  and  fell  upon  the  enemy  on  the  sudden,  and  slew  some  of  them, 
and  put  the  rest  to  ilight.  And  let  no  one  suppose  that  it  was  a  small  army  of 
the  Philistines  that  came  against  the  Hebrews,  as  guessing  so  from  the  suddenness 
of  their  defeat,  and  from  their  having  performed  no  great  action,  or  that  was 

*  Some  copies  of  Josephiis  have  here  Soh/ma  or  Salem,  and  others  Hiersolyma  or  Jerusalem.  The 
latter  best  agree  to  what  Josephus  says  elsewhere,  Ot'  tlie  War,  B.  vi.  ch.  x.  ;  tliat  this  city  was  called 
Solyma  or  Salem,  before  the  days  of  MelchiscHec,  but  was  by  him  called  Hierusobjman  or  Jerusalem.  I 
rather  suppose  it  to  have  been  so  called  after  Abraliam  had  received  ihat  oracle  Jehovah  Jireh,  "  the  F.ord  • 
will  see  or  provide,"  Gen.  xxii.  14.  The  latter  word  Jirck,  with  a  little  alteration,  prefixed  to  the  old 
na.me  Salem,  Peace,  wWl  he  Jerusalem.  And  since  that  expression,  "  God  will  see,"  or  rather,  "  t;od 
will  provide  himself  a  lamb  for  a  burnt-olTering,"  ver.  8. 14.  is  there  said  to  have  been  proverbial  till  the 
days  of  Moses,  this  seems  to  me  the  most  proliable  derivation  of  that  name,  which  will  then  denote,  "  that 
God  would  provide  peace  by  that  Lamb  of  God,  which  was  to  take  away  the  sins  of  the  world."  How- 
ever, that  which  is  put  into  double  brackets  can  hardly  be  supposed  the  genuine  words  of  Josephus,  as 
Dr.  Hudson  well  judges.  i.  jz-    lu 

+  It  deserves  here  to  be  remarked,  that  Saul  very  rarely,  and  David  very  frequently  consulted  God  by 
Urim  ;  and  that  David  aimed  always  to  depend  not  on  his  own  prudence  or  auihiies,  but  on  the  divine 


it  beneath  the  dignity  of  a  kinj  to  be  »o  religioua. 
VOL.  r.  2F 


226  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VII. 

worth  recording,  from  the  slowness  of  their  march,  and  want  of  courage  ;  but  let 
him  know  that  all  Syria  and  Phcenicia,  with  many  other  nations  besides  them, 
and  those  warlike  nations  also,  came  to  their  assistance,  and  had  a  share  in  this 
war.  Which  thing  was  the  only  cause  why,  when  they  had  been  so  often  con- 
quered,  and  had  lost  so  many  ten  thousands  of  their  men,  they  still  came  upon 
the  Hebrews  with  greater  armies ;  nay,  indeed,  when  they  had  so  often  failed  of 
their  purpose  in  these  battles,  they  came  upon  David  with  an  army  three  times 
as  numerous  as  before,  and  pitched  their  camp  on  the  same  spot  of  ground  as  be- 
fore. The  king  of  Israel,  therefore,  inquired  of  God  again  concerning  the  event 
of  the  battle;  and  the  high  priest  prophesied  to  him,  that  he  should  keep  his  army 
in  the  groves,  called  the  Groves  of  Weeping,  which  were  not  far  from  the  enemy's 
camp,  and  that  he  should  not  move,  nor  begin  to  fight  till  the  trees  of  the  grove 
should  be  in  motion  without  the  winds  blowing  ;  but  as  soon  as  these  trees 
moved,  and  the  time  foretold  to  him  by  God  was  come,  he  should,  without  delay, 
go  out  to  gain  what  was  an  already  prepared  and  evident  victory  ;  for  the  several 
ranks  of  the  enemy's  army  did  not  sustain  him,  but  retreated  at  the  first  onset, 
whom  he  closely  followed,  and  slew  them  as  he  went  along,  and  pursued  them 
to  the  city  Guza  (which  is  the  limit  of  their  country;)  after  this,  he  spoiled  their 
camp,  in  wliich  he  found  great  riches  ;  and  he  destroyed  their  gods. 

2.  When  this  had  proved  the  event  of  the  battle,  David  thought  it  proper,  upon 
a  consultation  with  the  elders  and  rulers,  and  captains  of  thousands,  to  send  for 
those  that  were  in  the  flower  of  their  age  out  of  all  his  countrymen,  and  out  of 
the  whole  land,  and  withal  for  the  priests  and  the  Levites,  in  order  to  their  going 
to  Kirjathjearim,  to  bring  up  the  ark  of  God  out  of  that  city,  and  to  carry  it  to 
Jerusalem,  and  there  to  keep  it  and  offer  before  it  those  sacrifices  and  those 
other  honours  with  which  God  used  to  be  well  pleased  ;  for  had  they  done  thus  in 
the  reign  of  Saul,  they  had  not  undergone  any  great  misfortunes  at  all.  So  when 
the  whole  body  of  the  people  were  come  together,  as  they  had  resolved  to  do, 
the  king  came  to  the  ark,  which  the  priests  brought  out  of  the  house  of  Aminadab, 
and  laid  it  upon  a  new  cart,  and  permitted  their  brethren  and  their  children  to 
draw  it,  together  with  the  oxen.  Before  it  went  the  king,  and  the  whole  multi- 
tude  of  the  people  with  him,  singing  hymns  to  God,  and  making  use  of  all  sorts 
of  songs  usual  among  them,  with  variety  of  the  sounds  of  musical  instruments, 
and  with  dancing  and  singing  of  psalms,  as  also  with  the  sounds  of  trumpets  and 
of  cymbals,  and  so  brought  the  ark  to  Jerusalem.  But  as  they  were  come  to  the 
threshing-floor  of  Chidon,  a  place  so  called,  Uzzah  was  slain  by  the  anger  of 
God  :  for  as  the  oxen  shook  the  ark,  he  stretched  out  his  hand,  and  would  needs 
take  hold  of  it.  Now,  because  he  was  not  a  priest,*  and  yet  touched  the  ark, 
God  struck  him  dead.  Hereupon  both  the  king  and  the  people  were  displeased 
at  the  death  of  Uzzah  ;  and  the  place  where  he  died  is  still  called  the  Breach  of 
Uzzah  unto  this  day.  So  David  was  afraid,  and  supposing  that  if  he  received  the 
ark  to  himself  into  the  city,  he  might  suffer  in  the  like  manner  as  Uzzah  had  suf- 
fered,  who,  upon  his  bare  putting  out  his  hand  to  the  ark,  died  in  the  manner  al- 
ready mentioned,  he  did  not  receive  it  himself  into  the  city,  but  he  took  it  aside 
unto  a  certain  place  belonging  to  a  righteous  man  whose  name  was  Ohededom, 
who  was  by  his  family  a  Levite,  and  deposited  the  ark  with  him,  and  it  remained 
there  three  entire  months  :  this  augmented  the  house  of  Ohededom,  and  conferred 
many  blessings  upon  it.  And  when  the  king  heard  what  had  befallen  Ohededom, 
how  he  was  become  of  a  poor  man  in  a  low  estate,  exceeding  happy,  and  the  ob- 
ject of  envy  to  all  those  that  saw  or  inquired  after  his  house,  he  took  courage, 

*  Josephus  seems  to  be  partly  in  the  right,  when  he  ohserves  here,  that  Uzzah  was  no  priest  (thougli 
perliaps  he  might  be  a  Levite,)  and  was  therefore  struck  dead  for  touching  the  ari<,  contrary  to  tlie  law, 
and  lor  which  profane  rashness,  death  was  llie  penalty  by  that  law.  Numb.  iv.  15.  20  ;  see  the  like  before, 
Antiq.  I],  vi.  ch.  i.  sect.  4.  It  is  not  in^prol)able  that  tiie  putting  this  ark  in  a  cart,  wiicii  it  ought  to  liavo 
been  cairicd  by  the  priests  or  Levites,  as  it  was  presently  here  in  Josephus  so  carried  iVom  Obededoni's 
house  to  David's,  mirht  be  also  an  occasion  of  the  anger  of  (Jod  on  that  breach  of  his  law.  See  Numb. 
iv.  15;  I  Chion.  xv.  13. 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


227 


and  hoping  that  he  should  meet  with  no  misfortune  thereby,  he  transferred  the  ark 
to  his  own  house,  the  priests  carrying  it,  while  seven  coiupanics  of  sin£::crs,  who 
were  set  in  that  order  by  the  king,  went  before  it,  and  while  he  himself  played 
upon  the  harp,  and  joined  in  the  music,  insomuch  that  when  his  wife  Michal,"the 
daughter  of  Saul,  who  was  our  first  king,  saw  him  so  doing,  she  lauo-hed  at  him. 
But  when  they  had  brought  in  the  ark,  they  placed  it  under  the  tabernacle  which 
David  had  pitched  for  it,  and  he  ofiered  costly  sacrifices  and  peace-oflerinfrs,  and 
treated  the  whole  multitude,  and  dealt  both  to  the  Avomcn  and  the  men,  and  the 
infants,  a  loaf  of  bread  and  a  cake,  and  another  cake  baked  in  a  pan,  with  a  por- 
tion of  the  sacrifice.  So  when  he  had  thus  feasted  the  people,  he  sent  them  away, 
and  he  himself  returned  to  his  own  house. 

3.  But  when  Michal  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Snul,  came  and  stood  by  him 
she  wished  him  all  other  happiness  ;  and  entreated  tliat  whatsover  he  should  far- 
ther  desire,  to  the  utmost  possibility  might  be  given  him  by  God,  and  that  he 
might  be  favourable  to  him ;  yet  did  she  blame  him,  that  so  great  a  king  as  he 
was  should  dance  after  an  unseemly  manner,  and  in  his  dancing  uncover  himself 
among  the  servants  and  the  handmaidens.  But  he  replied,  "  That  he  was  not 
ashamed  to  do  what  was  acceptable  to  God,  Avho  had  preferred  him  before  her 
father,  and  before  all  others;  that  he  would  pray  frequently,  and  dance,  without 
any  regard  to  what  the  handmaidens  and  she  herself  thought  of  it."  So  this  Mi- 
chal,  who  was  David's  wife,  had  no  children  ;  however,  when  she  was  afterwards 
married  to  him  to  whom  Saul  her  father  had  given  her  (for  at  this  time  David  had 
taken  her  away  from  him,  and  had  her  himself,)  she  bare  five  children.  But  con- 
cerning those  matters  I  shall  discourse  in  a  proper  place. 

4.  Now  when  the  king  saw  that  his  afiairs  grew  better  almost  every  day,  by 
the  will  of  God,  he  thought  he  should  oflend  him,  if,  while  he  himself  continued 
in  houses  made  of  cedar,  such  as  were  of  a  great  height  and  had  the  most  cu- 
rious works  of  architecture  in  them,  he  should  overlook  the  ark  while  it  was  laid 
in  a  tabernacle  ;  and  was  desirous  to  build  a  temple  to  God,  as  Moses  had  pre- 
dieted  such  a  temple  should  be  built.*  And  when  he  had  discoursed  with  Nathan 
the  prophet  about  these  things,  and  had  been  encouraged  by  him  to  do  whatso- 
ever  he  had  a  mind  to  do,  as  having  God  with  him,  and  his  helper  in  all  things, 
he  was  thereupon  the  more  ready  to  set  about  that  building.  But  God  appeared 
to  Nathan  that  very  night,  and  commanded  him  toy  say  to  David,  that  "  he  took 
his  purpose  and  his  desires  kindly,  since  nobody  had  before  now  taken  it  into 
their  head  to  build  him  a  temple,  although  upon  his  having  such  a  notion  he  would 
not  permit  him  to  build  him  that  temple,  because  he  had  made  many  wars,  and 
was  defiled  with  the  slaughter  of  his  enemies :  that,  however,  after  his  death,  in 
his  old  age,  and  when  he  had  lived  a  long  life,  there  should  be  a  temple  built  by 
a  son  of  his,  who  should  take  the  kingdom  after  him,  and  should  be  called  Solo- 
mon, whom  he  promised  to  provide  for,  as  a  father  provides  for  his  son,  by  preser- 
ving  the  kingdom  for  his  son's  posterity,  and  delivering  it  to  them  ;  but  that  ho 
would  still  punish  him  if  he  sinned,  with  diseases  and  barrenness  of  land."  When 
David  understood  this  from  the  prophet,  and  was  overjoyful  at  this  knowledge  of 
the  sure  continuance  of  the  dominion  to  his  posterity,  and  that  his  house  should 
be  splendid  and  very  famous,  he  came  to  the  ark,  and  fell  down  on  his  face,  and 
began  to  adore  God,  and  to  return  thanks  to  him  for  all  his  benefits,  as  well  for 

*  Josephus  here  informs  us,  that,  accordina;  to  his  underslnnclins  of  the  sense  of  his  copy  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch, Moses  had  himself  foretold  the  building  of  the  temple,  which  yet  nowhere  that  1  know  of  in  our 
present  copies  :  and  that  this  is  not  a  mistake  set  down  by  him  unwarily,  appears  by  what  he  observed 
before,  Antiq.  B.  iv.  cli.  viii.  sect.  46,  vol.  i.  how  Moses  foretold,  that  upon  the  .lews'  future  disobedience, 
their  temple  should  be  burnt  and  rebuilt,  and  that  not  once  only,  but  several  times  afterwards,  ."^ee  also 
Josephus's  mention  of  God's  former  commands  to  build  such  a  temple  presently,  ch.  xiv.  sect.  2.  contrary 
to  our  other  copies,  or  at  least  to  our  translation  of  the  Hebrew,  2  .'^am.  vii.  G,  7  ;  1  ("hron.  xvii.  5,  6. 

t  Josephus  seems,  in  this  place,  witii  our  modern  interpreters,  to  confoimd  the  two  distmct  Vrcdie- 
tions  which  God  made  to  David  and  to  Nathan,  concerning  tlie  building  lum  a  temple  by  one  of  David  3 
posterity,  the  one  belonging  to  Solomon,  the  other  to  the  Messiah  ;  the  distinction  between  w  hich  is  of  Ujo 
greatest  consequence  to  the  Christian  religion.  2  F  Z 


228  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV. 

those  that  ho  had  already  bestowed  upon  him,  in  raising  him  from  a  low  state, 
and  from  the  employment  of  a  shepherd  to  so  great  dignity  of  dominion  and 
glory;  as  for  those  also  which  he  had  promised  to  his  posterity;  and  besides  for 
that  providence  which  he  had  exercised  over  the  Hebrews  in  procuring  them  the 
liberty  they  enjoyed ;  and  when  he  had  said  thus,  and  had  sung  a  hymn  of  praise 
to  God,  he  went  his  way. 


CHAP.  V. 

Hov)  David  brought  under  the  Philistines,  and  the  Moabites,  and  the  Kings  of 

Sophene,  and  of  Damascus,  and  of  the  Syrians,  as  also  the  Idumeans,  in 

War ;  and  how  he  made  a  League  with  the  King  of  Hamath  ;  and 

was  m,indful  of  the  Friendship  that  Jonathan,  the  Son  of  Saul, 

had  borne  to  him. 

§  1.  A  iiTTLE  while  after  this,  he  considered  that  he  ought  to  make  war  against 
the  Philistines,  and  not  to  see  any  idleness  or  laziness  permitted  in  his  manage- 
ment, that  so  it  might  prove  as  God  had  foretold  to  him,  that  when  he  had  over- 
thrown his  enemies,  he  should  leave  his  posterity  to  reign  in  peace  afterward  ;  so 
he  called  together  his  army  again,  and  when  he  had  charged  them  to  be  ready 
and  prepared  for  war,  and  when  he  thought  that  all  things  in  his  army  were  in  a 
good  state,  he  removed  from  Jerusalem,  and  came  against  the  Philistines  :  and 
when  he  had  overcome  them  in  battle,  and  had  cut  off  a  great  part  of  their  coun- 
try,  and  adjoined  it  to  the  country  of  the  Hebrews,  he  transferred  the  war  to  the 
Moabites  :  and  when  he  had  overcome  two  parts  of  their  army  in  battle,  he  took 
the  remaining  part  captive,  and  imposed  tribute  upon  them,  to  be  paid  annually. 
He  then  made  war  against  Hadadezer,  the  son  of  Rehob,  king  of  Sophene  :  and 
when  he  had  joined  battle  with  him  at  the  river  Euphrates,  he  destroyed  twenty 
thousand  of  his  footmen,  and  about  seven  thousand  of  his  horsemen.  He  also 
took  a  thousand  of  his  chariots,  and  destroyed  the  greatest  part  of  them,  and 
ordered  that  no  more  than  one  hundred*  should  be  kept. 

2.  Now  when  Hadad,f  king  of  Damascus  and  of  Syria,  heard  that  David 
fought  against  Hadadezer,  who  was  his  friend,  he  came  to  his  assistance  with  a 
powerful  army,  in  hopes  to  rescue  him  ;  and  when  he  had  joined  battle  with  Da- 
vid at  the  river  Euphrates,  he  failed  of  his  purpose,  and  lost  in  the  battle  a  great 
number  of  his  soldiers  ;  for  there  were  slain  of  the  army  of  Iladad  twenty  thou- 
sand, and  all  the  rest  fled.  Nicolaus  also  [of  Damascus]  makes  mention  of  this 
king  in  the  fourth  book  of  his  histories  :  where  he  speaks  thus  :  "  A  great  while 
after  these  things  had  happened,  there  was  one  of  that  country  whose  name  was 
Hadad,  who  was  become  very  potent ;  he  reigned  over  Damascus,  and  the  other 
parts  of  Syria,  excepting  Phoenicia.  He  made  war  against  David,  the  king  of 
Judea,  and  tried  his  fortune  in  many  battles,  and  particularly  in  the  last  battle  at 
Euphrates,  wherein  he  was  beaten.  He  seemed  to  have  been  the  most  excel- 
lent of  all  their  kings  in  strength  and  manhood."  Nay,  besides  this,  he  says  of 
his  posterity,  that  "  after  his  death  they  succeeded  one  another  in  his  kingdom 

and  in  his  name:"  where  he  thus  speaks When  Hadad  was  dead,  his  posterity 

reigned  for  ten  generations,  each  of  his  successors  receiving  from  his  father  that 

*  David's  reserving  only  100  chariots  for  himself  out  of  1000  he  had  taken  from  Hadadezar,  was  most 
probably  done  in  compliance  with  the  law  of  Moses,  which  forbade  a  king  of  Israel  to  muliiphj  horses  to 
himself,  Deut.  xvii.  16;  one  of  the  principal  usesof  horses  in  Judea  at  that  time  being  for  drawing  their 
chariots.     See  Joshua,  xii.  6,  and  Antiq.  B.  v.  ch.  i.  sect.  18,  vol.  i. 

I  It  deserves  here  to  be  remarked,  that  this  Hadad,  being  a  very  great  king,  was  conquered  by  David, 
whose  posterity  yet  for  several  generations  were  called  Jimhadnd,  or  the  son  of  Hadad,  till  the  days  of 
ilazael,  wliose  son  Adar  or  Adcr  is  also  in  our  Hebrew  copy,  2  Kings,  xiii.  24,  written  Benhadad,  but  in 
Josephus  Jldad  or  Ad-nj-.  And  strange  it  is,  tliat  the  son  of  Hazael,  said  to  be  such  in  the  same  text, 
and  m  Josephus,  Antiq.  B.  is.  ch.  viii.  sect.  7,  should  still  be  called  the  son  of  Hadad  .•  I  would,  there- 
lj)ie,  here  correct  our  Hebrew  copy  from  Josephus's,  which  seems  to  have  the  truo  reading. 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEAVS.  229 

his  dominion,  and  this  his  name ;  as  did  the  Ptolemies  in  Egypt.  But  the  third 
was  the  most  powerful  ot'  ihem  all,  and  was  willing  to  avenge  the  defeat  his  fore- 
father had  received  :  so  he  made  an  expedition  against  the  Jews,  and  laid  waste 
the  city  which  is  now  called  Samaria."  Nor  did  he  err  from  the  truth  ;  for  this 
is  that  Hadadwho  made  the  expedition  against  Samaria,  in  the  rei<ai  of  Ahab 
king  of  Israel :  concerning  whom  we  shall  speak  in  due  place  hereafter. 

3.  Now  when  David  had  made  an  expedition  against  Damascus,  and  the  other 
parts  of  Syria,  and  had  brought  it  all  into  subjection,  and  had  placed  garrisons 
in  the  country,  and  appointed  that  they  should  pay  tribute,  he  returned  home.  He 
also  dedicated  to  God  at  Jerusalem  the  golden  quivers,  the  entire  armour  which 
the  guards  of  Hadad  used  to  wear,  which  Shishak  the  king  of  Egypt  took  away 
when  he  fought  with  David's  grandson  Rehoboani,  with  a  great  deal  of  other 
wealth  which  he  carried  out  of  Jerusalem  :  however,  these  things  will  come  to 
be  explained  in  their  proper  places  hereafter.  Now,  as  for  the  king  of  the  He- 
brews,  he  was  assisted  by  God,  who  gave  him  great  success  in  his  wars  ;  and  he 
made  an  expedition  against  the  best  cities  of  Hadadezer,  Betah  and  Machon  ;  so 
he  took  them  by  force,  and  laid  them  waste.  Therein  was  found  a  very  great 
quantity  of  gold  and  silver,  besides  that  sort  of  brass  which  is  said  to  be  more 
valuable  than  gold ;  of  which  brass  Solomon  made  that  large  vessel  which  was 
called  the  [brazen]  sea,  and  those  most  curious  lavers,  when  he  built  the  temple 
for  God. 

4.  But  when  thekingof  Hamathwas  informed  of  the  ill  success  of  Hadadezer, 
and  had  heard  of  the  ruin  of  his  army,  he  was  afraid  on  his  own  account,  and 
resolved  to  make  a  league  of  friendship  and  fidelity  with  David  before  he  should 
come  against  him ;  so  he  went  to  him  his  son  Joram,  and  professed  that  he  owed 
him  thanks  for  his  fighting  against  Hadadezer,  who  was  his  enemy,  and  made  a 
league  with  him  of  mutual  assistance  and  friendship.  He  also  sent  him  presents, 
vessels  of  ancient  workmanship,  both  of  gold,  of  silver,  and  of  brass.  So  when 
David  had  made  this  league  of  mutual  assistance  with  Toi  (for  that  was  the  name 
of  the  king  of  Hamath),  and  had  received  the  presents  he  sent  him,  he  dismissed 
his  son  with  that  respect  which  was  due  on  both  sides.  But  then  David  broufrht 
those  presents  that  were  sent  by  him,  as  also  the  rest  of  the  gold  and  silver  which 
he  had  taken  of  the  cities  whom  he  had  conquered,  and  dedicated  them  to  God. 
Nor  did  God  give  victory  and  success  to  him  only  when  he  went  to  the  battle 
himself,  and  led  his  own  army,  but  he  gave  victory  to  Abishai,  tlie  brother  of  Joab, 
general  of  his  forces,  over  the  Idumeans,*  and  by  him  to  David,  when  he  sent 
him  with  an  army  into  Idumea  ;  for  Abishai  destroyed  eighteen  thousand  of  them 
in  the  battle  ;  whereupon  the  king  [of  Israel]  placed  garrisons  through  all  Idumea, 
and  received  the  tribute  of  the  country,  and  of  every  head  among  them.  Now 
David  was  in  his  nature  just,  and  made  his  determination  with  regard  to  truth. 
He  had  for  the  general  of  his  whole  army  Joab  ;  and  he  made  Jehoshaphat,  the 
son  of  Ahilud,  recorder.  He  also  appointed  Zadok,  of  the  family  of  Phineas,  to 
be  high  priest,  together  with  Abiathar,  for  he  was  his  friend.  He  also  made 
Seisan  the  scribe ;  and  committed  the  command  over  the  guards  of  his  body,  to 
Benaiah,  the  son  of  Jehoiada.  His  elder  sons  were  near  his  body,  and  had  the 
care  of  it  also. 

5.  He  also  called  to  mind  the  covenants  and  the  oaths  he  had  made  with  Jona- 
than, the  son  of  Saul,  and  the  friendship  and  afll^ction  Jonathan  had  for  him ;  for 
besides  all  the  rest  of  his  excellent  qualities,  with  which  he  was  endowed,  he  was 
also  exceeding  mindful  of  such  as  had  at  other  times  bestowed  benefits  ui)on  him  ; 
he,  therefore,  gave  order  that  inquiry  should  be  made,  whether  any  of  Jonathan's 

*  By  this  great  victory  ever  the  Idumeans  or  Edomites,  the  posterity  of  Esau,  and  by  the  consequent 
tribute  paid  by  that  nation  to  tlie  Jews,  were  the  pr()[)hccies  delivered  to  Rebecca  before  Jacob  and 
Esau  were  born,  and  by  old  Isaac  before  his  death,  that  the  elder,  Esau  or  the  PMoinites,  should  serve 
the  younger,  Jacob  or  the  Israelites,  and  Jacob  or  the  Israelites  should  be  Esau's  or  llie  Edomites'  Lord, 
remarkably  fulfilled.  See  Anliq.  B.  viii.  ch.  vii.  sect.  6  ;  Gen.  xxv.  23,  and  the  notes  on  Antiq.  B.  i.  ch. 
xviii.  sect.  5,  6. 


230  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  V 

lineage  were  living  to  whom  he  might  make  return  of  that  familiar  acquaintance 
which  Jonathan  had  had  with  him,  and  for  which  he  was  still  debtor.  And  when 
one  of  Saul's  freedmen  was  brought  to  him  who  was,acquainted  with  those  of  his 
fiimily  that  were  still  living,  he  asked  him, — "  Whether  he  could  tell  him  of  any- 
one belonging  to  Jonathan  that  was  now  alive,  and  capable  of  a  requital  of  the 
benefits  which  he  had  received  from  Jonathan  ?"  And  when  he  said,-—"  That 
a  son  of  his  was  remaining,  whose  name  was  Mephiboshcth,  but  that  he  was  lame 
of  his  feet ;  for  that  when  his  nurse  heard  that  the  father  and  grandfather  of  the 
child  were  fallen  in  the  battle,  she  snatched  him  up,  and  fled  away,  and  let  him 
fall  from  her  shoulders,  and  his  feet  were  lamed."  So  when  he  had  learned  where 
and  by  whom  he  was  brought  up,  he  sent  messengers  to  Machir,  to  the  city  Lo- 
debar,  for  with  him  was  the  son  of  Jonathan  brought  up,  and  sent  for  him  to  come 
to  him.  So  when  Mephiboshcth  came  to  the  king,  he  fell  on  his  face  and  wor- 
shiped him ;  but  David  encouraged  him,  and  bid  him  be  of  good  cheer,  and 
expect  better  times.  So  he  gave  him  his  father's  house,  and  all  the  estate  which 
his  grandfather  Saul  was  in  possession  of,  and  bid  him  come  and  diet  with  him  at 
his  own  table,  and  never  to  be  absent  one  day  from  that  table.  And  when  the 
youth  had  worshiped  him  on  account  of  his  words  and  gifts  given  to  him,  he 
called  for  Ziba,  and  told  him,  that  he  had  given  the  youth  his  father's  house,  and 
all  Saul's  estate.  He  also  ordered  that  Ziba  should  cultivate  his  land,  and  take 
care  of  it,  and  bring  him  the  pi'ofits  of  all  to  Jerusalem.  Accordingly,  David 
brought  him  to  his  table  every  day,  and  bestowed  upon  the  youth  Ziba  and  his 
sons,  who  were  in  number  fifteen,  and  his  servants,  who  were  in  number  twenty. 
When  the  king  had  made  these  appointments,  and  Ziba  had  worshiped  him,  and 
promised  to  do  all  that  he  had  bidden  him,  he  went  his  way  ;  so  that  this  son  of 
Jonathan  dwelt  at  Jerusalem,  and  dieted  at  the  king's  table,  and  had  the  same 
care  that  a  son  could  claim  taken  of  him.  He  also  had  himself  a  son,  whom  he 
named  Micha. 


CHAP.  VI. 

How  the  War  was  waged  against  the  Ammonites,  and  happily  concluded. 

§  1.  These  were  the  honours  that  such  as  were  left  of  Saul's  and  Jonathan's  line- 
age received  from  David.  About  this  time  died  Nahash,  the  king  of  the  Ammo- 
nites,  who  was  a  friend  of  David's  :  and  when  his  son  had  succeeded  his  father  in 
the  kingdom,  David  sent  ambassadors  to  him  to  comfort  him  ;  and  exhorted  him 
to  take  his  father's  death  patiently,  and  to  expect  that  he  would  continue  the  same 
kindness  to  himself  which  he  had  showed  to  his  father.  But  the  princes  of  the 
Ammonites  took  this  message  in  evil  part,  and  not  as  David's  kind  dispositions 
gave  reason  to  take  it,  and  they  excited  the  king  to  resent  it ;  and  said,  that  Da- 
vid had  sent  men  to  spy  out  the  country,  and  what  strength  it  had,  under  the  pre- 
tence of  humanity  and  kindness.  They  farther  advised  him  to  have  a  care,  and  not 
to  give  heed  to  David's  words,  lest  he  should  be  deluded  by  him,  and  so  fall  into 
an  inconsolable  calamity.  Accordingly,  Nahash's  [son,]  the  king  of  the  Ammo- 
nites, thought  these  princes  spake  whcit  was  more  probable  than  the  truth  would 
admit,  and  so  abused  the  ambassadors  after  a  very  harsh  manner  ;  for  he  shaved 
the  one  half  of  tlieir  beards,  and  cut  off  one  half  of  their  garments,  and  sent  his 
answer  not  in  words  but  in  deeds.  When  the  king  of  Israel  saw  this,  he  had 
indignation  at  it,  and  showed  openly  that  he  would  not  overlook  this  injurious  and 
contumelious  treatment,  but  would  make  war  with  the  Ammonites,  and  would 
avenge  this  wicked  treatment  of  his  ambassadors  on  their  king.  So  that  the 
king's  intimate  friends  and  commanders,  understatiding  that  they  had  violated 
their  league,  and  were  liable  to  be  punished  for  the  same,  made  preparation  for 
war ;  they  also  sent  a  thousand  talents  to  the  Syrian  king  of  Mesopotamia,  and 
endeavoured  to  prevail  with  him  to  assist  them  for  that  pay  ;  and  Sliobach.    Now 


C.  Vir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  231 

these  kings  had  twenty  thousand  footmen.  They  also  hired  the  king  of  the 
country  called  Maacab,  and  a  fourth  king,  by  name  Ishtoh  ;  which  last  had  twelve 
thousand  armed  men. 

2.  But  David  was  under  no  consternation  at  this  confederacy,  nor  at  the  forces 
of  the  Ammonites  ;  and  putting  his  trust  in  God,  because  he  was  going  to  war  in 
a  just  cause  on  account  of  the  injurious  treatment  he  had  met  with,  he  immedi- 
ately  sent  Joab,  the  captain  of  his  host,  against  them,  and  gave  him  the  flower  of 
his  army,  who  pitched  his  camp  by  Kabbah,  the  metropolis  of  the  Ammonites  ; 
whereupon  the  enemy  came  out,  and  set  themselves  in  array,  not  all  of  them  to- 
gether,  but  in  two  bodies  :  for  the  auxiharies  were  set  in  array  in  the  i)lain  by 
themselves,  but  the  army  of  the  Ammonites  at  the  gates  over  against  the  He- 
brews.  When  Joab  saw  this,  he  opposed  one  stratagem  against  another,  and 
chose  out  the  most  hardy  part  of  his  men,  and  set  them  in  opposition  to  the  king 
of  Syria,  and  the  kings  that  were  with  him,  and  gave  the  other  part  to  his  brother 
Abishai,  and  bid  him  set  them  in  opposition  to  the  Ammonites  ;  and  said  to  him, 
that  "  in  case  he  should  see  that  the  Syrians  distressed  him,  and  were  too  hard 
for  him,  he  should  order  his  troops  to  turn  about,  and  assist  him  ;"  and  he  said 
that  "  he  himself  would  do  the  same  to  him,  if  he  saw  him  in  the  like  distress 
from  the  Ammonites."  So  he  sent  his  brother  before,  and  encouraged  him  to  do 
every  thing  courageously,  and  with  alacrity,  which  would  teach  him  to  be  afraid 
of  disgrace,  and  to  fight  manfully;  and  so  he  dismissed  him  to  fight  with  the 
Ammonites,  while  he  fell  upon  the  Syrians.  And  though  they  made  a  strong  op- 
position  for  awhile,  Joab  slew  many  of  them,  but  compelled  the  rest  to  betake 
themselves  to  flight ;  which,  when  the  Ammonites  saw,  and  were  withal  afraid  of 
Abishai  and  his  army,  they  staid  no  longer,  but  imitated  the  auxiliaries,  and  fled 
to  the  city.  So  Joab,  when  he  had  thus  overcome  the  enemy,  returned  with 
great  glory  to  Jerusalem  to  the  king. 

3.  This  defeat  did  not  still  induce  the  Ammonites  to  be  quiet,  nor  to  own  those 
that  were  superior  to  them  to  be  so,  and  be  still,  but  they  sent  to  Clialaman,  the 
king  of  the  Syrians,  beyond  Euphrates,  and  hired  him  for  an  auxiliary.  He 
had  Shobach  for  the  captain  of  his  host,  with  eighty  thousand  footmen  and 
ten  thousand  horsemen.  Now  when  the  king  of  the  Hebrews  understood  that  the 
Ammonites  had  again  gathered  so  great  an  army  together,  he  determined  to  make 
war  with  them  no  longer  by  his  generals,  but  he  passed  over  the  river  Jordan 
himself  with  all  his  army  ;  and  when  he  met  them,  he  joined  battle  with  them, 
and  overcame  them,  and  slew  forty  thousand  of  their  footmen  and  seven  thou- 
sand of  their  horsemen.  He  also  wounded  Shobach,  the  general  of  Chalaman's 
forces,  who  died  of  that  stroke ;  but  the  people  of  Mesopotamia,  upon  such  a 
conclusion  of  the  battle,  delivered  themselves  up  to  David,  and  sent  him  presents, 
who  at  winter  time  returned  to  Jerusalem.  But  at  the  beginning  of  the  spring 
he  sent  Joab,  the  captain  of  his  host,  to  fight  against  the  Ammonites,  who  over- 
ran all  their  country  and  laid  it  waste,  and  shut  them  up  in  their  metropolis,  in 
Kabbah,  and  besieged  him  therein. 


CHAP.  VH. 

Hmjo  David  fell  in  Love  with  BatJisheha,  and  skic  her  Husband  Uriah  ;  for  which 
he  is  reproved  by  Nathan. 

§  1.  But  David  fell  now  into  a  very  grievous  sin,  though  he  were  otlicrwise  na- 
turally  a  righteous  and  a  religious  man,  and  one  that  firmly  observed  the  laws  of 
our  fathers  :  for,  v/hen  late  in  an  evening,  he  took  a  view  round  him  from  the 
roof  of  his  royal  palace,  where  he  used  to  walk  at  that  liour,  he  saw  a  woman 
washing  herself  in  her  ov/n  house:  she  was  one  of  extraordinary  beauty,  and 
therein  surpassed  all  other  women  :  her  name  was  Bathsheha.  So  he  was  over- 
come by  that  woman's  beauty,  and  was  not  able  to  restrain  his  desires,  but  sent 


232  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IV^ 

for  her,  and  lay  with  her.  Hereupon  she  conceived  with  child,  and  sent  to  the 
khig,  that  he  should  contrive  some  way  for  concealing  her  sin,  (for,  according  to 
the  laws  of  their  fathers,  she,  who  had  been  guilty  of  adultery  ought  to  be  put  to 
death.)  So  the  king  sent  for  Joab's  armour-bearer  from  the  siege,  who  was  the 
woman's  husband,  and  his  name  was  Uriah  ;  and  when  he  was  come,  the  king 
inquired  of  him  about  the  army  and  about  the  siege :  and  when  he  had  made  an. 
swer,  that  all  their  affairs  went  according  to  their  wishes,  the  king  took  some  por- 
tions of  meat  from  his  supper  and  gave  them  to  him,  and  bade  him  go  home  to 
his  wife,  and  take  his  rest  with  her.  Uriah  did  not  do  so,  but  slept  near  the  king 
with  the  rest  of  his  armour-bearers.  When  the  king  was  informed  of  this,  he 
asked  him  why  he  did  not  go  home  to  his  house  and  to  his  wife,  after  so  long  an 
absence,  which  is  the  natural  custom  of  all  men,  Avhen  they  come  from  a  long 
journey.  He  replied,  that  it  was  not  right  while  his  fellow  soldiers  and  the  gene- 
ral of  the  army  slept  upon  the  ground,  in  the  camp,  and  in  an  enemy's  country, 
that  he  should  go  and  take  his  rest,  and  solace  himself  with  his  wife.  So  when 
he  had  thus  replied,  the  king  ordered  him  to  stay  there  that  night,  that  he  might 
dismiss  him  the  next  day  to  the  general.  So  the  king  invited  Uriah  to  supper, 
and  after  a  cunning  and  dexterous  manner,  plied  him  with  drink  at  supper,  till  he 
was  thereby  disordered  ;  yet  did  he  nevertheless  sleep  at  the  king's  gates,  with- 
out  any  inclination  to  go  to  his  wife.  Upon  this  the  king  was  very  angry  at  him, 
and  wrote  to  Joab,  and  commanded  him  to  punish  Uriah,  for  he  told  him  that  he 
had  offended  him :  and  he  suggested  to  him  the  manner  in  which  he  would  have 
him  punished,  that  it  might  not  be  discovered  that  he  was  himself  the  author  of 
this  his  punishment;  for  he  charged  him  to  set  him  over  against  that  part  of  his 
enemies'  army  where  the  attack  would  be  most  hazardous,  and  where  he  might 
be  deserted,  and  be  in  the  greatest  jeopardy ;  for  he  bid  him  order  his  fellow  sol- 
diers to  retire  out  of  the  fight.  When  he  had  written  thus  to  him,  and  sealed  the 
letter  with  his  own  seal,  he  gave  it  to  Uriah  to  carry  it  to  Joab.  When  Joab  had 
received  it,  and  upon  reading  it  understood  the  king's  purpose,  he  set  Uriah  in 
that  place  where  he  knew  the  enemy  would  be  most  troublesome  to  them, 
and  gave  him  for  his  partners  some  of  the  best  soldiers  in  the  army  ;  and  said 
that  he  would  also  come  to  their  assistance  with  the  whole  army,  that  if  possible 
they  might  break  down  some  part  of  the  wall  and  enter  the  city.  And  he  de- 
sired him  to  be  glad  of  the  opportunity  of  exposing  himself  to  such  great  pains, 
and  not  to  be  displeased  at  it,  since  he  was  a  valiant  soldier,  and  had  a  great  re- 
putation for  his  valour,  both  with  the  king  and  with  his  countrymen.  And  when 
Uriah  undertook  the  work  he  was  set  upon  with  alacrity,  he  gave  private  orders 
to  those  who  were  to  be  his  companions,  that  when  they  saw  the  enemy  make  a 
sally  they  should  leave  him.  When,  therefore,  the  Hebrews  made  an  attack  upon 
the  city,  the  Ammonites  were  afraid  that  the  enemy  might  prevent  them,  and  get 
up  into  the  city,  and  this  at  the  very  place  whither  Uriah  was  ordered;  so  they 
exposed  their  best  soldiers  to  be  in  the  fore  front,  and  opened  their  gates  sud- 
denly, and  fell  upon  the  enemy  with  great  vehemence,  and  ran  violentlj'^  upon 
them.  When  those  that  were  with  Uriah  saw  this  they  all  retreated  backAvard, 
as  Joab  had  directed  them  beforehand ;  but  Uriah,  as  ashamed  to  run  away  and 
leave  his  post,  sustained  the  enemy;  and  receiving  the  violence  of  their  onset, 
he  slew  many  of  them,  but  being  encompassed  round,  and  caught  in  the  midst 
of  them,  he  was  slain,  and  some  other  of  his  companions  were  slain  with  him. 

2.  When  this  was  done,  Joab  sent  messengers  to  the  king,  and  ordered  them 
to  tell  him,  that  "  he  did  what  he  could  to  take  the  city  soon,  but  that,  as  they 
made  an  assault  on  the  wall,  they  had  been  forced  to  retire  with  great  loss."  And 
bid  them,  if  they  saw  the  king  was  angry  at  it,  to  add  this,  that  "  Uriah  was  slain 
also."  When  the  king  had  heard  this  of  the  messengers,  he  took  it  heinously, 
and  said,  that  "  they  did  wrong  when  they  assaulted  the  wall,  whereas  they  ought, 
by  undermining,  and  other  stratagems  of  war,  to  endeavour  the  taking  of  the  city, 
especially  when  they  had  before  their  eyes  the  example  of  Abimelech,  the  son 


C.  Vni.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  833 

of  Gideon,  who  would  needs  take  the  tower  in  Thebes  by  force,  and  was  killed 
by  a  large  stone  thrown  at  him  by  an  old  woman ;  and  although  he  was  a  man 
of  great  prowess,  he  died  ignominiously  by  the  dangerous  manner  of  his  assault : 
that  they  should  remember  this  accident,  and  not  come  near  the  enemies'  wall  ; 
for  that  the  best  method  of  making  war  with  success  was  to  call  to  mind  the  ac- 
cidents of  former  wars,  and  what  good  or  bad  success  had  attended  them  in  the 
like  dangerous  cases,  that  so  they  might  imitate  the  one  and  avoid  the  other." 
But  when  the  king  was  in  this  disposition,  the  messenger  fold  him  that  Uriah  was 
slain  also  ;  whereupon  he  was  pacified.  So  he  bid  the  messenger  go  back  to 
Joab,  and  tell  him,  that  "  This  misfortune  is  no  other  than  what  is  common  among 
mankind  ;  and  that  such  is  the  nature  and  such  the  accidents  of  war,  insomuch 
tliat  sometimes  the  enemy  will  have  success  therein,  and  sometimes  others  ;  but 
that  he  ordered  him  to  go  on  still  in  his  care  about  the  siege,  that  no  ill  accident 
might  befall  him  in  it  hereafter  :  that  they  should  raise  bulwarks,  and  use  ma- 
chines in  besieging  the  city  ;  and  when  they  have  gotten  it,  to  overturn  its  very 
foundations,  and  to  destroy  all  those  that  are  in  it."  Accordingly,  the  messenger 
carried  the  king's  message,  with  which  he  was  charged,  and  made  haste  to  Joab. 
But  Bathsheba,  the  wife  of  Uriah,  when  she  was  inibrmed  of  the  death  of  her 
husband,  mourned  for  his  death  many  days  ;  and  when  her  mourning  was  over, 
and  the  tears  which  she  shed  for  Uriah  were  dried  up,  the  king  took  her  to  wifo 
presently,  and  a  son  was  born  to  him  by  her. 

3.  With  this  marriage  God  was  not  well  pleased,  but  was  thereupon  angrv  at 
David;  and  he  appeared  to  Nathan  the  prophet  in  his  sleep,  and  complained  of 
the  king.  Now  Nathan  was  a  fair  and  prudent  man ;  and  considering  that 
kings,  when  they  fall  into  a  passion,  are  guided  more  by  that  passion  than  they 
are  by  justice,  he  resolved  to  conceal  the  threatenings  that  proceeded  from  God, 
and  made  a  good  natured  discourse  to  him,  and  this  after  the  manner  following. 
— He  desired  that  the  king  would  give  him  his  opinion  in  the  following  case. — 
"There  were,  said  he,  two  men  inhabiting  the  same  city,  the  one  of  them  was 
rich,  and  [the  other  poor ;]  the  rich  man  had  a  great  many  flocks  of  cattle,  of 
sheep,  and  of  kine,  but  the  poor  man  had  but  one  ewe  lamb;  this  he  brought  up 
with  his  children,  and  let  her  eat  her  food  with  them,  and  he  had  the  same  na- 
tural affection  for  her  which  any  one  might  have  for  a  daughter :  now  upon  the 
coming  of  a  stranger  to  the  rich  man,  he  would  not  vouchsafe  to  kill  any  of  his 
own  flocks,  and  thence  feast  his  friend,  but  he  sent  tor  the  poor  man's  lamb,  and 
took  her  away  from  him,  and  made  him  ready  for  food,  and  thence  feasted  the 
stranger."  This  discourse  troubled  the  king  exceedingly;  and  he  denounced  to 
Nathan,  that  "this  man  was  a  wicked  man  who  could  dare  to  do  such  a  thing; 
and  that  it  was  but  just  that  he  should  restore  the  lamb  fourfold,  and  be  punished 
with  death  for  it  also."  Upon  this  Nathan  immediately  said,  that  "he  was  him- 
self the  man  who  ought  to  suffer  those  punishments,  and  that  by  his  own  sen- 
tence, and  that  it  Avas  he  who  had  perpetrated  this  great  and  horrid  crime.  Ho 
also  revealed  to  him,  and  laid  before  him  the  anger  of  God  against  him ;  who  had 
made  him  king  over  the  army  of  the  Hebrev/s,  and  lord  of  all  the  nations,  and 
those  many  and  great  nations  round  about  him  ;  who  had  formerly  delivered  liim 
out  of  the  hands  of  Saul,  and  had  given  him  such  wives  as  he  had  justly  and 
legally  married ;  and  now  this  God  was  despised  by  him,  and  affronted  by  his 
impiety,  when  he  had  married,  and  now  had  another  man's  wife ;  and  by  exposing 
her  husband  to  the  enemy,  had  really  slain  him:  that  God  would  inflict  punish- 
ments  upon  him  on  account  of  those  instances  of  wickedness :  that  his  own 
wives  should  be  forced  by  one  of  his  sons ;  and  that  he  should  be  treacherously 
supplanted  by  the  same  son ;  and  that  although  he  had  perpetrated  his  wicked- 
ness secretly,  yet  should  that  punishment  which  he  was  to  undergo  be  inflicted 
pubhcly  upon  him  :  that,  moreover,  said  he,  the  child  which  was  born  to  thee  of 
her  shall  soon  die."  When  the  king  was  troubled  at  these  messages,  and  siifH- 
ciently  confounded,  and  said  with  tears  and  sorrow  that  he  had  sinned  (tor  he 

VOL  I.  2c; 


231  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VII. 

■was  without  controversy  a  pious  man,  and  guilty  of  no  sin  at  all  in  his  whole  life, 
excepting  those  in  the  matter  of  Uriah,)  God  had  compassion  on  him,  and  was  re- 
conciled to  him,  and  promised  that  he  would  preserve  to  him  both  his  life  and 
his  kingdom ;  for  he  said,  that  "  seeing  he  repented  of  the  things  he  had  done, 
he  was  no  longer  displeased  with  him."  So  Nathan,  when  he  had  delivered  this 
prophecy  to  the  king,  returned  home. 

4.  However,  God  sent  a  dangerous  distemper  upon  the  child  that  was  born  to 
David  of  the  wife  of  Uriah ;  at  which  the  king  was  troubled,  and  did  not  take 
any  food  for  seven  days,  although  his  servants  almost  forced  him  to  take  it ;  but 
he  clothed  himself  in  a  black  garment,  and  fell  down,  and  lay  upon  the  ground 
in  sackcloth,  entreating  God  lor  the  recovery  of  the  child,  for  he  vehemently 
loved  the  child's  mother.  But  when,  on  the  seventh  day,  the  child  was  dead, 
the  king's  servants  durst  not  tell  him  of  it,  as  supposing  that  when  he  knew  it 
he  would  still  less  admit  of  food,  and  other  care  of  himself,  by  reason  of  his 
grief  at  the  death  of  his  son,  since  when  the  child  was  only  sick  he  so  greatly 
afflicted  himself  and  grieved  for  him.  But  when  the  king  perceived  that  his 
servants  were  in  disordei-,  and  seemed  to  be  affected  as  those  are  who  are  very- 
desirous  to  conceal  something,  he  understood  that  the  child  was  dead ;  and  when 
he  had  called  one  of  his  servants  to  him,  and  discovered  that  so  it  was,  he  arose 
up,  and  washed  himself  and  took  a  white  garment,  and  came  into  the  tabernacle 
of  God.  He  also  commanded  them  to  set  supper  before  him,  and  thereby  greatly 
surprised  his  kindred  and  servants,  while  he  did  nothing  of  this  when  the  child 
was  sick,  but  did  it  all  when  he  was  dead.  Whereupon  having  first  begged  leave 
to  ask  him  a  question,  they  besought  him  to  tell  them  the  reason  of  this  his  con- 
duct.  He  then  "  called  them  unskilful  people ;  and  instructed  them  how  he  had 
hopes  of  the  recovery  of  the  child  while  it  was  alive,  and,  accordingly,  did  all 
that  was  proper  for  him  to  do,  as  thinking  by  such  means  to  render  God  pro- 
pitious to  him ;  but  that  when  the  child  was  dead,  there  was  no  longer  any  oc- 
casion for  grief,  which  was  then  to  no  purpose."  When  he  had  said  this,  they 
commended  the  king's  wisdom  and  understanding.  He  then  went  in  unto  Bath- 
cheba  his  wife,  and  she  conceived,  and  bare  a  son,  and,  by  the  command  of  Na- 
than the  prophet,  called  his  name  Solomon. 

5.  But  Joab  sorely  distressed  the  Ammonites  in  the  siege,  by  cutting  off  their 
waters,  and  depriving  them  of  other  means  of  subsistence,  till  they  were  in  the 
greatest  want  of  meat  and  drink  ;  for  they  depended  only  on  one  small  well  of 
water,  and  this  they  durst  not  drink  of  too  freely,  lest  the  fountain  should  entirely 
fail  them.  So  he  wrote  to  the  king,  and  informed  him  thereof;  and  persuaded 
him  to  come  himself  to  take  the  city,  that  he  might  have  the  honour  of  the  vic- 
tory. Upon  this  letter  of  Joab's,  the  king  accepted  of  his  good  will  and  fidelity, 
and  took  with  him  his  army,  and  came  to  the  destruction  of  Rabbah ;  and  when 
he  had  taken  it  by  force,  he  gave  it  to  his  soldiers  to  plunder  it ;  but  he  himself 
took  the  king  of  the  Ammonites'  crown,  whose  weight  was  a  talent  of  gold  ;* 
and  it  had  in  its  middle  a  precious  stone  called  a  sardonyx  ;  which  crown  David 
ever  after  wore  on  his  own  head.  He  also  found  many  other  vessels  in  the  city, 
and  those  both  splendid  and  of  great  price ;  but  as  for  the  men,  he  tormented"}" 

*  That  a  talent  of  gold  was  about  71b.  weight,  see  the  description  of  the  temples,  ch.  xiii.  Nor  could 
Josephus  well  estimate  it  higher,  since  he  here  says  that  David  wore  it  on  his  head  perpetually. 

t  Whether  Josephus  saw  the  words  of  our  copies,  2  Sam.  xii.  31,  and  1  Chron.  x.x.  3,  that  David  put 
the  inhabitants,  or,  at  least,  the  garrison  of  Rabbah,  and  of  the  otlier  Ammonite  cities  which  he  be- 
siei;ed  anu  {oo\'--i  "under,  or  cut  llicm  lo'dh  saws  ;  and  under,  or  wiih  harrows  of  iron  ;  and  vndcr,  or  uiih 
{IKS  of  iron;  and  made  them  pass  thrnvgh  the  brick  kihi ;  is  not  here  directly  expressed.  If  he  saw 
iliem,  as  is  most  probable  he  did,  he  certainly  expounded  them  of  tormenting  these  Ammonites  to 
death,  who  were  none  of  those  seven  nations  of  Canaan,  whose  wickedness  had  rendered  tiieni  inca- 
pable of  meicy  ;  otlierwise  I  should  lie  inclinalile  to  tliink,  that  the  meaning,  at  least  as  the  words  are  in 
Sanuioi,  migtn  only  be  this,  that  they  were  made  tlie  lowest  slaves,  to  work  in  sawing  timber  or  stone,  in 
harrowing  the  fields,  in  liewing  timber,  in  making  and  burning  bricks,  and  the  like  hard  services,  but 
^vithoul  taking  away  tlieir  lives.  We  never  elsewhere,  that  I  remember,  meet  witli  such  methods  of 
CHiflty  in  putting  inen  to  death  in  alt  the  Bible,  or  in  any  odicr  ancient  history  whatsoever :  nor  do  the 
\\Oid&  in  Kaiiiuel  seem  naturally  to  refer  to  any  such  thing. 


C.  Viri.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  235 

them,  and  then  destroyed  them  :  and  when  he  had  taken  the  other  cities  of  the 
Ammonites  by  force,  he  treated  them  alter  the  eamo  manner. 


CHAP.  VIII. 

How  Absalom  murdered  Amnon,  who  had  forced  his  own  Shter ;  and  how  he  was 
banished,  and  aftericards  recalled  by  David. 

§  1.  When  the  king  was  returned  to  Jerusalem,  a  sad  misfortune  befel  his  house 
on  the  occasion  folloAving. — He  had  a  daughter,  who  was  yet  a  vir"-in,  and  very 
handsome,  insomuch  that  she  surpassed  all  the  mos-t  beautiful  women  ;  her  nanio 
"was  Tamar  :  she  had  the  same  mother  with  Absalom.  Now  Amnon,  David's 
eldest  son,  fell  in  love  with  her,  and  being  not  able  to  obtain  his  desires,  on  ac- 
count  of  her  virginity,  and  the  custody  she  was  under,  was  much  out  of  order- 
nay,  his  grief  so  eat  up  his  body,  that  he  grcv/ lean,  and  his  colour  was  changed. 
Now  there  was  one  Jonadab,  a  kinsman  and  friend  of  his,  who  discovered  this 
his  passion,  for  he  was  an  extraordinary  wise  man,  and  of  great  satracity  of 
mind.  When,  therefore,  he  saw  that  every  morning  Amnon  was  not  in  body  as 
he  ought  to  be,  he  came  to  Iwm,  and  desired  him  to  tell  him  what  was  the  cause 
of  it :  however,  he  said,  that  he  guessed  that  it  arose  from  the  passion  of  love. 
Amnon  confessed  his  passion,  that  he  was  in  love  with  a  sister  of  his,  who  had 
the  same  father  with  himself.  So  Jonadab  suggested  to  him  by  what  method 
and  contrivance  he  might  obtain  his  desires ;  for  he  persuaded  him  to  pretend 
sickness,  and  bid  him,  when  his  father  should  come  to  him,  to  beg  of  him  that 
his  sister  might  come  and  minister  to  him,  for  if  that  were  done,  ho  should  be 
better,  and  should  quickly  recover  from  his  distemper.  So  Amnon  lay  down 
on  his  bed,  and  pretended  to  be  sick,  as  Jonadab  had  suggested.  When 
his  father  came,  and  inquired  how  he  did,  he  begged  of  him  to  send  his  sister  to 
him.  Accordingly  he  presently  ordered  her  to  be  brought  to  him  ;  and  when 
she  was  come,  Amnon  bid  her  make  cakes  for  him,  and  try  them  in  a  pan,  and 
do  it  all  with  her  own  hands,  because  he  should  take  them  better  from  her  hand 
[than  from  any  one's  else].  So  she  kneaded  the  flour  in  the  sight  of  her  brother, 
and  made  him  cakes,  and  baked  them  in  a  pan,  and  brought  them  to  him  ;  but 
at  that  time  he  would  not  taste  them  but  gave  order  to  his  servants  to  send  all 
that  were  there  out  of  his  chamber,  because  he  had  a  mind  to  repose  himself, 
free  from  tum\dt  and  disturbance.  As  soon  as  what  he  had  conmiandcd  was 
done,  he  desired  his  sister  to  bring  his  supper  to  him  into  the  inner  parlour  ; 
which,  when  the  damsel  had  done,  he  took  hold  of  her,  and  endeavoured  to  per- 
suade  her  to  lie  with  him.  Whereupon  the  damsel  cried  out,  and  said,  "  Nay, 
brother,  do  not  force  me,  nor  be  so  wicked  as  to  transgress  the  laws,  and  bring 
upon  thyself  the  utmost  confusion.  Curb  this  thy  unrighteous  and  impure  lust, 
from  which  our  house  will  get  nothing  but  reproach  and  disgrace.  She  also 
advised  him  to  speak  to  his  father  about  this  affair,  for  ho  would  permit  him  [to 
marry  her."]  This  she  said,  as  desirous  to  avoid  her  brother's  violent  passion 
at  present.  But  he  would  not  yield  to  her,  but,  inflamed  with  love  and  blinded 
with  the  vehemency  of  his  passion,  he  forced  his  sister :  but,  as  soon  as  Amnon 
had  satisfied  his  hist,  he  hated  her  immediately,  and  giving  her  reproachful  words, 
bid  her  rise  up  and  be  gone.  And  when  she  said,  that  "  this  was  a  more  injuri- 
ous  treatment  than  the  former,  if  now  he  had  forced  her,  he  would  not  let  her 
stay  with  him  till  the  evening,  but  bid  her  go  away  in  the  daytime,  and  while  it 
was  light,  that  she  might  meet  with  people  that  would  bo  witness  of  her  shame," 
he  commanded  his  servant  to  turn  her  out  of  his  house.  Wjicreupon  she  was 
sorely  grieved  at  the  injury  and  violence  that  had  been  oflcrcd  to  her,  and  rent 
her  loose  coat  (for  the  virgins  of  old  time  wore  such  loose  coats  tied  at  tho 
hands,  and  let  down  to  the  ankles,  that  the  inner  coats  might  not  be  seen,)  and 
2G 


236  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VII. 

sprinkled  ashes  on  her  head  ;  and  went  up  the  middle  of  the  city,  crying  out, 
and  lamenting  for  the  violence  that  had  been  offered  her.  Now  Absalom  her 
brother  happened  to  meet  her,  and  asked  her,  What  sad  thing  had  befallen  her, 
that  she  was  in  that  plight  ?  and  when  she  had  told  him  what  injury  had  been 
offered  her,  he  comforted  her,  and  desired  her  to  be  quiet,  and  to  take  all  patiently, 
and  not  to  esteem  her  being  corrupted  by  her  brother  as  an  injury.  So  she 
yielded  to  his  advice,  and  left  oft' her  crying  out,  and  discovering  the  force  offered 
to  her  to  the  multitude  ;  and  she  continued  as  a  widow  with  her  brother  Absalom 
a  long  time. 

2.  When  David  his  father  knew  this,  he  was  grieved  at  the  actions  of  Amnon  ; 
but  because  he  had  an  extraordinary  affection  for  him,  for  he  was  his  eldest  son, 
he  was  compelled  not  to  afflict  him:  but  Absalom  watched  for  a  fit  opportunity 
of  revenging  this  crime  upon  him,  for  he  thoroughly  hated  him.  Now  the  second 
year  after  this  Avicked  affair  about  his  sister  was  over,  and  Absalom  was  about  to 
go  to  shear  his  own  sheep  at  Baalhazor,  which  is  a  cit)^  in  the  portion  of  Ephraim, 
he  besought  his  father,  as  well  as  his  brethren,  to  come  and  feast  with  him  :  but 
when  David  excused  himself,  as  not  being  wiUing  to  be  burdensome  to  him,  Ab- 
salom  desired  he  would  however  send  his  brethren ;  whom  he  did  send  accor- 
dingly.  Then  Absalom  charged  his  own  servants,  that  when  they  should  see 
Amnon  disordered  and  drowsy  with  wine,  and  he  should  give  them  a  signal,  they 
should  fear  nobody,  but  kill  him. 

3.  When  they  had  done  as  they  were  commanded,  the  rest  of  his  brethren 
were  astonished  and  disturbed,  and  were  afraid  for  themselves,  so  they  imme- 
diately got  on  horseback,  and  rode  away  to  their  father :  but  somebody  there 
was  who  prevented  them,  and  told  their  father  they  were  all  slain  by  Absalom ; 
whereupon  he  was  overcome  with  sorrow,  as  for  so  many  of  his  sons  that  were 
destroyed  at  once,  and  that  by  their  brother  also  ;  and  by  this  consideration,  that 
it  was  their  brother  that  appeared  to  have  slain  them,  he  aggravated  his  sorrow 
for  them.  So  he  neither  inquired  what  was  the  cause  of  this  slaughter,  nor 
stayed  to  hear  any  thing  else,  which  yet  it  was  but  reasonable  to  have  done,  when 
so  very  great,  and  by  that  greatness  so  incredible  a  misfortune  was  related  to 
him,  he  rent  his  clothes,  and  threw  himself  upon  tlie  ground,  and  there  lay  la- 
menting the  loss  of  all  his  sons,  but  those  who,  as  he  was  informed,  were  slain, 
and  of  him  that  slew  them.  But  Jonadab,  the  son  of  his  brother  Shimeah,  en- 
treated  him  not  to  indulge  his  sorrow  so  far,  for  as  to  the  rest  of  his  sons  he  did 
not  believe  that  they  were  slam,  for  he  found  no  cause  for  such  a  suspicion ;  but  he 
said  it  might  deserve  inquiry  as  to  Amnon,  for  it  was  not  unlikely  that  Absalom 
might  venture  to  kill  him  on  account  of  the  injury  he  had  offered  to  Tamar.  In 
the  mean  time  a  great  noise  of  horses,  and  a  tumult  of  some  people  that  were 
coming,  turned  their  attention  to  them ;  they  were  the  king's  sons,  who  were  fled 
away  from  the  feast.  So  their  father  met  them  as  they  were  in  their  grief,  and 
he  himself  grieved  with  them ;  but  it  was  more  than  he  expected  to  see  those  his 
sons  again,  whom  he  had  a  little  before  heard  to  have  perished.  However,  there 
were  tears  on  both  sides.  They  lamenting  their  brother  who  was  killed,  and  the 
king  lamenting  his  son,  who  was  killed  also :  but  Absalom  fled  to  Geshur,  to  his 
grandfather  by  his  mother's  side,  who  was  king  of  that  country,  and  he  remained 
with  him  three  whole  years. 

4.  Now  David  had  a  design  to  send  to  Absalom,  not  that  he  should  come  to  be 
punished,  but  that  he  might  be  with  him,  for  the  effects  of  his  anger  were  abated 
by  length  of  time.  It  was  Joab,  the  captain  of  his  host,  that  chiefly  persuaded 
him  so  to  do ;  for  he  suborned  an  ordinary  woman,  that  was  stricken  in  age,  to 
go  to  the  king  in  mourning  apparel,  who  said  thus  to  him :  "  That  two  of  her 
sons,  in  a  course  way,  had  some  difference  between  them,  and  that  in  the  pro- 
gress of  that  difference  they  came  to  an  open  q\iarrel,  and  that  one  was  smitten 
by  the  other,  and  was  dead,  and  she  desired  him  to  interpose  in  this  case,  and  to 
do  her  tlie  favour  to  save  this  her  son  from  her  kindred,  who  was  very  zealous  to 


C.  Vlir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  237 

have  him  that  had  slain  his  brother  put  to  death,  tliat  so  she  might  not  be  farther 
deprived  of  the  hopes  she  had  of  being  taken  care  of  in  her  old  age  by  him ;  and 
that  if  he  would  hinder  this  shiughter  of  her  son  by  those  that  wished  for  it,  he 
would  do  her  a  great  favour,  because  the  kindred  would  not  be  restrained  from 
their  purpose  by  any  thing  else  than  by  the  fear  of  him."  And  when  the  kin*^ 
had  given  his  consent  to  what  the  woman  had  begged  of  him,  she  made  this  re- 
ply to  him :  "I  owe  thee  thanks  for  thy  benignity  to  me  in  pitying  my  old  a<re, 
and  preventing  the  loss  of  my  only  remaining  child  ;  but  in  order  to  assure  me 
of  this  th}^  kindness,  be  first  reconciled  to  thine  own  son,  and  cease  to  be  angry 
•with  him ;  for  how  shall  I  persuade  myself  that  thou  hast  really  bestowed  this 
favour  upon  me,  while  thou  thyself  continuest  after  the  like  manner  in  thy  wrath 
to  tiiine  own  son?  for  it  is  a  Ibolish  thing  to  add  wilfully  another  to  thy  dead  son, 
wiiile  the  death  of  the  other  was  brought  about  without  thy  consent."  And  now 
the  king  perceived  that  this  pretended  story  was  a  subornation  derived  from  Joab, 
and  was  of  his  contrivance ;  and  when,  upon  inquiry  of  the  old  woman,  he  un- 
derstood  it  to  be  so  in  reality,  he  called  for  Joab,  and  told  him  he  had  obtained 
what  l>e  requested  according  to  his  own  mind :  and  he  bid  him  bring  Absalom 
back,  for  he  was  not  now  displeased,  but  had  already  ceased  to  be  angry  with 
him.  So  Joab  bowed  himself  down  to  the  king,  and  took  his  words  kindly,  and 
went  immediately  to  Geshur,  and  took  Absalom  with  him,  and  came  to  Jeru- 
salem. 

5.  However,  the  king  sent  a  message  to  his  son  beforehand,  as  lie  was  com- 
ing, and  commanded  him  to  retire  to  his  own  house,  for  he  was  not  yet  in  such  a 
disposition  as  to  think  fit  at  present  to  see  him.     Accordingly,  upon  the  father's 
command,  he  avoided  coming  into  his  presence,  and  contented  himself  with  the 
respects  paid  him  by  his  own  family  only.     Now  his  beauty  was  not  impaired, 
either  by  the  grief  he  had  been  under,  or  by  the  want  of  such  care  as  w  as  proper 
to  be  taken  of  a  king's  son ;  for  he  still  surpassed  and  excelled  all  men  in  the 
tallness  of  his  body,  and  was  more  eminent  [in  a  fine  appearance]  than  those  that 
dieted  the  most  luxuriously  :  and  indeed  such  was  the  thickness  of  the  hair  of  his 
head,  that  it  was  with  difficulty  that  he  was  polled  every  eighth  day;  and  his  hair 
weighed  two  hundred  shekels,*  which  are  five  pounds.     However,  he  dwelt  in 
Jerusalem  two  years,  and  became  the  father  of  three  sons  and  one  daughter ; 
which  daughter  was  of  very  great  beauty,  and  which  Rehoboam,  the  son  of  Solo- 
mon,  took  to  wife  afterward,  and  had  by  her  a  son  named  Abijah.     But  Absalom 
sent  to  Joab,  and  desired  him  to  pacify  his  father  entirely  towards  him  ;  and  to 
beseech  him  to  give  him  leave  to  come  to  him  to  see  him,  and  speak  with  him. 
But  when  Joab  neglected  so  to  do,  he  sent  some  of  his  own  servants,  and  set  fire 
to  the  field  adjoining  to  him :  which,  when  Joab  understood,  he  came  to  Absalom, 
and  accused  him  of  what  he  had  done  ;  and  asked  him  the  reason  why  he  did  so  ? 
To  which  Absalom  replied,  that  "  I  have  found  out  this  stratagem  that  might  bring 
thee  to  us,  while  thou  hast  taken  no  care  to  perform  the  injunction  I  laid  upon 
thee,  which  was  this,  to  reconcile  my  father  to  me  :  and  I  really  beg  it  of  thee, 
now  thou  art  here,  to  pacify  my  father  as  to  me,  since  I  esteem  my  coming  hither 
to  be  more  grievous  than  my  banishment,  while  my  father's  wrath  against  mo 
continues."     Hereby  Joab  was  persuaded,  and  pitied  the  distress  that   Absalom 
was  in,  and  became  an  intercessor  with  the  king  for  him.     And  when  he  had  dis- 
coursed  with  his  father,  he  soon  brought  him  to  that  amicable  disposition  towards 
Absalom,  that  he  presently  sent  for  him  to  come  to  him  :  and  when  he  had  cast 
himself  down  upon  the  ground,  and  had  begged  for  the  forgiveness  of  his  ofiences, 
tiie  king  raised  him  up,  and  promised  him  to  forget  what  he  had  formerly  done. 

*  Of  this  weight  of  Absalom's  hair,  how  in  20  or  30  years  if  might  well  amount  to  200  shekels,  or  to 
somewhat  above  6  lb.  avoirdupois,  see  the  T.iteral  Accomplishment  of  I'rophccies,  page  77,  78.  But  a 
late  very  judicious  author  thinks  that  the  LXXII  meant  not  its  u-cig/tt,  but  its  value  was  '200  shekels.  Dr. 
Wall's  critical  notes  on  the  Old  Testament  upon  2  Sam.  xiv.  26.  It  does  not  appear  what  was  Josephus's 
opinion  :  he  sets  the  text  down  honestly  as  he  frumd  it  in  his  copies ;  only  he  thought,  thai  at  the  end  of 
days,  when  Absalom  polled  or  weighed  his  hair,  was  once  a  week. 


238  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS  B.  VIL 


CHAP.  IX. 

Concerning  ilie  Insurrection  of  Absalom  against  David ;  and  concerning 

Ahithophcl  and  Hushai ;  and  concerning  Z-iba  and  Shimei ; 

and  how  Ahithophel  hanged  himself. 

§  1.  Now  Absalom,  upon  this  his  success  with  the  king,  procured  to  himself  a 
great  many  horses,  and  many  chariots,  and  that  in  a  little  time  also.  He  had  more- 
over filly  armour-bearei's  that  were  about  him,  and  he  came  early  every  day  to  the 
king's  palace,  and  spake  what  was  agreeable  to  such  as  came  tor  justice,  and  lost 
their  causes,  as  if  that  happened  for  want  of  good  counsellors  about  the  king,  or  per- 
haps because  the  judges  mistook  in  that  unjust  sentence  they  gave  ;  whereby  he 
gained  the  good  will  of  them  all.  He  told  them,  that  had  he  but  such  authority 
committed  to  him,  he  Avould  distribute  justice  to  them  in  a  most  equitable  manner. 
When  he  had  made  himself  so  popular  among  the  multitude,  he  thought  he  had 
already  the  good  will  of  the  people  secured  to  him  ;  but  when  four*  years  had 
passed  since  his  father's  reconciliation  to  him,  he  came  to  him,  and  besought  him 
to  give  him  leave  to  go  to  Hebron,  and  pay  a  sacrifice  to  God,  because  he  vowed 
it  to  him  when  he  fled  out  of  tlie  country.  So  when  David  had  granted  his  re- 
quest, he  went  thither,  and  great  multitudes  came  running  together  to  him,  for  he 
had  sent  to  a  great  number  so  to  do. 

2.  Among  them  came  Ahithophel  the  Gilonite,  a  counsellor  of  David's  and  two 
hundred  men  out  of  Jerusalem  itself,  v/ho  knew  not  his  intentions,  but  were  sent 
for  as  to  a  sacrifice.  So  he  was  appointed  king  by  all  of  them,  which  he  obtained 
by  this  stratagem.  As  soon  as  this  news  was  brought  to  David,  and  he  was  in- 
formed of  what  he  did  not  expect  from  his  son,  he  was  affrighted  at  this  his  impi. 
ous  and  bold  undertaking,  and  wondered  that  he  was  so  far  from  remembering  how 
his  offence  had  been  so  lately  forgiven  him,  that  he  undertook  much  worse  and 
more  wicked  enterprises  ;  first,  to  deprive  him  of  that  kingdom  which  was  given 
him  of  God  ;  and  secondly,  to  take  away  his  own  father's  life.  He  therefore  re- 
solved to  fly  to  the  parts  be^^ond  Jordan :  so  he  called  his  most  intimate  friends 
together,  and  communicated  to  them  all  that  he  had  heard  of  his  son's  madness. 
He  committed  himself  to  God,  to  judge  between  them  about  all  their  actions;  and 
left  the  care  of  his  royal  palace  to  his  ten  concubines,  and  went  away  from  Jeru- 
salem, being  willingly  accompanied  by  the  rest  of  the  multitude,  who  Avent  hastily 
away  with  him,  and  particularly  by  those  six  hundred  armed  men,  who  had  been 
with  him  from  his  first  liight  in  the  days  of  Saul :  but  he  persuaded  Abiathar  and 
Zadok,  the  high  priests,  who  had  determined  to  go  away  Avith  him,  as  also  all  the 
Levites,  who  were  with  the  ark,  to  stay  behind,  as  hoping  that  God  would  deliver 
him  without  its  removal ;  but  he  charged  them  to  let  him  know  privately  how  all 
things  went  on  :  and  he  had  their  sons,  Ahimaaz  the  son  of  Zadok,  and  Jonathan 
the  son  of  Abiathar,  for  faithful  ministers  in  all  things  ;  but  Ittai  the  Gittite  went  out 
with  him  whether  David  would  let  him  or  not,  for  he  would  have  persuaded  him  to 
stay,  and  on  that  account  he  appeared  the  more  friendly  to  him.  But  as  he  was  as- 
cending the  Mount  of  Olives  barefooted,  and  all  his  company  were  in  tears,  it  was 
told  him  that  Ahithophel  was  with  Absalom,  and  was  of  his  side.  This  hearing  aug- 
mented his  grief;  and  he  besouglit  God  earnestly  to  alienate  the  mind  of  Absalom 
from  Ahithophel,  for  he  was  afraid  that  he  should  persuade  him  to  follow  his  per- 
nicious counsel ;  for  he  was  a  prudent  man,  and  very  sharp  in  seeing  what  was 
advantageous.  When  David  was  gotten  upon  the  top  of  the  mountain,  he  took  a 
view  of  the  city  ;  and  prayed  to  God  with  abundance  of  tears,  as  having  already 

•  This  isoneof  the  hpst  corrections  that  Josephus's  copy  affords  us  of  a  text  that  in  our  ordinary  copies 
is  grossly  corniptcd.  Tliev  say,  that  this  rehellion  of  Absalom  was  40  years  after  what  went  before  (of 
liis  reconciliation  to  his  f'aiher,)  whereas  the  scries  of  the  history  shows  it  could  not  be  more  than  four 
years  after  it,  as  here  in  Josephi:s  ;  whl:i^e  number  is  dirrcll)'  confirmed  by  that  copy  of  the  Septuagint 
version  whence  tlic  Armenian  translaiiuu  was  made,  which  gives  us.the  small  number  of  four  years. 


C.  IX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEVV& 


239 


lost  his  kingdom  :  and  here  it  was  that  a  faithful  friend  of  his,  whose  name  was 
Hushai,  met  him.  When  David  saw  him  with  his  clotlics  rent,  and  having  ashes 
all  over  his  head,  and  in  lamentation  for  the  great  change  of  atlairs,  he  comforted 
him,  and  exhorted  him  to  leave  off  grieving  ;  nay,  at  length  he  besought  him  to 
go  back  to  Absalom,  and  appear  as  one  of  his  party,  and  to  fi.sh  out  the  secretest 
counsels  of  his  mind,  and  to  contradict  the  counsels  of  Ahithophel  ;  for  that  he 
could  not  do  him  so  much  good  by  being  with  him  as  he  might  by  bcino-  with  Ab- 
salom.  So  he  was  prevailed  on  by  David,  and  left  him,  and  came  to  Jerusalem, 
whither  Absalom  himself  came  also  a  little  while  afterward. 

3.  When  David  was  gone  a  little  farther,  there  met  him  Ziba,  the  servant  of 
Mephibosheth  (whom  he  had  sent  to  take  care  of  the  possessions  which  had  been 
given  him,  as  the  son  of  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Saul,)  with  a  couple  of  asses,  loaden 
with  provisions,  and  desired  him  to  take  as  much  of  them  as  he  and  his  I'ollowers 
stood  in  need  of.  And  when  the  king  asked  him  where  he  had  left  Mephibosheth? 
he  said,  "  lie  had  left  him  in  Jerusalem  expecting  to  be  chosen  king  in  the  pre- 
sent confusions,  in  remembrance  of  the  benefits  Saul  had  conferred  upon  them." 
At  this  the  king  had  great  indignation,  and  gave  to  Ziba  all  that  he  had  formerly 
bestowed  on  Mephibosheth,  lor  hoi  determined  that  it  was  much  fitter  that  he 
should  have  them  than  the  other;  at  which  Ziba  greatly  rejoiced. 

4.  When  David  was  at  Bahurim,  a  place  so  called,  there  came  out  a  kinsman 
of  Saul's  whose  name  was  Shimei,  and  threw  stones  at  him,  and  gave  him  re- 
proachful words  ;  and  as  his  friends  stood  about  the  king  and  protected  him,  he 
persevered  still  more  in  his  reproaches,  and  called  him  a  bloody  man,  and  the 
author  of  all  sorts  of  mischief.  He  bid  him  also  "  go  out  of  the  lainl  as  an  impure 
and  accursed  wretch :  and  he  thanked  God  for  depriving  him  of  his  kingdom, 
and  causing  him  to  be  punished  for  what  injuries  he  had  done  to  his  master  [Saul,] 
and  this  by  the  means  of  his  0N\n."  Now  when  they  were  all  provoked  against 
him,  and  angry  at  him,  and  particularly  Abishai,  who  had  a  mind  to  kill  Shimei, 
David  restrained  his  anger:  "Lotus  not,"  said  he,  "  bring  upon  ourselves  ano- 
ther fresh  misfortune  to  those  we  have  already,  for  truly  I  have  not  the  least 
regard  nor  concern  for  this  dog  that  raves  at  me  :  I  submit  myself  to  Cod,  by 
whose  permission  this  man  treats  me  in  such  a  wild  manner;  nor  is  it  any  wonder 
that  I  am  obliged  to  undergo  these  abuses  from  him,  while  I  experience  the  like 
from  an  impious  son  of  my  own  ;  but  perhaps  God  will  have  some  commiseration 
upon  us  ;  if  it  be  his  will,  we  shall  overcome  them."  So  he  went  on  his  way  with- 
out troubling  himself  with  Shimei,  who  ran  along  the  other  side  of  the  mountain, 
and  threw  out  his  abusive  language  plentifully  :  but  when  David  was  come  to 
Jordan,  he  allowed  those  that  were  with  him  to  refresh  themselves;  for  they  were 
weary. 

5.  But  when  Absalom,  and  Ahithophel  his  counsellor,  were  come  to  Jerusalem, 
with  all  the  people,  David's  friend,  Ilushai  came  to  them;  and  when  he  had  wor- 
shiped Absalom,  he  withal  wished  that  his  kingdom  might  last  a  long  time,  and 
continue  for  all  ages.  But  when  Absalom  said  to  him,  "  How  comes  this,  that 
he  who  was  so  intimate  a  friend  of  my  father's,  and  appeared  laithful  to  him  in 
all  things,  is  not  with  him  now,  but  hath  left  him,  and  is  come  over  to  me?"  Hus- 
hai's  answer  was  very  pertinent  and  prudent ;  for  he  said,  "  We  ought  to  follow 
God  and  the  multitude  of  the  peoi)lc  ;  while  these,  therefore,  my  lord  and  master, 
are  with  thee,  it  is  fit  that  I  should  follow  them  ;  for  thou  hast  received  the  king- 
dom  from  God.  I  will  therefore,  if  thou  belicvcst  me  to  be  thy  friend,  show  the 
same  fidelity  and  kindness  to  thee,  which  thou  knowest  I  have  showed  to  thy  fa- 
tlier  :  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  be  in  the  least  dissatisfied  with  llic  jiresent  state  of 
aflUirs,  ibr  the  kingdom  is  not  transferred  into  another,  ])ut  remains  still  in  the 
same  family,  by  the  son's  receiving  it  after  his  fiithcr."  This  sjjcorh  persuaded 
Absalom,  who 'before  suspected  Hushai.  And  now  he  called  Ahithophel,  and 
consulted  with  him  what  he  ought  to  do ;  ho  persuaded  him  to  go  in  unto  his 
father's  concubines;  for  he  said,  that  "  by  this  action  the  people,  would  believe 


240  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VII. 

that  thy  difierence  with  thy  flither  is  irreconcilable,  and  will  thence  fight  with 
great  alacrity  against  thy  father,  for  liithcrto  they  are  afraid  of  taking  up  open 
enmity  against  him,  out  of  an  expectation  that  you  will  be  reconciled  again." 
Accordingly  Absalom  was  prevailed  on  by  this  advice  and  commanded  his  ser. 
vants  to  pitch  him  a  tent  upon  the  top  of  the  royal  palace,  in  the  sight  of  the  mul- 
titude  :  and  he  went  in  and  lay  with  his  father's  concubines.  Now  this  came  to 
pa*s  according  to  the  prediction  of  Nathan,  when  he  prophesied  and  signified  to 
him,  that  his  son  would  rise  up  in  rebellion  against  him. 

6.  And  when  Absalom  had  done  what  he  was  advised  to  by  Ahithophel,  he 
desired  his  advice  in  the  second  place,  about  the  war  against  his  father.  Now 
Ahithophel  only  asked  him  to  let  him  have  ten  thousand  chosen  men,  and  he 
promised  he  vrould  slay  his  father,  and  bring  the  soldiers  back  again  in  safety; 
and  he  said,  that  "then  the  kingdom  would  be  firm  to  him  when  David  was  dead 
[but  not  otherwise."]  Absalom  was  pleased  with  this  advice;  and  called  for 
Hushai,  David's  friend  (for  so  did  he  style  him,)  and  informing  him  of  the  opinion 
of  Ahithophel,  he  asked  farther  what  was  his  opinion  concerning  that  matter? 
Now  he  was  sensible  that  if  Ahithophel's  counsel  was  followed,  David  would  be 
in  danger  of  being  seized  on,  and  slam ;  so  he  attempted  to  introduce  a  contrary 
opinion,  and  said,  "Thou  art  not  unacquainted,  O  king,  with  the  valour  of  thy 
father,  and  of  those  that  are  now  with  him ;  that  he  hath  made  many  wars,  and 
hath  always  come  ofi"  with  victory :  though  probably  he  now  abides  in  the  camp, 
for  he  is  very  skilful  in  stratagems  and  in  foreseeing  the  deceitful  tricks  of  his 
enemies,  yet  will  he  leave  his  own  soldiers  in  the  evening,  and  will  either  hide 
himself  in  some  valley,  or  will  place  an  ambush  at  some  rock;  so  that  when  our 
army  joins  battle  with  him,  his  soldiers  will  retire  for  a  little  while,  but  will  come 
upon  us  again,  as  encouraged  by  the  king's  being  near  them,  and  in  the  mean 
time  your  father  will  show  himself  suddenly  in  the  time  of  the  battle,  and  will 
infuse  courage  into  his  own  people  when  they  are  in  danger,  but  bring  conster- 
nation to  thine.  Consider,  therefore,  my  advice,  and  reason  upon  it,  and  if  thou 
canst  not  but  acknowledge  it  to  be  the  best,  reject  the  opinion  of  Ahithophel. 
Send  to  the  entire  country  of  the  Hebrews,  and  order  them  to  come  to  fight 
with  thy  father ;  and  do  thou  thyself  take  the  army,  and  be  thine  own  general  in 
this  war,  and  do  not  trust  its  management  to  another;  then  expect  to  conquer 
him  with  ease,  when  thou  overtakest  him  openly  with  his  few  partisans,  but  hast 
thyself  many  ten  thousands,  who  will  be  desirous  to  demonstrate  to  thee  their 
dihgence  and  alacrity.  And  if  thy  father  shall  shut  himself  up  in  some  city,  and 
bear  a  siege,  we  will  overthrow  that  city  by  machines  of  war,  and  by  undermining 
it."  AVhen  Hushai  had  said  this,  he  obtained  his  point  against  Ahithophel,  for 
his  opinion  was  preferred  by  Absalom  before  the  other's :  however,  it  was  no 
other  than*  God  v/ho  made  the  counsel  of  Hushai  appear  best  to  the  mind  of 
Absalom. 

7.  So  Hushai  made  haste  to  the  high  priests,  Zadok  and  Abiathar,  and  told 
them  the  opinion  of  Ahithophel,  and  his  own,  and  that  the  resolution  was  taken 
to  follow  this  latter  advice.  He  therefore  bid  them  send  to  David,  and  tell  him 
of  it,  and  to  inform  him  of  the  counsels  that  had  been  taken ;  and  to  desire  him 
farther  to  pass  quickly  over  Jordan,  lest  his  son  should  change  his  mind,  and  make 

•*  This  reflection  of  Josephus's,  that  God  brought  to  nought  the  dangerous  counsel  of  Ahithophel,  and 
ii'nec\\y  iitfaiuated  wicked  Absalom  to  reject  it  (whicli  iiifatuation  is  what  the  scripture  styles  the  judi- 
cial hardening  the  hearts  and  blinding  the  eyes  of  men,  who,  by  their  former  voluntary  wickedness,  have 
justly  deserved  to  be  destroyed,  and  are  thereby  brought  to  destruction,)  is  a  very  just  one,  and  in  him 
not  unfrecjuent.  Nor  does  Josephus  ever  puzzle  liiniself,  or  perplex  his  readers,  with  subtile  hypothesis 
as  to  the  manner  of  such  judicial  infatuations  by  God,  wliile  \\\q  justice  of  them  is  generally  so  obvious;. 
That  peculiar  matmcr  of  the  divine  operations,  or  permissions,  or  the  means  God  makes  use  of  in  such 
cases,  is  often  impenetrable  by  us,  "  Secret  thmgs  belong  to  the  Lord  our  God  ;  but  those  things  that  are 
revealed  belong  to  us,  and  to  our  children,  for  ever,  that  we  may  do  all  the  words  of  this  law."  Deut. 
xxix.  29.  Nor  h  ave  nil  the  subtilities  of  the  moderns,  so  far  as  I  see,  given  any  considerable  light  in  this, 
and  many  other  the  like  points  of  riUficulty  relating  either  to  divine  or  human  operations.  See  also  the 
notes  on  Antjq.  B.  v.  ix.  chap.  i.  sect.  2.  and  Antiq.  B.  ix.  chap.  iv.  sect.  3. 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  JJII 

haste  to  pursue  him,  and  so  prevent  him,  and  seize  upon  him  before  ho  be  in  safety. 
Now  the  high  priests  had  their  sons  concealed  in  a  proper  place  out  of  the  city,  that 
they  might  carry  news  to  David  of  what  was  transacted.  Accordingly  they  sent  a 
maid  servant,  whom  they  could  trust,  to  them'  to  carry  the  news  of  Absalom's  coun- 
sels, and  ordered  them  to  signify  the  same  to  David  with  all  speed.  So  they  made 
no  excuse  nor  delay,  but  taking  along  with  them  their  father's  injunctions,  became 
pious  and  faithful  ministers,  and  judging  that  quickness  and  suddenness  was  the 
best  mark  of  faithful  service,  they  made  haste  to  meet  with  David ;  but  certaia 
horsemen  saw  them  when  they  were  two  furlongs  from  the  city,  and  informed 
Absalom  of  them,  who  immediately  sent  some  to  take  them ;  but  when  the  sons 
of  the  high  priests  perceived  this,  they  went  out  of  the  road,  and  betook  them- 
selves  to  a  certain  village  ;  that  village  was  called  Bahurim;  there  they  desired 
a  certain  woman  to  hide  them,  and  afford  them  security.  Accordin<dy  she  let 
the  young  men  down  by  a  rope  into  a  well,  and  laid  tleeces  of  wool  over  them; 
and  when  those  that  pursued  them  came  to  her,  and  asked  her  wliether  she  saw 
them,  she  did  not  deny  that  she  had  seen  them,  for  that  they  stayed  with  her  some 
time,  but  she  said,  they  then  went  their  ways;  and  she  foretold  that,  however,  if 
they  would  follow  them  directly,  they  would  catch  them.  Uutwhen,  after  a  long 
pursuit,  they  could  not  catch  them,  they  came  back  again  ;  and  when  the  woman 
saw  those  men  were  returned,  and  that  there  was  no  longer  any  fear  of  the  yoimg 
men's  being  caught  by  them,  she  drew  them  up  by  the  rope,  and  bid  them  go  on 
their  journey.  Accordingly  they  used  great  dihgence  in  the  prosecution  of  that 
journey,  and  came  to  David  and  informed  him  accurately  of  all  the  counsels  of 
Absalom.  So  he  commanded  those  that  were  with  him  to  pass  over  Jordan  while 
it  was  night,  and  not  to  delay  at  all  on  that  account. 

8.  But  Ahithophel,  on  rejection  of  his  advice,  got  upon  his  ass  and  rid  away 
to  his  own  country  Gilon ;  and  calling  his  family  together,  he  told  them  distinctly 
what  advice  he  had  given  Absalom;  and  since  he  had  not  been  persuaded  by  it, 
he  said  he  would  evidently  perish,  and  this  in  no  long  time,  and  that  David  would 
overcome  him  and  return  to  his  kingdom  again ;  so  he  said  it  was  better  that  he 
should  take  his  own  life  away  with  freedom  and  magnanimity,  than  expose  himself 
to  be  punished  by  David,  in  opposition  to  whom  he  had  acted  entirely  for  Ab- 
salom. When  he  had  discoursed  thus  to  them,  he  went  into  the  inmost  room  of 
his  house  and  hanged  himself;  and  this  was  the  death  of  Ahithophel,  who  was 
self  condemned ;  and  when  his  relations  had  taken  him  down  from  the  halter, 
they  took  care  of  his  funeral.  Now,  as  for  David,  he  passed  over  Jordan,  as  wo 
have  said  already,  and  came  to  Mahanaim,  a  very  fine  and  very  strong  city  ;  and 
all  the  chief  men  of  the  country  received  him  with  great  pleasure,  both  out  of 
the  shame  they  had  that  he  should  be  forced  to  flee  away  [from  Jerusalem,]  and 
out  of  the  respect  they  bare  him  while  he  was  in  his  former  prosperity.  Those 
were  Barzillai  the  Gilcadite,  and  Siphar  the  ruler  among  the  Ammonites,  and 
Machir,  the  principal  man  of  Gilead  ;  and  these  furnished  him  with  plentiful  pro- 
visions for  himself  and  his  followers,  insomuch  that  they  wanted  no  beds  nor 
blankets  for  them,  nor  loaves  of  bread  nor  wine  ;  nay,  they  brought  them  a  great 
many  cattle  for  slaughter,  and  afforded  them  v/hat  furniture  they  wanted  for  their 
refreshment  when  they  were  weary,  and  for  food;  with  plenty  of  other  ne- 
cessaries 


CHAP.  X 

How  when  Absalom  was  beaten,  he  was  caught  in  a  Tree  by  his  Hair,  and  was  slain, 

§  1.  And  this  was  the  estate  of  David  and  his  followers;  but  Absalom  got  to- 
gether a  vast  army  of  the  Hebrews  to  oppose  his  father,  and  passed  therewith 
over  the  river  Jordan,  and  sat  down  not  far  oiT  Mahanaim,  in  the  couutiy  of 
VOL.  I  2 II  . 


242  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Vll, 

Gilead.  He  appointed  Arnasa  to  be  captain  of  all  his  host,  instead  of  Joab  his 
kinsman  ;  his  father  was  Ithra,  and  his  mother  Abigail.  Now  she  and  Zeruiah, 
tlie  mother  of  Joab,  were  David's  sisters.  But  when  David  had  numbered  his 
followers,  and  found  them  to  be  about  four  thousand,  he  resolved  not  to  tarry  till 
Absalom  attacked  him,  but  set  over  his  men  captains  of  thousands  a)id  captains 
of  hundreds,  and  divided  his  army  into  three  parts ;  the  one  part  he  committed  to 
Joab,  the  next  to  Abishai,  Joab's  brother,  and  the  third  part  to  Ittai,  David's  com- 
panion and  friend,  but  one  that  came  from  the  city  Gath.  And  when  he  was 
desirous  of  fighting  himself  among  them,  his  friends  would  not  let  him;  and  this 
refusal  of  theirs  was  founded  upon  very  wise  actions  :  "  For"  said  they,  "  if  we 
be  conquered  when  he  is  with  us,  we  have  lost  all  good  hopes  of  recovering  our- 
selves  ;  but  if  we  should  be  beaten  in  one  part  of  our  army,  the  other  parts  may 
retire  to  him,  and  may  thereby  prepare  a  greater  force,  while  the  enemy  will  na- 
turally  suppose  that  he  hath  another  army  with  him."  So  David  was  pleased 
with  this  their  advice,  and  resolved  himself  to  tarry  at  Mahanaim.  And  as  he 
sent  his  friends  and  commanders  to  the  battle,  he  desired  them  to  show  [all  pos- 
sible]  alacrity  and  fidelity,  and  to  bear  in  mind  what  advantages  they  had  received 
from  him,  which,  though  they  had  not  been  very  great,  yet  had  they  not  been 
quite  inconsiderable;  and  he  begged  of  them  to  spare  the  young  man  Absalom 
lest  some  mischief  should  befall  himself,  if  he  should  be  killed.  And  thus  did 
he  send  out  his  army  to  the  battle,  and  wished  them  victory  therein. 

2.   Then  did  Joab  put  his  army  in  battle  array  over  against  the  enemy  in  the 
great  plain,  where  he  had  a  wood  behind  him.     Absalom  also  brought  his  army 
into  the  field  to  oppose  him.     Upon  the  joining  of  the  battle,  both  sides  showed 
great  actions  with  their  hands  and  their  boldness  ;  the  one  side  exposing  them- 
selves to  the  greatest  hazards,  and  using  their  utmost  alacrity,  that  David  mi^ht 
recover  his  kingdom  ;  and  the  other  being  no  way  deficient",  either  in  doing  or 
sufiering,  that  Absalom  might  not  be  deprived  of  that  kingdom,  and  be  brought  to 
punishment  by  his  father,  for  his  impudent  attempt  against  him.    Those  also  that 
were  the  most  numerous  were  solicitous  that  they  might  not  be  conquered  by 
those  few  that  were  with  Joab  and  with  the  other  commanders,  because  that 
would  be  the  greatest  disgrace  to  them,  while  David's  soldiers  strove  greatly  to 
overcome  so  many  ten  thousands  as  the  enemy  had  with  them.     Now  David's 
men  were  conquerors,  as  superior  in  strength  and  skill  in  war  ;  so  they  followed 
the  others  as  they  fled  away  through  the  forests  and  valleys  ;    some  they  took 
prisoners  and  many  they  slew,  and  more  in  the  flight  than  in  the  battle,  for  there 
fell  about  twenty  thousand  that  day.     But  all  David's  men  ran  violently  upon 
Absalom,  for  he  was  easily  known  by  his  beauty  and  tallness.     He  was  himself 
also  afraid  lest  his  enemies  should  seize  on  him,  so  he  got  upon  the  king's  mule 
and  fled ;  but  as  he  was  carried  with  violence  and  noise,  and  a  great  motion,  as 
being  himself  light,  he  entangled  his  hair  greatly  in  the  large  boughs  of  a  knotty 
tree  that  spread  a  great  way,  and  there  he  hung  after  a  surprising  manner;   and 
as  for  the  beast,  it  went  on  farther,  and  that  swiftly,  as  if  his  master  had  been  still 
upon  his  back,  but  he  hanging  in  the  air  upon  the  boughs,  was  taken  by  his  ene- 
mies.    Now  when  one  of  David's  soldiers  saw  this,  he  informed  Joab  of  it ;  and 
when  the  general  said,  that  "  if  he  had  shot  at  and  killed  Absalom,  he  would  have 
given  him  fifty  shekels,"  he  replied,  "  I  would  not  have  killed  my  master's  son, 
if  thou  wouldst  ho  e  given  me  a  thousand  shekels,  especially  when  he  desired 
that  the  young  man  might  be  spared  in  the  hearing  of  us  all.''     But  Joab  bade 
him  show  him  where  it  was  that  he  saw  Absalom  hang  ;  whereupon  he  shot  him 
to  the  hea.t,  and  slew  him,  and  Joab's  armour-bearers  stood  round  about  the  tree, 
and  pii'^od  down  his  dead  body,  and  cast  it  into  a  great  chasm  that  was  out  of 
sighi,  and  laid  a  heap  of  stones  upon  him  till  the  cavity  was  filled  up,  and  had 
bo'h  the  appearance  and  the  bigness  of  a  grave.     Then  Joab  sounded  a  retreat, 
ni.d  recalled  his  own  soldiers  from  pursuing  the  enemy's  army,  in  order  to  spare 
tiieir  countrymen. 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


243 


3.  Now  Absalom  had  erected  for  himself  a  stone  marhle  pillar  in  the  lunT's 
dale,  two  furlongs  distant  from  Jerusalem,  which   he  named  Absalom's  Hand, 


_  ,  -,  Abijah  by 

name,  who  succeeded  his  father  in  the  kingdom:  but  of  these  we  shall  speak  in 
a  part  of  our  history  which  will  be  more  proper.  After  the  death  of  Absalom 
they  returned  every  one  to  their  own  homes  respective ly» 

4.  But  now  Ahimaaz,  the  son  of  Zadok  the  high  priest,  went  to  Joab,  and  de- 
sired  he  would  permit  him  to  go  and  tell  David  of  this  victory,  and  to  bring  him 
the  good  news  that  God  had  atforded  his  assistance  and  his  providence  to^'him. 
However,  he  did  not  grant  his  request ;  but  said  to  him,  "  Wilt  thou  lliat  hast 
always  been  the  messenger  of  good  news,  now  go  and  acquaint  tiie  king  that  his 
son  is  dead  ?"  So  he  desired  him  to  desist.  He  then  called  Cushi,  and  com- 
niitted  the  business  to  him,  that  he  should  tell  the  king  what  he  had  seen.  But 
when  Ahimaaz  again  desired  him  to  let  him  go  as  a  messenger,  and  assured  him 
that  he  would  only  relate  what  concerned  the  victory,  but  not  concerning  the 
death  of  Absalom,  he  gave  him  leave  to  go  to  David.  Now  he  took  a  nearer 
road  than  the  former  did,  for  nobody  knew  it  but  himself,  and  he  came  before 
Cushi.  Now  as  David  was  sitting  between  the  gates,*  and  waiting  to  see  when 
somebody  would  come  to  him  trom  the  battle,  and  tell  him  how  it  went,  one  of  the 
watchmen  saw  Ahimaaz  running,  and  before  he  could  discern  who  he  was,  he 
told  David  that  he  saw  somebody  coming  to  him ;  who  said  he  was  a  good  ines- 
senger.  A  little  while  after  he  informed  him  that  another  messenger  followed 
him :  whereupon  the  king  said,  that  he  was  also  a  good  messenger  :  but  when 
the  watchmen  saw  Ahimaaz,  and  that  ho  was  already  very  near,  he  gave  the 
king  notice  that  it  was  the  son  of  Zadok  the  high  priest,  who  came  running.  So 
David  was  very  glad,  and  said,  "  He  was  a  messenger  of  good  tidings,  and 
brought  him  some  such  news  from  the  battle  as  he  desired  to  hear." 

5.  While  the  king  was  saying  thus,  Ahimaaz  appeared,  and  worshiped  the 
king.  And  when  the  king  inquired  of  him  about  the  battle,  he  said,  "He  brought 
him  the  good  nev/s  of  victory  and  dominion."  And  when  he  inquired  what  he 
had  to  say  concerning  his  son,  he  said  that  "he  came  away  on  the  sudden  as 
soon  as  the  enemy  was  defeated,  but  that  he  heard  a  great  noise  of  those  that 
pursued  Absalom,  and  that  he  could  learn  no  more,  because  of  the  haste  he  made 
when  Joab  sent  him  to  inform  him  of  the  victory."  But  when  Cushi  was  come, 
and  had  worshiped  him,  and  informed  him  of  the  victory,  he  asked  him  about 
his  son  ;  who  replied,  "  May  the  like  misfortune  bcfal  thine  enemies  as  hath  be- 
fallen  Absalom."  The  word  did  not  permit  either  himself  or  his  soldiers  to  re- 
joice  for  the  victory,  though  it  was  a  very  great  one,  but  David  went  up  to  the 
highest  part  of  the  city,-j-  and  wept  for  his  son,  and  beat  his  breast,  tearing  [tho 
hair  of]  his  head,  and  tormenting  himself  all  manner  of  ways,  and  crying  out, 
"  O  my  son,  I  wish  that  I  had  died  myself,  and  ended  my  days  with  thee !"  lor  he 
was  of  a  tender  natural  affection,  and  had  extraordinary  compassion  tor  this  son 
in  particular.  But  when  the  army  and  Joab  heard  that  the  king  mourned  lor  his 
son,  they  were  ashamed  to  enter  the  city  in  the  habit  of  conquerors,  but  they  all 
came  in  as  cast  down,  and  in  tears,  as  if  they  had  been  beaten.     Now  while  tho 

*  The  reader  need  not  be  surprised  at  this  account  of  David's  tlnone,  botli  here,  and  2  Sam.  xviii.  24, 
that  it  was  between  two  gates  or  jiortals,  gates  being  in  cities,  as  \\cll  as  at  tiic  teinpir,  large  onen  places, 
with  a  portal  at  the  entrance,  and  another  at  the  exit,  between  whicli  ju(hcial  causes  were  heard,  and 
public  consultations  taken,  as  it  is  well  known  from  several  places  of  scripture,  2Cliron.  xxxi.2 ;  Psal. 
ix.  14;  cxxvii.  5;  Prov.  i.  21 ;  viii.  3,  34;  xxxi.  23;  and  often  elsewhere. 

t  Since  David  was  now  in  Mahanaini,  and  in  the  open  place  of  that  city  gate,  which  seems  still  to 
have  been  built  the  liighest  of  any  part  of  tiie  wall,  and  since  our  other  copies  say,  he  tvcnt  up  to  the  chnvt- 
ber  over  the  gate,  2  Sam.  xviii.  Si.  1  think  we  ought  to  correct  our  present  reading  in  Joscphus,  and  for 
city  should  read  gate,  i.  e.  instead  of  the  highest  part  of  the  city,  should  say  the  higliest  part  of  the  g-n/r 
Accordingly  we  find  David  presently  in  Josephus,  as  well  as  in  our  other  copies,  2  Sam.  aux.  8,  sitting  as 
before  in  ibegate  of  the  city 

2H2 


244  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIL 

King  covered  himself,  and  grievously  lamented  his  eon,  Joab  went  in  to  him,  and 
comforted  him,  and  said,  "  O  my  lord  the  king,  thou  art  not  aware  that  thou  layest 
a  blot  on  thyself  by  -what  thou  now  doest,  for  thou  seemest  to  hate  those  that  love 
thee,  and  undergo  dangers  for  thee,  nay,  to  hate  thyself  and  thy  family,  and  to 
love  those  that  are  thy  bitter  enemies,  and  to  desire  the  company  of  those  that  are 
no  more,  and  who  have  been  justly  slain ;  for  had  Absalom  gotten  the  victory, 
and  firmly  settled  himself  in  the  kingdom,  there  had  been  none  of  us  left  alive, 
but  all  of  us,  beginning  with  thyself  and  thy  children,  had  miserably  perished, 
while  our  enemies  had  not  wept  for  us,  but  rejoiced  over  us,  and  punished  even 
those  that  pitied  us  in  our  misfortunes  ;  and  thou  art  not  ashamed  to  do  this  in  the 
case  of  one  that  has  been  thy  bitter  enemy,  who,  while  he  was  thine  own  son,  hath 
proved  so  wicked  to  thee.  Leave  off,  therefore,  thy  unreasonable  grief,  and  come 
abroad  and  be  seen  by  thy  soldiers,  and  return  them  thanks  for  the  alacrity  they 
showed  in  the  fight ;  for  I  myself  will  this  day  persuade  the  people  to  leave  thee, 
and  to  give  the  kingdom  to  another,  if  thou  continuest  to  do  thus ;  and  then  I 
shall  make  thee  to  grieve  bitterly  and  in  earnest."  Upon  Joab's  speaking  thus 
to  him,  he  made  the  king  leave  off  his  sorrow  ;  aJid  brought  him  to  the  consider- 
ation of  his  affairs.  So  David  changed  his  habit,  and  exposed  himself  in  a  man- 
ner fit  to  be  seen  by  the  multitude,  and  sat  at  the  gates  ;  whereupon  all  the  people 
heard  of  it,  and  ran  together  to  him,  and  saluted  him.  And  this  was  the  present 
state  of  David's  affairs. 


CHAP.  XI. 

How  David,  when  he  had  recovered  his  Kingdom,  was  reconciled  to  Shimei,  and  to 

Ziha ;  and  showed  a  great  Affection  to  Barzillai ;  and  how,  upon  the  Rise 

of  a  Sedition,  he  made  Amasa  Captain  of  his  Host,  in  order  to 

pursue  Sheba  ;  which  Amasa  was  slain  by  Joab. 

§  1.  Now  those  Hebrews  that  had  been  with  Absalom,  and  had  retired  out  of 
the  battle,  when  they  were  all  returned  home,  sent  messengers  to  every  city  to 
put  them  in  mind  of  what  benefits  David  had  bestowed  upon  them,  and  of  that  li- 
berty Avhich  he  had  procured  them,  by  delivering  them  from  many  and  great  wars. 
But  they  complained,  that  whereas  they  had  ejected  him  out  of  his  kingdom,  and 
committed  it  to  another  governor,  which  other  governor  whom  they  had  set  up 
was  already  dead,  they  did  not  now  beseech  David  to  leave  oft'  his  anger  at  them, 
and  to  become  friends  with  them,  and,  as  he  used  to  do,  to  resume  the  care  of 
their  affairs,  and  take  the  kingdom  again.  This  was  often  told  to  David.  And 
this  notwithstanding,  David  sent  to  Zadok  and  Abiathar  the  high  priests,  that  they 
should  speak  to  the  rulers  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  after  the  manner  following  ;  That 
*' it  would  be  a  reproach  upon  them  to  permit  the  other  tribes  to  choose  Da 
vid  for  their  king  before  their  tribe,  and  this,  said  he,  while  you  are  akin  to 
him,  and  of  the  same  common  blood."  He  commanded  them  also  to  say  the 
same  to  Amasa,  the  captain  of  their  forces.  That,  "  whereas  he  was  his  sister's 
son,  he  had  not  persuaded  the  multitude  to  restore  the  kingdom  to  David  :  That 
he  might  expect  from  him  not  only  a  reconciliation,  for  that  was  already  granted, 
but  that  supreme  command  of  the  army  also  which  Absalom  had  bestowed  upon 
him.  Accordingly  the  high  priests,  when  they  had  discoursed  with  the  rulers  of 
the  tribe,  and  said  what  the  king  had  ordered  them,  persuaded  Amasa  to  under- 
take the  care  of  his  affairs.  So  he  persuaded  that  tribe  to  send  immediately 
ambassadors  to  him,  to  beseech  him  to  return  to  his  own  lungdom.  The  same 
did  all  the  Israelites,  at  the  like  persuasion  of  Amasa. 

2.  When  the  ambassadors  came  to  him,  he  came  to  Jerusalem  ;  and  the  tribe 
of  Judah  was  the  first  that  came  to  meet  the  king  at  the  river  Jordan.  And 
Shimei,  the  son  of  Gera,  came  with  a  thousand  men  ;  which  he  brought  with  him 
out  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  and  Ziba,  the  frcedman  of  Saul,  with  his  song, 


a  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  245 

fifteen  in  number,  and  with  his  twenty  servants.  All  these,  as  well  as  the  tribe 
of  Jiidah,  laid  a  bridge  [of  boats]  over  the  river,  that  the  king  and  those  that 
wer^-  with  him  miglit  with  case  pass  over  it.  Now  as  soon  as  lie  was  come  to 
Jordan,  the  tribe  of  Judah  saluted  him.  Shimci  also  came  u[)on  the  bridge,  and 
took  hold  of  Iiis  feet,  and  prayed  him  "  to  forgive  him  what  he  had  oflcnded,  and 
not  to  be  too  bitter  against  him,  nor  to  tliink  fit  to  make  liim  the  first  e.\amj)le  of 
severity  under  his  new  authority ;  but  to  consider  that  he  had  repented  of  his 
failure  of  duty  ;  and  had  taken  care  to  come  first  of  all  to  him."  While  he  was 
thus  entreating  the  king,  and  moving  him  to  compassion,  Abishai,  Joab's  brother, 
said,  "  And  shall  not  this  man  die  for  this,  that  he  hath  cursed  the  king  whom 
God  hath  appointed  to  reign  over,  us  ?  But  Da\id  turned  himself  to  iiim  and 
said,  "  Will  you  never  leave  ofl',  ye  sons  of  Zeruiah  ?  Do  not  you,  I  pray,  raise 
new  troubles  and  seditions  among  us,  now  the  former  are  over;  for  I  would  not 
have  you  ignorant,  that  I  this  day  begin  my  reign,  and  therefore  swear  to  remit 
to  all  otTenders  their  punishments,  and  not  to  animadvert  on  any  one  that  has 
sinned.  Be  thou  therefore,  said  he,  O  Shimei,  of  good  courage,  and  do  not  at 
all  fear  being  put  to  death."     So  he  worshiped  him,  and  went  on  before  him. 

3.  Mcphibosheth  also,  Saul's  grandson,  met  David,  clothed  in  a  sordid  garment, 
and  having  his  hair  thick  and  neglected ;  for  after  David  was  fled  away,  he  was 
in  such  grief  that  he  had  not  polled  his  head,  nor  had  he  washed  his  clothes,  as 
dooming  himselfto  undergo  such  hardships  upon  occasion  of  the  change  of  the  king's 
affiiirs.  Now  he  had  been  unjustly  calumniated  to  the  king  by  Ziba,  his  steward. 
When  he  had  saluted  the  king,  and  worshiped  him,  the  king  began  to  ask  him, 
"  Why  he  did  not  go  out  of  Jerusalem  with  him  and  accompany  him  during  his  flight  ?" 
he  replied.  "  That  this  piece  of  injustice  was  owing  to  Ziba,  because  when  he 
was  ordered  to  get  things  ready  for  his  going  out  with  him,  he  took  no  care  of  it, 
but  regarded  him  ne  more  than  if  he  had  been  a  slave  :  and,  indeed,  had  I  had 
my  feet  sound  and  strong,  I  had  not  deserted  thee,  for  I  could  then  have  made 
use  of  them  in  my  flight :  but  this  is  not  all  the  injury  that  Ziba  has  done  me,  as 
to  my  duty  to  thee,  my  lord  and  master,  but  he  hath  calumniated  me  besides,  and 
told  lies  about  me  of  his  own  invention ;  but  I  know  thy  mind  will  not  admit  of 
such  calumnies,  but  is  righteously  disposed,  and  a  lover  of  truth,  which  it  is  also 
the  will  of  God  should  prevail.  For  when  thou  wast  in  the  greatest  danger  of 
suffering  by  my  grandfather,  and,  when,  on  that  account,  our  whole  i'amily  might 
justly  have  been  destroyed,  thou  wast  moderate  and  merciful,  and  didst  then  es- 
pecially  forget  afl  those  injuries,  when,  if  thou  hadst  remembered  them,  thou  hadst 
the  power  of  punishing  us  for  tiicm :  but  thou  hadst  judged  me  to  be  thy  friend, 
and  hast  set  me  every  day  at  thine  own  table  ;  nor  have  I  wanted  any  thing  wiiich 
one  of  thine  own  kinsmen,  of  greatest  esteem  with  thee,  could  have  expected." 
When  he  had  said  this,  David  resolved  neither  to  punish  Mcphibosheth,  nor  to 
condemn  Ziba,  as  having  belied  his  master ;  but  said  to  him,  that  as  he  liad 
[before]  granted  all  his  estate  to  Ziba,  because  he  did  not  come  along  with  him, 
so.  he  [now]  promised  to  forgive  him,  and  ordered  that  the  one  half  of  his  estate 
should  be  restored  to  him.""  Whereupon  Mephiboshcth  said,  "  Nay,  let  Ziba 
take  all ;  it  suffices  me  that  thou  hast  recovered  thy  kingdom." 

4.  But  David  desired  Barzillai  the  Gileadhe,  that  great  and  good  man,  and  one 
that  had  made  a  plentiful  provision  for  him  at  Mahanaim,  and  had  conductccl  Jum 
as  far  as  Jordan,  to  accompany  him  to  Jerusalem  ;  for  he  promised  to  treat  ium  ui 
his  old  age  with  all  manner  of  respect ;  would  take  care  of  him,  and  provide  for 
him.     But  Barzillai  was  so  desirous  to  live  at  home  that  he  entreated  Ium  to  e.\- 

*  By  David's  disposal  of  half  Mephiboshcth's  estate  to  Ziba,  one  would  imajiine  that  he  was  a  good 
deal  dissatisfied  and  doubtful  whether  Mephiboshcth's  story  were  entirely  trucornot  INordocs  JJavirt 
now  invite  him  to  diet  with  him,  as  he  did  before,  but  only  forgives  him,  il  lie  bad  been  at  all  £;"'l'y- 
Nor  is  this  odd  way  of  mournins;;  that  Wepiiibosheth  made  use  of  here,  and  2  Sam.  xix.  ^-1,  wholly  Irco 
from  suspicion  of  hvpocrisy.  If  Ziba  iiedccted  or  refused  to  brin.-  Meplubosheth  an  a?s  ot  Ins  own, 
on  whicli  he  mi(2,ht  fido  to  David,  it  is  hard  to  suppose  that  so  great  a  man  as  lie  was  slioulJ  not  bo  atuo 
to  procure  some  other  beast  for  tlie  same  purpose. 


246  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VII. 

cuse  him  from  attendance  on  him  ;  and  said,  That  "his  age  was  too  great  to  en- 
joy  the  pleasures  [of  a  court,]  since  he  was  fourscore  years  old,  and  was  there- 
fore making  provision  for  his  death  and  burial ;  so  he  desired  him  to  gratify  him  in 
this  request,  and  dismiss  him;  for  that  he  had  no  relish  for  his  meat  or  his  drink, 
by  reason  of  his  age  ;  and  that  his  ears  were  too  much  shut  up  to  hear  the  sound 
of  pipes,  or  the  melody  of  other  musical  instruments,  such  as  all  those  that  live 
with  kings  delight  in."  V/hea  he  entreated  for  this  so  earnestly,  the  king  said, 
I  dismiss  thee  ;  but  thou  shalt  grant  me  thy  son  Chimham,  and  upon  him  will  I 
bestow  all  sorts  of  good  things."  So  Barzillai  left  his  son  with  him,  and  wor- 
shiped the  king,  and  wished  liim  a  prosperous  conclusion  of  all  his  affairs  ac- 
cording to  his  ov/n  mind,  and  thou  returned  hrmc  ;  But  David  came  to  Gilgal, 
having  about  him  half  the  people  [of  Israeli  oad  the  [whole]  tribe  of  Judah. 

5.  Now  the  principal  men  of  tho  coLintry  came  to  Gilgal  to  him  with  a  great 
multitude,  and  complained  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  that  they  had  come  to  him  in  a 
private  manner,  whoreas  t\i3j  ought  all  conjointly,  and  with  one  and  the  same  in- 
tention to  have  given  him  the  meeting.  But  the  rulers  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  dc- 
sired  them  not  to  be  displeased,  if  they  had  been  prevented  by  them;  for,  said 
they,  "We  are  David's  kinsmen  and  on  that  account  we  the  rather  took  care  of 
him,  and  loved  him  ;  and  so  came  first  to  him ;  yet  had  they  not,  by  their  early 
coming,  received  any  gifts  from  him  which  might  give  them  Vv'ho  came  last  any 
uneasiness."  When  the  rulers  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  had  said  thus,  the  rulers  of 
the  other  tribes  were  not  quiet,  but  said  farther,  "  O  brethren,  we  cannot  but 
wonder  at  you  when  you  call  the  king  your  kinsman  alone  ;  whereas  he  that  hath 
received  from  God  the  power  over  all  of  us  in  common,  ought  to  be  esteemed  a 
kinsman  to  us  all ;  for  which  reason  the  whole  people  have  eleven*  parts  in  him, 
and  you  but  one  part.  We  also  are  elder  than  jou  ;  wherefore  you  have  not 
done  justly  in  coming  to  the  king  in  this  private  and  concealed  manner." 

6.  While  these  rulers  were  thus  disputing  one  with  another,  a  certain  wicked 
man  who  took  a  pleasure  in  seditious  practices  (his  name  was  Sheba,  the  son  of 
Bichri,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,)  stood  up  in  the  midst  of  the  multitude,  and  cried 
aloud,  and  spake  thus  to  them  :  "  We  have  no  parts  in  David,  nor  inheritance  in 
the  son  of  Jesse."  And  when  he  had  used  those  words,  he  blew  with  a  trum- 
pet, and  declared  war  against  the  king  ;  and  they  all  left  David,  and  followed  him; 
the  tribe  of  Judah  alone  staid  with  him,  and  settled  him  in  his  royal  palace 
at  Jerusalem.  But  as  for  his  concubines,  with  whom  Absalom  his  son  had  ac- 
companied, truly  he  removed  them  to  another  house  ;  and  ordered  those  that  had 
the  care  of  them  to  make  a  plentiful  provision  for  them,  but  he  came  not  near  them 
any  more.  He  also  appointed  Amasa  for  the  captain  of  his  forces  and  gave  him 
the  same  high  office  which  Joab  before  had  ;  and  he  commanded  him  to  gather 
together,  out  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  as  great  an  army  as  he  could,  and  .  come  to 
him  within  three  days,  that  he  might  deliver  to  him  his  entire  army,  and  might 
send  him  to  fight  against  [Sheba]  the  son  of  Bichri.  Now,  while  Amasa  was 
gone  out,  and  made  some  delay  in  gathering  the  army  together,  and  so  was  not 
yet  returned  ;  on  the  third  day  the  king  said  to  Joab,  "It  is  not  fit  we  should  make 
any  delay  in  this  affair  of  Sheba,  lest  he  get  a  numerous  army  about  him,  and  be 
the  occasion  of  greater  mischief,  and  hurt  our  aflairs  more  than  did  Absalom  him- 
self;  do  not  thou,  therefore,  wait  any  longer,  but  take  such  forces  as  thou  hast 
at  hand,  and  that  [old]  body  of  six  hundred  men,  and  thy  brother  Abishai  with 
thee,  and  pursue  after  our  enemy,  and  endeavour  to  fight  him  wheresoever  thou 
canst  overtake  him.  Make  haste  to  prevent  him,  lest  he  seize  upon  some  fenced 
cities,  and  cause  us  great  labour  and  pains  before  we  take  him." 

7.  So  Joab  resolved  to  make  no  delay,  but  taking  with  him  his  brother,  and  those 

•  I  clearly  prefer  Josephus's  vearling  here,  when  it  supposes  eleven  tribes,  including  Benjamin,  to  bo 
on  the  one  side;  and  the  tribe  of  Judah  alone  on  the  other;  since  Benjamin  in  general  had  been  still 
fonder  of  the  house  of  J^aul,  and  less  firm  to  David  hitherto  than  any  of  the  rest,  and  so  cannot  be  sup- 
posed to  be  joiiiod  with  Judah  at  this  time  to  nmke  it  double,  especially  when  tlie  following  rebelliou 
was  headed  by  a  Benjaniite  ;  see  sect.  G.  and  2  Sam.  xx,  2  , 4. 


C.  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  247 

six  Iiundred  men,  and  giving  orders  that  the  rest  of  the  army  which  was  at  Je- 
riisalem  should  follow  him,  he  marched  with  great  speed  against  Sheba ;  and 
wlien  he  was  come  to  Gibeon,  which  is  a  village  forty  furlongs  distant  from  Je- 
rusalem,  Amasa  brought  a  great  army  with  him,  and  met  Joab.  Now  Joab  was 
girded  with  a  sword  and  his  breastplate  on ;  and  when  Amasa  came  near  him  to 
salute  him,  he  took  particular  care  that  his  sword  should  full  out  as  it  were  of  its 
own  accord  ;  so  he  took  it  up  from  the  ground,  and  while  he  approached  Amasa, 
who  was  then  near  him,  as  though  he  would  kiss  him,  he  took  hold  of  Amasa'a 
beard  with  his  other  hand,  and  he  smote  him  in  his  belly  when  he  did  not  foresee 
it,  and  slew  him.  This  impious  and  altogether  profane  action  Joab  did  to  a  good 
young  man,  and  his  kinsman,  and  one  that  had  done  him  no  injur}-,  and  this  out 
of  jealousy  that  he  would  obtain  the  chief  command  of  the  army,  and  be  in  equal 
dignity  with  himself  about  the  king  ;  and  for  the  same  cause  it  was  that  he  killed 
Abner.  But  as  to  that  former  wicked  action,  the  death  of  liis  brother  Asahel, 
which  he  seemed  to  revenge,  afforded  him  a  decent  pretence,  and  made  that 
crime  a  pardonable  one ;  but  in  this  murder  of  Amasa  there  was  no  such  cove- 
ring for  it.  Now  when  Joab  had  killed  this  general,  he  pursued  after  Sheba,  havin^ 
left  a  man  with  the  dead  body,  who  was  ordered  to  proclaim  aloud  to  the  army, 
that  Amasa  was  justly  slain,  and  deservedly  punished.  But,  said  he,  if  you  be 
for  the  king,  follow  Joab  his  general,  and  Abishai  Joab's  brother :  but  because 
the  body  lay  on  the  road,  and  all  the  multitude  came  running  to  it,  and,  as  is  usual 
with  the  multitude,  stood  wondering  a  great  while  at  it,  lie  that  guarded  it  re- 
moved it  thence,  and  carried  it  to  a  certain  place  that  was  very  remote  from  the 
road,  and  there  laid  it,  and  covered  it  v^ith  his  garment.  When  this  ^vhs  done, 
all  the  people  followed  Joab.  Now  as  he  pursued  Sheba  through  all  the  country 
of  Israel,  one  told  him  that  he  was  in  a  strong  city  called  Ahel-heth-maachah ; 
hereupon  Joab  went  thither,  and  set  about  it  with  his  army,  and  cast  up  a  bank 
round  it,  iind  ordered  his  soldiers  to  undermine  the  walls  and  to  overthrow  them  ; 
and  since  the  people  in  the  city  did  not  admit  him,  he  was  greatly  displeased  at 
them. 

8.  Now  there  was  a  woman  of  small  account,  and  yet  both  wise  and  intelli- 
gent, who  seeing  her  native  city  lying  at  the  last  extremity,  ascended  upon  the 
wall,  and,  by  means  of  the  armed  men,  called  for  Joab ;  and  when  he  came  to 
her,  she  began  to  say,  that  "  God  ordained  kings  and  generals  of  armies,  that 
they  might  cut  off  the  enemies  of  the  Hebrews,  and  introduce  a  universal  peace 
among  them  ;  but  thou  art  endeavouring  to  overthrow  and  depopulate  a  metro- 
polis of  the  Israelites,  which  hath  been  guilty  of  no  offence."  But  he  replied, 
"  God  continue  to  be  m.erciful  unto  me ;  I  am  disposed  to  avoid  killing  any  one 
of  the  people,  much  less  would  I  destroy  such  a  city  as  this  ;  and  if  they  will  dc- 
liver  me  up  Sheba,  the  son  of  Bichri,  who  hath  I'ebelled  against  the  king,  I  will 
leave  otf  the  siege,  and  withdraw  the  army  from  the  place."  Now  as  soon  as  the 
woman  heard  what  Joab  said,  she  desired  him  to  intermit  the  siege  for  a  little 
while,  for  that  he  should  have  the  head  of  his  enemy  thrown  out  to  liim  presently. 
So  she  went  down  to  the  citizens,  and  said  to  them,  "  Will  30U  be  so  wicked  as 
to  perish  miserably,  with  your  children  and  wives,  for  the  sake  of  a  vile  fellow, 
and  one  whom  nobody  knows  Avho  he  is  ?  And  will  you  have  him  for  your  king 
instead  of  David,  who  hath  been  so  great  a  benefactor  to  you,  and  oppose  your 
city  alone  to  such  a  mighty  and  strong  army  ?"  So  she  prevailed  with  them,  and 
they  cut  oft'  the  head  of  Sheba,  and  threw  it  into  Joab's  army.  When  this  was 
done,  the  king's  general  sounded  a  retreat,  and  raised  the  siege.  And  when 
he  was  come  to  Jerusalem  he  was  again  appointed  to  be  general  of  all  the  people. 
The  king  also  constituted  Benaiah  captain  of  the  guards,  and  of  the  six  hundred 
men.  He  also  set  Adoram  over  the  tribute,  and  Sabathes  and  Achilaus  over  the 
records.  He  made  Sheva  the  scribe  ;  and  appointed  Zadok  and  Abiathar  the 
nigh  priests. 


248  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Vlt 


CHAP.  XII. 

How  the  Hebrews  were  delivered  from  a  Famine  tchen  the  Cnheonites  had  caused 

Punishment  to  he  injlictedfor  those  of  them  that  had  been  slain.    As  also, 

what  great  Actions  were  ferformed,  against  the  Philistines  by 

David,  and  the  Men  of  Valour  about  him. 

§  1.  After  this,  when  the  country  was  greatly  afflicted  with  a  famine,  David  be- 
sought  God  to  have  mercy  on  the  people,  and  to  discover  to  him  what  was  the 
cause  of  it,  and  hoAV  a  remedy  might  be  found  for  that  distemp'er.  And  when  the 
prophets  answered,  "  that  God  would  have  the  Gibeonites  avenged,  whom  Saul 
the  king  was  so  wicked  as  to  betray  to  slaughter,  and  had  not  observed  the  oath 
which  Joshua  the  general  and  the  senate  had  sworn  to  them.  If,  therefore,  said 
God,  the  king  would  permit  such  vengeance  to  be  taken  for  those  that  were  slain, 
as  the  Gibeonites  should  desire,  he  promised  that  he  would  be  reconciled  to  them, 
and  free  the  multitude  from  their  miseries."  As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  king  un- 
derstood that  this  it  was  which  God  sought,  he  sent  for  the  Gibeonites,  and  asked 
them.  What  it  was  they  would  have  ?  and  when  they  desired  to  have  seven  sons 
of  Saul_^delivered  to  them,  to  be  punished,  he  delivered  them  up,  but  spared  Me- 
phibosheth,  the  son  of  Jonathan.  So  when  the  Gibeonites  had  received  the  men, 
they  punished  them  as  they  pleased  ;  upon  which  God  began  to  send  rain,  and  to 
recover  the  earth  to  bring  ibrth  its  fruits  as  usual,  and  to  free  it  from  the  fore- 
going drought,  so  that  the  country  of  the  Hebrews  flourished  again.  A  little  after- 
ward the  king  made  war  against  the  Philistines  ;  and  when  he  had  joined  battle 
with  them,  and  put  them  to  flight,  he  was  left  alone,  as  he  was  in  pursuit  of 
them  ;  and  when  he  was  quite  tired  down,  he  was  seen  by  one  of  the  enemy — his 
name  was  Achmon,  the  son  of  Araph ;  he  was  of  the  sons  of  the  giants.  •  He  had 
a  spear,  the  handle  of  which  weighed  three  hundred  shekels,  and  a  breastplate  of 
chain  work,  and  a  sword.  He  turned  back,  and  ran  violently  to  slay  [David]  their 
enemy's  king,  for  he  was  quite  tired  out  with  labour  ;  but  Abishai,  Joab's  brother, 
appeared  on  the  sudden  and  protected  the  king  with  his  shield,  as  he  lay  down, 
and  slew  the  enemy.  Now  the  multitude  were  very  uneasy  at  these  dangers  of 
the  king,  and  that  he  was  very  near  to  be  slain  ;  and  the  rulers  made  him  swear 
that  he  would  no  more  go  out  with  them  to  battle,  lest  he  should  come  to  some 
misfortune  by  his  courage  and  boldness,  and  thereby  deprive  the  people  of  the  be- 
nefits they  now  enjoyed  by  his  means,  and  of  those  that  they  might  hereafter  en- 
joy  by  his  living  a  long  time  among  them. 

2.  When  the  king  heard  that  the  Philistines  were  gathered  together  at  the  city 
Gazara,  he  sent  an  army  against  them,  when  Sibbechai,  the  Hittite,  one  of  Da- 
\id's  most  courageous  men,  behaved  himself  so  as  to  deserve  great  commendation, 
for  he  slew  many  of  those  that  bragged  they  were  the  posterity  of  the  giants,  and 
vaunted  themselves  highly  on  that  account,  and  thereby  was  the  occasion  of  victory 
to  the  Hebrews.  After  which  defeat,  the  Philistines  made  war  again  :  and  when 
David  had  sent  an  army  against  them,  Nephan,  his  kinsman,  fought  in  a  single 
combat  with  the  stoutest  of  all  the  Philistines,  and  slew  him,  and  put  the  rest  to 
flight.  Many  of  them  also  were  slain  in  the  fight.  Now  a  little  while  after  this, 
the  Phihstines  pitched  their  camp  at  a  city  which  lay  not  far  off" the  bounds  of  the 
country  of  the  Hebrews.  They  had  a  man  who  was  six  cubits  tall,  and  had  on 
each  of  his  feet  and  hands  one  more  toe  and  finger  than  men  naturally  have.  Now 
the  person  who  was  sent  against  them  by  David  out  of  his  army  was  Jonathan, 
the  son  of  Shimea,  who  fought  this  man  in  a  single  combat,  and  slew  him  ;  and  as 
he  was  the  person  who  gave  the  turn  to  the  battle,  he  gained  the  greatest  reputa- 
tion for  courage  therein.  This  man  also  vaunted  himself  to  be  of  the  sons  of  the 
giants.  But  after  this  fight,  the  Philistines  made  war  no  more  against  the  Isi'aelites 


C.  XII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  q^q 

3.  And  now  David,  being  freed  from  wars  and  dangers,  and  enjoying  for  the 
future  a  profound  peace,  composed  songs  and  hymns  to  God  of  several  sorts  of 
metre  ;*  some  of  those  which  he  made  were  trimeters,  and  some  were  pentame- 
ters, he  also  made  instruments  of  music,  and  taught  the  Levites  to  sing  liymns 
to  God,  both  on  that  called  the  Sabbath  day,  and  on  other  festivals.  Now  the 
construction  of  the  instruments  was  thus  :  The  viol  was  an  instrument  of  ten 
strings,  it  was  played  upon  with  a  bow ;  the  psaltery  had  twelve  musical  notes, 
and  was  played  upon  by  the  fingers,  the  cymbals  were  broad  ai;d  large  instru- 
ments, and  were  made  of  brass-  And  so  much  shall  suffice  to  be  spoken  by  us 
about  these  instruments,  that  the  readers  may  not  be  wholly  unacquuhited  with 
their  nature. 

4.  Now  all  the  men  that  v;ere  about  David,  were  men  of  courage.  Those  that 
were  most  illustrious  and  famous  of  them  for  their  actions  were  thirty. eifht ;  of 
five  of  whom  I  will  only  relate  the  performances,  for  these  will  sufilce  to  mako 
manifest  the  virtues  of  the  others  also;  for  these  were  powerful  enough  to  sub- 
due countries,  and  conquer  great  nations.  First,  therefore,  was  Jessai,  the  son 
of  Achimaas,  who  frequently  leaped  upon  the  troops  of  the  enemy,  and  did  not 
leave  off  fighting  till  he  overthrew  nine  hundred  of  them.  After  him  was  Elea- 
zar,  the  son  of  Dodo,  who  was  with  the  king  at  Arasam.  This  man,  when  once 
the  Israelites  were  under  a  consternation  at  the  multitude  of  the  Philistines,  and 
were  running  away,  stood  alone,  and  fell  upon  the  enemy,  and  slew  many  of  them, 
till  his  sword  clung  to  his  hand  by  the  blood  he  had  shed,  and  till  the  Israelites, 
seeing  the  Philistines  retire  by  his  means,  came  down  from  the  mountains  and 
pursued  them,  and  at  that  time  won  a  surprising  and  a  famous  victory,  while  Ele- 
azar  slew  the  men,  and  the  multitude  followed  and  spoiled  their  dead  bodies. 
The  third  was  Sheba,  the  son  of  Ilus.  Now  this  man,  when  in  the  wars  against 
the  Philistines,  they  pitched  their  camp  at  a  place  called  Lchi,  and  when  tho 
Hebrews  were  again  afraid  of  their  army,  and  did  not  stay,  he  stood  still  alone, 
as  an  army,  and  a  body  of  men,  and  some  of  them  he  overthrew,  and  some,  who 
were  not  able  to  abide  his  strength  and  force,  he  pursued.  These  are  the  works 
of  the  hands,  and  of  fighting,  which  these  three  performed.  Now  at  the  time 
when  the  king  was  once  at  Jerusalem,  and  the  army  of  the  Philistines  came  upon 
him  to  fight  him,  David  went  up  to  the  top  of  the  citadel,  as  we  have  already 
said,  to  inquire  of  God  concerning  the  battle,  while  the  enemy's  camp  lay  in  the 
valley  that  extends  to  the  city  Bethlehem,  which  is  twenty  furlongs  distant  from 
Jerusalem.     Now  David  said  to  his  companions,  "  We  have  exellent  water  in 

*  This  section  is  a  very  remarlvablu  one,  and  shows  that,  in  the  opinion  of  JosRphiis,  David  composed 
the  Book  of  Psalms,  not  at  several  times  before,  as  their  present  inscriptions  frcijuciilly  imply,  but  gener- 
ally at  the  latter  end  of  his  life,  or  after  his  wars  were  over.  Nor  does  Josephiis,  nor  the  authors  of 
the  known  Booksof  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  nor  the  Apostolical  Constitutions,  seom  to  have  ascrib- 
ed any  of  them  to  any  other  author  than  to  David  himself  See  Essay  on  the  Old  Te>t.  p.  ITJ,  175. 
Of  these  metres  of  the  Psalms,  see  the  note  on  Antiq.  I>.  ii.  ch.  xvi.  sect.  4.  However,  we  must  ob- 
serve here,  that  as  Josephus  says,  Antiq.  B.  ii.  ch.  xvi.  sect.  4,  that  the  song  at  the  Red  Sea,  E.\od.  xv. 
1—21,  was  composed  by  Moses  in  the  hexameter  tunc  oxmetve,  as  also  Antiq.  B.  iv.  ch.  viij.  sect.  44,  that 
the  song  of  JVloses  Deut.  xxxii.  1 — 43,  was  an  hexameter  poem,  so  does  he  say,  that  the  Psalins  of  David 
were  of  various  kinds  of  metre,  and  particularly  that  they  contained  <rtme/<;r«  an<l /'cn^'imt/erjAniiq. 
B.  vii.  ch.  xii.  sect.  3,  all  which  implies,  that  he  thought  these  Hebrew  poems  might  ho  best  described  to 
the  Greeks  and  Romans  under  those  names  and  characters  of  hexameters,  trimeters  and  pcntamMcrt. 
Now,  it  appears  that  the  instruments  of  music  that  were  originally  used  by  the  command  of  king  David 
and  .Solomon,  and  were  carried  to  Babylon  at  the  captivity  of  the  two  tribes,  were  hrouftht  back  after 
that  captivity  ;  as  also,  that  the  singers  and  musicians,  who  outlived  that  captivity,  came  back  with  thoso 
instruments,  Ezra,  ii.  41  ;  vii.  24;  Neh.  vii.  44;  Antiq.  B.  xi.  ch.  iii.  sect.  8;  and  ch.  iv.  sect,  ii;  and 
tliat  this  music  and  these  instruments  at  the  temple  could  not  but  bo  well  known  to  Joj-ephus,  a  priest 
belonging  to  that  temple  ;  who  accordingly  gives  us  a  short  description  of  three  of  the  msiruments,  An- 
tiq. B.  vii.  ch.  xii.  sect.  3,  and  gives  us  a  distinct  account,  that  such  psalms  and  hymns  were  sung  in  bis 
davs  at  that  temple.  Antiq.  B.  xx.  ch.  ix.  sect.  6:  so  that  Josephus's  authority  is  beyond  e.\ception  in 
these  matters.  Nor  can  any  hypothesis  of  the  moderns  that  does  not  agree  with  Josephus's  characters,  bo 
justly  supposed  the  true  metre  of  the  ancient  Hebrews  ;  nor  indeed  is  there,  1  ihink,  anv  other  origmaj 
authority  now  e:<tant,  hereto  relating,  to  be  opposed  to  these  testimonies  beforu  us.  'I'hat  the  ancient 
music  of  the  Hebrews  was  very  complete  also,  and  had  in  it  a  great  variety  of  tunes,  is  evident  by  the  num- 
ber of  their  musical  instruments,  and  by  the  testimony  of  another  most  authentic  witness.  Je*iis  the  son 
of  Sirach.  Fccles.  1,  18,  who  says  that  at  the  temple,  in  his  days,  '^'  Tho  singers  sang  praises  wUh  their 
voice  ;  with  gieat  variety  of  sounds  wa»^ere  made  swoet  melody." 
VOL.  I.  21 


250  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VII. 

my  own  city,  especially  that  which  is  in  the  pit  near  tlie  gate,"  wondering  if  any 
one  would  bring  him  some  of  it  to  drink ;  but  he  said,  lliat  "  he  would  rather  hav3 
it  than  a  great  deal  of  money."  When  these  three  men  heard  what  he  said,  they 
i-an  away  immediately,  and  burst  through  the  midst  of  their  enemy's  camp,  and 
came  to  Bethlehem ;  and  when  they  jiad  drawn  the  water,  they  returned  again 
through  the  enemy's  camp  to  the  king,  insomuch  that  tlie  Philistines  were  so  sur- 
prised at  their  boldness  and  alacrity  that  they  were  quiet,  and  did  nothing  against 
them,  as  if  they  despised  their  small  number.  But  when  the  water  was  brought 
to  the  king,  he  would  not  drink  it,  saying,  that  "it  was  brouglit  by  the  danger  and 
the  blood  of  men,  and  that  it  was  not  proper  on  that  account  to  drink  it."  But 
he  poured  it  out  to  God,  and  gave  him  thanks  for  the  salvation  of  the  men. 
Next  to  these  were  Abishoi,  Joab's  brother  ;  for  he  in  one  day  slew  six  hundred. 
The  fifth  of  these  was  Benaiah,  by  lineage  a  priest,  for  being  challenged  by 
[two]  eminent  men  in  the  country  of  Moab,  he  overcame  them  by  his  valour. 
Moreover,  there  was  a  man,  by  nation  an  Egyptian,  who  was  of  a  vast  bulk,  and 
challenged  him;  yet  did  he,  when  he  was  unarmed,  kill  him  with  his  own  spear, 
which  he  threw  at  him,  for  he  caught  him  by  force,  and  took  away  his  weapons, 
while  he  was  alive  and  fighting,  and  slew  him  with  his  own  weapons.  One  may 
also  add  ihis  to  the  forementioued  actions  of  the  same  man,  either  as  the  prin- 
cipal of  them  in  alacrity,  or  as  resembling  the  rest.  Wlien  God  sent  a  snow, 
there  was  a  lion  who  slipped  and  fell  into  a  certain  pit,  and  because  the  pit's 
mouth  was  narrow,  it  was  evident  he  would  perish,  being  enclosed  with  snow  ;  so 
when  he  saw  no  way  to  get  out  and  save  himself,  he  roared.  AVhen  Benaiah 
heard  the  wild  beast,  he  went  towards  him,  and  coming  at  the  noise  he  made,  he 
went  down  into  the  mouth  of  the  pit,  and  smote  him,  as  he  struggled,  with  a 
stake  that  lay  there,  and  immediately  slew  him.  The  other  tliirty-throe  were 
like  these  in  valour  also 


CHAP.  XIIL. 

That  when  David  had  numbered  the  People,  tliey  2vere  'punished ;  and  how  the  Di- 
vine Compassion  restrained  that  Punishment, 

§  1.  Now  king  David  was  desirous  to  know  how  many  ten  thousands  there 
were  of  the  people,  but  forgot  the  commands  of  Moses,*  who  told  them  before- 
hand, that  if  the  multitude  were  numbered,  they  should  pay  half  a  shekel  to  God 
for  cverv  head.  Accordingly  the  king  commanded  Joab,the  captain  of  his  host, 
to  go  and  number  the  whole  multitude  ;  but  when  he  said  there  was  no  necessity 
for  such  a  numeration,  he  was  not  per.suaded  [to  countermand  it,]  but  he  enjoined 

*  The  words  of  God  by  Moses,  Exod.  xxx.  12,  sufficiently  justify  tlie  reason  here  given  by  Josephus 
for  the  great  phigues  mentioned  in  tliis  chapter.  "  When  thou  lakest  the  sum  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
aftei  liieir  number,  then  shall  they  give  every  man  a  ransom  for  his  soul  unto  the  Lord,  when  thou  num- 
berest  them,  that  there  be  no  plague  amongst  ihem  when  thou  numberest  them."  Nor  indeed  could 
David's  or  the  Sanhedrim's  neglect  of  executing  this  law  at  this  numeration  excuse  the  people,  who  ought 
still  to  have  brouglit  their  bomiden  oblation  of  half  a  shekel  a  piece  with  them,  when  they  came  to  be 
numbered.  The  great  reason  why  nations  arc  so  constantly  jjunished  by  and  with  their  wicked  kings 
and  governors  is  this,  that  they  almost  constantly  comply  witii  them  in  their  neglect  of  or  disobedience 
to  the  divine  laws,  and  sufler  tho5e  divine  laws  to  go  into  disuse  or  contempt,  in  order  to  please  those 
wicked  kings  and  governors;  and  that  they  submit  to  several  wicked  political  laws  and  comiiiands  of 
those  kings  and  governors,  instead  of  the  righteous  laws  of  God,  vi  hich  all  mankind  ought  ever  to  obey, 
let  their  kings  and  governors  say  what  they  please  to  the  contrary;  this  preference  of  human  before 
Divine  laws  seeming  to  me  the  principal  character  of  idolatrous  or  anti-christian  nations.  Accordingly, 
Josephus  well  observes,  Antiq.  B.  iv.  cii.  viii.  sect.  17,  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  people  of  Israel  to  take 
care  that  their  kings,  when  they  should  have  them,  did  not  exceed  their  proper  limits  of  power,  and 
prove  ungovernable  by  the  laws  of  God,  which  would  certainly  be  a  most  pernicious  thing  to  their  Di- 
vine seltlement.  Nor  do  1  think  that  negligence  peculiar  to  the  Jews;  those  nations  which  are  called 
Christians  arc  sometimes  indeed  very  solicitous  to  restrain  their  kings  and  governors  from  breaking  the 
human  laws  of  their  several  kingdoms,  but  without  the  like  care  for  restraining  them  from  breaking  tlie 
laws  of  God.  "  Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God,  to  hearken  unto  men  moro  than  to  God,  judge 
je,"  Acts,  iv.  19.    "  We  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  men,"  ver.  29. 


C.  XIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


261 


him  lo  make  no  dela)',  but  to  go  about  the  numbering  of  tlie  Hebrews  immcJi- 
ately.  So  Joab  took  witli  him  the  heads  of  tlie  tribes,"  and  tlie  scribes,  and  went 
over  the  country  of  the  Israehtes,  and  took  notice  how  numerous  the  muhitude 
were,  and  returned  to  Jerusalem  to  the  king,  after  nine  months  and  twenty  days  ; 
and  he  gave  in  to  the  king  the  number  of  the  people,  without  the  tribe  of  Kenja- 
min,  for  he  had  not  yet  numbered  that  tribe,  no  more  than  the  tribe  of  Levi ; 
for  the  king  repented  of  his  having  sinned  against  God.  Now  the  number  of  the 
rest  of  the  IsraeUtes  was  nine  hundred  thousand  men,  mIio  were  able  to  bear 
arms  and  go  to  war  ;  but  the  tribe  of  Judah,  by  itself,  was  four  hundred  thousand 
men. 

2.  Now  when  the  prophets  had  signified  to  David  that  God  was  angry  at  him, 
he  began  to  entreat  him,  and  to  desire  he  would  be  merciful  to  him,  and  forgive 
his  sin.  But  God  sent  Nathan  the  prophet  to  him,  to  propose  to  hhn  the  election 
of  three  things,  that  he  might  choose  which  he  liked  best ;  "Whether  he  would 
have  a  famine  come  upon  the  country  for  seven  years  ?  or  would  have  a  war, 
and  be  subdued  three  months  by  his  enemies?  or  whether  God  should  send 
a  pestilence  and  a  distemper  upon  the  Hebrews  for  three  days?"  But  as 
he  was  fallen  to  a  fatal  choice  of  great  miseries,  he  was  in  trouble,  and  sorely 
confounded  ;  and  when  the  prophet  had  said  that  he  must  of  necessity  make  his 
choice,  and  had  ordered  him  to  answer  quickly,  that  he  might  declare  what  ho 
had  chosen  to  God,  the  king  reasoned  with  himself,  that  in  case  he  should  ask  for 
famine,  he  would  appear  to  do  it  for  others,  and  without  danger  to  liimsclf,  since 
he  had  a  great  deal  of  corn  hoarded  up,  but  to  the  harm  of  others  ;  that  in  case 
he  should  choose  to  be  overcome  [by  his  enemies]  for  three  months,  he  would 
appear  to  have  chosen  war,  because  he  had  valiant  men  about  him,  and  strong 
holds,  and  that,  therefore,  he  feared  nothing  therefrom  :  so  he  chose  that  afflic 
tion  which  is  common  to  kings  and  to  their  subjects,  and  in  which  the  fear  was 
equal  on  all  sides ;  and  said  this  beforehand,  that  "  it  was  much  better  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  God,  than  into  those  of  his  enemies." 

3.  When  the  prophet  had  heard  this,  he  declared  it  to  God ;  who  thereupon 
sent  a  pestilence  and  a  mortality  upon  the  Hebrews ;  nor  did  they  die  after  one 
and  the  same  manner,  nor  so  that  it  was  easy  to  know  what  the  distemper  was. 
Now  the  miserable  disease  was  one  indeed,  but  it  carried  them  off  by  ten  thou- 
sand  causes  and  occasions,  which  those  that  were  afflicted  could  not  understand  ; 
for  one  died  upon  the  neck  of  another,  and  the  terrible  malady  seized  them  before 
they  were  aware,  and  brought  them  to  their  end  suddenly  ;  some  giving  up  the 
ghost  immediately  with  very  great  pains  and  bitter  grief,  and  some  were  worn 
away  by  their  distempers,  and  had  iiothing  remaining  to  be  buried,  but  as  soon  aa 
ever  they  fell,  were  entirely  macerated  ;  some  were  choked,  and  greatly  lamented 
their  case,  as  being  also  stricken  with  a  sudden  darkness  ;  some  there  were,  who, 
as  they  were  burying  a  relation,  fell  down  dead*  without  finishing  the  rites  of  the 
funeral.  Now  there  perished  of  this  disease,  which  began  with  the  morning,  and 
lasted  till  the  hour  of  dinner,  seventy  thousand.  Nay,  the  angel  stretched  out  his 
hand  over  Jerusalem,  as  sending  this  terrible  judgment  ujion  it.  Ihit  David  had 
put  on  sackcloth,  and  lay  upon  the  ground,  entreating  God,  and  begging  that  the 
distemper  might  now  cease,  and  that  he  would  be  satisfied  with  those  that  had  al- 
ready perished.  And  when  the  king  looked  up  into  the  air,  an<l  saw  the  angel 
carried  along  thereby  unto  Jerusalem,  with  his  sword  drawn,  he  said  to  God,  that 
"  he  might  justly  be  punished  who  was  their  shepherd,  Init  tliaf  tlie  sheep  ought 
to  be  preserved,  as  not  having  sinned  at  all ;  and  he  implored  (»od  that  he  would 
send  his  wrath  upon  him,  and  upon  all  his  family,  but  spare  the  ])eople." 

4.  When  God  heard  his  supplication,  he  caused  the  j)estilence  to  cease  ;  and 
sent  Gad  the  prophet  to  him,  and  commanded  him  to  go  up  immediately  to  the 

*  Whence  Josephus  took  these  his  distinct  and  melancholy  accounts  of  the  particular  symptoms,  and 
most  miserable  methods  of  dying  in  this  tenible  pestilence,  we  cannot  now  tell,  our  other  copies  nfford- 
)»g  us  no  such  accounts. 
21 


252  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VII. 

threshin«'-floor  of  Araunah  the  Jebusite,  and  build  an  altar  there  to  God,  and 
offer  sacrifices.  When  David  heard  that,  he  did  not  neglect  his  duty,  but  made 
haste  to  the  place  appointed.  Now  Araunah  was  threshing  wheat ;  and  when 
he  saw  the  king  and  all  his  servants  coining  to  him,  he  ran  before,  and  came  to 
him,  and  worshiped  him.  He  was  by  his  lineage  a  Jebusite,  but  a  particular 
friend  of  David's  ;  and  for  that  cause  it  was,  that  when  he  overthrew  the  city,  he 
did  him  no  harm,  as  we  informed  the  reader  a  little  before.  Now  Araunah  inquired, 
"  Wherefore  is  my  lord  come  to  his  servant?"  He  answered,  "  To  buy  of  him 
the  threshing-floor,  that  he  might  therein  build  an  altar  to  God,  and  ofter  a  sacri- 
fice." He  replied,  that  "  he  freely  gave  him  both  the  threshing-floor,  and  the 
ploughs  and  the  oxen,  for  a  burnt-oflering  ;  and  he  besought  God  graciously  to 
accept  his  sacrifice."  But  the  king  made  answer.  That  he  took  his  generosity 
and  magnanimity  kindly,  and  accepted  his  good  will,  but  he  desired  him  to  take 
the  price  of  them  all,  for  that  it  was  not  just  to  offer  a  sacrifice  that  cost  nothing. 
And  when  Araunah  said,  he  would  do  as  he  pleased,  he  bought  the  threshing- 
floor  of  him  for  fifty  shekels.  And  when  he  had  built  an  altar,  he  performed 
divine  service,  and  brought  a  burnt-oflMsring,  and  offered  peace  ofiTerings  also. 
With  these  God  was  pacified  and  became  gracious  to  them  again.  Now  it  hap- 
pened that  Abraham  came  and  offei'ed  his  son  Isaac  for  a  burnt-offering  at  that 
very  place  ;*  and  when  the  youth  was  ready  to  have  his  throat  cut,  a  ram  ap- 
peared on  a  sudden,  standing  by  the  altar,  which  Abraham  sacrificed  instead  of 
his  son,  as  we  have  before  related.  Now  when  king  David  saw  that  God  had 
heard  his  prayei',  and  had  graciously  accepted  of  his  sacrifice,  he  resolved  to  call 
that  entire  place  the  altar  of  all  the  people,  and  to  build  a  temple  to  God  there. 
Which  words  he  uttered  very  appositely  to  what  was  to  be  done  afterwards  ;  for 
God  sent  the  prophet  to  him,  and  told  him,  that  there  should  his  sou  build  him  an 
ftltar,  that  son  who  was  to  take  the  kingdom  after  him. 


CHAP.  XIV. 

That  David  made  great  Preparations  for  the  House  of  Chd ;  and  that,  vpon 
Adonijah's  Attem-pt  to  gain  the  Kingdom,  he  appointed  Solomon  to  reign. 

§  1.  After  the  delivery  of  this  prophecy,  the  king  commanded  the  strangers  to 
be  numbered,  and  they  were  found  to  be  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  ;  of 
these  he  appointed  fourscore  thousand  to  be  hewers  of  stone,  and  the  rest  of  the 
multitude  to  carry  the  stones,  and  of  them  he  set  over  the  workmen  three  thou- 
sand and  five  hundred.  He  also  prepared  a  great  quantity  of  iron  and  brass  for 
the  work,  with  many,  and  those  exceeding  large  cedar  trees — the  Tyrians  and 
Sidonians  sending  tiiem  to  him  ;  for  he  had  sent  to  them  for  a  supply  of  those 
trees.  And  he  told  his  friends,  that  these  things  were  now  prepared,  that  he 
might  leave  materials  ready  for  the  building  of  the  temple  to  his  son,  who  was 
to  reign  after  him,  and  that  he  might  not  have  them  to  seek  then,  when  he  was 
very  young,  and  by  reason  of  his  age  unskilful  in  such  matters,  but  might  have 
them  lying  by  him,  and  so  might  the  more  x*eadily  complete  the  work. 

2.  So  David  called  his  son  Solomon,  and  charged  him,  when  he  had  received 
the  kingdom,  to  build  a  temple  to  God  ;  and  said,  "  I  was  willing  to  build  God 
a  temple  myself,  but  he  prohibited  me,  because  I  was  polluted  with  blood  and 
wars  ;  but  he  hath  foretold,  that  Solomon  my  youngest  son  should  build  him  a 
temple,  and  should  be  called  by  that  name  ;  over  whom  he  hath  promised  to  take 
the  like  care  as  a  father  takes  over  his  son  ;  and  that  he  would  make  the  country 
of  the  Hebrews  happy  under  him  ;  and  that  not  only  in  other  respects,  but  by 

*  What  .losephug  adds  hero  is  very  remarltable,  that  tJiis  Mount  Moriah  was  not  only  the  very  place 
vhere  Ahraliain  oflered  up  Isaac  long  ago,  but  that  God  had  Ibretold  to  David  by  a  prophet,  that  hero 
his  son  should  build  him  a  temple,  which  is  not  directly  in  any  of  our  other  copies,  though  very  agree*' 
bJe  to  wliat  is  in  them,  particularly  in  1  Chroii.  xxi.  26, 2C  ;  and  xxii.  1 ;  to  which  places  i  refer  the  reader 


C.  XIV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  253 

giving  it  peace,  and  freedom  from  wars,  and  from  internal  seditions ;  uhich  are 
tiie  greatest  of  all  blessings.  Since,  therefore,"  says  he,  "  tiio\i  wast  ordained 
king  by  God  himself  before  thou  Avastborn,  endeavour  to  render  thyself  worthy 
of  this  his  providence,  as  in  other  instances,  so  particularly  in  being  religious,  and 
righteous,  and  courageous.  Keep  thou  also  his  commands  and  his  laws,  which 
he  hath  given  us  by  Moses,  and  do  not  permit  others  to  break  them,  lie  zealous 
also  to  dedicate  to  God  a  temple,  which  he  hath  chosen  to  be  built  under  thy 
reign  ;  nor  be  thou  affrighted  by  the  vastness  of  the  work,  nor  set  about  it  time- 
rously,  for  I  will  make  all  things  ready  before  I  die.  And  take  notice,  that  there 
are  already  ten  thousand  talents  of  gold,  and  a  hundred  thousand  talents  of  sil- 
ver,*  collected  together.  I  have  also  laid  together  brass  and  iron  without  num. 
ber,  and  an  immense  quantity  of  timber  and  of  stones.  Moreover,  thou  has* 
many  ten  thousand  stone  cutters  and  carpenters  ;  and  if  thou  shalt  want  any  tiling 
farther,  do  thou  add  somewhat  of  thine  own.  Wherefore,  if  thou  perfurmcst  this 
work,  thou  wilt  be  acceptable  to  God,  and  have  him  for  thy  patron."  David  also 
farther  exhorted  the  rulers  of  the  people  to  assist  his  son  in  this  building,  and  to 
attend  to  the  divine  service,  when  they  should  be  free  from  all  their  mislbrtunes  ; 
for  that  they  by  this  means  should  enjoy,  instead  of  them,  peace  and  a  happy  set- 
tlement ;  with  which  blessings  God  rewards  such  men  as  are  religious  and  righ- 
teous. He  also  gave  orders,  that  when  the  temple  should  be  once  built,  they 
should  put  the  ark  therein,  with  the  holy  vessels ;  and  he  assured  them,  that  they 
ought  to  have  had  a  temple  long  ago,  if  their  fathers  had  not  been  negligent  of 
God's  commands,  who  had  given  it  in  charge,  that  when  they  had  got  the  posses- 
sion  of  this  land,  they  should  build  him  a  temple.  Thus  did  David  discourse  to 
the  governors,  and  to  his  son, 

8.  David  was  now  in  years,  and  his  body  by  length  of  time  was  become  cold 
and  benumbed,  insomuch  that  he  could  get  no  heat  by  covering  himself  with  many 
clothes.  And  when  the  physicians  came  together,  they  agreed  to  this  advice, 
that  a  beautiful  virgin,  chosen  out  of  the  whole  country,  should  sleep  by  the  king's 
side,  and  that  this  damsel  would  communicate  heat  to  him,  and  be  a  remedy 
against  his  numbness.  Now  there  was  found  in  the  city  one  woman  of  a  supe- 
rior beauty  to  all  other  women  (her  name  was  Ahisliag,)  who  sleeping  with  the 
king  did  no  more  than  communicate  warmth  to  him,  for  he  was  so  old  that  he 
could  not  know  her  as  a  husband  does  his  wife.  But  of  this  woman  we  shall 
speak  more  presently. 

4.  Now  the  fourth  son  of  David's  was  a  beautiful  young  man,  and  tall,  born  to 
him  of  Haggith  his  wife.  He  was  named  Adonijah,  and  was  in  his  disposition 
like  to  Absalom  ;  and  exalted  himself,  as  hoping  to  be  king,  and  told  his  frieiida 
that  he  ought  to  take  the  government  upon  him.  He  also  prepared  many  cha- 
riots, and  horses,  and  fifty  men  to  run  before  hmi.  When  his  father  saw  this,  ho 
did  not  reprove  him,  nor  restrain  him  from  his  purpose,  nor  did  he  go  so  far  as  to 
ask  wherefore  he  did  so  1  Now  Adonijah  had  for  his  assistants,  Joab,  the  captain 
of  the  army,  and  Abiathar,  the  high  priest;  and  the  only  persons  that  opposed 
him  were  Zadok,  the  high  priest,  and  the  prophet  Nathan,  and  Benaiah,  who 
was  captain  of  the  guards,  and  Shimei,  David's  friend,  with  all  the  other 
most  mighty  men.  Now  Adonijah  had  prepared  a  supper  out  of  the  city, 
near  the  fountain  that  was  in  the  king's  paradise,  and  had  invited  all  his  brethren 
except  Solomon,  and  had  taken  with  him  Joab,  the  captain  of  the  army,  and  Abi- 
athar, and  the  rulers  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  ;  but  had  invited  to  this  feast  neither 
Zadok  the  high  priest,  nor  Nathan  the  prophet,  nor  Benaiah,  the  cajitain  of  the 
guards,  nor  any  of  those  of  the  contrary  party.  This  matter  was  told  by  Nathan 
the  prophet  to  Bathsheba,  Solomon's  mother,  that  Adonijah  was  king,  and  that 
David  knew  nothing  of  it ;  and  he  advised  her  to  save  herself,  and  her  ^n  Solo- 
mon, and  to  go  Hy  herself  to  David,  and  say  to  him.  That  "  he  had  indeed  sworn 

»  Of  tlie  quantity  of  gold  and  silver  expended  in  the  building  of  Solomon's  temple,  and  wlicncc  it  arose, 
eee  the  Pcscription  of  the  Temple,  chap.  xiii. 


254  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VU. 

that  Solomon  should  reign  after  him,  but  that,  in  the  meantime^  Adonijah  had  al- 
ready  taken  the  kingdom."  He  said,  that  he,  the  prophet  himself,  would  come 
after  her,  and  when  she  had  spoken  thus  to  the  king,  would  confirm  what  she  had 
said.  Accordingly  Bathsheba  agreed  with  Nathan,  and  went  into  the  king,  and 
worshiped  him  ;  and  when  she  had  desired  leave  to  speak  with  him,  she  told  him 
all  tilings  in  the  manner  that  Nathan  had  suggested  to  her  ;  and  related  what  a 
supper  Adonijah  had  made,  and  who  they  were  whom  he  had  invited,  Abiathar 
the  high  priest,  and  Joab  the  general,  and  David's  sons,  excepting  Solomon  and 
his  intimate  friends.  She  also  said,  That  "  all  the  people  had  their  eyes  upon 
him,  to  know  whom  he  w^ould  choose  for  their  king."  She  desired  him  also,  to 
consider,  how,  after  his  departure,  Adonijah,  if  he  were  king,  would  slay  her,  and 
her  son  Solomon. 

6.  Now  as  Bathsheba  was  speaking,  the  keepers  of  the  king's  chambers  told 
him,  that  Nathan  desired  to  see  him.  And  Avhcn  the  king  had  commanded  that 
he  should  be  admitted,  he  came  in,  and  asked  him,  whether  he  had  ordained  Ado- 
nijah  to  be  king,  and  delivered  the  government  to  him  or  not  1  for  that  he  had 
made  a  splendid  supper,  and  invited  all  his  sons,  except  Solomon ;  as  also  that 
he  had  invited  Joab,  the  captain  of  his  host  [and  Abiathar  the  high  priest,]  who 
are  feasting  with  applauses,  and  many  joyful  sounds  of  instruments,  and  wish  that 
his  kingdom  may  last  for  ever ;  but  he  hath  not  invited  me,  nor  Zadok  the  high 
priest,  nor  Benaiah  the  captain  of  the  guards  ;  and  it  is  but  fit  that  all  should 
know  whether  this  be  done  by  thy  approbation  or  not.  When  Nathan  had  said 
thus,  the  king  commanded  that  they  should  call  Bathsheba  to  him,  for  she  had 
gone  out  of  the  room  Avhen  the  prophet  came.  And  when  Bathsheba  was  come, 
David  said,  "  1  swear  by  Almighty  God,  that  thy  son  Solomon  shall  certainly  be 
king,  as  I  formerly  swore,  and  that  he  shall  sit  upon  my  throne,  and  that  this  very 
day  also."  So  Bathsheba  worshiped  him,  and  wished  him  a  long  life ;  and  the 
king  sent  for  Zadok  the  high  priest,  and  Benaiah  the  captain  of  the  guards ;  and 
when  they  were  come,  he  ordered  to  take  with  them  Nathan  the  prophet,  and  all 
the  armed  men  about  the  palace,  and  to  set  his  son  Solomon  upon  the  king's  mule, 
and  to  carry  him  out  of  the  city  to  the  fountain  called  Gihon,  and  to  anoint  him 
there  with  the  holy  oil,  and  to  make  him  king.  This  he  charged  Zadok  the  high 
priest,  and  Nathan  the  prophet  to  do  ;  and  commanc'ed  them  to  follow  Solomon 
through  the  midst  of  the  city,  and  to  sound  the  trumpets,  and  Avish  aloud,  That 
*'  Solomon  the  king  may  sit  upon  the  royal  throne  for  ever,"  that  so  all  the  people 
may  know  that  he  is  ordained  king  by  his  lather.  He  also  gave  Solomon  a  charge 
concerning  his  government,  to  rule  the  v/hole  nation  of  the  Hebrews,  and  parti- 
cularly the  tribe  of  Judah  rehgiously  and  righteously.  And  when  Benaiah  had 
praj^ed  to  God  to  be  favourable  to  Solomon,  without  any  delay  they  set  Solomon 
upon  the  mule,  and  brought  him  out  of  the  city  to  the  fountain,  and  anointed  him 
with  the  oil,  and  brought  him  into  the  city  again,  with  acclamations  and  wishes 
that  his  kingdom  might  continue  a  long  time  ;  and  when  they  had  introduced  him 
into  the  king's  house,  they  set  him  upon  the  throne.  Whereupon  all  the  people 
betook  themselves  to  make  merry,  and  to  celebrate  a  festival,  dancing,  and  de- 
lighting themselves  with  musical  pipes,  till  both  the  earth  and  the  air  echoed  witli 
the  multitude  of  the  instruments  of  music. 

6.  Now  when  Adonijah  and  his  guests  perceived  this  noise,  they  were  in  disor- 
der ;  and  Joab  the  captain  of  the  host  said,  "  He  was  not  pleased  witli  these 
echoes,  and  the  sound  of  these  trumpets."  And  when  supper  was  set  before 
them,  nobody  tasted  of  it,  but  they  were  all  very  thoughtful  what  should  be  the 
matter.  Tlien  Jonathan  the  son  of  Abiathar  the  high  priest  came  running  to 
them  ;  and  when  Adonijah  saw  the  young  man  gladly,  and  said  to  him  that  he  M'as 
a  good  ^essenger,  he  declared  to  them  the  whole  matter  about  Solomon,  and  the 
determination  of  king  David ;  hereupon  both  Adonijah  and  all  his  guests  rose 
hastily  from  the  feast,  and  every  one  fled  to  their  own  homesl'^'  Adonijah  also, 
as  afraid  of  the  king  for  what  he  had  done,  became  a  supplicant  to  God,  and  took 


C.  XIV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  25&- 

hold  of  the  horns  of  the  altar,  which  were  prominent.  It  was  also  told  Solomon 
that  he  had  so  done  ;  and  that  he  desired  to  receive  agsura<ices  from  him,  that  he 
would  not  remember  the  injury  he  had  done,  and  not  inllict  any  severe  puni.shment 
for  it.  Solomon  answered  very  mildly  and  prudently,  that  "he  forgave  him  tliis 
his  offence  ;  but  said  withal,  that  if  he  were  found  out  in  any  attempt  lor  new  inno- 
vations,  that  he  would  be  the  authorof  hisown  punishment."  So  he  sent  to  him, 
and  raised  him  up  from  the  place  of  his  supplication.  And  when  he  was  conio 
to  the  king,  and  had  worshiped  him,  the  king  bid  him  go  away  to  his  own  house, 
and  have  no  suspicion  of  any  harm  ;  and  desired  him  to  show  himself  a  worthy 
man,  as  wliat  would  tend  to  his  own  advantage. 

7.  But  David  being  desirous  of  ordaining  his  son  king  of  all  the  people,  called 
together  their  rulers  to  Jerusalem,  with  the  priests  and  the  Levites  ;  and  having 
first  numbered  the  Levites,  he  found  them  to  be  thirty-eight  thousand,  from  thirty 
j^ears  old  to  fifty;  out  of  which  he  appointed  twenty-three  thousand  to  take  care 
of  the  building  of  the  temple,  and  out  of  the  same,  six  thousand  to  be  judges  of 
the  people  and  scribes,  four  thousand  for  porters  to  the  house  of  God,  and  as  many 
for  singers,  to  sing  to  the  instruments  which  David  had  prepared,  as  we  have 
said  already.  He  divided  them  also  into  courses ;  and  when  he  had  separated  the 
priests  from  them,  he  found  of  these  priests  twenty-four  courses,  sixteen  of  the 
liouse  of  Eleazar,  and  eight  of  that  of  Ithamar  ;  and  he  ordained,  that  one  course 
should  minister  to  God  eight  days,  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath.  And  thus  were 
the  courses  distributed  by  lot,  in  the  presence  of  David,  and  Zadok  and  Abiathar 
the  high  priests,  and  of  all  the  rulers ;  and  that  course  which  came  up  first  was 
written  down  as  the  first,  and  accordingly  the  second,  and  so  on  to  the  twenty- 
fourth  ;  and  this  partition  hath  remained  to  this  day.  He  also  made  twenty-lbur 
parts  of  the  tribe  of  Levi ;  and  when  they  cast  lots,  they  came  up  in  the  same 
manner  for  their  courses  of  eight  days.  He  also  honoured  tlie  posterity  of  Moses, 
and  made  them  the  keepers  of  the  treasures  of  God,  and  of  the  donations  which 
the  kings  dedicated.  He  also  ordained,  that  all  the  tribe  of  Levi,  as  well  as  the 
priests,  should  serve  God  night  and  day,  as  Moses  had  enjoined  them. 

8.  After  this  he  parted  the  entire  army  into  twelve  parts,  with  their  leaders 
[and  captains  of  hundreds,]  and  commanders.  Now  every  part  liad  twenty-four 
thousand,  which  v/ere  ordered  to  wait  on  Solomon,  by  thirty  days  at  a  time,  from 
the  first  day  to  the  last,  with  the  captains  of  thousands  and  captains  of  hundreds. 
He  also  set  rulers  over  every  part,  such  as  he  knew  to  be  good  and  righteous  men. 
He  set  others  also  to  take  care  of  the  treasures,  and  of  the  villages,  and  of  the 
fields,  and  of  the  beasts,  whose  names  I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  mention. 
When  David  had  ordered  all  these  officers  after  the  manner  before  mentioned,  ho 
called  the  rulers  of  the  Hebrews,  and  their  heads  of  tribes,  and  the  officers  over 
the  several  divisions,  and  those  that  were  appointed  over  every  work,  and  every 
possession;  and  standing  upon  a  high  pulpit,  he  said  to  the  multitude  as  follows 
"My  brethren,  and  my  people,  I  would  have  you  know,  that  I  intended  to  build 
a  house  for  God,  and  prepared  a  large  quantity  of  gold,  and  a  hundred  thousand 
talents  of  silver,  but  God  prohibited  me  by  the  prophet  Nathan,  because  of  the 
wars  I  had  on  your  account,  and  because  my  right  hand  was  polluted  with  the 
slaughter  of  our  enemies;  but  he  commanded  that  my  son,  who  was  to  succeed 
me  in  the  kingdom,  should  build  a  temple  for  him.  Now  therefore,  since  you 
know  that  of  the  twelve  sons  whom  Jacob  our  forefather  had,  Judah  was  ai)poinfed 
to  be  king,  and  that  I  was  preferred  before  my  six  brethren,  and  received  the 
government  from  God,  and  that  none  of  them  were  uneasy  at  it,  so  do  I  also  de- 
sire that  my  sons  be  not  seditious  one  against  another,  now  Solomon  has  received 
the  kingdom,  but  to  bear  him  cheerfully  for  their  lord,  as  knowing  that  God  hath 
chosen  him  ;  for  it  is  not  a  grievous  thing  to  obey  even  a  foreigner  as  a  ruler,  if 
it  be  God's  will,  but  it  is  fit  to  rejoice  when  a  brother  hath  obtained  that  dignity, 
since  the  rest  partake  of  it  with  him.  And  I  pray  that  the  promises  of  God  may 
be  fulfilled ;  and  that  this  happiness  which  he  hath  promised  to  bestow  upon  king 


256  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIL 

Solomon,  over  all  the  country,  may  continue  therein  for  all  time  to  come.  And 
these  promises,  O  son,  will  be  firm,  and  come  to  a  happy  end,  if  thou  showest 
thyself  to  be  a  religious  and  a  righteous  man,  and  an  observer  of  the  laws  of 
thy  country;  but  if  not,  expect  adversity  upon  thy  disobedience  to  them." 

9.  Now  when  the  king  had  said  this,  he  left  off,  but  gave  the  description  and 
pattern  of  the  building  of  the  temple  in  the  sight  of  them  all  to  Solomon ;  of  the 
foundations  and  of  the  chambers,  inferior  and  superior,  how  many  they  were  to 
be,  and  how  large  in  height  and  in  breadth :  as  also  he  determined  the  weight  of 
the  golden  and  silver  vessels ;  moreover,  he  earnestly  excited  them  with  his  words, 
to  use  the  utmost  alacrity  about  the  work  ;  he  exhorted  the  rulers  also,  and  par- 
ticularly the  tribe  of  Levi,  to  assist  him,  both  because  of  his  youth,  and  because 
God  had  chosen  him  to  take  care  of  the  building  of  the  temple,  and  of  the  go- 
vernment of  the  kingdom.  He  also  declared  to  them  that  the  work  would  be 
eas3%  and  not  very  laborious  to  them,  because  he  had  prepared  for  it  many  talents 
of  gold,  and  more  of  silver,  with  timber,  and  a  great  many  carpenters  and  stone 
cutters,  and  a  large  quantity  of  emeralds,  and  all  sorts  of  precious  stones ;  and 
he  said,  that  even  now  he  would  give  up  the  proper  goods  of  his  own  dominion 
two  hundred  talents  and  three  hundred  other  talents  of  pure  gold,  for  the  most 
holy  place,  and  for  the  chariot  of  God,  the  cherubim,  which  are  to  stand  over 
and  cover  the  ark.  Now,  when  David  had  done  speaking,  there  appeared  great 
alacrity  among  the  rulers,  and  the  priests,  and  the  Levites,  who  now  contributed 
and  made  great  and  splendid  promises  for  a  future  contribution  ;  for  they  un- 
dertook to  bring  of  gold  five  tilousand  talents,  and  ten  thousand  drachms,  and  of 
silver  ten  thousand  talents,  and  many  ten  thousand  talents  of  iron ;  and  if  any 
one  had  a  precious  stone  he  brought  it,  and  bequeathed  it  to  be  put  among  the 
treasures ;  of  which  Jachiel,  one  of  the  posterity  of  jMoses,  had  the  care. 

10.  Upon  this  occasion  all  the  people  rejoiced,  as  in  particular  did  David,  when 
he  saw  the  zeal  and  forward  ambition  of  the  rulers,  and  the  priests,  and  of  all  the 
rest;  and  he  began  to  bless  God,  with  a  loud  voice,  calling  him  "  the  Father  and 
Parent  of  the  universe,  and  the  Author  of  human  and  divine  things,  with  which 
he  had  adorned  Solomon,  the  patron  and  guardian  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  and  of 
its  happiness,  and  of  that  kingdom  which  he  hath  given  his  son.  Besides  this, 
he  prayed  for  happiness  to  all  the  people ;  and  to  Solomon  his  son  a  sound  and 
righteous  mind,  and  confirmed  in  all  sorts  of  virtue  ;"  and  then  he  commanded 
die  multitude  to  bless  God.  Upon  which  they  all  fell  down  upon  the  ground,  and 
worshiped  him.  They  also  gave  thanks  to  David,  on  account  of  all  the  blessings 
which  they  had  received  ever  since  he  had  taken  the  kingdom.  On  the  next 
day  he  presented  sacrifices  to  God,  a  thousand  bullocks,  and  as  many  lambs, 
which  they  offered  for  burnt  offerings.  They  also  offered  peace-offerings,  and 
slew  many  ten  thousand  sacrifices ;  and  the  king  feasted  all  day,  together  with 
all  the  people  :  and  they  anointed  Solomon  a  second  time  with  the  oil,  and  ap- 
pointed him  to  be  king,  and  Zadock  to  be  the  high  priest  of  the  whole  muUitude. 
And  when  they  had  brought  Solomon  to  the  royal  palace,  and  had  set  him  upon 
his  father's  throne,  they  were  obedient  to  him  from  that  day. 


CHAP.  XV. 

Wliat  Charge  David  gave  to  his  Son  Solomon,  at  the  Approach  of  his  Death  ;  and 
how  many  Things  he  Icfthlinforthe  Building  of  the  Temple. 

§  1.  A  LITTLE  afterward  David  also  fell  into  a  distemper,  by  reason  of  his  age  ; 
and  perceiving  that  he  was  near  to  death,  he  called  his  son  Solomon,  and  dis- 
coursed to  him  thus  :  "  I  am  now,  O  my  son,  going  to  my  grave  and  to  my  fa- 
thers, which  is  the  common  way  which  all  men  that  now  are,  or  shall  be  hereafter, 
must  go;  tVom  which  way  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  return,  and  to  know  anything 
that  is  done  in  this  world.     On  which  account  I  exhort  thee,  while  I  am  still 


C.  XV  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  257 

alive,  though  already  very  near  to  death,  in  the  same  manner  as  I  have  formerly 
said  in  niy  advice  to  thee,  to  be  righteous  towards!  thy  subjects,  and  religiou>i  to- 
warda  God,  that  hath  given  thee  thy  kingdom  ;  to  observe  his  commands,  and  his 
laws,  which  he  hath  sent  us  by  Moses ;  and  neither  do  thou  out  of  favour  nor 
flattery  allow  any  lust  or  other  passion  to  weigh  with  thee,  to  disrefrard  them  ; 
for  if  thou  transgrcssest  his  laws,  thou  wilt  lose  the  ftivour  of  God,  and  thou  wilt 
turn  away  his  providence  from  thee  in  all  things  ;  but  if  thou  behave  thvself  so  as 
it  behoves  thee,  and  as  I  exhort  tliee,  tiiou  wilt  preserve  our  kingdom' to  our  fa- 
mily, and  no  other  house  will  bear  rule  over  the  Hebrews,  but  we  ourselves,  for 
all  ages.  Be  thou  also  mindful  of  the  transgressions  of  Joab,*  the  captain  of  the 
host,  who  hath  slain  two  generals  out  of  envy,  and  those  righteous  and  good  men, 
Abner  the  son  of  Ner,  and  Amasa  the  son  of  Jetlier,  whose  death  do  thou  aveno-o 
as  shall  seem  good  to  thee,  since  Joab  hath  been  too  hard  for  me,  and  more  po- 
tent than  myself,  and  so  hath  escaped  punisliment  hitherto.  I  also  commit  to 
thee  the  sons  of  Barziilai  the  Gileadite,  whom,  in  order  to  gratify  me,  thou  shall 
have  in  great  honour,  and  take  great  care  of;  for  we  have  not  done  "ood  to  him 
first,  but  we  only  repay  that  debt  which  we  owe  his  father,  for  what  he  did  to  me 
in  my  flight.  There  is  also  Shimei,  the  son  of  Gera,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin, 
who,  after  he  had  cast  many  reproaches  upon  me,  when,  in  my  flight  I  was  going 
to  Mahanaim,  met  me  at  Jordan,  and  received  assurances  that  he  should  then  suf- 
fer nothing.     Do  thou  now  seek  out  for  some  just  occasion,  and  punish  him." 

2.  When  David  had  given  these  admonitions  to  his  son  about  public  affairs, 
and  about  his  friends,  and  about  those  whom  he  knew  to  deserve  punishment,  he 
died,  having  lived  seventy  years,  and  reigned  seven  years  and  six  months  in  He- 
bron, over  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  thirty-three  j^ears  in  Jerusalem,  over  all 
the  country.  Thi5  maa  was  of  an  excellent  cliaractcr,  and  was  endowed  wi/Ji 
all  the  virtues  that  were  desirable  in  a  king,  and  in  one  that  had  the  preservation 
of  so  many  tribes  committed  to  him  ;  for  he  was  a  man  of  valour  in  a  very  extraor- 
dinary degree,  and  went  readily  and  first  of  all  into  dangers,  when  he  was  to  light 
for  his  subjects,  as  exciting  the  soldiers  to  action  by  his  own  labours,  and  fighting 
for  tliem,  and  not  commanding  them  in  a  despotic  wav.  He  was  also  of  very 
great  abilities  in  understanding,  and  apprehension  of  present  and  future  circum- 
stances, when  he  was  to  manage  any  allairs.  He  was  prudent  and  moderate, 
and  kind  to  such  as  were  under  any  calamities ;  he  was  righteous  and  humane, 
whiclx  are  good  qualities,  peculiarly  fit  for  kings ;  nor  was  he  guilty  of  any  of- 
fence in  the  exercise  of  so  great  an  authority,  but  in  the  business  of  the  wife  of 
Uriah.  He  also  left  behind  him  greater  wealth  than  any  other  king,  either  of 
the  Hebrews  or  of  other  nations,  ever  did. 

3.  He  was  buried  by  his  son  SolomoU  in  Jerusalem,  with  great  magnificence, 
and  with  all  the  other  funeral  pomp  which  kings  used  to  be  buried  with.  IVIore- 
over,  he  had  great  and  immense  wealth  buried  with  him,  the  vastncss  of  which 
may  be  easily  conjectured  at  by  what  I  shall  now  say  ;  for  a  thousand  and  tliree 
hundred  years  afterward,  Hyrcanus  the  liigh  priest,  when  he  was  besieged  by 
Antiochus,  that  was  called  the  Pious,  the  son  of  Demetrius,  and  was  desirous  of 

*  David  is  here  greatly  blamed  by  some  for  recommending  Joab  and  Shimei  to  be  punished  by  Solo- 
mon, if  he  could  find  a  proper  occasion,  after  he  had  borne  with  the  first  a  Inns;  while,  and  seemed  to 
have  pardoned  the  other  entirely,  which  Solomon  executed  accordingly  ;  yet  I  cannot  discern  any  fault 
either  in  David  or  Solomon  in  these  cases.  Joab's  murder  of  Abner  and  Aniasa  were  very  barbarous, 
and  could  not  properly  be  forgiven  either  by  David  or  Solomon ;  for  a  dispensing  power  in  kings  for  the 
crime  of  wilful  murder  is  warranted  by  no  law  of  God,  nay,  is  directly  against  it  every  whore;  nor  is  it 
for  certain,  in  the  power  of  men  to  grant  such  a  prerogative  to  any  of  their  kings.  'I'liough  Joab  was  so 
nearly  related  to  David,  and  so  potent  in  the  army  under  a  warlike  administration,  that  David  durst  not 
himself  put  him  to  death,  2  Sam.  iii.  '.V.\  and  xix.'V.  Shimei's  cursimxike  LonVs  nnoui/c^/,  and  this  with- 
out any  just  cause,  was  the  higliest  act  of  treason  against  God, and  his  anointed  king,  and  justly  deserved 
death;  and  though  David  could  forgive  treason  against  himself,  yet  had  he  done  no  more  in  the  case  of 
Shimei  then  promised  him  that  he  would  not  theii,  on  the  day  of  Jjis  return  and  reinav^uration,  himself 
put  him  to  death,  2  Sam.  xix.  22,  and  he  swore  to  him  no  farther,  v.  23,  as  the  wordf  arc  m  Josephus, 
than  that  he  would  not  then  put  him  to  death,  which  he  performed ;  nor  was  Solomon  under  any  obliga- 
tion to  spare  such  a  traitor. 
VOL.   I.  2K 


258  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  ML 

giving,  him  money  to  get,  him  to  raise  the  siege,  and  draw  off  his  army,  and  ha- 
ving no  other  method  of  compassing  the  money,  opened  one  room  of  David's  se- 
pulchre, and  took  out  three  thousand  talents,  and  gave  part  of  that  sum  to  Antio- 
chus,  and  hy  this  means  caused  the  siege  to  be  raised,  as  Ave  have  informed  the 
reader  elsewhere.  Nay,  after  him,  and  tliat  many  year^  Herod  the  king  opened 
another  room,  and  took  away  a  great  deal  of  money,  and  y<'X  neither  of  them  came 
at  the  coffins  of  the  kings  themselves,  for  their  bodies  were  buried  under  the 
earth  so  artfully  that  they  did  not  appear  to  even  those  that  entered  into  their 
monuments.     But  so  much  shall  suffice  us  to  have  said  concerning  these  matters. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  259 


BOOK  VIII. 


CONTAINING  THE  INTEHVAt  OF  ONE  nUNDKED  AND  SIXTY-THREE  TBABS 
FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  DAVID  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  AHAB. 


CHAP.  I.- 

How  Solomon,  when  he  had  received  the  Kingdom,  took  off  his  Enemies. 

§  1.  We  have  already  treated  of  David,  and  his  virtue,  and  of  the  benefits  he 
was  the  author  of  to  his  countrymen  ;  of  his  wars  also,  and  buttles  which  he  ma- 
naged  with  success,  and  then  died  an  old  man,  in  the  foregoing  book.  And  when 
Solomon  his  son,  who  was  but  a  youth  in  age,  had  taken  the  kingdom,  and  whom 
David  had  declared,  while  he  was  alive,  the  lord  of  that  people  according  to  God's 
will ;  when  he  sat  upon  the  throne  the  whole  body  of  the  people  made  joyful  ac- 
clamatious  to  him,  as  is  usual  at  the  beginning  of  a  reign,  and  wished  that  all  his 
atiairs  might  come  to  a  blessed  conclusion  ;  and  that  lie  might  arrive  at  a  great 
age,  and  at  the  most  happy  state  of  affairs  possible. 

2.  But  Adonijah,  who,  while  his  father  was  living,  attempted  to  gain  posses- 
sion  of  the  government,  came  to  the  king's  mother  Bathsheba,  and  saluted  her 
with  groat  civility  ;  and  when  she  asked  him,  whether  he  came  to  her  as  dcsirinor 
her  assistance  in  any  thing  or  not  ?  and  bid  him  tell  her  if  that  were  the  case, 
for  that  she  would  cheerfully  afford  it  him  ;  he  began  to  say,  that  "  she  knew 
herself  that  the  kingdom  was  his,  both  on  account  of  his  elder  age,  and  of  the 
disposition  of  the  multitude,  and  that  yet  it  was  transferred  to  Solomon  her  son, 
according  to  the  will  of  God.  He  also  said,  that  he  was  contented  to  be  a  ser- 
vant  under  him,  and  was  pleased  with  the  present  settlement ;  but  he  desired  her 
to  be  a  means  of  obtaining  a  favour  from  his  brother  to  him,  and  to  persuade  him 
to  bestow  on  him  in  marriage  Abishag,  who  had  indeed  slept  by  his  father,  but 
because  his  father  was  too  old,  he  did  not  lie  with  her,  and  she  was  still  a  virgin." 
So  Bathsheba  promised  him  to  afford  him  her  assistance  very  earnestly,  and  to 
bring  this  marriage  about,  because  the  king  would  be  willing  to  gratify  him  ia 
such  a  thing,  and  because  she  would  press  him  to  it  very  earnestly.  Accordingly 
he  went  aAvay  in  hopes  of  succeeding  in  this  match.  So  Solomon's  mother  went 
presently  to  her  son,  to  speak  to  him  about  what  she  had  promised,  upon  Ado- 
nijah's  supplication  to  her.  And  when  her  son  came  fonvard  to  meet  her,  and 
embraced  her,  and  when  he  had  brought  her  into  the  ho\ise  where  his  roval  throne 
was  set,  he  sat  thereon,  and  bid  them  set  another  throne  on  the  right  hand  for  liis  mo- 

her.  When  Bathsheba  was  sat  down,  she  said,  "  O  my  son,  grant  me  one  rc(|uest 
that  I  desire  of  thee,  and  do  not  any  thing  to  me  that  is  disagreeable  or  ungrateful, 
which  thou  wilt  do  if  thou  deniost  me."  And  when  Solomon  bid  her  to  lay  her 
commands  upon  him,  because  it  was  agreeable  to  his  duty  to  grant  her  every  thing 
she  should  ask,  and  complained  that  she  did  not  at  first  begin  her  discourse  with  a 
firm  expectation  of  obtaining  what  she  desired,  but  had  some  suspicion  of  a  de- 
nial, she  entreated  him  to  grant  that  his  brother  Adonijah  might  many  Abishag. 

3.  But  the  king  was  greatly  oflx:ndcd  at  these  words,  and  sent  away  his  mother; 
and  said,  "  that  Adonijah  aimed  at  great  things,  and  that  lie  woiulcred  that  she 
did  not  desire  him  to  yield  up  the  kingdom  to  him,  as  to  his  elder  brother,  since 
she  desired  that  he  might  marry  Abishag ;  and  that  he  had  potent  friends,  Joab 
the  captain  of  the  host,  and  Abiathar  the  priest."     So  lie  called  for  Bcnaiah,  the 

2K2 


260  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIII. 

captain  of  the  guards,  and  ordered  him  to  slay  his  brother  Adonijah.  He  also 
called  for  Abiathar  the  priest  and  said  to  him,  "  I  will  not  put  thee  to  death,  be- 
cause of  those  other  hardships  which  thou  hast  endured  with  my  father,  and  be- 
cause of  the  ark  which  thou  hast  borne  along  with  him  :  but  I  inHict  this  following 
punishment  upon  thee,  because  thou  wast  among  Adonijah's  followers,  and  wast 
of  liis  party;  Do  not  thou  continue  here,  nor  come  any  more  into  my  sight,  but 
go  to  thine  own  town,  and  live  on  thy  own  fields,  and  there  abide  all  thy  life  ;  for 
thou  hast  offended  so  greatly,  that  it  is  not  just  that  thou  shouldest  retain  thy  dig- 
nity any  longer."  For  the  forementioned  cause,  therefore,  it  was  that  the  house 
of  Ithamar  was  deprived  of  the  sacerdotal  dignity,  as  God  had  foretold  to  Eli, 
the  grandfather  of  Abiathar.  So  it  was  transferred  to  the  family  of  Phineas,  to 
Zadok.  Now  those  that  were  of  the  family  of  Phineas,  but  lived  privately  during 
the  time  that  the  high  priesthood  was  transferred  to  the  house  of  Ithamar  (of 
which  family  Eli  was  the  first  that  received  it,)  were  these  that  follow:  Bukki 
the  son  of  Abishua  the  high  priest;  his  son  was  Joathom ;  Joathom's  son  was 
Meraioth ;  Meraioth's  son  was  Arophaeus ;  ArophcEus's  son  was  Aliitub ;  and 
Ahitub's  son  was  Zadok,  who  was  first  made  high  priest  in  the  reign  of  David. 

4.  Now  when  Joab  the  captain  of  the  host  heard  of  the  slaughter  of  Adonijah, 
he  was  greatly  afraid,  for  he  was  a  greater  friend  to  him  than  to  Solomon  :  and 
suspecting,  not  without  reason,  that  he  was  in  danger,  on  account  of  his  favour  to 
Adonijah,  he  fled  to  the  altar,  and  supposed  he  might  procure  safety  thereby  to 
himself,  because  of  the  king's  piety  towards  God.  But  when  some  told  the  king 
what  Joab's  supposal  was,  he  sent  Benaiah,  and  commanded  him  to  raise  him  up 
from  the  altar,  and  bring  him  to  the  judgment  seat,  in  order  to  make  his  defence. 
However  Joab  said,  he  would  not  leave  the  altar,  but  would  die  there,  rather  than 
in  another  place.  And  when  Benaiah  had  reported  this  answer  to  the  king, 
Solomon  commanded  him  to  cut  off"  his  head  there,*  and  let  him  take  that  as  a 
punishment  for  those  two  captains  of  the  host  whom  he  had  wickedly  slain,  and  to 
bury  his  body,  that  his  sins  might  never  leave  his  family,  but  that  himself  and  his 
father,  by  Joab's  death,  might  be  guiltless.  And  when  Benaiah  had  done  what 
he  was  commanded  to  do,  he  was  himself  appointed  to  be  captain  of  the  whole 
army.  The  king  also  made  Zadok  to  be  alone  the  high  priest,  in  the  room  of 
Abiathar,  whom  he  had  removed. 

5.  But  as  to  Shimei,  Solomon  commanded  that  he  should  build  him  a  house, 
and  stay  at  Jerusalem,  and  attend  upon  him,  and  should  not  have  authority  to  go 
over  the  brook  Cedron  ;  and  that  if  he  disobeyed  that  command,  death  should  be 
his  punishment.  He  also  threatened  him  so  terribly,  that  he  compelled  him  to 
take  an  oath  that  he  would  obey.  Accordingly  Shimei  said,  that  "  he  had  reason 
to  thank  Solomon  for  giving  him  such  an  injunction  ;  and  added  on  oath,  that  he 
Avould  do  as  he  bid  him  ;"  and  leaving  his  own  country,  he  made  his  abode  in  Je- 
rusalem. But  three  years  afterwards,  when  he  heard  that  two  of  his  servants 
were  run  away  from  him,  and  were  in  Gath,  he  went  for  his  servants  in  haste  ; 
and  when  he  was  come  back  with  (hem,  the  king  perceived  it,  and  was  much  dis- 
pleased that  he  had  contemned  his  commands,  and  what  was  more,  had  no  regard 
to  the  oaths  he  had  sworn  to  God  ;  so  he  called  him,  and  said  to  him,  "  Didst  thou 
not  swear  never  to  leave  me,  nor  to  go  out  of  this  city  to  another ;  thou  shalt  not 
therefore  escape  punishment  for  thy  perjury,  but  I  will  punish  thee,  thou  wicked 
wretch,  both  for  this  crime,  and  for  those  wherein  thou  didst  abuse  my  father 
when  he  was  in  his  flight,  that  thou  mayest  know  that  wicked  men  gain  nothing 
at  last,  although  they  be  not  punished  immediately  upon  their  unjust  practices, 
but  that  in  all  the  time  wherein  they  think  themselves  secure,  because  they  have 
yet  suffered  nothing,  their  punishment  increases,  and  is  heavier  upon  them,  and 

*  This  execution  upon  Joab,  as  a  murderer,  by  slaj'ing  him,  even  when  he  had  taken  sanctuary  at 
God's  altar,  is  perfectly  agreeable  to  the  law  of  Moses,  which  enjoins,  that  "  If  a  man  come  presumptu- 
ously upon  his  neighbour  to  slay  him  with  guile,  thou  shalt  take  him  from  mine  altar  that  he  die." 
Exod.  xxi.  14. 


C.  U.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  261 

that  to  a  greater  degree  than  if  they  had  been  punished  immediately  upon  tho 
commission  of  their  crimes."     So  Benaiah,  on  the  king's  command,  slew  Shimei. 


CHAP.  n. 

Concerning  iJie  Wife  of  Solomon  ;  concerning  his  Wisdom  and  Riches,  and 
concerning  what  he  obtained  of  Iliram  for  the  Building  of  tlie  Temple. 

§  1.  SoLojioN  having  already  settled  himself  firmly  in  his  kingdom,  and  havino- 
brought  his  enemies  to  punishment,  he  married  the  daughter  of  Piiaraoh  kino-  of 
Egypt,  and  built  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,*  much  larger  and  stronger  than  tliose 
which  had  been  before,  and  thenceforward  he  managed  public  affairs  very  peace- 
ably.  Nor  was  his  youth  any  hinderance  in  the  exercise  of  justice,  or  in  the 
observation  of  the  laws,  or  in  the  remembrance  of  what  charges  his  father  had 
given  him  at  his  death,  but  he  discharged  every  duty  with  great  accuracy  that 
might  have  been  expected  from  such  as  are  aged,  and  of  the  greatest  prudence. 
He  now  resolved  to  go  to  Hebron,  and  sacrifice  to  God  upon  the  brazen  altar  that 
was  built  by  Moses.  Accordingly  he  ofiered  there  burnt  offerings,  in  number  a 
thousand  ;  and  when  he  had  done  this,  he  thought  he  had  paid  great  honour  to 
God ;  for  as  he  was  asleep  that  very  night,  God  appeared  to  him,  and  commanded 
him  to  ask  of  him  some  gifts  which  he  was  ready  to  give  him  as  a  reward  for  his 
piety.  So  Solomon  asked  of  God  wliat  was  most  excellent,  and  of  the  greatest 
worth  in  itself,  wliat  God  would  bestow  with  the  greatest  joy,  and  what  was  most 
profitable  for  man  to  receive ;  for  he  did  not  desire  to  have  bestowed  upon  him 
either  gold  or  silver  or  any  other  riches,  as  a  man  and  a  youth  might  naturally 
have  done,  for  these  are  the  things  that  generally  are  esteemed  by  most  men,  as 
alone  of  the  greatest  worth  and  the  best  gifts  of  God  ;  "  but,"  said  he,  "  give  me, 

0  Lord,  a  sound  mind,  and  a  good  understanding,  whereby  I  may  speak  and 
judge  the  people  according  to  truth  and  righteousness."  With  these  petitions  God 
was  well  pleased  ;  and  promised  to  give  him  all  those  things  that  he  had  not  men- 
tioned, in  his  option,  riches,  glory,  victory  over  his  enemies  :  and,  in  the  first 
place,  understanding  and  wisdom,  and  this  in  such  a  degree  as  no  other  mortal 
man,  neither  kings  nor  ordinary  persons,  ever  had.  He  also  promised  to  pre- 
serve the  Idngdom  to  his  posterity  for  a  very  long  time,  if  he  continued  righteous, 
and  obedient  to  him,  and  imitated  his  father  in  those  things  whei'ein  he  excelled. 
When  Solomon  heard  this  from  God,  he  presently  leaped  out  of  his  bed  ;  and 
when  he  had  worshiped  him  he  returned  to  Jerusalem  ;  and  after  he  had  offered 
great  sacrifices  before  the  tabernacle,  he  feasted  all  his  own  family. 

2.  In  these  days  a  hard  cause  came  before  him  in  judgment,  which  it  was  very 
difficult  to  find  any  end  of;  and  I  think  it  necessary  to  explain  the  fact,  about 
which  the  contest  was,  that  such  as  light  upon  my  writings  may  know  Avhat  adit*, 
ficult  cause  Solomon  was  to  determine,  and  those  that  are  concerned  in  such 
matters  may  take  this  sagacity  of  the  king's  for  a  pattern,  that  they  may  llie  more 
easily  give  sentence  about  such  questions  : — There  were  two  women,  who  were 
harlots  in  the  course  of  their  lives,  that  came  to  him  ;  of  whom  she  that  seemed  to 
be  injured  began  to  speak  first,  and  said,  O  king,  I  and  this  other  woman  dwell 
together  in  one  room  ;  now  it  came  to  pass  that  we  both  bore  a  son  at  the  samo 
hour  of  the  same  day,  and  on  the  third  day,  this  woman  overlaid  her  son,  and 
killed  it,  and  then  took  my  son  out  of  my  bosom  and  removed  him  to  herself,  and 
as  I  was  asleep  she  laid  her  dead  son  in  my  arms.     Now,  when  in  the  morning, 

1  was  desirous  to  give  the  breast  to  the  child,  I  did  not  find  my  own,  but  saw  tho 
woman's  dead  child  lying  by  me,  for  I  considered  it  exactly,  and  found  it  so  to  be. 

*  This  building'  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  sonn  after  David's  death,  illustrates  the  conclusion  of  the  51s« 
Psalm,  where  David  prays,  build  thou  the  walls  of  Jcrtisalcm,  they  being,  it  seems,  unfinished  or  imper- 
fect at  that  time ;  see  chap.  vi.  sect.  1 ;  andch.  vii.  sect.  7  •  also  1  Kings,  ix.  15. 


262  ANTIQUITIES  OP  THE  JEWS.  .  B.  Vm. 

Hence  it  was  that  I  demanded  my  son,  and  when  I  could  not  obtain  him,  I  have 
recourse,  my  lord,  to  thy  assistance  ;  for  since  we  were  alone,  and  there  was  no- 
body there  that  could  convict  her,  she  cares  for  nothing,  but  perseveres  in  the 
stout  denial  of  the  fact."  When  this  woman  had  told  this  her  story,  the  king 
asked  the  other  woman  what  she  had  to  say  in  contradiction  to  that  story  ?  But 
when  she  denied  that  she  had  done  what  was  charged  upon  her,  and  said,  that  it 
was  her  child  that  was  living,  and  that  it  was  her  antagonist's  child  that  was 
dead  ;  and  when  no  one  could  devise  what  judgment  could  be  given,  and  the 
whole  court  were  blind  in  their  understanding,  and  could  not  tell  how  to  find  out 
this  riddle,  the  king  alone  invented  the  following  way  how  to  discover  it ;  he  bade 
them  bring  in  both  the  dead  child  and  the  living  child  ;  and  sent  one  of  his  guards, 
and  commanded  him  to  fetch  a  sword,  and  draw  it,  and  to  cut  both  the  children 
into  two  pieces,  that  each  of  the  women  might  have  half  the  living,  and  half  the 
dead  child.  Hereupon  all  the  people  privately  laughed  at  the  king,  as  no  more 
than  a  youth.  But  in  the  mean  time,  she  that  was  the  real  mother  of  the  living 
child  cried  out,  that  he  should  not  do  so,  but  deliver  that  child  to  the  other  wo- 
man as  her  own,  for  she  would  be  satisfied  with  the  life  of  the  child,  and  with  the 
sight  of  it,  although  it  were  esteemed  the  other's  child  ;  but  the  other  woman  was 
ready  to  see  the  child  divided,  and  was  desirous  moreover  that  the  first  woman 
should  be  tormented.  When  the  king  understood  that  both  their  words  proceeded 
from  the  truth  of  their  passions,  he  adjudged  the  child  to  her  that  cried  out  to  save 
it,  for  that  she  was  the  real  mother  of  it,  and  he  condemned  the  other  as  a  Avicked 
woman,  who  had  not  only  killed  her  own  child,  but  was  endeavouring  to  see  her 
friend's  child  destroyed  also.  Now  the  multitude  looked  on  this  determination  as 
a  great  sign  and  demonstration  of  the  king's  sagacity  and  wisdom ;  and  after  that 
day,  attended  to  him  as  to  one  that  had  a  Divine  mind. 

3.  Now  the  captains  of  his  armies,  and  officers  appointed  over  the  whole  coun- 
try, were  these :  over  the  lot  of  Ephraim  was  TJres  ;  over  the  toparchy  of  Beth- 
lehem was  Dioclerus  ;  Abinadab,  who  married  Solomon's  daughter,  had  the  re- 
gion of  Dora,  and  the  sea  coast  under  him  ;  the  great  plain  was  under  Benaiah, 
the  son  of  Achilus,  he  also  governed  all  the  country  as  far  as  Jordan;  Gabarius 
ruled  over  Gilead  and  Gaulanitis,  and  had  under  him  the  sixty  great  and  fenced 
cities  [of  Og  ;]  Achinadab  managed  the  affairs  of  all  Galilee,  as  far  as  Sidon,  and 
had  himself  also  married  a  daughter  of  Solomon's,  whose  name  was  Basivia; 
Banacates  had  the  sea  coast  about  Arce,  as  had  Shaphot  Mount  Tabor  and  Car- 
mel,  and  [the  lower]  Galilee,  as  far  as  the  river  Jordan  ;  one  man  was  appointed 
over  all  this  country ;  Shimei  was  intrusted  with  the  lot  of  Benjamin ;  and  Gabares 
had  the  country  beyond  Jordan,  over  whom  there  was  again  one  governor  ap- 
pointed. Now  the  people  of  the  Hebrews,  and  particularly  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
received  a  wonderful  increase  when  they  betook  themselves  to  husbandry,  and  the 
cultivation  of  their  grounds  ;  for  as  they  enjoyed  peace,  and  were  not  distracted 
with  wars  and  troubles,  and  having  besides  an  unbounded  fruition  of  the  most 
desirable  libertjr,  eveiy  one  was  busy  in  augmenting  the  product  of  their  own 
lands,  and  making  them  worth  more  than  they  had  formerly  been. 

4.  The  king  had  also  other  rulers,  who  were  over  the  land  of  Syria,  and  of  the 
Philistines,  which  reached  from  the  river  Euphrates  to  Egypt,  and  these  collected 
his  tributes  of  the  nations.  Now  these  contributed  to  the  king's  table,  and  to  his 
supper  every  day,*  thirty  cori  of  fine  flour,  and  sixty  of  meal ;    as  also  ten  fat 

*  It  may  not  be  amiss  to  compare  the  daily  fumitiire  of  king  Solomon's  table,  here  set  down,  and  1 
Kings,  iv.  22,  23,  with  the  like  daily  furniture  of  Nehemiah  the  governor's  table,  after  the  Jews  were 
come  back  from  Babylon  ;  and  to  remember  withal,  that  Nehemiah  was  now  building  the  walls  of  Je- 
rusalem, and  maintained  more  than  usual,  above  one  Lundred  and  fifty  considerable  men  every  day, 
and  that  because  the  nation  was  then  very  poor,  at  his  own  charges  also,  without  laying  any  burden  upon 
the  people  at  all.  "  Now  that  which  was  prepared  for  me  daily  was  an  ox  and  six  ciioice  sheep  ;  also 
fowls  were  prepared  for  me;  and  once  in  ten  days  store  of  all  sorts  of  wine;  and  yet  for  all  this,  I  re- 
quired not  the  bread  of  the  governor,  because  the  bondage  was  heavy  upon  this  people,"  Neh.  v.  18. 
See  the  whole  context,  ver.  14 — 19.  Nor  did  the  Governor's  usual  allowance  of  forty  shekels  of  silver 
a  day.  ver.  15,  amount  to  5/.  a  day,  nor  to  1800^.  a  year.     Nor  does  it  indeed  appear,  that  tinder  X\vt 


C.  II.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


263 


oxen,  aaid  twenty'oxen  out  of  the  pastures,  and  a  hundred  fat  lambs  ;  all  thcso 
Avere  besides  what  were  taken  by  hunting  harts  and  bufTaloes,  and  birds,  and 
fishes,  which  were  brought  to  the  king  by  foreigners  day  by  day.  Solomon  had 
also  so  great  a  number  of  chariots  that  the  stalls  of  his  horses  for  those  chariots 
were  forty  thousand  ;  and  besides  these,  he  had  twelve  thousand  horsemen,  the 
one  half  of  which  waited  upon  theddng  in  Jerusalem,  and  Ihc  rest  were  dispersed 
abroad,  and  dwelt  in  the  royal  villages ;  but  the  same  officer  who  provided  for 
the  king  his  expenses,  supplied  also  the  fodder  for  the  horses,  and  still  carried  it 
to  the  place  where  the  king  abode  at  that  time. 

5.  Now  the  sagacity  and  wisdom  which  God  had  bestowed  on  Solomon  was  so 
great  that  he  exceeded  the  ancients,  insomuch  that  he  was  no  way  inferior  to  tho 
Egyptians,  who  are  said  to  have  been  beyond  all  men  in  understanding;  nay,  in- 
deed, it  is  evident  that  their  sagacity  was  very  much  inferior  to  that  of  the  king's. 
He  also  excelled  and  distinguished  himself  in  wisdom  above  those  who  were  njost 
eminent  among  the  Hebrews  at  that  time  for  shrewdness ;  those  I  mean  were  Ethan, 
and  Heman,  and  Chalcol,  and  Darda,  the  sons  of  Mahol.  He  also  composed 
books  of  odes,  and  songs,  a  thousand  and  five,  of  parables  and  similitudes,  three 
thousand  ;  for  he  spake  a  parable  upon  every  sort  of  tree,  from  the  hyssop  to  the 
cedar;  and  in  like  manner  also  about  beasts,  about  all  sorts  of  living  creatures, 
whether  upon  the  earth,  or  in  the  seas,  or  in  the  air ;  for  he  was  not  unacquainted 
v/ith  any  of  their  natures,  nor  omitted  inquiries  about  them,  but  described  them 
all  like  a  philosopher,  and  demonstrated  his  exquisite  knowledge  of  their  scvera. 
properties.  God  also  enabled  him  to  learn  that  skill  which  expels  demons,*  which, 
is  a  science  useful  and  sanative  to  him.  He  composed  such  incantations  also  by 
which  distempers  are  alleviated.  And  he  lett  behind  him  the  manner  of  usin^ 
exorcisms,  by  which  they  drive  av/ay  demons,  so  that  they  never  return  ;  and  this 
method  of  cure  is  of  great  force  unto  this  day  :  fori  have  seen  a  certain  man  of  my 
own  country,  whose  name  was  Eleazer,  releasing  people  that  were  demoniacal,  in 
the  presence  of  Vespasian,  and  his  sons,  and  his  captains,  and  the  whole  multi- 
tude  of  his  soldiers.  The  manner  of  the  cure  was  this:  he  put  a  ring  that  had  a 
root  of  one  of  those  sorts  mentioned  by  Solomon,  to  the  nostrils  of  the  demoniac, 
after  which  he  drew  out  the  demon  through  his  nostrils  ;  and  when  the  man  fell 
down  immediately,  he  adjured  him  to  return  into  him  no  more,  making  still  men- 
tion  of  Solomon,  and  reciting  the  incantations  which  he  composed.  And  when 
Eleazer  would  persuade  and  demonstrate  to  the  spectators  that  he  had  such  a  power, 
he  set  a  little  way  off  a  cup  or  basin  full  of  water,  and  commanded  the  demon,  aa 
he  went  out  of  the  man,  to  overturn  it,  and  thereby  to  let  the  spectators  know  that 
ho  had  left  the  man ;  and  when  this  was  done,  the  skill  and  wisdom  of  Solomon 
was  showed  very  manifestly  ;  for  which  reason  it  is  that  all  men  may  know  the 
vastness  of  Solomon's  abilities,  and  how  he  was  beloved  of  God,  and  that  the  ex- 
traordmary  virtues  of  every  kind  with  which  this  king  was  endowed  may  not  be 
unknown  to  any  people  under  the  sun  ;  for  this  reason,  I  say,  it  is  that  mo  have 
proctjeded  to  speak  so  largely  of  these  mattera. 

0.  Moreover,  Hiram  king  of  Tyre,  when  he  had  heard  that  Solomon  succeeded 
(o  his  father's  kingdom,  was  very  glad  of  it,  for  he  was  a  friend  of  David's.  So  ho 
sent  ambassadors  to  him,  and  saluted  him,  and  congratulated  him  on  the  present 

J  ii(l:;es  or  under  Samuel  the  prophst,  there  was  any  such  puljlic  allowance  to  those  governors  at  all.  Those 
Sre;Uc,liaiges  upon  the  public  for  snaintaining  courts  came  in  with  kings,  as  God  foretold  they  would,  1 
'S;im.  viii.  11—18. 

*  Some  pretended  fraG;ments  of  these  books  of  conjuration  of  Solomon  are  still  extant  in  Fabricius' 
Cofl.  Pseudepigr.  Vet.  Test.  p.  1054,  though  I  entirely  differ  from  Joseplms  in  this  his  supfiosal,  that  such 
books  and  arts  nf  Solomon  were  parts  of  that  wisdoili  which  was  imparted  to  him  by  (ioil  in  his  younger 
days  :  they  must  rather  have  belonged  to  such  profane  but  curious  arts  as  we  fmd  moiitioiiod,  Acts,  xi.x. 
13—20,  and  had  been  derived  from'tlie  idolatrj-  and  superstition  of  his  heathen  wives  and  concubines  in 
his  old  age,  when  he  had  forsaken  God,  and  God  had  forsaken  him,  and  given  him  up  to  demoniacal  de- 
lusions. Nor  does  Josephus's  strange  account  for  the  root  Baara.  (Of  the  War,  H.  viii.  ch.  vi.  sect.  3,) 
seem  to  be  other  than  that  of  its  magical  use  in  such  conjurations.  As  for  the  following  history,  it  con- 
firmH  what  Christ  says,  Matt.  xii.  27.  "  V  '  by  Beelzebub  cast  out  devils,  by  whom  do  your  sons  cast 
them  oiit  f" 


264  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VII. 

happy  state  of  his  affah-s.     Upon  which  Solomon  sent  him  an  epistle,  the  contents 
of  which  here  follow : 

Solomon  to  King  Hiram. 

"*  Know  thou  that  my  father  would  have  built  a  temple  to  God,  but  was  hin- 
dered by  wars  and  continual  expeditions,  for  he  did  not  leave  off  to  overthrov,'  his 
enemies  till  he  made  them  all  subject  to  tribute.  But  I  give  thanks  to  God 
for  the  peace  I  at  present  enjoy,  and  on  that  account  I  am  at  leisure,  and  design 
to  build  a  house  to  God,  for  God  foretold  to  my  father  that  such  a  house  should 
be  built  by  me ;  wherefore  I  desire  thee  to  send  some  of  thy  subjects  with  mine 
to  Mount  Lebanon  to  cut  down  timber,  for  the  Sidonians  are  more  skilful  than  our 
people  in  cutting  of  wood.  As  for  wages  to  the  hewers  of  wood,  1  will  pay  what- 
soever price  thou  shalt  determine." 

7.  When  Hiram  had  read  tliis  epistle,  he  was  pleased  with  it;  and  wrote  back 
this  answer  to  Solomon  : 

HiEAM  TO  King  Solomon. 

"  It  is  fit  to  bless  God,  that  he  hath  committed  thy  father's  government  to  thee, 
who  art  a  wise  man,  and  endowed  with  all  virtues.  As  for  myself,  I  rejoice  at  the 
condition  thou  art  in,  and  will  be  subservient  to  thee  in  all  that  thou  sendest  to  me 
about ;  for  when  by  my  subjects  I  have  cut  down  many  and  large  trees  of  cedar, 
and  cypress  wood,  I  will  send  them  to  sea,  and  will  order  my  subjects  to  make 
floats  of  them,  and  to  sail  to  what  places  soever  of  thy  country  thou  shalt  desire, 
and  leave  them  there,  after  which  thy  subjects  may  carry  them  to  Jerusalem.  But 
do  thou  take  care  to  procure  us  corn  for  this  timber,  which  we  stand  in  need  of, 
because  we  inhabit  in  an  island. "f 

8.  The  copies  of  these  epistles  remain  at  this  day,  and  are  preserved  not  only 
in  our  books,  but  among  the  Tyrians  also,  insomuch  that  if  any  one  would  know 
the  certainty  about  them,  he  may  desire  of  the  keepers  of  the  public  records  of 
Tyre  to  show  him  them ;  and  he  will  find  what  is  there  set  down  to  agree  with 
what  we  have  said.  I  have  said  so  much  out  of  a  desire  that  my  readers  may  know 
that  we  speak  nothing  but  the  truth,  and  do  not  compose  a  history  out  of  some 
plausible  relations  which  deceive  men  and  please  them  at  the  same  time,  nor  at- 

*  These  Epistles  of  Solomon  and  Hiram  are  those  in  1  Kings,  v.  3 — 9 ;  and  as  enlarged,  in  2  Chron. 
ji.  3 — 16  ;  but  here  given  us  by  Josephus  in  his  own  words. 

f  What  Josephus  here  puts  into  his  copy  of  Hiram's  epistle  to  Solomon,  and  repeats  afterwards,  chap. 
V,  sect.  3;  that  Tyre  was  now  an  island,  is  not  in  any  of  the  three  other  copies,  viz.  tliat  of  the  Kings, 
Chronicles,  or  Eusebius  ;  nor  is  it  anj'  other,  I  suppose,  than  his  own  conjectural  paraphrase  ;  for  when 
I  many  years  ago  inquired  into  this  matter,  I  found  the  state  of  this  famous  city,  and  of  the  island  where- 
upon it  stood,  to  have  been  very  different  at  different  times.  The  result  of  my  inquiries  in  this  matter, 
with  the  addition  of  some  later  improvements,  stands  thus  :  That  the  best  testimonies  hereto  relating 
im])ly  that  Palaeterus,  or  oldest  Tyre,  was  no  other  than  that  most  ancient  smaller  fort  or  city  Tyre,  situa- 
ted on  the  continent,  and  mentioned  in  Josh.  xix.  29,  out  of  wliich  the  Canaanite  or  Phoenician  inhabi- 
tants vvere  driven  into  a  large  island  that  lay  not  far  off  in  the  sea  by  Joshua;  that  this  island  was  then 
joined  to  the  continent  at  the  present  remains  of  I'akclerus  by  a  neck  of  land  over  against  Solomon's 
cisterns,  still  so  called  ;  and  the  city's  fresh  water  probably  was  carried  along  in  pipes  by  that  neck  of 
land,  and  that  this  island  was  therefore  in  strictness  no  other  than  a  peninsula,  having  villages  in  its 
Jichls,  Ezek.  xxvi.  6,  and  a  u-all  about  it,  Amos,  i.  10  ;  and  the  city  was  not  of  so  great  reputation  as 
Sidon  for  some  ages;  that  it  was  attacked  both  by  sea  and  land  by  Salinanasser,  as  Josephus  informs 
IIS,  Antiq.  B.  ix.  ch.  xiv.  sect.  2;  and  afterwards  came  to  the  metropolis  of  Phoenicia,  and  was  afterwards 
taken  and  destroj'ed  by  Nebucliadnezzar,  according  to  the  numerous  scripture  prophecies  thereto  relating, 
Isa.  xxii  ;  Jer.  xxv.  22 ;  xxvii.  3;  xlvii.  4 ;  Ezek.  xxvi.  xxvii.  xxviii.  That  seventy  years  after  that 
dt'stniction  by  Nebuchadnezzar  this  city  was  in  some  measure  revived  and  rebuilt,  Isaiah,  xxiii.  17, 18  ; 
but  that,  as  tlie  prophet  Ezekiel  had  foretold,  x.xvi.  3,  4,  B,  14 ;  xxvii,  34 ;  the  sea  arose  higher  than  be- 
fore, till  at  last'  it  overflowed  not  only  the  neck  of  land,  but  the  main  island  or  peninsula  itself,  and ' 
destroyed  that  old  and  famous  city  for  ever;'that,  however,  there  still  remained  an  adjoining  smaller 
island,  once  connected  to  old  Tyre  itself  by  Hiram,  which  was  afterward  inhabited;  to  which  Alexander 
the  Great,  with  incredible  pains,  raised  a  new  bank  or  causeway  ;  and  that  it  plainly  appears,  from 
Maundrell,  a  most  authentic  eye-witness,  that  the  old  large  and  famous  city,  on  the  original  large  island, 
is  nc)w  laid  so  generally  under  water,  that  scarce  more  than  forty  acres  of  it,  or  rather  of  that  adjoining 
small  island,  remain  at  this  day;  so  that  perhaps  not  above  a  hundredth  part  of  the  first  island  and  city 
is  now  above  water.  This  was  foretold  in  the  same  prophecies  of  Ezekiel ;  and,  according  to  them, 
as  Mr.  Maundrell  distinctly  observes,  these  poor  remains  of  old  Tyre  are  now  "  become  like  the  top  of  a 
fock  u  place  of  the  spreading  of  nets  in  the  midst  of  the  sea." 


C.  111.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  265 

tempt  to  avoid  examination,  nor  desire  men  to  believe  us  immediately  ;  nor  are 
we  at  liberty  to  depart  from  speaking  trutb,  whicli  is  tlie  proper  commendatiou  of 
an  historian,  and  yet  be  blameless.  But  we  insist  upon  no  admission  of  what  we 
say,  unless  we  be  able  to  manifest  its  truth  by  demonstration  and  the  strongest 
vouchers. 

9.  Now  lung  Solomon,  as  soon  as  this  epistle  of  the  king  of  Tyre  was  brought 
him,  commended  the  readiness  and  good  will  he  declared  therein,  and  repaid  him 
in  what  he  desired,  and  sent  him  yearly  twenty  thousand  cori  of  wheat  and  as  many 
baths  of  oil ;  now  thdHaath  is  able  to  contain  seventy-two  sextaries.  He  also  sent 
him  the  same  measure  of  wine.  So  the  friendship  between  Iliram  and  Solomon 
hereby  increased  more  and  more  ;  and  they  swore  to  continue  it  for  ever.  And 
the  king  appointed  a  tribute  to  be  laid  on  all  the  people,  of  thirty  thousand  labourers, 
whose  work  he  rendered  easy  to  them  by  prudently  dividing  it  among  them  ;  for 
he  made  ten  thousand  cut  timber  in  Mount  Lebanon  for  one  month,  and  tlien  to 
come  home,  and  rest  two  months,  until  the  time  when  the  other  twenty  thousand 
had  finished  their  task  at  the  appointed  time  ;  and  so  afterward  it  came  to  pass, 
that  the  first  ten  thousand  returned  to  their  work  every  fourth  month  ;  and  it  was 
Adoram  who  was  over  this  tribute.  There  were  also  of  the  strangers  who  were 
left  by  David,  who  were  to  carry  the  stones  and  other  materials,  seventy  thousand ; 
and  of  those  that  cut  the  stones  eighty  thousand.  Of  these,  three  thousand  and  three 
hundred  were  rulers  over  the  rest.  He  also  enjoined  them  to  cut  out  large  stones 
for  the  foundations  of  the  temple,  and  that  they  should  fit  them  and  unite  them  to- 
gether in  the  mountain,  and  so  bring  them  to  the  city.  This  was  done  not  only  by 
our  own  country  workmen,  but  by  those  workmen  whom  Hiram  sent  also. 


CHAP.  HI. 

Of  the  Building  of 'ike  Temple. 

§  1.  Solomon  began  to  build  the  temple  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign,  on  the 
second  month,  which  the  Macedonians  call  Artemisius,  and  the  Hebrews  Jur,  five 
hundred  and  ninety-two  years  after  the  Exodus  out  of  Egypt,  but  aftpc  one  thou-, 
sand  and  twenty  years  from  Abraham's  coming  out  of  Mesopotamia  into  Canaan, 
and  after  the  deluge  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty  years  ;  and  from  Adam 
the  first  man  who  was  created,  until  Solomon  built  the  temple,  there  had  passed 
in  all  three  thousand  one  hundred  and  two  years.  Now  that  year  on  which  the 
temple  began  to  be  built  was  already  the  eleventh  year  of  the  reign  of  Hiram  ; 
but  from  the  building  of  Tyre,  to  the  building  of  the  temple,  there  had  passed  two 
hundred  and  forty  years. 

2.  Now  therefore  the  king  laid  the  foundations  of  the  temple*  very  deep  in  the 
ground,  and  the  materials  were  strong  stones,  and  such  as  would  resist  the  force 
of  time  ;  these  were  to  unite  themselves  with  the  earth,  and  become  a  basis  and 
a  sure  foundation  for  that  superstructure  which  was  to  be  erected  over  it ;  they 
were  to  be  so  strong,  in  order  to  sustain  with  ease  those  vast  superstructures  and 
precious  ornaments,  whose  own  weight  was  to  be  not  less  than  the  weight  of 
those  other  high  and  heavy  buildings  which  the  king  designed  to  be  very  orna- 
mental and  magnificent ;  they  erected  its  entire  body,  quite  up  to  the  roof,  of 
white  stone  ;  its  height  was  sixty  cubits,  and  its  length  was  the  same,  and  its 
breadth  twenty.  There  was  another  building  erected  over  it,  equal  to  it  in  its 
measures;  so  that  the  entire  altitude  of  the  temple  was  a  hundred  and  twenty 
cubits.     Its  front  was  to  the  east.     As  to  the  porch,  they  built  it  before  the  tem- 

»  Of  the  temple  of  Solomon,  here  described  by  Joaephus  in  this  and  tlie   following  sections  of  thi« 
chapter,  see  my  Description  of  tlie  Temples  belonging  to  this  work,  chap.  xiii. 
VOL.  I  2L 


2G6  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  nil 

pie  ;  its  length  was  twenty  cubits,  and  it  was  so  ordered  that  it  might  agree  with 
the  breadth  of  the  house  ;  and  it  had  twelve  cubits  in  latitude,  and  its  height  was 
raised  as  high  as  a  hundred  and  twenty  cubits.  He  also  built  round  about  the 
temple  thirty  small  rooms,  which  might  hiclude  the  whole  temple,  by  their 
closeness  one  to  another,  and  by  their  number  and  outward  position  round  it. 
He  also  made  passages  through  them,  that  they  might  come  into  one  through 
another.  Every  one  of  these  rooms*  had  five  cubits  in  breadth,  and  the  same  in 
length  but  in  height  twenty.  Above  these  were  other  rooms,  and  others  above 
them,  equal  both  in  their  measures  and  number  ;  so  that  these  reached  to  a  height 
equal  to  the  lower  part  of  the  house  ;  for  the  upper  part  had  no  buildings  about 
it.  The  roof  that  was  over  the  house  was  of  cedar  ;  and  truly  every  one  of  these 
rooms  had  a  roof  of  their  own,  that  was  not  connected  with  the  other  rooms  ;  but 
for  the  other  parts  there  was  a  covered  roof  common  to  them  all,  and  built  with 
very  long  beams  that  passed  through  the  rest,  and  through  the  whole  building, 
that  so  the  middle  walls,  being  strengthened  by  the  same  beams  of  timber,  might 
be  thereby  made  firmer  ;  but  as  for  that  part  of  the  roof  that  was  under  the 
beams,  it  was  made  of  the  same  materials,  and  was  all  made  smooth,  and  had  or- 
naments proper  for  roofs,  and  plates  of  gold  nailed  upon  them  ;  and  as  he  enclo- 
sed the  walls  with  boards  of  cedar,  so  he  fixed  on  them  plates  of  gold  which  had 
sculptures  upon  them,  so  that  the  whole  temple  shined,  and  dazzled  the  eyes  of 
such  as  entered  by  the  splendour  of  the  gold  that  was  on  every  side  of  them. 
Now  the  whole  structure  of  the  temple  was  made  with  great  skill  of  polished 
stones,  and  those  laid  together  so  very  harmoniously  and  smoothly,  that  there  ap- 
peared to  the  spectators  no  sign  of  any  hammer  or  other  instrument  of  architec 
lure,  but  as  if,  without  any  use  of  them,  the  entire  materials  had  naturally  united 
themselves  together,  that  the  agreement  of  one  part  with  another  seemed  rather 
to  have  been  natural  than  to  have  arisen  from  the  force  of  tools  upon  them.  The 
king  also  had  a  fine  contrivance  for  an  ascent  to  the  upper  room  over  the  temple, 
and  that  was  by  steps  in  the  thickness  of  its  wall ;  for  it  had  no  large  door  on  the 
east  end,  as  the  lower  house  had,  but  the  entrances  were  by  the  sides,  through 
very  small  doors.  He  also  overlaid  the  temple,  both  within  and  without,  with 
boards  of  cedar,  that  were  kept  close  together  by  thick  chains,  so  that  this  con- 
trivance was  in  the  nature  of  a  support  and  a  strength  to  the  building. 

3.  Now  when  the  king  had  divided  the  temple  into  two  parts,  he  made  the  in- 
ner house  of  twenty  cubits  [every  way]  to  be  the  most  secret  chamber,  but  he  ap- 
pointed that  of  forty  cubits  to  be  the  sanctuary ;  and  when  he  had  cut  a  door- 
place  out  of  the  wall,  he  put  therein  doors  of  cedar,  and  overlaid  them  with  a 
great  deal  of  gold  that  had  sculptures  upon  it.  He  also  had  veils  of  blue,  and 
purple,  and  scarlet,  and  the  brightest  and  softest  linen,  with  the  most  curious  flow- 
ers  wrought  upon  them,  which  were  to  be  drawn  before  those  doors.  He  also 
dedicated  for  the  most  secret  place,  whose  breadth  was  twenty  cubits,  and  length 
the  same,  two  cherubims  of  solid  gold  ;f  the  height  of  each  of  them  -was  five  cu- 
bits ;  they  had  eacji  of  them  two  wings  stretched  out  as  far  as  five  cubits  ;  M'here- 
fore  Solomon  set  them  up  not  far  from  each  other,  that  with  one  A\ing  they  m.ight 
touch  the  southern  wall  of  the  secret  place,  and  with  another  the  northern  ;  their 
other  wings,  which  joined  to  each  other,  were  a  covering  to  the  ark,  which  was 
set  between  them.  But  nobody  can  tell,  or  even  conjecture,  what  was  the  shape 
of  these  cherubims.  He  also  laid  the  floor  of  the  temple  with  plates  of  gold; 
and  he  added  doors  to  the  gate  of  the  temple,  agreeable  to  the  measure  of  the 

*  These  small  rooms  or  side  chambers,  seem  to  have  been  by  Joscphiis's  description,  no  less  than 
twenty  cubits  high  apiece,  otherwise  there  must  have  been  a  large  interval  between  one  and  the  other 
that  was  over  it,  and  this  with  double  floors,  the  one  ol  six  cubits  distance  from  the  floor  beneath  it,  as  1 
Kings,  vi.  5. 

f  Josephus  says  here,  that  the  cherubims  were  of  solid  gold,  and  only  five  cubits  high,  while  our  He- 
"brew  copies,  1  Kings,  vi.  23.  28,  say  they  were  of  the  olive  tree,  and  the  LXXII  of  the  cypress  tree,  and 
only  o\erlaid  with  gold  ;  and  both  agree  they  were  ten  cubits  high.  I  suppose  the  numher  is  here  falsely 
transcribed,  and  that  Joscohus  wrote  ten  cubits  alsa 


C,  III.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  0(37 

..eight  of  the  wall,  but  in  breadth  twenty  cubits,  and  on  them  he  glued  gold  plates. 
4nd,  to  say  all  in  one  word,  he  left  no  partoftlie  temple,  neither  internal  nor  ex- 
ternal, but  what  was  covered  with  gold.  He  also  had  curtains  drawn  over  these 
doors,  in  like  manner  as  they  are  drawn  over  the  inner  doors  of  the  most  holy 
place;  but  the  porch  of  the  temple  had  nothing  of  that  sort. 

4.  Now  Solomon  sent  tor  an  artificer  out  of  Tyre,  whose  name  was  Hiram. 
He  was  by  birth  of  the  tribe  of  Naplitah,  on  the  mother's  side  (for  .she  was  of 
that  tribe,)  but  his  father  was  Ur,  of  tlie  stock  of  the  Israelites.  This  man  was 
skilful  in  all  sorts  of  work  ;  but  his  chief  skill  lay  in  working  in  gold,  and  silver, 
and  brass,  by  whom  were  made  all  the  mechanical  works  about  tlie  temple,  ac- 
cording to  the  will  of  Solomon.  Moreover  tliis  Hiram  made  two  [hollow]  pil- 
lars,* whose  outsides  were  of  brass,  and  the  thickness  of  the  brass  was  four 
fingers  breadth,  and  the  height  of  the  pillars  was  eighteen  cubits,  and  their  cir- 
cumference  twelve  cubits;  but  there  was  cast,  with  each  of  their  chapiters,  lily- 
work  that  stood  upon  the  pillar,  and  it  was  elevated  five  cubits,  round  about  which 
there  was  net-work  interwoven  witli  small  pahns  made  of  brass,  and  covered  the 
lily-work.  To  this  also  were  hung  two  hundred  pomegranates  in  two  rows. 
The  one  of  these  pillars  he  set  at  the  entrance  of  the  porch  on  the  right  hand, 
and  called  it  Jachin,  and  the  other  at  the  left  hand,  and  called  it  Boaz. 

5.  Solomon  also  cast  a  brazen  sea,  whose  "figure  was  that  of  a  hemisphere  ; 
this  brazen  vessel  was  called  a  sea  for  its  largeness,  for  the  laver  was  ten  feet  in 
diameter,  and  cast  of  the  thickness  of  a  palm.  Its  middle  pai't  rested  on  a  short 
pillar  that  had  ten  spirals  round  it ;  and  that  pillar  was  ten  cubits  in  diameter. 
Tnere  stood  round  about  it  twelve  oxen,  that  looked  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven, 
three  to  each  wind,  having  their  hinder  parts  depressed,  that  so  the  hemispherical 
vessel  might  rest  upon  them,  which  itself  was  also  depressed  round  about  in. 
wardly.     Now  this  sea  contained  three  thousand  baths. 

G  He  also  made  ten  brazen  bases  for  so  many  quadrangular  lavers  ;  the  length 
of  every  one  of  these  bases  was  five  cubits,  and  the  breadth  four  cubits,  and  the 
height  six  cubits.  This  vessel  was  partly  turned,  and  Avas  thus  contrived  :  there 
were  four  small  quadrangular  pillarij  that  stood  one  at  each  corner  ;  these  had 
the  sides  of  the  base  fitted  to  them  on  each  quarter;  they  were  parted  into  three 
parts  ;  every  interval  had  a  border  fitted  to  support  [the  laver]  ;  upon  which  was 
engraven,  in  one  place  a  lion  r\nd  in  another  phice  a  bull  and  an  eagle.  The 
small  pillars  had  the  same  animals  engraven  that  were  engraven  on  the  sides, 
The  whole  work  was  elevated,  and  stood  upon  four  wheels,  which  were  also  cast, 
which  had  also  naves  and  felloes,  and  were  a  foot  and  a  half  in  diameter.  Any 
one  who  saw  the  spokes  of  the  wheels,  how  exactly  they  were  turned,  and  united 
to  the  sides  of  the  bases,  and  with  what  harmony  they  agreed  to  the  felloes,  would 
wonder  at  them.  However,  their  structure  was  this:  certain  shoulders  of  hands, 
stretched  out,  held  the  corners  above,  upon  which  rested  a  short  spiral  i)illar,  that 
lay  under  the  hollow  part  of  the  laver,  resting  upon  the  fore-feet  of  the  eagle  and 
the  lion,  which  we^e  adapted  to  them,  insomuch  that  those  who  viewed  them  would 
think  they  were  of  one  piece  ;  between  these  were  engravings  of  palm-trees, 
This  was  the  rorstruction  of  the  ten  bases.  He  also  made  ten  large  round  brass 
vessels,  which  were  the  lavers  themselves,  each  of  which  contained  Ibrty  baths  ;f 
fur  it  had  its  height  four  cubits,  and  its  edges  were  as  much  distant  from  each 

*  As  for  these  two  famous  pillars  Jachin  and  Boaz,  their  height  could  be  no  more  than  eighteen  cubits, 
as  here,  and  1  Kings,  vii.  1") ;  2  Kin^js  xxv.  17  ;  Jer.  lii.  21  ;  tliose  thirty-five  cubits  ni  2Chron.  iii.  15, 
being  contrary  to  all  tiie  rules  of  architecture  in  tiie  world. 

\  The  round  or  cylindrical  lavers  of  four  cubits  in  diameter,  and  four  in  height,  both  in  our  copies,  1 
Kings,  vii.  38,39,  and  here  in  Joseplius,  must  liave  contained  a  great  deal  more  than  the  forty  baths, 
which  are  always  assigned  them.  Where  the  error  lies  is  hard  to  say.  I'erhaps  Josephus  honestly  fol- 
lowed his  copies  here,  though  they  had  been  corrupted,  and  lie  was  not  able  to  restore  the  true  read- 
ing. In  the  mean  lime,  these  forty  baths  are  probably  the  true  quantity  contained  in  each  laver,  since 
they  went  upon  wheels,  and  were  to  be  drawn  by  the  Levitts  about  the  courts  of  the  priests,  for  the  wash- 
iags  they  wert  designed  for  ;  and  had  they  held  much  more,  they  would  have  been  too  heavy  to  have 
Jaeen  so  drawn. 


2(58  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEV>^S.  B,  VIII. 

Other.  He  also  placed  these  lavers  upon  the  ten  bases  that  were  caxled  Meclvo- 
noth;  and  he  set  five  of  the  lavers  on  the  left*  side  of  the  temple,  which  was  that 
side  towards  the  north  wind,  and  as  many  on  the  right  side  towards  the  south,  but 
lookinj^  towards  the  east.  The  same  [eastern]  way  he  also  set  the  sea.  Now 
he  appointed  the  sea  to  be  for  washing  the  hands  and  the  feet  of  the  priests,  when 
they  entered  into  the  temple,  and  were  to  ascend  the  altar,  but  the  lavers  to 
cleanse  the  entrails  of  the  beasts  that  were  to  be  burnt-offerings,  with  their  feet 
also. 

7.  He  also  made  a  brazen  altar,  whose  length  was  twenty  cubits,  and  its  breadth 
the  same,  and  its  height  ten,  for  the  burnt-offerings.  He  also  made  all  its  vessels 
of  brass,  the  pots,  and  the  shovels,  and  the  basins,  and  besides  these,  the  snuf- 
fers and  the  tongs,  and  all  its  other  vessels  he  made  of  brass,  and  such  brass  as 
was  in  splendour  and  beauty  like  gold.  The  king  also  dedicated  a  great  num- 
ber of  tables,  but  one  that  was  large,  and  made  of  gold,  upon  which  they  set  the 
loaves  of  God ;  and  he  made  ten  thousand  more  that  resembled  them,  but  were 
done  after  another  manner,  upon  which  lay  the  vials  and  the  cups  ;  those  of  gold 
were  twenty  thousand,  those  of  silver  were  forty  thousand.  He  also  made  ten 
thousand  candlesticks,  according  to  the  command  of  Moses,  one  of  which  he  de- 
dicated for  the  temple,  that  it  might  burn  in  the  daytime,  according  to  the  law  ; 
and  one  table  with  loaves  upon  it,  on  the  north  side  of  the  temple,  over  against 
the  candlestick  ;  for  this  he  set  on  the  south  side,  but  the  golden  altar  stood  be- 
tween them.  All  these  vessels  were  contained  in  that  part  of  the  holy  house 
which  was  forty  cubits  long,  and  were  before  the  vail  of  that  most  secret  place 
wherein  the  ark  was  to  be  set. 

8.  The  king  also  made  pouring  vessels,  in  number  eighty  thousand,  and  a  hun- 
dred thousand  golden  vials,  and  twice  as  many  silver  vials.  Of  golden  dishes,  in 
order  therein  to  offer  kneaded  fine  flour  at  the  altar,  there  were  eighty  thousand, 
and  twice  as  many  of  silver.  Of  large  basins  also,  wherein  they  mixed  fine  flour 
with  oil,  sixty  thousand  of  gold,  and  twice  as  many  of  silver.  Of  the  measures 
like  those  which  Moses  called  the  Hin,  and  the  Assaron  [a  tenth  deal,]  there  were 
twenty  thousand  of  gold,  and  twice  as  many  of  silver.  The  golden  censers,  in 
which  they  carried  the  incense  to  the  altar,  were  twenty  thousand.  The  other 
censers,  in  which  they  carried  fire  from  the  great  altar  to  the  little  altar,  within 
the  temple,  were  fifty  thousand.  The  sacerdotal  garments,  which  belonged  to 
the  high-priest,  with  the  long  robes,  and  the  oracle,  and  the  precious  stones,  were 
a  thousand.  But  the  crown,f  upon  which  Moses  wrote  [the  name  of]  God,  was 
only  one,  and  hath  remained  to  this  very  day.  He  also  made  ten  thousand  sacer- 
dotal garments  of  fine  linen,  with  purple  girdles,  for  every  priest ;  and  two  hun- 
dred  thousand  trumpets,  according  to  the  command  of  Moses.  Also  two  hundred 
thousand  garments  of  fine  linen  for  the  singers,  that  were  Levites.  And  he  made 
musical  instruments,  and  such  as  were  invented  for  singing  of  hymns,  called  Na. 
hloi  and  Cinyvcs  [psalteries  and  harps,]  which  were  made  of  electrum  [the  finest 
brass,]  forty  thousand. 

9.  Solomon  made  all  these  things  for  the  honour  of  God,  with  great  variety  and 
magnificence,  sparing  no  cost,  but  using  all  possible  liberality  in  adorning  the 
temple  :  and  these  things  he  dedicated  to  the  treasures  of  God.  He  also  placed 
a  partition  round  about  the  temple,  which  in  our  tongue  we  called  Gison,  but  it  is 
called  Thrigeos  by  the  Greeks,  and  he  raised  it  up  to  the  height  of  three  cubits; 
and  it  was  for  the  exclusion  of  the  multitude  from  coming  into  the  temple,  and 
showing  that  it  was  a  place  that  was  free  and  open  only  for  the  priests.     He  also 

*  Here  Josephus  gives  us  a  key  to  his  own  language,  of  right  and  left  hand,  in  the  tabernacle  and  tem- 
ple, that  by  the  riglit  hand  he  means  what  is  against  our  left,  when  we  suppose  ourselves  going  up  from 
the  east  gates  of  the  courts  towards  the  tabernacle  or  temple  themselves,  and  so  wee  versa;  whence  it 
follows,  that  the  pillar  Jachin,  on  the  right  hand  of  the  twnple,  was  on  the  south,  against  our  left  hand, 
and  Boaz  on  the  north,  against  our  right  hand. 

t  Of  the  golden  plate  on  the  high-priest's  forehead,  that  was  in  being  in  the  days  of  Josephus,  and  a 
century  or  two  at  least  later,  see  the  note  on  Antiq.  b.  iii.  chap.  vii.  sect.  6. 


C-  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  269 

built  beyond  this  court  a  temple,  whose  figure  was  that  of  a  quadrangle,  and  erec. 
ted  for  it  great  and  broad  cloisters;  this  was  entered  into  by  very  lii.rij  .rates, 
each  of  which  had  its  front  exposed  to  one  of  the  [four]  winds,  and  were  shut  bv 
golden  doors.  Into  this  temple  all  the  pcojile  entered  tiiat  were  distinguished 
from  the  rest  by  being  pure,  and  observant  of  tlie  laws.  But  lie  made  tluit  tem- 
ple, which  was  beyond  this,  a  wonderful  one  indeed,  and  such  as  exceeds  all  de. 
scriptionin  words  ;  nay,  if  I  may  so  say,  is  hardly  believed  upon  siglit;  for  when 
he  had  filled  up  great  valleys  with  earth,  which  on  account  of  their  inunense 
depth,  could  not  be  looked  on,  when  you  bended  down  to  see  them,  without  pain, 
and  had  elevated  the  ground  four  hundred  cubits,  he  made  it  to  be  on  a  level  with 
the  top  of  the  mountain  on  which  the  temple  was  built,  and  by  this  means  the 
outmost  temple,  Avhich  was  exposed  to  the  air,  was  even  with  the  temple  itself.* 
He  encompassed  this  also  with  a  building  of  a  double  row  of  cloisters,  which  stood 
on  high  upon  pillars  of  native  stone,  while  the  roofs  were  of  cedar,  and  were  po- 
lished  in  a  manner  proper  for  such  high  roofs,  but  he  made  all  the  doors  of  this 
temple  of  silver. 


CHAP.  IV. 

How  Solomon  removed  the  ArTc  into  the  Temple  ;  Jmv  he  made  Supplication  to  Gody 
and  offered  public  Sacrijices  to  him, 

§  1.  WiiE?^  king  Solomon  had  finished  these  works,  these  large  and  beautiful 
buildings,  and  had  laid  up  his  donations  in  the  temple,  and  all  this  in  the  in- 
terval  of  seven  years,f  and  had  given  a  demonstration  of  his  riches  and  alacrity 
therein,  insomuch  that  any  one  who  saw  it  would  have  thought  it  must  have  been 
an  immense  time  ere  it  could  have  been  finished  ;  and  [would  be  surprised]  that 
so  much  should  be  finished  in  so  short  a  time  ;  short,  I  mean,  if  compared  w  ith  the 
greatness  of  the  work:  he  also  wrote  to  the  rulers  and  elders  of  tlie  Hebrews, 
and  ordered  all  the  people  to  gather  themselves  together  to  Jerusalem,  both  to  see 
the  temple  which  he  had  built,  and  to  remove  the  ark  of  God  into  it;  and  when 
this  invitation  of  the  whole  body  of  the  people  to  come  to  Jerusalem  was  every 
where  carried  abroad,  it  was  the  seventh  month  before  they  came  togetlicr,  which 
month  is  by  our  countrym.en  called  Thisri,  but  by  the  Macedonians  Hi/pcrherC' 
taus.  The  feast  of  tabernacles  happened  to  fall  at  the  same  time,  w  hich  w  as  cc- 
lebrated  by  the  Hebrews  as  a  most  holy  and  most  eminent  feast.  So  thev  car. 
ried  the  ark  and  the  tabernacle  which  Moses  had  pitched,  and  all  the  vessels  that 
were  for  ministration  to  the  sacrifices  of  God,  and  removed  them  to  the  temple.:}: 
The  king  himself,  and  all  the  people  and  the  Levitcs  went  before,  rendering  the 
ground  moist  with  sacrifices  and  drink-oOerings,  and  the  blood  of  a  great 
number  of  oblations,  and  burning  an  immense  quantity  of  incense,  and  (his  till 
the  very  air  itself  every  where  round  about  was  so  full  of  these  odours,  that  it  met, 
in  a  most  agreeable  manner,  persons  at  a  great  distance,  and  was  an  indication  of 
God's  presence,  and  as  men's  opinions  were,  of  his  habitation  with  them  in  this 

*  When  Josepliiis  liere  says,  that  tho  floor  of  the  outmost  temple,  or  court  of  the  Gentiles,  was  with 
vast  labour  raised  to  be  even,  ox  oi  equal  heiq;lii,-w\ih  the  floor  of  the  inner,  or  court  of  the  priests,  he  must 
mean  this  in  a  gross  estimation  only,  for  lie  and  all  others  agree,  that  tiie  inner  temple,  or  court  of  ilio 
priests,  was  a  few  cubits  more  ellivated  than  the  middle  court,  tlie  court  of  Israel,  and  tliat  much  more 
was  the  court  of  the  priests  elevated  several  cubits  above  that  outmost  court,  since  the  court  of  Israel  was 
lower  than  the  one,  and  higlier  than  the  other. 

t  The  Septuagint  say,  "  tliat  they  prepared  timber  and  stones  to  build  the  temple  for  three  ycirs,"  1 
Kings,  V.  18  ;  and  although  neither  our  present  Hebrew  copy  nor  Josephus  directly  name  tiiat  number  of 
years,  yet  do  they  botli  say  the  building  itself  did  not  begin  till  Soloinon's/oj/r^/j  year ;  and  both  speak  of 
the  preparation  of  materials  beforehand,  1  Kings,  v.  18  ;  Antiq.  H.  viii.  ch.  v.  sect.  1.  There  is  no  reason 
therefore  to  alter  the  Septuagint's  number,  but  we  are  to  suppose  three  years  to  have  been  tho  just  time  of 
the  preparation,  as  I  have  done  in  my  computation  of  the  expense  in  building  that  temple. 

I  This  solemn  removal  of  the  ark  from  Mount  Sion  to  Mount  Moriah,  at  the  distance  of  almost  three 
quarters  of  a  mile,  confutes  that  notion,  of  the  modern  Jews.and  followed  by  many  Christians  also,  as  if 
those  two  were  after  a  sort  one  and  the  same  mountain ;  for  which  there  is,  I  think,  very  little  foundation. 


270  AKfTIQUITIES  Of  THE  JEWS.  B.  Till. 

newly  built  and  consecrated  place,  for  they  did  not  grow  weary,  either  of  sing 
ing  hymns  or  of  dancing,  until  they  came  to  the  temple ;  and  in  this  manner,  did 
they  carry  the  ark.  But  when  they  should  transfer  it  into  the  most  secret  place, 
the  rest  of  the  multitude  went  away,  and  only  those  priests  that  carried  it  set  it 
between  the  two  cherubims,  which  embracing  it  with  their  wings  (for  so  were 
thev  framed  by  the  artificer,)  they  covered  it  as  under  a  tent  or  a  cupola.  Now 
the  ark  contained  nothing  else  but  those  two  tables  of  stone  that  preserved  the 
ten  commandments,  which  God  spalve  to  Moses  in  Mount  Sinai,  and  which  were 
engraved  upon  them  ;  but  they  set  the  candlestick,  and  the  table,  and  the  golden 
altar,  in  the  temple,  before  the  most  sacred  place,  in  the  very  same  places  where- 
in they  stood  till  that  time  in  the  tabernacle.  So  they  offered  up  the  daily  sacri- 
fices ;  but  for  the  brazen  altar,  Solomon  set  it  before  the  temple^  over  against  the 
door,  that  when  the  door  was  opened,  it  might  be  exposed  to  sight,  and  the  sacred 
solemnities,  and  the  richness  of  the  sacrifices,  might  be  thence  seen  ;  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  vessels  they  gathered  together,  and  put  them  within  the  temple. 

2.  Now  as  soon  as  the  priests  had  put  all  things  in  order  about  the  ark,  and 
were  gone  out,  there  came  down  a  thick  cloud  and  stood  there,  and  spread  itself 
after  a  gentle  manner  into  the  temple,  such  a  cloud  it  was  as  was  diflused  and 
temperate,  not  such  a  rough  one  as  we  see  full  of  rain  in  the  winter  season.  This 
cloud  so  darkened  the  place,  that  one  priest  could  not  discern  another,  but  it  af- 
forded to  the  minds  of  all  a  visible  image,  and  glorious  appearance  of  God's  having 
descended  into  this  temple,  and  of  his  having  gladly  pitched  his  tabernacle  therein. 
So  these  men  were  intent  upon  this  thought.  But  Solomon  rose  up  (for  he  was 
sitting  before,)  and  used  such  words  to  God  as  he  thought  agreeable  to  the  divine 
nature  to  receive,  and  fit  for  him  to  give;  for  he  said,  "Thou  hast  an  eternal 
house,  O  Lord,  and  such  a  one  as  thou  hast  created  for  thyself  out  of  thine  own 
Avorks;  we  know  it  to  be  the  heaven,  and  the  air,  and  the  earth,  and  the  sea, 
which  thou  pervadest,  nor  art  thou  contained  within  their  limits.  I  have,  indeed, 
built  this  temple  to  thee,  and  thy  name,  that  from  thence  when  we  sacrifice,  and 
perform  sacred  operations,  w^e  may  send  our  prayers  up  into  the  air,  and  may 
constantly  believe  that  thou  art  present,  and  art  not  remote  from  what  is  thine 
own ;  for  neither  when  tliou  seest  all  things,  and  hearest  all  things,  nor  now,  when 
it  pleases  thee  to  dwell  here,  dost  thou  leave  off"  the  care  of  all  men,  but  rather 
Ihou  art  very  near  to  theui  ail,  but  especially  thou  art  present  to  those  that  address 
themselves  to  thee,  whether  by  night  or  by  day."  ^Vhen  he  had  thus  solemnly 
addressed  himself  to  God,  he  converted  his  discourse  to  the  multitude,  and  strongly 
represented  the  power  and  providence  of  God  to  them;  how  he  had  showed  ail 
things  that  were  to  come  to  pass  to  David  his  father,  as  many  of  those  things 
had  already  come  to  pass,  and  the  rest  would  certainly  come  to  pass  hereafter; 
and  how  he  had  given  him  his  name,  and  told  to  David  what  he  should  be  called 
before  he  was  born ;  and  foretold,  that  when  he  should  be  king,  after  his  father's 
death,  he  should  build  him  a  temple,  which  since  they  saw  accomplished  ac- 
€ordmg  to  his  prediction,  he  required  them  to  bless  God,  and  by  believing  him, 
from  the  sight  of  v.hat  they  had  seen  accomplished,  never  to  despair  of  any  thing 
idiat  he  had  promised  for  the  future,  in  order  to  their  hapoiness,  or  suspect  that  it 
would  not  come  to  pass. 

3.  When  the  king  had  thus  discoursed  to  the  multitude,  he  looked  again  to- 
wards the  temple,  and  lifting  up  his  right  hand  to  the  multitude,  he  said,  "It  is 
not  possible,  by  what  men  can  do,  to  return  sufficient  thanks  to  God  for  his  be- 
nefits bestowed  upon  them ;  for  the  Deity  stands  in  need  of  nothing,  and  is  above 
any  such  requital ;  but  so  far  as  we  have  been  made  superior,  O  Lord,  to  other 
animals  by  thee,  it  becomes  us  to  bless  thy  majesty,  and  it  is  necessary  for  us  to 
return  thee  thanks  for  what  thou  hast  bestowed  upon  our  house,  and  on  the  He- 
brew people:  for  with  what  other  instrument  can  we  better  appease  thee,  when 
ihou  art  angry  at  us,  or  more  properly  preserve  thy  favour,  than  with  our  voice? 
which,  as  we  have  it  from  the  air,  so  do  we  know  that  by  that  air  it  eiscends  up- 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  271 

wards  [towards  thee.]  I  therefore  ought  myself  to  return  thee  thanks  thereby 
in  the  first  place,  concerning  my  father,  whom  thou  hast  raised  fiom  obscurity 
unto  so  great  joy;  and  in  the  next  place,  concerning  myself,  since  thou  hast  per- 
formed  all  that  thou  hast  promised  unto  this  very  day.  And  I  beseech  thee  for 
the  time  to  come  to  afford  us  whatsoever  thou,  O  God,  hast  porter  to  bestow  on 
such  as  thou  dost  esteem:  and  to  augment  our  house  for  all  ages,  as  thou  hast 
promised  to  David  my  father  to  do,  both  in  his  lifetime  and  at  his  death,  that  our 
kingdom  shall  continue,  and  that  his  posterity  should  successively  receive  it  to 
ten  thousand  generations.  Do  not  thou,  therefore,  fail  to  give  us  these  blessings, 
and  to  bestow  on  my  children  that  virtue  in  which  thoudclightest.  And  besides 
all  this,  I  humbly  beseech  thee,  that  thou  wilt  let  some  portion  of  thy  spirit  come 
down  and  inhabit  in  this  temple,  that  (hou  mayest  appear  to  be  with  us  upon  earth. 
As  to  thyself,  the  entire  heavens,  and  tlie  immensity  of  the  things  that  are  therein 
are  but  a  small  habitation  for  thee,  much  more  is  this  poor  temple  so ;  but  I  en- 
treat thee  to  keep  it  as  thine  own  house,  from  being  destroyed  by  our  enemies 
for  ever,  and  to  take  care  of  it  as  thine  own  possession ;  but  if  this  people  be 
found  to  have  sinned,  and  be  thereupon  afflicted  by  thee  with  any  plague,  be- 
cause of  their  sin — as  with  dearth,  or  pestilence,  or  any  other  afiliction  which 
thou  usest  to  inflict  on  those  that  transgress  any  of  thy  holy  laws,  and  if  they 
fly  all  of  them  to  this  temple,  beseeching  thee,  and  begging  of  thee  to  deliver 
them,  then  do  thou  hear  their  prayers,  as  being  within  thine  house,  and  have 
mercy  upon  them,  and  deliver  them  from  their  afflictions ;  nay,  moreover,  this 
help  is  what  I  implore  of  thee,  not  for  the  Hebrews  only,  when  they  are  in  dis- 
tress, but  when  any  shall  come  hither  from  any  ends  of  the  world  whatsoever,  and 
shall  return  from  their  sins  and  implore  thy  pardon,  do  thou  tlien  pardon  them,  and 
hear  their  prayer.  For  hereby  all  shall  learn  that  thou  thyself  was  pleased  with 
the  building  of  this  house  for  thee :  and  that  we  are  not  ourselves  of  an  unsociable 
nature,  nor  behave  ourselves  like  enemies  to  such  as  are  not  of  our  own  people; 
but  are  willing  that  thy  assistance  should  be  communicated  by  thee  to  all  men  in 
common,  and  that  they  may  have  the  enjoyment  of  thy  benefits  bestowed  upon 
them." 

4.  When  Solomon  had  said  this,  and  had  cast  himself  upon  the  groimd,  and 
worshiped  a  long  time,  he  rose  up,  and  brought  sacriiices  to  the  altar  ;  and  when 
he  had  filled  it  with  unblemished  victims,  he  most  evidently  discovered  that  God 
had  with  pleasure  accepted  of  all  that  he  had  sacrificed  to  him,  for  tliere  came  a 
fire  running  out  of  the  air,  and  rushed  with  violence  upon  the  altar,  in  the  sight  ot 
all,  and  caught  hold  of  and  consumed  the  sacrifices.  Now,  when  this  divine 
appearance  was  seen,  the  people  supposed  it  to  be  a  demonstration  of  God's 
abode  in  the  temple,  and  were  pleased  with  it,  and  fell  down  upon  the  ground,  and 
worshiped.  Upon  which  the  king  began  to  bless  God,  and  exhorted  the  multitude 
to  do  the  same,  as  now  having  sufficient  indications  of  God's  tavourable  disposition 
to  them;  and  to  pray  that  they  might  always  have  the  like  indications  from  him, 
and  that  he  would  preserve  in  them  a  mind  pure  from  all  wickedness,  in  righteous- 
ness and  religious  worship,  and  that  they  might  continue  in  the  observation  of 
those  precepts  which  God  had  given  them  by  Moses,  because  by  that  means  the 
Hebrew  nation  would  be  happy,  and  indeed  the  most  blessed  of  all  nations  among 
all  mankind.  He  exhorted  them  also  to  be  mindful,  that  by  what  methods  they 
had  attained  their  present  good  things,  by  the  same  they  must  preserve  them  sure 
to  themselves,  and  make  them  greater,  and  more  than  they  were  at  present;  for 
that  it  was  not  sufficient  for  them  to  suppose  they  had  received  them  on  account 
of  their  piety  and  righteousness,  but  that  they  had  no  other  way  of  preserving 
them  for  the  time  to  come  ;  for  that  it  is  not  so  great  a  thing  for  men  to  acquire 
somewhat  which  they  want,  as  to  preserve  what  they  have  acquired,  and  to  bo 
guilty  of  no  sin,  whereby  it  may  be  hurt. 

.5.  So  when  the  king  had  spoken  thus  to  the  multitude,  he  di.^solved  the  congre- 
gation, but  not  till  he  had  completed  his  oblations,  both  for  himself  and  for  the 


27*2  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIII. 

Hebrews,  insomuch  that  he  sacrificed  twenty  and  two  thousand  oxen,  and  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  thousand  sheep  :  for  then  it  was  that  the  temple  did  first  of  all 
taste  of  the  victims,  and  all  the  Hebrews,  with  their  wives  and  children,  feasted 
therein.  Nay,  besides  this,  the  king  then  observed  splendidly  and  magnificently 
the  feast  which  is  called  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  before  the  temple,  for  twice 
seven  days ;  and  he  then  feasted,  together  with  ail  the  people. 

6.  When  all  these  solemnities  were  abundantly  satisfied,  and  nothing  was 
omitted  that  concerned  the  divine  worship,  the  king  dismissed  them  ;  and  thev 
every  one  went  to  their  own  homes,  giving  thanks  to  the  king  for  the  care  he  had 
taken  of  them,  and  the  works  he  had  done  for  them  ;  and  praying  to  God  to 
preserve  Solomon  to  be  their  king  for  a  long  time.  They  also  took  their  journey 
home  with  rejoicing,  and  making  merry,  and  singing  hymns  to  God  :  and,  in- 
deed, the  pleasure  they  enjoyed  took  away  the  sense  of  the  pains  they  all  under- 
went in  their  journey  home.  So  when  they  had  brought  the  ark  into  the  tem- 
ple, and  had  seen  its  greatness,  and  how  fine  it  was,  and  had  been  partakers  Oi 
tlie  many  sacrifices  that  had  been  offered,  and  of  the  festivals  that  had  been 
solemnized,  they  every  one  returned  to  their  own  cities.  But  a  dream  that  ap- 
peared  to  the  king  in  his  sleep  informed  him,  That  God  bad  heard  his  prayers: 
and  that  he  would  not  only  preserve  the  temple,  but  would  always  abide  in  it, 
in  case  his  posterity  and  the  whole  multitude  would  be  righteous.  And  for  him- 
self,  it  said,  that  if  he  continued  according  to  the  admonitions  of  his  father, 
he  would  advance  him  to  immense  degrees  of  dignity  and  happiness,  and  that 
then  his  posterity  should  be  kings  of  that  country  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  for 
ever ;  but  that  still,  if  he  should  be  found  a  betra5-er  of  the  ordinances  of  the 
law,  and  forget  them,  and  turn  away  to  the  worship  of  strange  gods,  he  would 
cut  him  off"  by  the  roots,  and  would  neither  suffer  any  remainder  of  his  family 
to  continue,  nor  would  overlook  the  people  of  Israel,  or  preserve  them  any 
longer  from  afflictions,  but  would  utterly  destroy  them  with  ten  thousand 
Avars  and  misfortunes  ;  would  cast  them  out  of  the  land  which  he  had  given  their 
fathers,  and  make  them  sojourners  in  strange  lands ;  and  deliver  that  temple 
which  was  now  built  to  be  burnt  and  spoiled  by  their  enemies ;  and  that  city  to 
be  utterly  overthrown  by  the  hands  of  their  enemies  ;  and  make  their  miseries 
deserve  to  be  a  proverb,  and  such  as  should  very  hardly  be  credited  for  their 
stupendous  magnitude,  till  their  neighbours,  when  they  should  hear  of  them, 
should  wonder  at  their  calamities,  and  very  earnestly  inquire  for  the  occasion, 
why  the  Hebrews,  who  had  been  so  far  advanced  by  God  to  such  glory  and 
wealth,  should  be  then  so  hated  by  him  ?  And  that  the  answer  that  should  be 
made  by  the  remainder  of  the  people  should  be,  by  confessing  their  sins,  and 
their  transgression  of  the  laws  of  their  countr)^"  Accordingly  we  have  it  trans- 
mitted to  us  in  writing,  that  thus  did  God  speak  to  Solomon  inliis  sleep. 


CHAP.  V. 

How  Solomon  huilt  himself  a  royal  Palace,  very  costly  and  splendid  :  and  how  he 
solved  the  Riddles  which  were  sent  him  by  Hiram. 

§  1.  After  the  building  of  the  temple,  which,  aS  we  have  before  said,  was 
finished  in  seven  years,  the  king  laid  the  foundation  of  his  palace,  which  he  did 
not  finish  under  thirteen  years,  for  he  was  not  equally  zealous  in  the  building  o» 
this  palace,  as  he  had  been  about  the  temple  ;  for  as  to  that,  though  it  was  a 
great  work,  and  required  wonderful  and  surprising  application,  yet  God  for  whom 
it  was  made,  so  far  cooperated  therewith,  that  it  was  finished  in  the  forementioned 
number  of  years  ;  but  the  palace,  which  was  a  building  much  inferior  in  dignity 
to  the  temple,  both  on  account  that  its  materials  had  not  been  so  long  beforehand 
gotten  ready,  nor  had  been  so  zealously  prepared,  and  on  account  that  this  was 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TIIK  JEWS.  273 

only  a  habitatioii  for  kings,  and  not  for  Cod,  it  was  longer  in  finishing.  However, 
this  building  was  raised  so  niagniliccntly,  as  suited  the  happy  stute  of  the  He- 
brews,  and  of  the  king  thereof,  liut  it  is  necessary  that  1  describe  the  entire 
structure  and  disposition  of  the  parts,  that  so  those  that  light  upon  this  book  may 
thereby  make  a  conjecture,  and  as  it  were  luive  a  prospect  of  its  niiignitude. 

2.  This  house  was  a  large  and  curious  building,  a>id  was  supported  by  many 
pillars,  which  Solomon  built  to  contain  a  nudtitude  for  hearing  causes,  and  taking 
cognizance  of  suits*  It  was  sufficiently  capacious  to  contain  a  great  body  of 
men,  who  would  come  together  to  have  tiieir  causes  determined.  It  \\  as  a  hun- 
dred cubits  long,  and  fifty  broad,  and  thirty  high,  supported  bv  ([uadrangular  pil- 
lars, which  were  all  of  cedar,  but  its  roof  was  according  to  the  Corinthian  order,'*" 
with  folding  doors,  and  their  adjoining  pillars  of  c(pial  mrgnitude,  each  fluted 
with  thi'ee  cavities  ;  which  building  was  at  once  firm  and  very  ornamental. 
There  was  also  another  house,  so  ordered,  that  its  entire  breadth  was  placed  ia 
the  middle  ;  it  was  quadrangular,  and  its  breadth  was  thirty  cubits,  having  a 
temple  over  against  it,  raised  upon  massy  pillars  ;  in  which  temple  there  was  a 
large  and  very  glorious  room,  wherein  the  king  sat  in  judgment.  To  this  was 
joined  another  house  that  was  built  for  his  queen.  There  were  other  smaller 
edifices  for  diet,  and  for  sleep,  after  public  matters  were  over ;  and  these  were 
all  floored  with  boards  of  cedar.  Some  of  these  Solomon  built  with  stones  of 
ten  cubits,  and  wainscoted  the  walls  w  ith  other  stones  that  were  sawed,  and  were 
of  great  value,  such  as  are  dug  out  of  the  earth  for  the  ornaments  of  temples, 
and  to  make  fine  prospects  in  royal  palaces,  and  which  make  the  mines  whence 
they  are  dug  famous.  Now  the  contexture  of  the  curious  workmanship  of 
these  stones  was  in  three  rows,  but  the  fourth  row  would  make  one  admire  its 
sculptures,  whereby  were  represented  trees,  and  all  sorts  of  plants,  with  the 
shades  that  arose  from  their  branches,  and  leaves  that  hung  down  from  them. 
Those  trees  and  plants  covered  the  stone  that  was  beneath  them,  and  their  leaves 
were  wrought  so  prodigious  thin  and  subtile,  that  you  would  think  they  were  in 
motion.  But  the  other  part  up  to  the  roof  was  plastered  over,  and,  as  it  were, 
embroidered  with  colours  and  pictures.  He  moreover  built  other  edifices  for 
pleasure  ;  as  also  very  long  cloisters,  and  those  situate  in  an  agreeable  place  of 
the  palace  ;  and  among  them  a  most  glorious  dining  room,  for  feasting  and  com- 
potations,  and  full  of  gold,  and  such  other  furniture  as  so  fine  a  room  ought  to 
liave  for  the  convenicncy  of  the  guests,  and  w  here  all  the  vessels  w  ere  made  of 
gold.  Now  it  is  very  hard  to  reckon  up  the  magnitude,  and  the  variety  of  the 
royal  apartments  ;  how  many  rooms  there  were  of  the  largest  sort ;  how  many 
of  a  bigness  inferior  to  those  ;  and  how  many  that  were  subterraneous  and  invisi- 
ble ;  the  curiosity  of  those  that  enjoyed  the  fresh  air ;  and  the  groves  for  the 
most  delightful  prospect,  for  the  avoiding  the  heat,  and  covering  of  their  bodies. 
..\nd  to  say  all  in  brief,  Solomon  made  the  whole  building  entirely  of  white  stone, 
and  cedar  wood,  and  gold,  and  silver.  lie  also  adorned  the  roofs  and  walls  with 
stones  set  in  gold,  and  beaufiiicd  them  thereby  in  the  same  manner  as  he  had 
beautified  the  temple  of  God  with  the  like  stones.  Ho  also  made  himself  a 
throne  of  prodigious  bigness,  of  ivory,  constructed  as  a  seat  of  justice,  and  having 
six  steps  to  it ;  on  every  one  of  whicli  stood,  on  each  end  of  the  st(.'|>,  two  lions, 
two  other  lions  standing  above  also  ;  but  at  the  sitting  place  of  the  throne,  hands 

*This  mention  of  the  Corinthian  ornamrnts  of  aichitecture  in  Solomon's  palace  by  Joscphire,  seems 
to  be  lieie  set  down  h}'  way  of  prnlepsis ;  for  altlii)ut;li  it  appears  to  iiie  that  ilie  Grecian  and  Human 
most  ancient  orders  of  architecture  were  taken  from  Solomon's  temple,  as  from  their,  original  patterns, 
yet  it  is  not  so  clear  tliat  the  last  and  most  ornamental  order  of  the  Coriiiihiaii  was  so  ancient,  although 


I  fully  to  undcrftand  the  structure  of  tins  p; 

oUr  iiibles,  or  even  with  the  additional  help  of  this  descrimion  heie  by  Juse|)hii3;  only  the  readrr  mny 
fasily  observe  witli  me,  that  tlie  measures  of  this  fust  building  in  Josephur.,  one  hundred  cubits  Ion?,  and 
fifty  cubits  broad,  are  the  very  taiv.e  with  the  area  of  the  court  of  the  tuberuaclc  of  ftloses,  and  just  hall 
an  Etivptian  arourd  or  acre. 
VOL.  I.  2  M 


274  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIII. 

came  out  and  received  the  king :  and  when  he  sat  backward,  he  rested  on  half 
a  bullock,  that  looked  towards  his  back,  but  still  all  was  fastened  together  with 
gold. 

3.  When  Solomon  had  completed  all  this  in  twenty  years  time,  because  Hi- 
ram king  of  Tyre  had  contributed  a  great  deal  of  gold,  and  more  silver  to  these 
buildings,  as  also  cedar  wood  and  pine  wood,  he  also  rewarded  Hiram  with  rich 
presents  ;  corn  he  sent  him  also  year  by  year,  and  wine  and  oil,  which  were  the 
principal  things  that  he  stood  in  need  of,  because  he  inhabited  an  island,  as  we 
have  already  said.  And  besides  tliese,  he  granted  him  certain  cities  of  Galilee, 
twenty  in  numberythat  lay  not  far  from  Tyre  ;  whicii,  v.hen  Hiram  went  to,  and 
viewed,  and  did  not  like  the  gift,  he  sent  word  to  Solomon,  that  he  did  not  want 
such  cities  as  they  were  ;  and  after  that  time  those  cities  were  called  the  land  of 
Cabul,  which  name,  if  it  be  interpreted  according  to  the  language  of  the  Phoe- 
nicians, denotes,  tvhat  does  not  please.  Moreover,  the  king  of  Tyre  sent  sophisms 
and  enigmatical  sayings  to  Solomon,  and  desired  he  would  solve  them,  and  free 
them  from  the  ambiguity  that  was  in  them.  Now  so  sagacious  an  understanding 
was  Solomon,  that  none  of  these  problems  were  too  hard  for  him,  but  he  con- 
quered them  all,  by  his  reasonings,  and  discovered  their  hidden  meaning,  and 
brought  it  to  light.  Menander  also,  one  who  translated  the  Tyrian  archives  out 
of  the  dialect  of  the  Phoenicians,  into  the  Greek  language,  makes  mention  of 
these  two  kings,  where  he  says  thus  :  "  When  Abibalus  Avas  dead,  his  son  Hiram 
received  the  kingdom  from  him  ;  who,  when  he  had  lived  fifty-three  years,  reign- 
ed thirty-four.  He  raised  a  bank  in  the  large  place,  and  dedicated  the  golden 
pillar  which  is  in  Jupiter's  temple.  He  also  went  and  cut  down  materials  of  tim- 
ber out  of  the  mountain  called  Lihanus,  for  the  roof  of  temples  ;  and  when  he 
had  pulled  down  the  ancient  temple,  he  both  built  the  temple  of  Hercules  and 
that  of  Astarte  ;  and  he  first  set  up  the  temple  of  Hercules  in  the  month  Pe- 
ritus ;  he  also  made  an  expedition  against  the  Euchii  [or  Titii,]  who  did  not  pay 
their  tribute,  and  when  he  had  subdued  them  to  himself  he  returned.  Under 
this  king  there  was  Abdemon,  a  very  youth  in  age,  who  always  conquered  the 
difficult  problems  which  Solomon,  king  of  .lerusalem  commanded  him  to  explain." 
Dius  also  makes  mention  of  him,  where  he  says  thus:  "When  Abibalus  was 
dead,  his  son  Hiram  reigned.  He  raised  the  eastern  parts  of  the  city  higher, 
and  made  the  city  itself  larger.  He  also  joined  the  temple  of  Jupiter,  which  be- 
fore  stood  by  itself,  to  the  city,  by  raising  a  bank  in  the  middle  between  them, 
and  he  adorned  it  with  donations  of  gold.  Moreover,  he  went  up  to  Mount  Li- 
hanus, and  cut  down  materials  of  wood  for  the  building  of  the  temples."  He 
says  also,  that  "  Solomon,  who  was  then  king  of  Jerusalem,  sent  riddles  to  Hiram, 
and  desired  to  receive  the  like  from  him  ?  but  that  he  who  could  not  solve  them 
should  pay  money  to  him  that  did  solve  them,  and  that  Hiram  accepted  the  con- 
ditions; when  he  was  not  able  to  solve  the  riddles  [proposed  by  Solomon,]  he 
paid  a  great  deal  of  money  for  his  fine ;  but  that  he  afterward  did  solve  the  pro- 
posed riddles  by  the  means  of  Abdemon,  a  man  of  Tyre ;  and  that  Hiram  pro-- 
posed  other  riddles,  which,  when  Solomon  could  not  solve,  he  paid  back  a  great 
deal  of  money  to  Hiram."     This  it  is  which  Dius  wrote. 


CHAP.  VI. 

How  Solomon  fortified  the  City  Jerusalem.,  and  built  great  Cities ;  and  how  he 

brought  some  of  the  Canaanitcs  into  Subjection,  and  entertained  the 

Queen  of  Egypt  and  of  Ethiopia, 

§  1.  Now  when  the  king  saw  that  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  stood  ia  need  of  being; 
better  secured,  and  made  stronger  (for  he  thought  the  walls  that  encompassed 
Jerusalem  ought  to  correspond  to  the  dignity  of  the  city,)  ho  both  repaired  them. 


C.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  275 

and  made  them  higher,  with  great  towers  upon  tlicm ;  lie  also  built  cities  which 
might  be  counted  among  the  strongest,  Hazor  and  Megiddo,  and  the  third  Gezer, 
which  had  indeed  belonged  to  the  Pliiiistines;  but  Pliaraoh  the  king  of  E"-ypt 
had  made  an  expedition  against  it,  and  besieged  it,  and  taken  it  by  force  ;  and 
when  he  had  slain  all  its  inhabitants,  he  utterly  overthrew  it,  and  gave  it  as  a  pre- 
sent to  his  daughter,  who  had  been  married  to  Solomon :  For  wliich  reason  the 
king  rebuilt  it,  as  a  city  that  was  naturally  strong,  and  might  be  useful  in  wars, 
and  the  mutations  of  aflairs  that  sometimes  happen.  Moreover,  he  built  two  other 
cities  not  far  from  it,  Bethoren  was  the  name  of  one  of  them,  and  Baalalh  of  the 
other.  He  also  built  other  cities  that  lay  conveniently  for  these,  in  order  to  the 
enjoyment  of  pleasures  and  delicacies  in  them,  such  as  were  naturally  of  a  wood 
tempei-ature  of  the  air,  and  agreeable  for  fruits  ripe  in  their  proper  seasons,  and 
well  watered  with  springs.  Nay,  Solomon  went  as  far  as  the  desert  above  Syria, 
and  possessed  himself  of  it,  and  built  there  a  very  great  city,  which  was  distani 
tw'o  days  journey  from  the  Upper  Syria,  and  one  day's  journey  from  Euphrate.s, 
and  six  long  days  journey  from  Babylon  the  Great.  Now  the  reason  why  thia 
city  lay  so  remote  from  the  parts  of  Syria  that  are  inhabited  in  this,  that  below 
there  is  no  water  to  be  had,  and  that  it  is  in  that  place  only  that  there  are  sprino-s 
and  pits  of  water.  When  he  had  therefore  built  this  city,  and  encompassed  it 
with  very  strong  walls,  he  gave  it  the  name  of  Tadmor,  and  that  is  the  name  it 
is  still  called  by  at  this  day  among  the  Syrians,  but  the  Greeks  name  it  Palmyra. 
2.  Now  Solomon  che  king  was  at  this  time  engaged  in  building  these  cities. 
But  if  any  inquire  why  all  the  kings  of  Egypt  from  Menes,  who  built  Memphis, 
and  was  many  years  earlier  than  our  forefather  Abraham,  until  Solomon,  where 
the  inverval  was  more  than  one  thousand  three  hundred  years,  were  called  Pha- 
raohs, and  took  it  from  one  Pharaoh  that  lived  after  the  kings  of  that  interval,  I 
think  it  necessary  to  inform  them  of  it,  and  this  in  order  to  cure  their  ignorance, 
and  to  make  the  occasion  of  that  name  manifest.  Pharaoh  in  the  Egyptian  tongue 
signifies  a  liing,*  but  I  suppose  they  made  use  of  other  names  from  their  childhood, 
but  when  they  were  made  kings,  they  changed  them  into  the  name  which  in  their 
own  tongue  denoted  their  authority  ;  for  thus  it  was  also  that  the  kings  of  Alex- 
andria, who  were  called  formerly  by  other  names,  when  they  took  the  kin-T^dom, 
were  named  Ptolemies  from  their  first  king.  The  Roman  emperors  also  were 
from  their  nativity  called  by  other  names,  but  are  styled  Caesars,  their  empire  and 
their  dignity  imposing  that  name  upon  thera  ;  and  not  suffering  them  to  continue 
in  those  names  which  their  fathers  gave  them.  I  suppose  also  that  Herodotus  of 
Halicarnassus,  when  he  said  there  were  three  hundred  and  thirty  kings  of  Egypt 
after  Menes,  who  built  Memphis,did  therefore  not  tell  us  their  names,  because  they 
were  in  common  called  Pharaohs ;  for  when  after  death  there  was  a  queen  reigned, 
he  calls  her  by  her  name  Nicaule,  as  thereby  declaring,  that  while  the  kings  wore 
of  the  male  line,  and  so  admitted  of  the  satne  name,  while  a  Avoman  did  not  ad- 
mit  the  same,  he  did  not  therefore  set  down  that  her  name,  which  .she  could  not 
naturally  have.  As  for  m^'self,  I  have  discovered  from  our  own  books,  that  after 
Pharaoh,  the  father-in-law  of  Solomon,  no  other  king  of  Egypt  did  any  longer  use 
tliat  name  :  and  that  it  was  after  that  time  when  the  fore-named  queen  of  Egyi>t 
and  Ethiopia  came  to  Solomon,  concerning  whom  wc  shall  inform  the  reader  pre- 
sently ;  but  I  have  now  made  mention  of  these  things,  that  I  may  prove  that  our 
books  and  those  of  the  Egyptians  agree  together  in  many  things. 

*  Tliis  signification  of  the  name  Phnraoh  appears  to  be  true.  But  what  Josenhus  adds,  presently, 
that  no  king  of  Egypt  was  called  Pharaoh  afkr  Solomon's  f<tlher-in-lau;  does  liardi  v  a;rne  to  our  copies, 
which  have  \mv^  afterwards  tlie  names  of  Pharaoh  jXccho  and  Hophra,  2.  Kinns,  xxiii.  20  ;  Jer.  xliy.  3(1, 
besides  the  frecjuent  mention  of  tliat  name  Pharaoh  in  the  j)rophcts.  Ilouever,  JoM'phus  himself,  in  his 
own  speech  to  the  Jews,  Of  the  War,  15.  v.  chap.  ix.  sect.  4,  speaks  of  Nechao,  who  vasatso  called  Pha- 
raoh, as  tlie  name  of  that  king  of  Egypt  with  whom  Abraham  was  concerned  ;  of  which  name  Kechao 
yet  we  have  elsewliere  no  mention  till  the  days  of  Josiah,  but  only  of  I'liaraoh.  And  indeed  it  must  be 
confessed,  that  here  and  sect.  5,  we  have  more  mistakes  made  ity  Joscphus,  and  those  relating  to  the 
kings  of  Egypt,  and  to  that  queen  of  Egyjjt  and  Ethiopia,  whom  he  supposes  to  have  come  to  see  Solo- 
jnon,  than  almost  any  where  else  in  all  his  Antiquties. 
2  M2 


378  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIIJ. 

3.  But  lung  Solomon  subdued  to  himself  the  remnnnt  of  the  Canaanites,  that 
bad  not  before  submitted  to  him ;  those  I  mean  that  dwelt  in  Mount  Lebanon, 
and  as  far  as  the  cityllamath  :  and  ordered  them  to  pay  tribute.  He  also  chose 
out  of  them  every  year  such  as  were  to  serve  him  in  the  meanest  ofhces,  and  to 
do  his  domestic  works,  and  to  follow  husbandly ;  for  none  of  the  Hebrews  v/ere 
servants  [in  such  low  employments  ;]  nor  was  it  reasonable,  that  when  God  had 
brought  so  many  nations  under  their  power,  they  should  depress  their  own  people 
to  such  mean  ollices  of  life,  rather  than  those  nations ;  while  all  the  Israelites  were 
concerned  in  warlike  atfairs,  and  were  in  armour,  and  were  set  over  the  chariots, 
and  the  horses,  rather  than  leading  the  life  of  slaves.  He  appointed  also  five 
hundred  and  fifty  rulers  over  those  Canaanites  who  were  reduced  to  such  do- 
mestic slavery,  who  received  the  entire  care  of  them  from  the  king,  and  instructed 
them  in  those  laboui's  and  operations  wherein  he  wanted  their  assistance. 

4.  Moreover,  the  king  biiilt  many  ships  in  the  Egyptian  bay  of  the  Red  Sea, 
in  a  certain  place  called  Ezion-geber ;  it  is  now  called  Berenice,  and  is  not  far 
from  the  city  Eloth.  This  country  belonged  formerly  to  the  Jews,  and  became 
useful  for  shipping,  from  the  donations  of  Hiram  king  of  Tyre ;  for  he  sent  a 
sufficient  number  of  men  thither  for  pilots,  and  such  as  were  skilful  in  navigation, 
to  whom  Solomon  gave  this  command,  that  they  should  go  along  with  his  own 
stewards  to  the  land  that  was  of  old  called  Ophir,  but  now  the  Awea  Chersonesiis, 
which  belongs  to  India,  to  fetch  him  gold.  And  when  they  had  gathered  four 
hundred  talents  together,  they  returned  to  the  king  again. 

5.  There  was  then  a  woman  queen  of  Egypt  and  Ethiopia  ;*  she  was  inquisi- 
tive into  philosophy,  and  one  that  on  other  accounts  also  was  to  be  admired.  \Vhen; 
this  queen  heard  of  the  virtue  and  prudence  of  Solomon,  she  had  a  great  mind 
to  see  him,  and  the  reports  that  went  every  day  abroad  induced  her  to  come  to 
him,  she  being  desirous  to  be  satisfied  by  her  own  experience,  and  not  by  a  bare 
hearing  (for  reports  thus  heard  are  likely  enough  to  comply  with  a  false  opinion, 
■while  they  wholly  depend  on  the  credit  of  the  relators) ;  so  she  resolved  to  come 
to  him,  and  that  especially,  in  order  to  have  a  trial  of  his  wisdom  while  she  pro- 
posed questions  of  very  great  difficulty,  and  entreated  that  he  would  solve  their 
hidden  meaning.  Accordingly  she  came  to  Jerusalem  with  great  splendour,  and 
rich  furniture  ;  for  she  brought  with  her  camels  laden  with  gold,  with  several 
sorts  of  sweet  spices,  and  with  preciows  stones.  Now,  upon  the  king's  kind  re- 
ception of  her,  he  both  showed  a  great  desire  to  please  her,  and  easily  compre- 
hending in  his  mind  the  meaning  of  the  curious  questions  she  propounded  to  Isim, 
he  resolved  them  sooner  than  any  body  could  have  expected.  So  she  was  ama- 
zed at  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  and  discovered  that  it  was  more  excellent  upon 
trial,  than  what  she  had  heard  by  report  beforehand  ;  and  especially  she  was  sur- 
prised at  the  fineness  and  largeness  of  his  royal  palace,  and  not  less  so  at  the  good 
order  of  the  apartments,  for  she  observed  that  the  king  had  therein  shown  great 
wisdom ;  but  she  was  beyond  measure  astonished  at  the  house  which  was  called 
the  forest  of  Lebanon,  as  also  at  the  magnificence  of  his  daily  table,  and  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  preparation  and  ministration,  with  the  apparel  of  his  servants 
that  waited,  and  the  skilful  and  decent  management  of  their  attendance  ;  nor  was 
she  less  affected  with  those  daily  sacrifices  which  were  offered  to  God,  and  the 
careful  management  which  the  priests  and  Levites  used  about  them.  When  she 
saw  this  done  every  day,  she  was  in  the  greatest  admiration  imaginable,  insomuch 
that  she  was  not  able  to  contain  the  surprise  she  was  in,  but  openly  confessed  how 
wonderfully  she  was  affected ;  for  she  proceeded  to  discourse  with  the  king,  and 
tiiereby  owned  that  she  was  overcome  with  admiration  at  the  things  before  rela- 

*  That  tliis  queen  of  Slieba  wns  n  quern  of  Sabn?a  in  South  Arabia,  and  not  of  Egypt  and  Ethiopia, 
as  Josephus  here  asserts,  is,  1  su])posc  now  coneially  agreed.  And  since  Sabrea  is  veil  known  to  be  a 
counli y  near  tlie  sea  in  tiie  soutli  of  Arabia  Felix,  which  lay  south  from  Judea  also  ;  Vind  since  our  Sa- 
viour calls  ihis  queen  the  qiieen  of  the  south,  and  says  she  came  from  the  utmost  parts  of  the  earth.  Matt, 
xii,  42 ;  l,uke  xi.  31  ;  which  descriptions  agree  better  to  this  Arabia  than  to  Egypt  and  Ethiopia,  there  ia 
litUe  occj^ion  for  doubling  in  ihis  matter. 


C  Xlir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  277 

ted  ;  and  said,  "  All  things  indeed,  O  king,  that  came  to  our  knowledge  by  report, 
came  with  uncertainty  as  to  our  belief  of  them  ;  but  as  to  those  good  tliini's  that 
to  thee  appertain,  both  such  as  thou  thyself  possessest,  I  mean  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence,  and  the  happiness  thou  hast  from  thy  kingdom,  certainly  the  same  that 
came  to  us  was  no  falsity ;  it  was  not  only  a  true  report,  Init  it  related  the  happi- 
ness after  a  much  lower  manner  than  I  now  see  it  to  be  before  my  eyes.  For  as 
for  the  report,  it  only  attempted  to  persuade  our  hearing,  but  did  so  make  known 
the  dignity  of  the  things  themselves  as  does  the  sight  of  them,  and  being  present 
among  them.  I  indeed,  who  did  not  believe  what  was  reported  by  reason  of  the 
multitude  and  grandeur  of  the  things  I  inquired  about,  do  see  them  to  be  much 
more  numerous  than  they  were  reported  to  be.  Accordingly  I  esteom  the  He- 
brew people,  as  well  as  thy  servants  and  friends,  to  be  happy,  who  enjoy  thy  pre- 
sence, and  hear  thy  wisdom  every  day  continually.  One  would  therefore  bless 
God,  who  hath  so  loved  this  country,  and  those  that  inhabit  therein,  as  to  make 
thee  king  over  them." 

6.  Now  when  the  queen  had  thus  demonstrated  in  words  how  deeply  the  kino- 
had  affected  her,  she  made  tlrat  her  disposition  known  by  certain  presents,  for  she 
gave  him  twenty  talents  of  gold,  and  immense  quantities  of  spices,  and  precious 
stones.  They  say  also,  that  we  possess  the  root  of  that  balsam*  which  our  coun- 
try still  bears  by  this  woman's  gift.  Solomon  also  repaid  her  with  many  good 
things,  and  principally  by  bestowing  upon  her  what  she  chose  of  her  own  incli- 
nation, for  there  was  nothing  that  she  desired  which  he  denied  her;  and  as  he  was 
very  generous  and  liberal  in  his  own  temper,  so  did  he  show  the  greatness  of  his 
soul  in  bestowing  on  her  what  she  herself  desired  of  him.  So  when  this  queen 
of  Ethiopia  had  obtained  what  we  have  already  given  an  account  of,  and  had 
again  communicated  to  the  king  what  she  brought  with  her,  she  returned  to  her 
own  kingdom. 


CHAP.  VII. 

How  Solomon  grew  rich,  and  fell  desperately  in  love  with  Women;  and  hoto  God, 

being  incensed  at  it,  raised  up  Adcr  and  Jeroboam  against  him. 

Concerning  the  Death  of  Solomon. 

§  1.  About  the  same  time  there  were  brought  to  the  king  from  the  AureaChor- 
sonesus,  a  country  so  called,  precious  stones,  and  pine  trees  ;  and  these  trees  ho 
made  use  of  for  supporting  the  temple  and  the  palace,  as  also  for  the  materials 
of  musical  instruments,  the  harps  and  the  psalteries,  that  the  Levitcs  might 
make  use  of  in  their  hymns  to  God.  The  wood  which  was  brought  to  him  at  (his 
time  was  larger  and  fmer  than  any  that  had  ever  been  brought  before ;  but  let  no 
one  imagine  that  these  pine  trees  were  like  those  which  are  now  so  named,  and 
which  take  that  their  denomination  from  the  merchants,  who  so  call  them,  that 
thev  may  procure  tliem  to  be  admired  by  those  that  purchase  them  ;  for  those 
we  speak  of  were  to  the  sight  like  the  wood  of  the  fig  tree,  but  were  whiter  and 
more  shining.  Now  we  have  said  thus  nmch,  that  nobody  may  be  ignorant  of 
the  difference  between  these  sorts  of  wood,  nor  unacquainted  with  the  nature  of 

*  Some  blame  Josephns  for  supposing,  that  the  balsam  tree  might  be  first  brouRlit  out  of  Arabia,  or 
Egypt,  or  Ethiopia,  into  Judea,  by  this  queen  of  Sheba,  since  several  have  said  that  of  old  no(  tuiulry  boro 
this  precious  balsam  but  Judea;  yet  it  is  notoriously  false  that  this  balsam  was  peculiar  to  Juiiua,  for 
both  Egypt  and  Arabia,  and  particularly  Sabrca  had  it ;  whicli  last  was  that  very  country  whence  Josc- 
nhus,  if  understood  not  of  Ethiopia  but  of  Arabia,  intimates  this  (luccnjiiighibrini;  it  first  into  Judea. 
Nor  are  we  to  suppose  that  the  queen  of  Sabiea  could  well  omit  such  a  present  as  this  balsam  tree  would 
be  esteemed  by  Solomon,  in  case  it  were  then  almost  peculiar  lo  her  own  countrv-.  ^or  is  the  mention 
of  balm  or  balsam,  as  carriod  l)y  merchants,  and  sent  as  a  present  out  of  Judea  by  Jacob,  »o  the  governor  of 
Egypt,  Gen.  xxxvii.  25  ;  and  .\liii.  11,  to  be  alleged  to  the  contrary,  since  what  we  there  render  b,Utn  or 
balsam,  denotes  rather  that  turpentine  which  we  now  call  t^n-jtrntinc  of  Chio,  or  Ci/prus,  the  juice  of  tjio 
turpentine  tree,  than  this  precious  balsam.  This  last  is  also  the  same  word  that  we  elsewhere  render 
by  the  same  mistake  balm  ofCAltud;  £Jiould  be  rendered  tlio  turpentine  o/GiUad,  Jcr.  vin.  2'2. 


278  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIIL 

the  genuine  pine  tree  ;  and  we  thought  it  both  a  seasonable  and  humane  thing 
when  we  mentioned  it,  and  the  use  the  king  made  of  it,  to  explain  this  difference 
so  far  as  we  have  done. 

2.  Now  the  weight  of  gold  that  was  brought  him  was  six  hundred  and  sixty, 
six  talents,  not  including  in  that  sum  what  was  brought  by  the  merchants,  nor 
what  the  toparchs  and  kings  of  Arabia  gave  him  in  presents.  He  also  cast  two 
hundred  targets  of  gold,  each  of  them  weighing  six  hundred  shekels.  He  also 
made  three  hundred  shields,  every  one  weighing  three  pounds  of  gold,  and  he 
had  them  carried,  and  put  into  that  house  which  was  called  the  forest  of  Leba- 
non.  He  also  made  cups  of  gold,  and  of  [precious]  stones,  for  the  entertainment 
of  his  guests,  and  had  them  adorned  in  the  most  artificial  manner ;  and  he  con- 
trived  that  all  his  other  furniture  of  vessels  should  be  of  gold,  for  there  was 
nothing  then  to  be  sold  or  bought  for  silver  ;  for  the  king  had  many  ships  that  lay 
upon  the  sea  of  Tarsus  ;  these  he  commanded  to  carry  out  all  sorts  of  merchan- 
dise unto  the  remotest  nations,  by  the  sale  of  which  silver  and  gold  were  brought 
to  the  king,  and  a  gi'eat  quantity  of  ivory,  and  Ethiopians,  and  apes  ;  and  they 
finished  their  voyage,  going  and  returning,  in  three  years'  time. 

3.  Accordingly  there  went  out  a  great  fame  all  round  the  neighbouring  coun- 
tries, Avhich  proclaimed  the  virtue  and  wisdom  of  Solomon,  insomuch  that  all  the 
kings  every  v.here  were  desirous  to  see  him,  as  not  giving  credit  to  what  was 
reported,  on  account  of  it  being  almost  incredible  ;  they  also  demonstrated  the 
regard  they  had  for  him,  by  the  presents  they  made  him;  for  they  sent  him  ves- 
sels  of  gold,  and  silver,  and  purple  garments,  and  many  sorts  of  spices,  and 
horses,  and  chariots,  and  as  many  mules  for  his  carriages  as  they  could  find  proper 
to  please  the  king's  eyes,  by  their  strength  and  beauty.  This  addition  that  he 
made  to  those  chariots  and  horses  which  he  had  before  from  these  that  were  sent 
him,  augmented  the  number  of  his  chariots  by  above  four  hundred,  for  he  had  a 
thousand  before,  and  augmented  the  number  of  his  horses  by  two  thousand,  for 
he  had  twenty  thousand  before.  These  horses  also  were  so  much  exercised,  in 
•order  to  their  making  a  fine  appearance,  and  running  swiftly,  that  no  others  could 
upon  the  comparison  appear  either  finer  or  swifter,  but  they  are  at  once  the  most 
■beautiful  of  all  others,  and  their  swiftness  was  incomparable  also.  Their  riders 
also  were  a  farther  ornament  to  them,  being  in  the  first  place  young  men  in  the 
most  delightful  flower  of  their  age,  and  being  eminent  for  their  largeness,  and 
far  taller  than  other  men.  They  had  also  very  long  heads  of  hair  hanging  down, 
and  were  clothed  in  garments  of  Tyrian  purple.  They  had  also  dust  of  gold 
every  day  sprinkled  on  tlieir  hair,  so  that  their  heads  sparkled  with  the  reflection 
of  the  sunbeams  from  the  gold.  The  king  himself  rode  upon  a  chariot  in  the 
midst  of  these  men,  who  were  still  in  armour,  and  had  their  bows  fitted  to  them. 
He  had  on  a  white  garment ;  and  used  to  take  his  progress  out  of  the  city  in  the 
morning.  There  was  a  certain  place  about  fifty  furlongs  distant  from  Jerusa- 
lem, which  is  called  Etham  ;*  very  pleasant,  it  is  in  fine  gardens,  and  abounding 
in  rivulets  of  water ;  thither  did  he  use  to  go  out  in  the  morning,  sitting  on  high 
[in  his  chariot.] 

4.  Now  Solomon  had  a  divine  sagacity  in  all  things,  and  was  very  diligent  and 
studious  to  have  things  done  after  an  elegant  manner  ;  so  he  did  not  neglect  the 
care  of  the  ways,  but  he  laid  a  causeway  of  black  stone  along  the  roads  that  led 
to  Jerusalem,  which  was  the  royal  city,  both  to  render  them  easy  for  travellers, 
and  to  manifest  the  grandeur  of  his  riches  and  government.     He  also  parted  his 

»  Whether  these  fine  gardens  and  rivulets  of  Etham,  about  six  miles  from  Jerusalem,  whither  Solo- 
mon rode  so  often  in  state,  be  not  those  alluded  to  Eccles.  ii.  5,  6,  where  he  says,  "He  made  him  gardens 
and  orchards,  and  planted  trees  in  them  of  all  kind  of  fruits  ;  he  made  him  pools  of  water,  to  water  the 
wood  that  bringeth  forth  trees;"  and  to  th.e  finest  part  whereof  he  seems  to  allude,  when,  in  the  Canti- 
cles, he  compares  his  s])ouse  to  a  "  garden  enclosed,"  to  a  "  spring  shut  up,"  toa  "  fountain  sealed," 
chap.  iv.  12  (part  of  which  fountains  are  still  extant,  as  Mr.  Maundrell  informs  us,  page  87,  88;) 
cannot  now  be  certainly  determined,  but  may  very  probably  be  conjectured.  But  whether  this  Etham 
has  any  relation  to  thofe  rivers  of  Etham,  which  Providence  once  dried  up  in  a  miraculous  manner, 
i'saL  Ix.xiv.  15,  and  in  the  ^'cptuagint,  I  cannot  say. 


C.  XIV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  279 

ehariots,  and  set  them  in  a  regular  order,  that  a  certain  number  of  them  should 
be  in  every  city,  still  keeping  a  few  about  him  ;  and  those  cities  he  called  the 
cities  of  his  chariots.  And  the  king  made  silver  so  plentiful  in  Jerusalem  as  stones 
in  the  street ;  and  so  multiplied  cedar  trees  in  the  plains  of  Judea,  which  did  not 
grow  there  before,  that  they  were  like  the  multitude  of  common  s}  camore  trees. 
He  also  ordained  the  Egyptian  merchants  that  brought  him  their  merchandise, 
to  sell  him  a  chariot,  with  a  pair  of  horses,  for  six  hundred  drachma;  of  silver,, 
and  he  sent  them  to  the  kings  of  Syria,  and  to  those  kings  that  were  be}ond 
Euphrates. 

5.  But  although  Solomon  was  become  the  most  glorious  of  kings,  and  the  best 
beloved  by  God,  and  had  exceeded  in  wisdom  and  riches  those  that  had  been 
rulers  of  the  Hebrews  before  him,  yet  did  he  not  persevere  in  this  haj)ity  state 
till  he  died.  Nay,  he  forsook  the  oi)servation  of  the  laws  of  his  fathers,  and  came 
to  an  end  no  way  suitable  to  our  foregoing  history  of  him.  He  grew  mad  in 
his  love  of  women,  and  laid  no  restraint  on  himself  in  his  lusts:  nor  was  he  satis- 
fied  with  the  women  of  his  own  country  alone,  but  he  married  many  wives  out  of 
foreign  nations,  Sidonians,  and  Tyrians,  and  vVmmonites,  and  Edomitcs  ;  and  he 
transgressed  the  laws  of  Moses,  which  forbade  Jews  to  marr}-  any  but  those  that 
vere  of  their  own  people.  He  also  began  to  worship  theirgods,  which  he  did  in 
order  to  the  gratification  of  his  wives,  and  out  of  his  aflcction  for  them.  This  very 
thing  our  legislator  suspected,  and  so  admonished  us  beforehand,  that  we  should 
not  marry  women  of  other  countries,  lest  v/e  should  be  entangled  with  foreign 
customs  and  apostatize  from  our  own ;  lest  we  should  leave  off"  to  honour  our  own 
God,  and  should  worship  their  gods.  But  Solomon  was  fallen  headlong  into  un- 
reasonable pleasures,  and  regarded  not  those  admonitions.  For  when  he  had  mar- 
ried seven  hundred  wives,*  the  daughters  of  princes  and  of  eminent  persons,  and 
three  hundred  concubines,  and  these  beside  the  king  of  Egyi)t's  daugliter,  he  soon 
was  governed  by  them,  till  he  came  to  imitate  their  practices.  He  was  forced  to  give 
them  this  demonstration  of  his  kindness  and  affection  to  them,  to  live  according 
to  the  laws  of  their  countries.  And  as  he  grew  into  years,  and  his  reason  be- 
came weaker  by  length  of  time,  it  was  not  suflicient  to  recall  to  his  mind  the  in- 
stitutions of  his  own  country,  so  he  still  more  and  more  contemned  his  own  God, 
and  continued  to  regard  the  gods  that  his  marriages  had  introduced ;  nay,  before 
this  happened,  he  sinned,  and  fell  into  an  error  about  the  observation  of  the  laws, 
when  he  made  the  images  of  brazen  oxenlthat  supported  the  brazen  sea,  and  the 
images  of  lions  about  his  own  throne;  for  these  he  made,  although  it  was  not 
agreeable  to  piety  so  to  do.  And  this  he  did,  notwithstanding  that  he  had  his  fa- 
ther as  a  most  excellent  and  domestic  pattern  of  virtue,  and  knew  what  a  glorious 
character  he  had  left  behind  him,  because  of  his  piety  towards  God.  Nor  did  ho 
imitate  David,  although  God  had  twice  appeared  to  him  in  his  sleep,  and  exhor- 
ted him  to  imitate  his  father.  So  he  died  ingloriously.  There  came,  therefore, 
a  prophet  to  him,  who  was  sent  by  God,  and  told  him  that  "his  wicked  actions 
were  not  concealed  from  God ;  and  threatened  him  that  he  should  not  long  re- 
joice  in  what  he  had  done ;  that  indeed  the  kingdom  should  not  betaken  fronj 
him  while  he  was  alive,  bpcause  God  had  promised  to  his  father  David,  that  he 

*  These  seven  hundred  wives,  or  the  daughters  of  great  men,  and  the  three  hundred  concut)ines,  tho 
daughters  of  the  ignoble,  make  one  thousanti  in  all ;  and  are,  I  suppose,  those  very  one  thousand  women 
intimated  elsewhere  by  Solomon  iiiinsclf,  wlien  he  sjieaks  of  hisnot  having  found  one  [good]  woman 
among  that  very  number.     Eccles.  vii.  23. 

t  Josephus  is  here  certainly  too  severe  upon  Solomon,  who  in  making  the  cheruhims,  and  these  twclvo 
brazen  oxen,  seems  to  have  done  no  more  than  imitate  the  patterns  left  him  by  David,  which  were  all 
given  David  by  Divine  inspiration.  See  my  description  of  the  temples,  cluip.  x.  And  although  God  gava 
no  direction  lor  the  lions  that  adorned  his  throne,  j-et  does  not  Solomon  seem  therein  to  have  broken  any 
law  of  Moses;  for  although  the  Pharisees  and  latter  rabbins  havee.xtended  tho  second  commandment,  to 
forbid  the  very  makin/y  of  any  image,  though  without  any  intention  to  have  it  worshiped,  yet  ilo  not  1  sup- 
Dosc  that  Solomon  so  understood  it,  nor  that  it  ought  to  be  so  understood.  Tlie  niakins  any  oihcr_altar 
for  worship  but  tliat  at  the  tabernacle,  was  equally  forbidden  by  Moses,  .Antiq.  B.  iv.  ch.  viii.  sect,  't;  yet 
liid  not  tlie  two  tribes  and  a  half  offend,  when  tliey  made  an  aJlar  for  a  memorial  ojily,  Josh.  TUiti.  Aotiq. 
l>.  V.  ch.  i.  sect.  26,27. 


280  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIII. 

•would  make  him  his  successor,  but  that  he  would  take  care  that  this  should  befall 
his  son  when  he  was  dead  ;  not  that  he  would  withdraw  all  the  people  from  him, 
but  that  he  would  give  ten  tribes  to  a  servant  of  his,  and  leave  only  two  tribes  to 
David's  grandson,  for  his  sake,  because  he  loved  God,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  city 
of  Jerusalem,  wherein  he  would  have  a  temple." 

6.  When  Solomon  heard  this  he  was  grieved,  and  greatly  confounded,  upon 
this  change  of  almost  all  that  happiness  which  had  made  him  to  be  admired,  into 
so  bad  a  state;  nor  had  there  much  time  passed  after  the  prophet  had  foretold 
vv'hat  was  coming,  before  God  raised  up  an  enemy  against  him,  whose  name  was 
Ader,  who  took  the  following  occasion  of  his  enmity  to  him.  He  was  a  child  of 
the  stock  of  the  Edomites,  and  of  the  blood  royal;  and  when  Joab,  the  captain 
of  David's  host,  laid  waste  the  land  of  Edom,  and  destroyed  all  that  were  men 
grown,  and  able  to  bear  arms,  lor  six  months'  time,  this  Hadad  fled  away,  and 
came  to  Pharaoh  the  king  of  Egypt,  who  received  him  kindly,  and  assigned  him  a 
house  to  dw^ell  in,  and  a  country  to  supply  him  with  food  ;  and  when  he  was 
grown  up,  he  loved  him  exceedingly,  insomuch  that  he  gave  him  his  wife's  sister, 
whose  name  was  Tap7je?iC5,  to  wife,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  who  was  brought  up  with 
the  king's  children.  When  Hadad  heard  in  Egypt  that  both  David  and  Joab 
were  dead,  he  came  to  Pharaoh,  and  desired  that  he  would  permit  him  to  go  to  his 
own  country.  Upon  which  the  king  asked  what  it  was  that  he  wanted,  and  what 
hardship  he  had  met  with,  that  he  was  so  desirous  to  leave  him.  And  when  he 
was  often  troublesome  to  him,  and  entreated  him  to  dismiss  him,  he  did  not  then 
do  it;  but  at  the  time  when  Solomon's  affairs*  began  to  grow  worse,  on  account 
of  his  forementioned  transgressions,  and  God's  anger  against  him  for  the  same, 
Hadad,  by  Pharaoh's  permission,  came  to  Edom ;  and  when  he  was  not  able  to 
make  the  people  forsake  Solomon,  for  it  was  kept  under  by  many  garrisons,  and 
an  innovation  was  not  to  be  made  with  safety,  he  removed  thence,  and  came  into 
Syria  ;  there  he  lighted  upon  one  Rezon,  who  had  run  away  from  Hadadezer, 
king  of  Zobah,  his  master,  and  was  become  a  robber  in  that  country,  and  joined 
friendship  with  him,  who  had  already  a  band  of  robbers  about  him.  So  he  went 
up,  and  seized  upon  that  part  of  Syria,  and  was  made  king  thereof.  He  also 
made  incursions  into  the  land  of  Israel,  and  did  it  no  small  mischief,  and  spoiled 
it,  and  that  in  the  lifetime  of  Solomon.  And  this  was  the  calamity  which  the  He- 
brews suffered  by  Hadad. 

7.  There  was  also  one  of  Solomon's  own  nation  that  made  an  attempt  against 
him,  Jeroboam  the  son  of  Nebat,  who  had  an  expectation  of  rising,  from  a  pro- 
phecy that  had  been  made  to  him  long  before.  He  was  left  a  child  by  his  father, 
and  brought  up  by  his  mother  ;  and  when  Solomon  saw  that  he  was  of  an  active 
and  bold  disposition,  he  made  him  the  curator  of  the  walls  which  he  built  round 
about  Jerusalem  :  and  he  took  such  care  of  those  works,  that  the  king  approved 
of  his  behaviour,  and  gave  him,  as  a  reward  for  the  same,  the  charge  over  the 
tribe  of  Joseph.  And  when  about  that  time  Jeroboam  was  once  going  out  of 
Jerusalem,  a  prophet  of  the  city  Shilo,  whose  name  v.as  Ahijah,  met  him  and 
saluted  him ;  and  when  he  had  taken  him  a  little  aside,  to  a  place  out  of  the  way, 
w  here  there  was  not  one  other  person  present,  he  rent  the  garment  he  had  on  into 
twelve  pieces,  and  bid  Jeroboam  take  ten  of  them;  and  told  him  beforehand,  that 
"  This  is  the  will  of  God :  he  will  part  the  dominion  of  Solomon,  and  give  one 
tni)e,  with  that  which  is  next  it,  to  his  son,  because  of  the  promise  made  to  David 
for  his  succession  ;  and  will  give  ten  tribes  to  thee,  because  Solomon  hath  sinned 
against  him,  and  delivered  himself  up  to  women,  and  to  their  gods.  Seeing, 
therefore,  thou  knowest  the  cause  for  which  God  hath  changed  his  mind,  and  is 
alienated  from  Solomon,  be  thou  righteous,  and  keep  the  laws,  because   he  hatli 

*  Since  the  hesrinning  of  Solnmon's  evil  life  and  advei-sity  was  tlie  time  when  Hadad  or  Ader,  who 
was  born  at  least  twenty  or  thirty  rears  l)ffr)re  Solomon  cnine  to  the  crown,  in  the  (lays  of  David,  began 
!o  (;ivc  hiui  tlislurbance,  this  imj;ries  that  Solomon's  evil  life  began  early  and  continued  very  long,  v.'hicli 
the  multitude  of  his  wives  and  concubines  doss  inijily  also:  I  supjioie  when  l;e  wasr.ot  fifty  years  of  age. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS  ggj 

proposed  to  thee  tlio  greatest  of  all  rewards  for  thy  piety,  and  the  honour  thou 
shalt  pay  to  God,  namely,  to  be  as  greatly  exalted  as  thou  knowest  David  to 
have  been." 

8.  So  Jeroboam  was  elevated  by  these  words  of  the  prophet,  andbeingayouno- 
man*  of  a  warm  temper,  and  ambitious  of  greatness  he  could  not  be  quiet ;  and 
when  he  had  so  great  a  charge  in  the  government,  and  called  to  mind  what  had 
been  revealed  to  him  by  Ahijah,  he  endeavoured  to  persuade  the  people  to  for 
sake  Solomon,  to  make  a  disturbance  and  to  bring  the  government  over  to  him- 
self.  But  when  Solomon  understood  his  intention  and  trcachcrv,  he  sought  to 
catch  him  and  kill  him  ;  but  Jeroboam  was  informed  of  it  beiurchaiid.  and  lied  to 
Shishak,  the  king  of  Egypt,  and  there  abode  till  the  death  of  Solomon ;  by 
which  means  he  gained  these  two  advantages,  to  sutler  no  harm  from  Solomon, 
and  to  be  preserved  for  the  kingdom.  So  Solomon  died  when  he  was  already 
an  old  man,  having  reigned  eighty  years,  and  lived  ninety-four.  He  was  buried 
in  Jerusalem,  having  been  superior  to  all  other  kings  in  happiness,  and  riches,  and 
wisdom,  excepting  that  when  he  was  growing  into  years,  he  was  deluded  by 
women,  and  transgressed  the  law ;  concerning  which  transgressions,  and  tiie 
miseries  which  befell  the  Hebrews  thereby,  I  think  proper  to  discourse  at  another 
opportunity. 


CHAP.  vni. 

How,  upon  the  death  of  Solomon,  the  People  forsook  his  Son  ReJiohoam  and  ordahied 
Jeroboam  King  over  the  Ten  Tribes. 

§  1.  Now  when  Solomon  was  dead,  and  his  son  Rehoboam  (who  was  born  of 
an  Ammonite  wife,  whose  name  was  Naamah)  had  succeeded  him  in  the  king- 
dom, the  rulers  of  the  multitude  sent  immediately  into  Egypt,  and  called  back 
Jeroboam ;  and  when  he  was  come  to  them,  to  the  city  Shechem,  Rehoboam 
came  to  it  also,  for  he  had  resolved  to  declare  himself  king  to  the  Israelites, 
while  they  were  there  gathered  together.  So  the  rulers  of  the  peoi)le,  as  well 
as  Jeroboam,  came  to  him,  and  besought  him,  and  said,  tiiat  "he  ought  to  relax, 
and  to  be  gentler  than  his  father,  in  the  servitude  he  had  imposed  on  them,  be- 
cause they  had  born  a  heavy  yoke,  and  that  then  they  should  be  better  affected 
to  him,  and  be  well  contented  to  serve  him  under  his  moderate  government,  and 
should  do  it  more  out  of  love  than  fear."  But  Rehoboam  told  tlicm,  they  should 
come  to  him  again  iii  three  days  time,  when  he  would  give  an  answer  to  their  re- 
quest. This  delay  gave  occasion  to  a  present  suspicion,  since  he  had  not  given 
them  a  favora'ble  answer  to  their  mind  immediately,  for  they  thought  that  he 
should  have  given  them  a  humane  answer  off  hand,  especially  since  he  was  but 
young.  However,  they  thought  that  his  consultation  about  it,  and  that  he  did  not 
presently  give  them  a  denial,  afibrded  them  some  good  hope  of  success. 

2.  Rehoboam  now  called  his  father's  friends,  and  advised  with  them  what  sort 
of  an  answer  he  ought  to  give  to  the  multitude  :  upon  which  they  gave  him  the 
advice  which  became  friends,  and  those  that  knew  the  temper  of  such  a  multi- 
tude :  they  advised  him  "to  speak  in  a  way  more  popular  than  suited  the  grandeur 
of  a  king,  because,  he  would  thereby  oblige  them  to  submit  to  him  with  good 
will,  it  being  most  agreeable  to  subjects  that  their  kings  should  be  almost  upon 
the  level  with  them."  But  Rehoboam  rejected  this  so  good,  and  in  general  so 
profitable,  advice  (it  was  such,  at  least,  at  that  time  when  he  was  to  be  made 
king,)  God  himself,  I  suppose,  causing  what  was  most  advantageous  to  be  con- 

*  This  youth  of  Jerobnam,  when  Solomon  built  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  not  ver>-  lone;  after  he  hnd 
finished  his  twenty  years'  building  of  the  temple,  and  his  own  palace,  or  not  very  long  after  the  twenty- 
fourth  year  of  his  reign,  1  Kings,  ix.  2il;  2  Chron.  viii.  11  ;  and  ids  youth  here  still  mentioned,  when 
Solomon's  wickedness  was  become  intolerable,'  fully  confirm  my  former  observation,  that  sucii  his  wick- 
edness began  early,  and  continued  very  long.     See  Eccles.  xlvii.  14. 

VOL  I.  2  N 


282  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIII. 

demned  by  him.  So  he  called  for  the  young  men,  A\ho  were  brought  up  Avith 
him,  and  told  them  -what  advice  the  elders  had  given  him,  and  bade  them  speak 
what  they  thought  he  ought  to  do.  They  advised  him  to  give  the  following  an- 
swer to  the  people  (for  neither  their  youth,  nor  God  himself  sufi'ered  thejm  to 
discern  what  was  best :)  "That  his  little  finger  should  be  thicker  than  his  father's 
loins;  and  if  they  had  met  with  hard  usage  from  his  father,  they  should  expe- 
rience much  rougher  treatment  from  him  ;  and  if  his  father  had  chastised  them 
with  whips,  they  must  expect  that  he  would  do  it  with  scorpions."*  The  king 
was  pleased  with  this  advice,  and  thought  it  agreeable  to  the  dignity  of  his  go- 
vernment to  give  them  such  an  answer.  Accordingly,  when  the  multitude  was 
come  together  to  hear  his  answer  on  the  third  day,  all  the  people  were  in  great 
expectation,  and  very  intent  to  hear  what  the  king  would  say  to  them,  and  sup- 
posed they  should  hear  somewhat  of  a  kind  nature,  but  he  passed  by  his  friends, 
and  answered  as  the  young  men  had  given  him  counsel.  Now  this  was  done 
according  to  the  will  of  God,  that  what  Ahijah  had  foretold  might  come  to  pass. 

3.  By  these  words  the  people  were  struck  as  it  were  by  an  iron  hammer,  and 
were  so  grieved  at  the  words,  as  if  they  had  already  felt  the  efiects  of  them,  and 
they  had  great  indignation  at  the  king ;  and  all  cried  out  aloud,  and  said,  "  We  will 
have  no  longer  any  relation  to  David  or  his  posterity  after  this  day."  And  they 
said  farther,  "We  only  leave  to  Rehoboam  the  temple  which  his  father  built;" 
and  they  threatened  to  forsake  him.  Nay,  they  were  so  bitter,  and  retained  their 
wrath  so  long,  that  when  he  sent  Adoram,  which  was  over  the  tribute,  that  he 
might  pacify  them,  and  render  them  milder,  and  persuade  them  to  forgive  him,  ii 
he  had  said  any  thing  that  was  rash  or  grievous  to  them  in  his  youth,  they  would 
not  bear  it,  but  threw  stones  at  him,  and  killed  him.  When  Rehoboam  saAV  this, 
he  thought  himself  aimed  at  by  those  stones  with  which  they  had  killed  his  ser- 
vant, and  feared  lest  he  should  undergo  the  last  of  punishments  in  earnest ;  so  he 
got  immediately  into  his  chariot,  and  lied  to  Jerusalem,  where  the  tribe  of  Judah 
and  that  of  Benjamin  ordained  him  king;  but  the  rest  of  the  multitude  forsook 
the  sons  of  David  from  that  day,  and  appointed  Jeroboam  to  be  the  ruler  of  their 
public  affairs.  Upon  this  Rehoboam,  Solomon's  son,  assembled  a  great  congrega- 
tion of  those  two  tribes  that  submitted  to  him,  and  was  ready  to  take  a  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  chosen  men  out  of  the  ai'my,  to  make  an  expedition  against  Je- 
roboam and  his  people,  that  he  might  force  them  by  war  to  be  his  servants ;  but 
he  was  forbidden  of  God  by  the  prophet  [Shemaiah]  to  go  to  war,  for  that  it  was 
not  just  that  brethren  of  the  same  country  should  fight  one  against  another.  He 
also  said,  that  this  defection  of  the  multitude  was  according  to  the  purpose  of 
God.  So  he  did  not  proceed  in  this  expedition.  And  now  I  will  relate  first  the 
actions  of  Jeroboam  the  king  of  Israel,  after  which  we  will  relate  what  are  there- 
with connected,  the  actions  of  Rehoboam,  the  king  of  the  two  tribes ;  by  this 
means  we  shall  preserve  the  good  order  of  the  history  entire. 

4.  When  therefore  Jeroboam  had  built  him  a  palace  in  the  city  Shechem,  he 
dwelt  there.  He  also  built  him  another  at  Penuel,  a  city  so  called.  And  now 
the  feast  of  tabernacles  was  approaching  in  a  little  time,  Jeroboam  considered, 
that  if  he  should  permit  the  multitude  to  go  to  worship  God  at  Jerusalem,  and 
there  to  celebrate  the  festival,  they  would  probably  repent  of  what  they  had  done, 
and  be  enticeil  by  the  temple,  and  by  the  worship  of  God  there  performed,  and 
would  leave  him,  and  return  to  their  first  king;  and  if  so,  he  should  run  the  risk 
of  losing  his  own  life,  so  he  invented  this  contrivance  :  he  made  two  golden 
heifers,  and  built  two  little  temples  for  them,  the  one  in  the  city  Bethel,  and  the 
other  in  Dan,  which  last  was  at  the  fountains  of  the  lesser  Jordan,^  and  he  put 

*  That  by  scorpions  is  not  here  meant  that  small  animal  sn  callerl,  which  was  never  used  in  correc- 
tions ;  but  either  a  shrub,  with  sharp  prickles  like  tiie  slings  of  scorpions,  such  as  our  furze  bush,  or  else 
some  terrible  sni  t  of  whip  of  the  like  nature  ;  see  Hudson's  and  Spanheiui's  notes  here. 

t  Whether  xheiejovntairts  of  the  les.vr  Jordan  were  near  a  place  called  Dtin,  and  the  fountains  of 
the />"rca/c/- near  a  place  called  J(^»-,  before  their  conjunction;  or  whetiier  there  was  only  one  fountain, 
arising  at  the  lake  I'hiala,  ut  first  sinking  under  ground,  and  then  arising  near  the  mountain  I'aneum,  and 


C.  Vin.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  0^3 

the  heifci's  into  both  ihe  httlc  temples,  in  the  forcmentionotl  cillos.  And  when 
he  had  called  those  ten  tribes  together,  over  whom  he  ruled,  he  made  a  speech  to 
the  people  in  these  words  :  "  I  suppose,  my  countrymen,  tliat  you  know  this,  that 
every  place  hath  (xod  in  it,  nor  is  there  any  one  detcrniinate  place  in  which  he 
is,  but  he  every  wliere  hears  and  sees  those  that  worship  him  ;  on  which  account 
I  do  not  think  it  right  for  you  to  go  so  long  a  journey  to  Jerusalem,  which  is  an 
enemy's  city,  to  v»'orship  him.  It  was  a  man  that  built  the  temple  :  I  have  also 
made  two  golden  heifers,  dedicated  to  the  same  (Jod  ;  and  the  one  of  them  I  have 
consecrated  in  the  city  Bethel,  and  the  other  in  Dan,  to  the  end  that  those  of  you 
that  dwell  nearest  those  cities,  may  go  to  them,  and  worship  (.od  there  :  and  I  will 
ordain  for  you  certain  priests  and  Levites  from  among  yourselves,  that  you  may- 
have  no  want  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  or  of  the  sons  of  Aaron ;  but  let  him  that  is 
desirous  among  you  of  being  a  priest,  bring  to  God  a  bullock  and  a  ram,  Avhich 
they  say  Aaron  the  first  priest  brought  also."  When  Jeroboam  had  said  this,  he 
deluded  the  people,  and  made  them  to  revolt  from  the  worship  of  their  forefathers, 
and  to  transgress  their  laws.  This  was  the  beginning  of  miseries  to  the  Hebrews, 
and  the  causes  why  they  were  overcome  in  war  by  foreigners,  and  so  fell  into 
captivity.     But  w^e  shall  relate  those  things  in  their  proper  places  hereafter. 

5.  When  the  feast  [of  tabernacles]  was  just  approachmg,  Jeroboam  was  de- 
sirous to  celebrate  it  himself  m  Bethel,  as  did  the  two  tribes  celebrate  it  in  Jeru- 
salem. Accordingly  he  built  an  altar  before  the  heifer,  and  undertook  to  be  high 
priest  himself.  So  he  wen-t  up  to  the  altar,  with  his  own  ])riests  about  him  ;  but 
when  he  was  going  to  ofier  the  sacrifices,  and  the  burnt-oiferings,  in  the  sight  of 
all  the  people,  a  prophet,  whose  name  was  Jadon,  was  sent  by  God,  and  came  to 
him  from  Jerusalem,  who  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  multitude,  and  in  the  hearing 
of  the  king,  and  dii'ccting  his  discourse  to  the  altar,  said  thus  "  God  foretells  that 
there  shall  be  a  certain  man  of  the  family  of  David,  Josiah  by  name,  who  shall  slay 
upon  thee  those  false  pi'iests  that  shall  live  at  that  time,  and  upon  thee  shall  burn 
the  bones  of  those  deceivers  of  tlie  people,  those  impostors  and  wicked  wretches. 
However,  that  this  people  may  believe  that  these  things  shall  so  come  to  pass,  I 
foretell  a  sign  to  them  that  shall  also  come  to  pass  :  this  altar  shall  be  broken  to 
pieces  immediately,  and  all  the  fat  of  the  sacrifices  that  is  upon  it,  shall  be  poured 
upon  the  ground."  When  the  prophet  had  said  this,  Jeroboam  fell  into  a  passion, 
and  stretched  out  his  hand,  and  bid  them  lay  hold  of  him  ;  hut  that  hand  which  he 
stretched  out  was  enfeebled,  and  he  was  not  able  to  pull  it  in  again  to  him,  for  it 
was  become  withered,  and  hung  down,  as  if  it  were  a  dead  hand.  Thealtaralso 
was  broken  to  pieces,  and  all  that  was  upon  it  was  poured  out,  as  the  prophet  had 
foretold  should  come  to  pass.  So  the  king  understood  that  he  was  a  man  of  ve- 
racity,  and  had  a  divine  foreknowledge  ;  and  entreated  him  to  pray  unto  God  that 
he  would  restore  his  right  hand.  Accordingly  the  prophet  did  pray  to  (Jod  to 
grant  him  that  request.  So  the  king  having  his  hand  recovered  to  its  natural  state, 
rejoiced  at  it,  and  invited  the  prophet  to  sup  with  him  ;  but  Jadon  said,  that  "  he 
could  not  endure  to  come  into  his  house,  nor  to  taste  of  bread  and  water  in  this 
city,  for  that  Mas  a  thing  God  had  forbidden  him  to  do  ;  as  also  to  go  back  by  the 
same  way  which  he  came,  but  he  smd  he  was  to  return  by  another  way."  So 
the  king  wondered  at  the  abstinence  of  the  man,  but  was  himself  in  fear,  as  sus- 
pecting a  change  of  his  affairs  for  the  worse,  from  what  had  been  said  to  him. 

ihenco  running  tlirough  t!ic  lake  Setnoclionitis  to  the  sea  of  Galilee,  and  so  far  callcil  the  Ifssrr  Jordan^ 
is  lianlly  certain  even  in  Josepluis  himself,  thougli  tlie  latter  account  lie  the  mo=t  probahlc.  However, 
tlie  northern  idolatrous  calf,  set  up  by  Jeroboani,  was  where  Little  .Jordan  fell  into  Great  Jordan,  near  a 
place  called  Daphnce,  as  Josephus  elsewhere  informs  us,  Of  the  War,  B.  iv.  ch.  i.  beet.  1.  See  th» 
(lote  there. 


2N2 


284  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIII 


CHAP.  IX. 

How  Jadon  the  Prophet  was  persuaded  hy  another  lying  Prophet,  and  returned  [to 

Bethel,^  and  was  afterwards  slain  hy  a  Lion.     As  also  what  Words  the 

wicked  Prophet  made  use  of  to  persuade  the  King,  and  thereby 

alienated  his  Mind  from  God. 

§  1.  Now  there  was  a  certain  wicked  man  in  that  cit}',  who  was  a  false  prophet, 
whom  Jeroboam  had  in  great  esteem,  but  was  deceived  by  him,  and  his  flattering 
words.  This  man  was  bedrid  by  reason  of  the  infirmhies  of  old  age;  however, 
he  was  informed  by  his  sons  concerning  the  prophet  that  was  come  from  Jerusa- 
lem,  and  concerning  the  signs  done  by  him  ;  and  how,  when  Jeroboam's  right 
hand  had  been  enfeebled,  at  the  prophet's  prayer  he  had  it  revived  again.  Where- 
upon  he  was  afraid  that  this  stranger  and  prophet  should  be  in  better  esteem  with 
the  king  than  himself,  and  obtain  greater  honour  from  him,  and  he  gave  order  to 
his  sons  to  saddle  his  ass  presently,  and  make  all  ready  that  he  might  go  out. 
Accordingly  they  made  haste  to  do  what  they  were  commanded  ;  and  he  got 
upon  the  ass  and  followed  after  the  prophet;  and  when  he  had  overtaken  him,  as 
lie  was  resting  himself  under  a  very  large  oak  tree  that  was  thick  and  shady,  he 
at  first  saluted  him,  but  presently  he  complained  of  him,  because  he  had  not  come 
into  his  house,  and  partaken  of  his  hospitality.  And  when  the  other  said,  that 
"  God  had  forbidden  him  to  taste  of  any  one's  provision  in  that  city,"  he  replied, 
that  "  for  certain  God  had  not  forbidden  that  I  should  set  food  before  thee,  for  I 
am  a  prophet  as  thou  art,  and  worship  God  in  the  same  manner  that  thou  dost, 
and  I  am  now  come  as  sent  by  him,  in  order  to  bring  thee  into  my  house,  and 
make  thee  my  guest."  Now  Jadon  gave  credit  to  this  lying  prophet,  and  retur- 
ned back  with  him.  But  when  they  Avere  at  dinner,  and  Mere  merry  together, 
God  appeared  to  Jadon,  and  said,  that  "  he  should  suffer  punishment  for  trans- 
gressing his  commands  :  and  he  told  him  what  that  punishment  should  be,  for  he 
said,  that  he  should  meet  with  a  lion  as  he  was  going  on  his  way,  by  which  lion 
he  should  be  torn  in  pieces,  and  be  deprived  of  burial  in  the  sepulchre  of  his  fa- 
thers."  Which  things  came  to  pass,  as  I  suppose,  according  to  the  will  of  God, 
that  so  Jeroboam  might  not  give  heed  to  the  w^ords  of  Jadon,  as  of  one  that  had 
been  convicted  of  l3'ing.  However,  as  Jadon  was  again  going  to  Jerusalem,  a 
lion  assaulted  him,  and  pulled  him  off  the  beast  he  rode  on,  and  slew  him,  yet  did 
he  not  at  all  hurt  the  ass,  but  sat  by  him,  and  kept  him,  as  also  the  prophet's  body. 
This  continued  till  some  travellers  that  saw  it  came  and  told  it  in  the  city  to  the 
false  prophet,  who  sent  his  sons,  and  brought  the  body  into  the  city,  and  made  a 
funeral  for  him  at  great  expense.  He  also  charged  iiis  sons  to  bury  himself  with 
him  ;  and  he  said,  that  "  all  which  he  had  foretold  against  that  city,  and  the  altar 
and  priests,  and  false  prophets,  would  prove  true,  and  that  if  he  Avere  buried  with 
him,  he  should  receive  no  injurious  treatment  after  his  death,  the  bones  not  be- 
ing then  to  be  distinguished  asimder."  But  now,  when  he  had  performed  those 
funeral  rites  to  the  prophet,  and  had  given  that  charge  to  his  sons,  as  he  was  a 
wicked  and  an  impious  man,  he  goes  to  Jeroboam,  and  says  to  him,  "  And  where- 
fore is  it  now  that  thou  art  disturbed  at  the  words  of  this  silly  fellow  ?"  And 
■when  the  king  had  related  to  him  what  had  happened  about  the  altar,  and  aboui 
his  own  hand,  and  gave  him  the  names  of  a  divine  man,  and  an  excellent  pro- 
phet, he  endeavoured  by  a  wicked  trick  to  weaken  that  his  opinion,  and  by  using 
plausible  words  concerning  what  had  happened,  he  aimed  to  injure  the  truth  that 
was  in  them;  for  he  attempted  to  persuade  him,  that  "his  hand  was  enfeebled 
by  the  labour  it  had  undergone  in  supporting  the  sacrifices,  and  that  upon  its  rest. 
nig  a  while  it  returned  to  its  former  nature  again  ;  and  that  as  to  the  altar,  it  was 
but  new,  and  had  borne  abundance  of  sacrifices,  and  those  large  ones  too,  and 
was  accordingly  broken  to  pieces,  and  fallen  down  by  the  weight  of  what  had 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


285 


been  laid  upon  it."  He  also  informed  him  of  the  death  of  him  that  had  foretold 
those  things,  and  how  he  perislied  ;  [whence  ho  concluded  tliat  j  he  had  not  any 
thing  in  him  of  a  prophet,  nor  spai<c  any  thing  like  one.  When  he  had  thus  spo- 
ken, he  persuaded  the  king,  and  entirely  alienated  his  mind  from  God,  and  from 
doing  works  that  were  rigiiteous  and  holy,  and  encouraged  him  to  go  on  in  his 
impious  practices*  ;  and  accordingly  he  was  to  that  degree  injurious  to  God,  and 
so  great  a  transgressor,  that  he  sought  for  nothing  else  every  day  but  how  he 
might  be  guilty  of  some  new  instances  of  wickedness,  and  such  as  should  be  more 
detestable  than  what  he  had  been  so  insolent  as  (o  do  before.  And  so  much  shall 
at  present  suffice  to  have  said  concerning  Jeroboam. 


CHAP.  X. 

Concerning  Rehohoam,  and  Iwio  God  inflicted  Punishment  upon  him  for  his  Imjjicty 
hy  iyhishak  [King  of  Egypt.] 

§  1.  Now  Rehoboam  the  son  of  Solomon,  who  as  we  said  before,  was  king  of 
the  two  tribes,  built  strong  and  large  cities,  Bethlehem,  and  Elam,  and  Tekoa, 
and  Bethzur,  and  Shoco,  and  Adullam,  and  Ipan,  and  Maresha,  and  Ziph,  and 
Adoraim,  and  Lachish,  and  Azekah,  and  Zorah,  and  Aijalon,  and  Hebron  ;  these 
he  built  first  of  all  in  the  tribe  of  Judah.  He  also  built  other  large  cities  in  the 
tribe  of  Benjamin,  and  walled  them  about,  and  put  garrisons  in  them  all,  and  cap- 
tains, and  a  great  deal  of  corn,  and  wine,  and  oil,  and  he  furnished  every  one  of 
them  plentifully  with  other  provisions  that  were  necessary  for  sustenance ;  more, 
over,  he  put  therein  shields  and  spears  for  many  ten  thousand  men.  'J'he  priests 
also  that  were  in  all  Israel,  and  the  Levites,  and  if  there  were  any  of  the  multi- 
tude  that  were  good  and  righteous  men,  they  gathered  themselves  together  to 
him,  having  left  their  own  cities,  that  they  might  worship  God  in  Jerusalem  ;  for 
they  were  not  willing  to  be  forced  to  worship  the  heifers  which  Jeroboam  had 
made,  and  they  augmented  the  kingdom  of  Rehoboam  for  three  years.  And  af- 
ter  he  had  married  a  woman  of  his  own  kindred,  and  had  by  her  three  children 
born  to  him,  he  married  also  another  of  his  own  kindred,  who  Mas  daughter  of 
Absalom  by  Tamai",  whose  name  was  Maachah,  and  by  her  he  had  a  son,  whom 
he  nam.ed  Abijah.  He  had  moreover  many  other  children  by  other  wives  ;  but 
he  loved  Maachah  above  them  all.  Now  he  had  eighteen  legitimate  wives,  and 
thirty  concubines  ;  and  he  had  born  to  hin»  twenty-eight  sons  and  threescore 
daughters;  but  he  a|)pointed  Ahijah,  whom  ho  had  by  Maachah,  to  be  his  suc- 
cessor in  the  kingdom ;  and  entrusted  him  already  with  the  treasures  and  the 
strongest  cities. 

2.  Now  I  cannot  but  think,  that  the  greatness  of  a  kingdom,  and  its  change 
into  prosperity,  often  becomes  the  occasion  of  mischief  and  of  transgression  to 
men;  for  when  Rehoboam  saw  that  his  kingdom  was  so  much  increased,  he  went 
out  of  the  right  Avay,  unto  unrighteousness  and  irreligious  practices,  and  he  de- 
spised the  worship  of  God,  till  tlic  people  themselves  imitated  his  wicked  actions; 
for  so  it  usually  happens,  that  the  manners  of  subjects  are  corru])ted  at  (he  same 
time  with  those  of  their  governors,  which  subjects  then  lay  aside  their  own  sober 
■way  of  living,  as  a  reproof  of  their  governors'  intemperate  courses ;  and  follow 
their  wickedness,  as  if  it  were  virtue ;  for  it  is  not  possible  to  show  that  men  ap- 

*  How  much  a  larger  and  liettcr  copy  Joeppliiis  had  in  tliisremaikal)Ic  lii-tnry  of  the  true  prophet  of 
Judea,  and  his  concern  with  Jeroboam,  and  with  the  false  ])roplict  of  fn-ihel,  than  oiiroiher  copies  have, 
is  evident  at  fust  si!;ht.  Tiiis  prophet's  very  name,  JtiJojt,  or  as  tiie  ( 'oiisiitiitions  call  him,  AJonuis,  is 
wanting  in  ovir  other  copies ;  and  it  is  tiiere  witli  no  little  absurdity  said,  that  Cod  revealed  Jadoii  tiie  true 
prophet's  death,  not  to  Inmself,  as  here,  hut  to  the  false  prophet.  Whether  the  particular  account  of  the 
arguments  made  use  of,  after  all,  by  the  false  prophet  against  his  own  belief,  and  his  own  conscience,  in 
orricr  to  j)ersuade  Jeroboam  to  ))ersevere  in  his  idolatry  and  wickedness,  tlian  which  more  plausible  could 
not  be  invented,  was  intimated  in  Josephiis'scopy,  or  in  some  oilier  ancient  book,  cannot  now  be  deter- 
mined ;  our  oth^r  copies  say  not  one  word  of  it. 


28G  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIII. 

prove  of  the  aclions  of  their  kings,  unless  they  do  the  same  actions  with  them. 
Agreeably  whereto,  it  now  happened  to  the  subjects  of  Rehoboam;  for  whenhe  was 
grown  impious,  and  a  transgessor  himself,  they  endeavoured  not  to  otTend  him 
by  resolving  still  to  be  rigliteous.  But  God  sent  Shishak  king  of  Egypt  to  punish 
them  for  their  unjust  behaviour  towards  him;  concerning  whom  Herodotus  was 
mistaken,  and  applied  his  actions  to  Sesostris,  for  this  Shishak,*  in  the  fifth  year 
of  the  reign  of  Relioboam,made  an  expedition  [into  Judea]  with  many  ten  thousand 
men,  for  he  had  one  thousand  two  hundred  chariots  in  number  that  followed  him, 
and  threescore  thousand  horsemen,  and  four  hundred  thousand  footmen.  These 
he  brought  with  him,  and  they  were  the  greatest  part  of  them  Libyans  and 
Ethiopians.  Now,  therefore,  when  he  fell  upon  the  country  of  the  Hebrews,  he 
took  the  strongest  cities  of  Rehoboam's  kingdom  without  fighting ;  and  when  he 
had  put  garrisons   in  them,  he  came  last  of  all  to  Jerusalem. 

Now  when  Rehoboam,  and  the  multitude  with  him,  were  shut  up  in  Jerusalem 
by  the  means  of  the  army  of  Shishak,  and  when  they  besought  God  to  give  them 
victory  and  deliverance,  they  could  not  persuade  God  to  be  on  their  side.  But 
Shemaiah  the  prophet  told  them,  that  God  threatened  to  forsake  them,  as  they  had 
themselves  forsaken  his  \\  orship.  When  they  heard  this  they  Avere  immediately 
in  a  consternation  of  mind,  and  seeing  no  way  of  deliverance,  they  all  earnestly 
set  themselves  to  confess  that  God  might  justly  overlook  them,  since  they  had 
been  guilty  of  impiety  towards  him,  and  had  let  his  laws  lie  in  confusion.  So 
when  God  saw  them  in  that  disposition,  and  that  they  acknowledged  their  sins, 
he  told  the  prophet  he  would  not  destroy  them,  but  that  he  would  however  make 
them  servants  to  the  Egyptians,  that  they  may  learn  whether  they  will  suffer  less 
by  serving  men  or  God.  So  when  Shishak  had  taken  the  city  without  fighting, 
because  Rehoboam  was  afraid,  and  received  him  into  it,  yet  did  not  Shishak  stand 
to  the  covenants  he  had  made^  but  he  spoiled  the  temple,  and  emptied  the  trea- 
sures of  God,  and  those  of  the  king,  and  carried  off'innumerable  ten  thousands  of 
gold  and  silver,  and  left  nothing  at  all  behind  him.  He  also  took  away  the  buck- 
lers of  gold  and  the  shields  which  Solomon  the  king  had  made  ;  nay,  he  did  not 
leave  the  golden  quivers  w  hich  David  had  taken  from  the  king  of  Zobah,  and  had 
dedicated  to  God  ;  and  when  he  had  thus  done,  he  returned  to  his  own  kingdom. 
Now  Herodotus  of  Halicarnassus  mentions  this  expedition,  having  only  mistaken 
the  king's  name  ;  and  [in  saying  that]  he  made  war  upon  many  other  nations 
also,  and  brought  Syria  of  Palestine  into  subjection,  and  took  the  men  that  were 
therein  prisoners  without  fighting.  Now  it  is  manifest,  that  he  intended  to  de- 
clare that  our  nation  was  subdued  by  him  ;  for  he  saith,  that  "  he  left  behind  him 
pillars  in  the  land  of  those  that  delivered  themselves  up  to  him  without  fighting, 
and  engraved  upon  them  the  secret  parts  of  women."  Now  our  king  Rehoboam 
delivered  up  our  city  without  fighting.  He  says  witha],-j:  that  "  the  Ethiopians 
learned  to  circumcise  their  privy  parts  from  the  Egyptians,  with  this  addition,  that 
the  Phoenicians  and  Syrians  that  live  in  Palestine  confess  that  they  had  learned  it 
of  the  Egyptians."     Yet  is  it  evident  that  no  other  of  the  Syrians  that  live  in  Pa- 

*  That  this  Shishak  was  not  the  same  person  with  the  famous  Sesostris,  as  some  have  very  lately,  in 
contradiction  to  all  antiquity,  supposed,  and  that  our  Josephus  did  not  take  him  to  be  the  same  as  they 
pretend,  but  that  Sesostris  v/as  many  centuries  earlier  than  Shishak,  see  Authent.  Records,  part  ii. 
p.  1024. 

t  Herodotus,  as  here  quoted  by  Josephus,  and  as  this  passage  still  stands  in  his  present  copies  B.  ii. 
chap.  civ.  affirms,  that"  the  Pha'uicians  and  Syriansin  Palestine  [which  last  are  generally  supposed  to  denote 
the  Jews]  owned  their  receiving  circumcision  from  the  Egyptians  ;"  whereas  it  is  abundantly  evident,  that 
the  Jews  received  their  circumcision  from  the  patriarch  Abraham,  Gen.  xvii.  9. — 14,  John  vii.  22,  23,  as  I 
conclude  the  Eg}'ptian  priests  themselves  did  also.  It  is  not,  therefore,  very  unlikely  that  Herodotus,  be- 
cause the  Jews  had  lived  long  in  Egypt,  and  came  out  of  it  circumcised,  did  thereupon  think  they  had 
learned  that  circumcision  in  Egvpt,  and  had  it  not  before.  Manetho,  the  famous  Egvptian  chronologer 
and  historian,  who  knew  the  history  of  his  own  country  much  better  than  Herodotus,  complains  fre- 
quently of  his  mistakes  about  their  affairs,  as  does  Josephus  more  than  once  in  this  chapter  ;  nor  indeed 
does  Herodotus  seem  at  all  acquainted  with  the  affairs  of  the  Jews  ;  for  as  he  never  names  them,  so  little 
or  nothing  of  what  hesavs  about  them,  their  country,  or  maritime  cities,  two  of  which  he  alone  mentions, 
Cadystus  and  Jenysus,  proves  true ;  nor  indeed  do  there  appear  to  have  ever  been  any  such  cities  on 
their  coast. 


C.  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  287 

lestine  besides  us  alone  are  circumcised  ;  but  as  to  such  matters,  let  every  one 
speak  what  is  agreeable  to  liis  own  opinion. 

4.  Wiien  Shishak  was  gone  away,  king  Rehoboain  made  bucklers  and  shields  of 
brass,  instead  ot'those  of  ^old,  and  delivered  the  same  niunber  of  them  to  the  keepers 
of  the  king's  palace.  So,insteadof  warlike  expeditions,  and  that  glory  which  results 
from  those  public  actions,  he  reigned  in  great  quietness,  though  not  without  fear 
as  being  always  an  enemy  to  Jeroboam,  and  lie  (bed  when  lie  had  lived  lifiy. 
seven  years  and  reigned  seventeen.  He  was  in  his  disposition  a  proud  and  a 
foolish  man,  and  lost  [part  of]  his  dominion  by  not  hearkening  to  liis  father's 
friends.  He  was  buried  in  Jerusalem,  in  tlie  sepulchres  of  the  kings  ;  and  his 
son  Abijah  succeeded  him  in  tlie  kingdom,  and  tiiis  in  the  cigliteenth  year  of  Je- 
roboam's reign  over  the  ten  tribes;  and  tliis  was  tiie  conclusion  of  tliese  aflairs, 
It  must  be  now  our  business  to  relate  tlie  aflairs  of  Jeroboam,  and  liow  he  ended 
his  hfe  ;  for  he  ceased  not,  nor  rested  to  be  injurious  to  Cod,  but  every  day  raised 
up  altars  upon  liigh  mountains,  and  went  on  making  priests  out  of  the  multitude. 


CHAP.  XL 

Concerning  tlie  Dealli  of  a  Son  of  Jcrohoain's.     How  Jeroboam  was  heaten  by 

Abijah,  who  died  a  Utile  ofterward,  and  teas  succeeded  in  his  Kingdom  by  Asa. 

And  also  how,  after  the  Death  of  Jeroboam,  Baasha  destroyed  his 

Son  Nadah,  and  all  the  House  of  Jeroboam. 

§  1.  However,  God  was  in  no  long  time  ready  to  return  to  Jeroboam's  wicked 
actions  and  the  punishment  they  deserved  upon  his  own  iiead,  and  upon  the  heads 
of  all  his  house.  And  whereas  a  son  of  his  lay  sick  at  that  time,  who  was  called 
Abijah,  he  enjoined  his  wife  to  lay  aside  her  robes,  and  to  take  the  garments  be- 
longing  to  a  private  person,  and  to  go  to  Abijah  the  prophet,  for  that  he  was  a 
wonderful  man  in  foretelling  futurities,  it  having  been  he  who  told  me  that  I 
should  be  king.  He  also  enjoined  her,  when  she  came  to  him,  to  inquire  con- 
cerning the  child,  as  if  she  were  a  stranger,  whether  he  should  escape  this  dis- 
temper. So  she  did  as  her  husband  bade  her,  and  changed  her  habit,  and  came 
to  the  city  Shiloh,  for  there  did  Abijah  live.  And  as  she  was  going  into  liis 
house,  his  eyes  being  then  dim  with  age,  God  appeared  to  him,  and  informed  him 
of  two  things,  that  the  wife  of  Jeroboam  was  come  to  him,  and  what  answer  he 
should  make  to  her  inquiry.  Accordingly,  as  the  woman  was  coming  into  the 
house,  like  a  private  person  and  a  stranger,  he  cried  out,  "  Come  in,  O  ihou  wife 
of  Jeroboam !  Why  concealest  thou  tiiyself?  thou  art  not  concealed  from  (iod, 
who  hath  appeared  to  me,  and  informed  me  tluxt  thou  wast  coming,  and  hath  given 
me  in  command  what  I  shall  say  unto  thee."  So  he  said  that  "  She  should  go 
away  to  her  husband,  and  speak  to  him  thus  :  Since  I  made  thee  a  great  man 
when  thou  wast  little,  or  rather  wast  nutliiug,  and  rent  the  kingdom  from  tiie  house 
of  David,  and  gave  it  to  thee,  and  thou  hast  been  unmindlul  of  these  benelits, 
hast  left  oft"  my  worship,  hast  made  thee  molten  gods,  and  honoured  them,  I  will 
in  hke  manner  cast  thee  down  again,  and  will  destroy  all  thy  luiuse,  and  make 
them  food  for  the  dogs  and  the  fowls;  for  a  certain  king  is  rising  u|),  by  my  ap- 
pointment,  over  all  this  people,  who  shall  leave  none  of  the  family  of  Jenil)oam 
remaining.  The  multitude  also  shall  themselves  partake  of  the  same  punish- 
ment, and  shall  be  cast  out  of  this  good  land,  and  shall  be  scattered  into  the  places 
beyond  Euphrates,  because  they  have  followed  the  wicked  practices  of  their 
king,  and  have  worshiped  the  gods  that  he  made,  and  forsaken  niy  sacrifices. 
But  do  thou,  O  woman,  make  haste  back  to  thy  husbaml,  and  tell  him  this  mes- 
sage :  but  thou  shalt  then  find  thy  son  dead,  for  as  thou  enti-resl  the  city,  he 
shall  depart  this  life  ;  yet  shall  he  be  buried  with  the  lamentation  of  all  the  mul- 
titude, and  honoured  with  a  general  mourning,  fur  he  is  the  only  person  of  good- 


288  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIII. 

ness  of  Jeroboam's  family."  When  the  prophet  had  foretold  these  events,  the 
woman  went  hastily  away  with  a  disordered  mind,  and  greatly  grieved  at  the 
death  of  the  forenamed  child.  So  she  was  in  lamentation  as  she  went  along  the 
road,  and  mourned  for  the  death  of  her  son  that  was  just  at  hand.  She  was 
indeed  in  a  miserable  condition  at  the  unavoidable  misery  of  his  death,  and  went 
apace,  but  in  circumstances  very  unfortunate,  because  of  her  son  ;  for  the  greater 
haste  she  made,  she  would  the  sooner  see  her  son  dead,  yet  was  she  forced  to 
make  such  haste  on  account  of  her  husband.  Accordingly,  when  she  was  come 
back,  she  found  that  the  child  had  given  up  the  ghost,  as  the  prophet  had  said  ; 
and  she  related  all  the  circumstances  to  the  king. 

2.  Yet  did  not  Jeroboam  lay  any  of  these  things  to  heart,  but  he  brought  to- 
gether a  veiy  numerous  army,  and  made  a  warlike  expedition  against  Abijah  the 
son  of  Rehoboam,  who  had  succeeded  his  father  in  the  kingdomof  the  two  tribes, 
for  he  despised  him  because  of  his  age.  But  when  he  heard  of  the  expedition 
of  Jeroboam,  he  was  not  affrighted  at  it,  but  proved  of  a  courageous  temper  of 
mind,  superior  both  to  his  youth,  and  to  the  hopes  of  his  enemy ;  so  he  chose 
him  an  army  out  of  the  two  tribes,  and  met  Jeroboam  at  a  place  called  Mount 
Zemariam,  and  pitched  his  camp,  near  the  others,  and  prepared  every  thing  ne- 
cessary for  the  fight.  His  army  consisted  of  four  hundred  thousand,  but  the 
army  of  Jeroboam  was  double  to  it.  Now,  as  the  armies  stood  in  array  ready 
for  action  .and  dangers,  and  were  just  going  to  fight,  Abijah  stood  upon  an  eleva- 
ted place,  and  beckoning  with  his  hand,  he  desired  the  multitude  and  Jeroboam 
himself  to  hear  first  with  silence  what  he  had  to  say.  And  when  silence  was 
made,  he  began  to  speak,  and  told  them,  "  God  had  consented  that  David  and 
his  posterity  should  be  their  rulers  for  all  time  to  come,  and  this  you  yourselves 
are  not  unacquainted  with  ;  but  I  cannot  but  wonder  how  you  should  forsake  my 
father,  and  join  yourselves  to  his  servant  Jeroboam,  and  are  now  here  with  him 
to  fight  against  those  who  by  God's  own  determination  are  to  reign,  and  to  de- 
prive them  of  that  dominion  which  they  have  still  retained,  for  as  to  the  greater 
part  of  it  Jeroboam  is  unjustly  in  possession  of  it.  However,  I  do  not  suppose 
he  will  enjoy  it  any  longer,  but  when  he  hath  suffered  that  punishment  which 
God  thinks  due  to  him  for  what  is  past,  he  will  leave  off  the  transgression  he  hath 
been  guilty  of,  and  the  injuries  he  hath  offered  to  him,  and  which  he  hath  still 
continued  to  offer,  and  hath  persuaded  you  to  do  the  same ;  yet  when  you  were 
not  any  further  unjustly  treated  by  my  father,  than  that  he  did  not  speak  to  you 
so  as  to  please  you,  and  this  only  in  compliance  with  the  advice  of  wicked  men, 
you  in  anger  forsook  him,  as  you  pretended,  but,  in  reality,  you  withdrew  your- 
selves from  God  and  from  his  laws,  although  it  would  have  been  right  for  you  to 
have  forgiven  a  man  that  was  young  in  age  and  not  used  to  govern  people,  not 
only  some  disagreeable  words,  but  if  his  youth  and  his  unskilfulness  in  affairs 
had  led  him  into  some  unfortunate  actions,  and  that  for  the  sake  of  his  father 
Solomon,  and  the  benefits  you  received  from  him  ;  for  men  ought  to  excuse  the 
sins  of  posterity  on  account  of  the  benefactions  of  parents  ;  but  you  consider 
nothing  of  all  this  then,  neither  do  you  consider  it  now,  but  come  with  so  great 
ai,i  army  against  us.  And  what  is  that  you  depend  upon  for  victory  ?  Is  it  upon 
tb.cse  golden  heifers  and  the  altars  that  you  have  on  high  places,  which  are  de- 
monstrations of  your  impiety,  and  not  of  religious  worship  ?  Or  is  it  the  exceeding 
mvdtitude  of  your  arm)'  which  gives  you  such  good  hopes  ?  Yet  certainly  there 
is  no  strength  at  all  in  an  army  of  many  ten  thousands,  when  the  war  is  unjust ; 
for  we  ought  to  place  our  surest  hope  of  success  against  our  enemies  in  righteous- 
ness alone,  and  in  piety  towards  God  ;  which  hope  we  justly  have,  since  we  have 
kept  the  laws  from  the  beginning,  and  have  worshiped  our  own  God,  who  was  not 
made  by  hands  out  of  corruptible  matter,  nor  was  he  formed  by  a  wicked  king, 
in  order  to  deceive  the  multitude,  but  who  is  his  own  workmanship,*  and  the  be- 

*  This  is  a  stran;;e  expression  in  Joscphiis,  that  God  is  /lis  mtm  workmanship,  or  that  he  made  himself, 
contrary  to  common  sense,  and  to  Catholic  Christianity.  Perhaps  he  only  means  that  lie  was  made  by 
none,  but  was  unoriginaled. 


C.  XII.  ANTiQUiT:i:s  OF  THE  JEWS.  289 

ginning  and  end  of  all  things.  I  therefore  give  you  counsel  even  now  to  repent, 
and  to  take  better  advice,  and  leave  otf  the  prosecution  of  the  war  •  to  call  to 
mind  the  laws  of  your  country,  and  to  reilect  uliat  it  liulh  hccnthat  hath  advanced 
you  to  so  happy  a  state  as  you  are  now  in." 

3.  Tins  was  the  speech  wiiich  Abijah  made  to  tlie  multitude.  But  while  he 
was  still  speaking,  Jeroboam  sent  some  of  his  soldiers  privately  to  encompass 
Abijah  round  about,  on  certain  parts  of  the  camp  that  were  not  taken  notice  of; 
and  when  he  was  thus  within  the  compass  of  the  enemy,  his  armv  was  aflrighted, 
and  their  courage  failed  them  ;  but  Abijah  encouraged  them,  and  exhorted  them 
to  place  their  hopes  on  God,  for  tliat  he  was  not  encompassed  by  the  enemy.  So 
they  all  at  once  implored  the  divine  assistance,  while  the  priests  sounded  with 
the  trumpets,  and  they  made  a  shout,  and  fell  upon  their  enemies,  and  God  brake 

■  the  courage,  and  cast  down  the  force  of  their  enemies,  and  made  Abijah'sarmy 
superior  to  them  ;  for  God  vouchsafed  to  grant  them  a  wonderful  and  very  famous 
victory  ;  and  such  a  slaughter*  was  now  made  of  Jeroboam's  army  as  is  never 
recorded  to  have  happened  in  any  other  war,  whether  it  were  of  the  Greeks  or  of 
the  Barbarians,  for  they  overthrew  [and  slew]  five  hundred  thousand  of  their 
enemies,  and  they  took  their  strongest  cities  by  force,  and  spoiled  them ;  and 
besides  those,  they  did  the  same  to  Bethel  and  her  towns,  and  Jeshanah  and  her 
towns.  And  after  this  defeat  Jeroboam  never  recovered  himself  during  the  life 
of  Abijah,  who  yet  did  not  long  survive,  for  he  reigned  but  three  years,  and  was 
buried  in  Jerusalem,  in  the  sepulchres  of  his  forefathers.  He  left  behind  him 
twenty-two  sons  and  sixteen  daughters  ;  and  he  had  also  those  children  by  four- 
teen wives  ;  and  Asa  his  son  succeeded  in  the  kingdom  ;  and  the  young  man's 
mother  v.^as  Michaiah.  Under  his  reign  the  country  of  the  Israelites  enjoyed 
peace  for  ten  years. 

4.  And  so  far  concerning  Abijah,  the  son  of  Rehoboam,  the  son  of  Solomon, 
as  his  history  hath  come  down  to  us  ;  but  Jeroboam,  the  king  of  the  ten  tribes, 
died  when  he  had  governed  them  two  and  twenty  years ;  whose  son  Nadab  suc- 
ceeded him,  in  the  second  year  of  the  reign  of  Asa.  New  Jeroboam's  son 
governed  two  years  and  resembled  his  father  in  impiety  and  wickedness.  In 
these  two  years  he  made  an  expedition  against  Gibbethon,  a  city  of  the  Phi- 
listines, and  continued  the  siege  in  order  to  take  it ;  but  he  was  conspired  against 
while  he  was  there  by  a  friend  of  his,  wliose  name  was  Baasha,  the  son  of  Abijah, 
and  was  slain  ;  which  Baasha  took  the  kingdom  after  the  other's  death,  and  de- 
stroyed the  whole  house  of  Jeroboam.  It  also  came  to  pass,  according  as  God 
had  toretold,  that  some  of  Jeroboam's  kuidred  that  died  in  the  city  were  torn  to 
pieces  and  devoured  by  dogs,  and  that  others  of  them  that  died  in  the  fields  were 
torn  and  devoured  by  the  fowls.  So  the  house  of  Jeroboam  suflcred  the  just 
punishment  of  his  impiety  and  of  his  wicked  actions. 


CHAP.  XII. 

HoiP  Zerah,  King  of  the  Ethiopians,  was  beaten  hy  Asa ;  and  how  Asa  upon 

Baasha" s  making  War  against  him,  invited  the  King  of  Damasccns  to 

assist  him  ;  and  how,  on  the  Destruction  of  the  House  of  Baasha, 

Zimri  got  the  Kingdom,  as  did  his  So7i  Ahab  after  him. 

§  1.  Now  Asa,  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  was  of  an  excellent  character,  and  had  a 
regard  to  God,  and  neither  did  nor  designed  any  thing  but  what  had  relation  to 
the  observation  of  the  laws.     He  made  a  reformation  of  his  kingdom,  and  cutolf 

*  By  this  terrible  and  perfectly  unparalleled  slaughter  of  five  hundred  thousand  men  of  the  newly 
idolatrous  and  rebellious  ten  tribes,  God's  high  displeasure  and  indignation  against  that  idolatry  and  re- 
bellion fully  appeared  ;  the  remainder  were  thereby  seriously  cautioned  not  to  persist  in  ihem,  and  a  kind 
of  balance  or  equilibrium  was  made  between  the  ten  and  the  two  tribesfor  the  time  to  come  ;  while  oiher- 

VOL  I.  20 


ggg  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEtVS.  B.  VHL 

whatsoever  was  wicked  therein,  and  purified  it  from  every  impurity.  Now  be 
had  an  armvof  chosen  men  that  were  armed  witii  targets  and  spears  ;  out  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah  three  hundred  thousand,  and  out  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  that 
bore  shields  and  drew  bows,  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  But  when  he  had 
already  reigned  ten  years,  Zerah,  king  of  Ethiopia,*  made  an  expedition  against 
him  with  a  great  army  of  nine  hundred  thousand  footmen,  and  one  hundred  thou- 
sand horsemen,  and  three  hundred  chariots,  and  came  as  far  as  Mareshah,  a  city 
that  belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Judah.  Now  when  Zerah  had  passed  so  far  with 
his  own  army,  Asa  met  him,  and  put  his  army  in  array  over  against  him  in  a  val- 
ley called  Zephathah,  not  far  from  the  city  ;  and  when  he  saw  the  multitude  of  the 
Ethiopians,  he  cried  out,  and  besought  God  to  give  them  the  victory,  and  that  he 
might  kill  many  ten  thousands  of  the  enemy.  "  For,"  said  he,  "  I  depend  on 
nothing  else  but  that  assistance  which  I  expect  from  thee,  which  is  able  to  make 
the  fewer  superior  to  the  more  numerous,  and  the  w  eaker  to  the  stronger ;  and 
thence  it  is  alone  that  I  venture  to  meet  Zerah,  and  fight  hirn." 

2.  While  Asa  was  saying  this,  God  gave  him  a  signal  of  victory,  and  joining 
battle  cheerfully  on  account  of  what  God  had  foretold  about  it,  he  slew  a  great 
many  of  the  Ethiopians  ;  and  when  he  had  put  them  to  flight,  he  pursued  them 
to  the  country  of  Gerar  :  and  when  they  had  left  off  killing  their  enemies,  they 
betook  themselves  to  spoiling  them  (for  the  city  of  Gerar  was  already  taken,)  and 
to  spoiling  their  camp,  so  that  they  carried  off  much  gold  and  much  silver,  and 
a  great  deal  of  [other]  prey,  and  camels,  and  great  cattle,  and  flocks  of  sheep. 
Accordingly  when  Asa  and  his  army  had  obtained  such  a  victory,  and  such  wealth 
from  God,  they  returned  to  Jerusalem.  Now  as  they  were  coming,  a  prophet 
whose  name  was  Azariah  met  them  on  the  road,  and  bade  them  stop  their  jour- 
ney a  little  ;  and  began  to  say  to  them  thus  :  "  That  the  reason  why  they  had  ob- 
tained this  victory  from  God  was  this,  that  they  had  showed  themselves  jighteous 
and  religious  men,  and  had  done  every  thing  according  to  the  will  of  God  :  that 
therefore,  he  said,  if  they  persevered  therein,  God  Avould  grant  that  they  should 
always  overcome  their  enemies,  and  live  happily ;  but  that,  if  they  left  off  his 
worship,  all  things  shall  fall  out  on  the  contrary  ;  and  a  timef  should  come,  Avhere- 
in  no  true  prophet  shall  be  left  in  your  whole  multitude,  nor  a  priest  who  shall 
deliver  you  a  true  answer  from  the  oracle ;  but  your  cities  shall  be  overthrown, 
and  your  nation  scattered  over  the  whole  earth,  and  live  the  life  of  strangers  and 
wanderers."  So  he  advised  them,  while  they  had  time,  to  be  good,  and  not  to 
deprive  themselves  of  the  favour  of  God.  When  the  king  and  the  people  heard 
this,  they  rejoiced ;  and  all  in  common,  and  every  one  in  particular,  took  great 
care  to  behave  themselves  righteously.  The  king  also  sent  some  to  take  care 
that  those  in  the  country  should  observe  the  laws  also. 

3.  And  this  was  the  state  of  Asa,  king  of  the  two  tribes.  I  now  return  to  Baa- 
sha,  the  king  of  the  multitude  of  the  Israelites  who  slew  Nadab,  the  son  of  Je- 
roboam, and  retained  the  government.  lie  dwelt  in  the  city  Tirzah,  having  made 
that  his  habitation,  and  reigned  twenty-four  years.  He  became  more  wicked  and 
impious  than  Jeroboam  or  his  son.  He  did  a  great  deal  of  mischief  to  he  mul- 
titude, and  was  injurious  to  God,  who  sent  the  prophet  Jehu,  and  told  him  before- 
hand, that  "his  whole  family  should  be  destroyed,  and  that  he  would  bring  the 
same  miseries  on  his  house  which  had  brought  that  of  Jeroboam  to  ruin  ;  because, 
when  he  had  been  made  king  by  him,  he  had  not  requited  his  kindness  by  gover- 
ning  the  multitude  righteously  and  religiously  ;  which  things,  in  the  first  place, 
tended  to  their  own  happiness,  and  in  the  next  place  were  pleasing  to  God;  that 
he  had  imitated  this  very  wicked  king,  Jeroboam  :  and  although  that  man's  soul 

wise  the  perpetually  idolatrous  and  rebellious  ten  tribes  would  naturally  have  been  too  povvcrful  for  the 
two  tribes,  which  were  pretty  frequently  free  both  from  such  idolatry  iuid  rebellion,  rs'o-r  is  there  any 
reason  to  doubt  of  the  trutli  of  this  prodigious  number  slain  upon  so  signal  an  occasion. 

*  The  reader  is  to  remember  that  Cush  is  not  Ethiopia,  but  Arabia.     See  Bochart,  B.  iv.  chap.  ii. 

+  Here  is  a  very  great  error  in  our  Hebrew  copy  in  this  place,  2Chron.  xvi.  3—6,  as  applying  what 
follows  to  times  past,  and  not  to  times  future ;  whence  that  text  is  quite  misapplied  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton. 


C.  XH.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  291 

had  perished,  yet  did  he  express  to  the  last  his  wickedness;  and  he  said,  that  he 
should  therefore  justly  experience  the  like  calamity  with  ium,  since  he  had  heen 
guilty  of  the  like  wickedness."  But  Baasha,  though  he  heard  beforehand  what 
miseries  would  befall  him  and  his  whole  family  for  their  insolent  beliaviour,  vet 
did  no-t  he  leave  off  his  wicked  practices  for  the  time  to  come,  nor  did  he  care  to 
appear  to  be  other  than  worse  and  worse  till  he  died;  nor  did  he  then  repent  of 
his  past  actions,  nor  endeavour  to  obtain  pardon  of  God  for  them,  but  did  as  those 
do  who  have  rewards  proposed  to  them  when  they  have  once  in  earnest  set  about 
their  work,  they  do  not  leave  oil  their  labours  ;  tor  thus  did  Baasha,  wlicn  the 
prophet  foretold  to  him  what  would  come  to  pass,  grow  worse,  as  if  what  were 
threatened,  the  perdition  of  liis  family  and  the  destruction  of  his  hoiLse  (which 
are  really  among  the  greatest  of  evils,)  were  good  things;  and  as  if  lie  were  a 
combatant  for  wickedness,  he  every  day  took  more  and  more  pains  for  it ;  and  at 
last  he  took  his  army,  and  assaulted  a  certain  considerable  city  called  Ramah, 
which  was  forty  furlongs  distant  from  Jerusalem  ;  and  when  he  had  taken  it,  he 
fortified  it,  having  determined  beforehand  to  leave  a  garrison  in  it,  that  they 
might  thence  make  excursions  and  do  mischief  to  the  kingdom  of  Asa. 

4.  Whereupon  Asa  was  afraid  of  the  attempts  the  enemy  might  make  upou 
him,  and  considering  with  himself,  how  many  mischiefs  this  army  that  was  left 
in  Ramah  might  do  to  the  country  over  which  he  reigned,  he  sent  ambassadors 
to  the  king  of  the  Damascens,  with  gold  and  silver,  desiring  his  assistance,  and 
putting  him  in  mind  that  we  have  had  a  friendship  together  from  the  times  of  our 
forefathers.  So  he  gladly  received  the  sum  of  money,  and  made  a  league  with 
him,  and  broke  the  friendship  he  had  with  Baasha,  and  sent  the  commanders  of 
his  own  forces  into  the  cities  that  were  under  Baasha's  dominion,  and  ordered 
them  to  do  them  mischief.  So  they  went  and  burnt  some  of  them,  and  spoiled 
others,  Ijon,  and  Dan,  and  Abelmain,*  and  many  others.  Now  when  the  king 
of  Israel  heard  this,  he  left  off  building  and  fortifying  Ramah,  and  returned  pre- 
sently to  assist  his  own  people  under  the  distresses  they  were  in  ;  but  Asa  made 
use  of  the  materials  that  were  prepared  for  building  that  city,  for  building  in  the 
same  place  two  strong  cities,  the  one  of  which  was  called  Gebah,  and  the  other 
Mispah  ;  so  that  after  this  Baasha  had  no  leisure  to  make  expeditions  against  Asa, 
for  he  was  prevented  by  death,  and  was  buried  in  the  city  Tirzah  ;  and  Elah  his 
son  took  the  kingdom,  who,  when  he  had  reigned  two  years,  died,  being  treach- 
erously  slain  by  Zimri,  the  captain  of  half  his  army;  for  when  he  was  at  Arza, 
his  steward's  house,  he  persuaded  some  of  the  horsemen  that  were  under  him  to 
assault  Elah,  and  by  that  means  he  slew  him,  when  he  was  without  his  armed 
men  and  his  captains,  for  they  were  all  busied  in  the  siege  of  Gibbethon,  a  city 
of  the  Philistines. 

5.  When  Zimri,  the  captain  of  the  army,  had  killed  Elah,  he  took  the  king, 
dom  himself,  and  according  to  Jehu's  prophecy,  slew  all  the  house  of  Baasha  ; 
for  it  came  to  pass  that  Baasha's  house  utterly  perished,  on  account  of  his  impie- 
ty, in  the  same  manner  as  we  have  already  described  the  destruction  of  the  house 
of  Jeroboam.  But  the  army  that  was  besieging  Gibbethon,  when  they  heard 
what  had  befallen  the  king,  and  that  when  Zimri  had  killed  him,  he  had  gained 
the  kingdom,  he  made  Omri,  their  general,  king,  who  drew  otl"  his  army  from 
Gibbethon,  and  came  to  Tirzah,  where  the  royal  palace  was,  and  assaulted  the 
city,  and  took  it  by  force.  But  when  Zimri  saw  that  the  city  had  none  to  defend 
it,  he  fled  into  the  inmost  part  of  the  palace,  and  set  it  on  fire,  and  burnt  himself 

*  This  Abelmain,  or,  in  Joscpliiis'scopv,  Ahel'.are,  tliat  l)elonse(l  to  the  land  of  Israrl.  ami  honlcred 
on  the  country  of  Damascus,  is  supposed  both  br  Hudson  and  Spanlieim  to  be  the  same  with  Abel  or  Abila, 
wlience  came  Abilene.  This  )nav  be  that  city'so  denominated  from  Abel  the  ri-hicnus,  there  Imried,  con- 
cerning the  slip,ddin?of  wliosc  Ijlood  within  the  compassof  the  land  of  Israel,  I  understand  our  Saviour  s 
words  about  the  fatal  war  and  overthrow  of  Judea  by  Titus  and  his  Roman  armv,  "  I  hat  upon  you  may 
come  all  the  righteous  blood  shed  upon  the  land,  from  the  blood  of  righteous  Abel  to  the  blood  of  Zacha- 
rias,  son  of  Barachias,  whom  ye  slew  between  the  temple  and  the  altar.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  all  theso 
things  shall  come  upon  this  generation."    Matt,  xxiii.  35,  36 ;  Luke,  xi.  51. 


292  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Vlll. 

with  it,  when  he  had  reigned  only  seven  days.  Upon  which  the  people  of  Israel 
were  presently  divided,  and  part  of  them  would  have  Tibni  to  be  king,  and  part 
Omri ;  but  when  those  that  were  for  Omri's  ruling  had  beaten  Tibni,  Omri 
reigned  over  all  the  multitude.  Now  it  was  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  the  reign  of 
Asa,  that  Omri  reigned  for  twelve  years  ;  six  of  these  years  he  reigned  in  the 
city  Tirzah,  and  the  rest  in  the  city  called  Semareon,  but  named  by  tlie  Greeks 
Samaria  ;  but  he  himself  called  it  Semareon,  from  Semer,  who  sold  him  tlie  moun- 
tain where  he  built  it.  Now  Omri  was  no  way  diflerent  from  those  kings  that 
reigned  before  him,  but  that  he  grew  worse  than  they,  for  they  all  souglit  how 
they  might  turn  the  people  away  from  God,  by  their  daily  wicked  practices  ;  and 
on  that  account  it  was  that  God  made  one  of  them  to  be  slain  by  another,  and 
that  no  one  person  of  their  families  should  I'emain.  This  Omri  also  died  at  Sa- 
maria, and  Ahab  his  son  succeeded  him. 

6.  Now  by  these  events  we  may  learn  what  concern  God  hath  for  the  affairs 
of  mankind,  and  how  he  loves  good  men  and  hates  the  wicked,  and  destroys  Ihem 
root  and  branch  ;  for  many  of  these  kings  of  Israel,  they  and  their  families  were 
miserably  destroyed,  and  taken  away  one  by  another,  in  a  short  time,  for  their 
transgression  and  wickedness  :  but  Asa,  who  was  king  of  Jerusalem,  and  of  the 
two  tribes,  attained,  by  God's  blessing,  a  long  and  a  blessed  old  age,  for  his  piety 
and  righteousness,  and  died  happil)^  when  he  had  reigned  forty  and  one  years  ; 
and  when  he  was  dead,  his  son  Jehoshaphat  succeeded  him  in  the  government. 
He  was  born  of  Asa's  wife  Azubah.  And  all  men  allowed  that  he  followed  the 
works  of  David  his  forefather,  and  this  both  in  courage  and  piety  ;  but  we  are  not 
obliged  now  to  speak  any  more  of  the  affairs  of  this  king. 


CHAP.  xni. 

How  Ahab,  when  he  had  taken  Jezebel  to  Wife,  became  more  loiclced  tlian  all 

the  Kings  that  had  been  before  him.     Of  the  Actions  of  the  Prophet 

Elijah,  and  what  befell  Naboth. 

§  1.  Now  Ahab,  the  king  of  Israel,  dwelt  in  Samaria,  and  held  the  govern 
ment  for  twenty-two  years ;  and  made  no  alteration  in  the  conduct  of  the  kings 
that  Avere  his  predecessors,  but  only  in  sucii  things  as  were  of  his  own  invention 
for  the  worse,  and  in  his  most  gross  wickedness.  He  imitated  them  in  their 
wicked  courses,  and  in  their  injurious  behaviour  towards  God,  and  most  especially 
he  imitated  the  transgression  of  Jeroboam ;  for  he  worshiped  the  heifers  that  he 
had  made  ;  and  he  contrived  other  absurd  objects  of  worship  besides  those  hei- 
fers ;  he  also  took  to  wife  the  daughter  of  Ethbaal,  king  of  the  Tyrians  and  Si- 
donians,  whose  name  was  Jezebel,  of  whom  he  learned  to  worship  her  own  gods. 
This  woman  was  active  and  bold,  and  fell  into  so  great  a  degree  of  impurity  and 
madness,  that  she  built  a  temple  to  tlie  god  of  the  Tyrians,  Avhich  they  call  Belus, 
and  planted  a  grove  of  all  sorts  of  trees ;  she  also  appointed  priests  and  false 
prophets  to  this  god.  The  king  also  himself  had  many  such  about  him,  and  so 
exceeded  in  madness  and  Avickedness  all  [the  kings]  that  went  before  him. 

2.  There  was  now  a  prophet  of  God  Almighty,  of  Thesbon,  a  country  in 
Gilead,  that  came  to  Ahab,  and  said  fo  him,  that  "  God  foretold  he  would  not 
send  rain  nor  dew  in  those  years  upon  the  country  but  when  he  should  appear." 
And  when  he  had  confirmed  this  by  an  oath,  he  departed  into  the  southern  parts, 
and  made  his  abode  by  a  brook,  out  of  which  he  had  water  to  drink ;  for  as  for 
his  food,  ravens  brought  it  to  him  every  day ;  but  when  that  river  was  dried  up 
for  want  of  rain,  he  came  to  Zarepath,  a  city  not  far  from  Sidon  and  Tyre,  for  it 
lay  between  them,  and  this  at  the  command  of  God,  for  [God  told  him]  that  he 
should  there  fin^a  woman  who  was  a  widow,  that  should  give  him  sustenance. 


C.  Xm.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


293 


So  when  he  was  not  liir  off  the  city,  he  saw  a  woman  that  laboured  with  her  own 
hands,  gathering  of  sticks  ;  so  Ciod  informed  him  that  this  was  tlic  woman  who 
Avas  to  give  him  sustenance;  so  he  came  and  saluted  her,  and  desired  her  to  brino- 
him  some  water  to  drink  ;   but  as  she  was  going  so  to  do,  he  called  to  her,  and 
would  have  her  bring  him  a  loaf  of  bread  also;  wliereiipon  she  affirmed  upon 
oath,  that  she  had  at  home  nothing  more  than  one  handliil  of  meal,  and  a  little 
oil,  and  that  she  was  going  to  gather  some   sticks,  that  siie   might  knead  it,  and 
make  bread  for  herself  and  her  son:  after  which,  she  said,  they  must  perish,  and 
be  consumed  by  the   famine,  for  they  had   nothing  for  themselves  any  lonc^er. 
Hereupon  he  said,  "  Go  on  with  good  courage,  and  hope  ibr  better  things ;  and 
first  of  all  make  me  a  little  cake,  and  brmg  it  to  me,  for  1  foretell  to  thee  that  this 
vessel  of  meal  and  this  cruise  of  oil  shall  not  fail  until  God  send  rain."     A\'hen 
the  prophet  had  said  this,  she   came  to   him,  and  made   him  the  before   named 
cakes ;  of  which  she  had  part  for  herself,  and  gave  the  rest  to  her  son,  and  to  the 
prophet  also  ;  nor  did   any  thing  of  this  fail  until  the  drought  ceased.     JN'ow 
Menander  mentions  this  drought  in  his  account  of  the  acts  of  Ethbaaj,  kin^f  of 
the  Tyrians,  where  he  says  thus  :   "  Under  him  there  was  a  want  of  rain  from  the 
month  of  Hyperberetaeus  till  the  month   Ilyperberetajus  in  the  ye-ar  following ; 
but  when  he  made  supplications,  there  came  great  thunders.     This  Ethbaal  built 
the  city  Botrys  in  Phoenicia,  and  the  city  Auza  in  Libya."     By  these  words  he 
designed  this  want  of  rain  that  was  in  the  days  of  Ahab,  for  at  that  time  it  "fas 
that  Ethbaal  also  reigned  over  the  Tyrians,  as  Menander  informs  us. 

3.  Now  this  woman,  of  whom  we  spake  before,  that  sustained  the  prophet, 
when  her  son  was  fallen  into  a  distemper  till  he  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  appeared 
to  be  dead,  came  to  the  prophet  weeping,  and  beating  her  breast  with  her  hands, 
and  sending  out  such  expre-ssions  as  her  passions  dictated  to  her,  and  complained 
to  him,  that  he  had  come  to  her  to  reproach  her  for  her  sins,  and  that  on  this  ac- 
count it  was  that  her  son  was  dead.  But  he  bid  her  be  of  good  cheer,  and  de- 
liver her  son  to  him,  for  that  he  would  deliver  him  again  to  her  alive.  So  when 
she  had  dclivei'ed  her  son  up  to  him,  he  carried  him  into  an  upper  room,  where  he 
himself  lodged,  and  laid  him  down  upon  the  bed,  and  cried  unto  God,  and  said, 
that  "God  liad  not  done  well  in  rewarding  the  woman  who  liad  entertained  him, 
and  sustained  him,  by  taldng  away  her  son;  and  he  prayed  that  he  would  send 
again  the  soul  of  the  child  into  him,  and  bring  him  to  life  again."  Accordingly 
God  took  pity  on  the  mother,  and  was  willing  to  gratify  the  pro])het,  that  he  might 
not  seem  to  have  come  to  her  to  do  her  a  mischief;  and  the  child,  beyond  all  ex- 
pectation, came  to  life  again.  So  the  mother  returned  the  prophet  thanks,  and 
said,  she  was  then  clearly  satisfied  that  God  did  converse  with  him. 

4.  After  a  little  while*  Elijah  came  to  king  Ahab,  according  to  God's  will,  to 
inform  him  that  rain  was  coming.  Now  the  famine  had  seized  upon  the  whole 
country,  and  there  was  a  great  want  of  what  was  necessary  for  sustenance,  inso. 
much  that  it  was  not  only  men  that  wanted  it,  but  the  earth  itself  also,  which  did 
not  produce  enough  for  the  horses  and  the  other  beasts,  of  Avhat  was  useful  for 
them  to  feed  on,  by  reason  of  the  drought.  So  the  king  called  for  Obadiali,  who 
was  steward  over  his  cattle,  and  said  to  him,  that  "he  would  have  him  go  to  iho 
fountains  of  water,  and  to  the  brooks,  that  if  any  herbs  could  be  found  for  Ihcm, 
they  might  mow  it  down,  and  reserve  it  lor  the  beasts."  And  when  he  had  sent 
persons  over  all  the  habitable  earth,|  to  discover  the  prophet  Elijah,  and  they 

*  Josephus,  in  his  present  copies,  says,  that  a  Utile  luhile  after  tlie  recovery  of  the  widow's  son  of 
Screpta,  God  sent  rain  upon  the  earth ;  whereas,  in  our  other  copies,  it  is  ofier  many  J<iv.?,  1  Kings, 
xviii.  1.  Several  years  are  also  intimated  there,  and  in  .Fosephus,  sect.  2,  as  helonRiiii;  to  tins  drought 
and  famine;  iiav,  we  have  the  express  mention  of  the  third  yen  r,  wliich  1  suppo.-e  was  reckoned  from 
the  recovery  of  the  widow's  son,  and  the  ceasing  of  tliis  drought  in  Pliuniicia  which,  (as  Menander  in- 
forms us  hero)  lasted  one  whole  year.  And  both  our  .S^viour  and  St.  James  adnni,  that  this  drought 
lasted  in  all  three  years  and  six  months,  as  their  copies  of  the  Old  Testament  then  iiifonned  ihcm,  Luke, 
jv.  2j;  James,  v.  17.  ,        ,  ,      ,i  ,i 

f  Josephus  here  seems  to  mean,  that  this  drought  affected  all  the  habitable  earth,  and  i)respntly  a//  the 
earth,  as  our  Saviour  says  it  was  upon  all  the  earth,  lAike,  iv.  2.'j.  They  who  rcsl^in  these  e-xpressioiis 
to  the  landof  Judia  alone  go  without  sufficient  authority  or  examples. 


294  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIII. 

could  not  find  him,  he  bid  Obadiah  accompany  him.  So  it  was  resolved  they 
should  make  a  progress,  and  divide  the  ways  between  them,  and  Obadiah  took  one 
road,  and  the  king  another.  Now  it  happened,  that  the  same  time  when  queen 
Jezebel  slew  the  prophets,  that  this  Obadiah  had  hidden  a  hundred  prophets,  and 
had  fed  them  with  nothing  but  bread  and  water.  But  when  Obadiah  was  alone, 
and  absent  fi'om  the  king,  the  prophet  Elijah  met  him ;  and  Obadiah  asked  him 
who  he  was ;  and  when  he  had  learned  it  from  him,  he  worshiped  him.  Elijah 
then  bid  him  go  to  the  king,  and  tell  him  that  I  am  here  ready  to  wait  on  liim. 
But  Obadiah  replied,  "What  evil  have  I  done  to  thee,  that  thou  sendest  me  to  one 
Avho  seekest  to  kill  thee,  and  hath  sought  over  all  the  earth  for  thee  ?  Or  was  he 
bo  ignorant  as  not  to  know  that  the  king  had  left  no  place  untouclied  unto  which 
he  had  not  sent  persons  to  bring  him  back,  in  order,  if  they  could  take  him,  to 
have  him  put  to  death?"  For  he  told  him  he  was  afraid  lest  God  should  appear 
to  him  again,  and  he  should  go  away  into  another  place,  and  that  when  the  king 
should  send  him  for  Elijah,  and  he  should  miss  of  him,  and  not  be  able  to  find 
him  any  where  upon  earth,  h&  should  be  put  to  death.  He  desired  him,  there- 
fore, to  take  care  of  his  preservation;,  and  told  him  how  diligently  he  had  pro 
vided  for  those  of  his  own  profession,  and  had  saved  a  hundred  prophets,  when 
Jezebel  slew  the  rest  of  them,  and  had  kept  them  concealed,  and  that  they  had 
been  sustained  by  him.  But  Elijah  bid  him  fear  nothing,  but  go  to  the  king;  and 
he-Ussured  him  upon  oath,  that  he  would  certainly  show  himself  to  Ahab  that 
very  day. 

5.  So  when  Obadiah  had  informed  the  king  that  Elijah  was  there,  Ahab  met 
him,  and  asked  him  in  anger,  "If  he  were  the  man  that  afflicted  the  people  of 
the  Hebrews,  and  was  the  occasion  of  the  drought  they  lay  under  ?"  But  Elijah, 
without  any  flattery,  said,  that  "  he  was  himself  the  man,  he  and  his  house,  Avhich 
brought  such  sad  afflictions  upon  them,  and  that  by  introducing  strange  gods  into 
tlieir  country  and  worshiping  them,  and  by  leaving  their  own,  who  was  the  only 
true  God,  and  having  no  manner  of  regard  to  him."  However,  he  made  him  go 
bis  way,  and  gather  together  all  the  people  to  him,  to  Mount  Carmel,  with  his 
own  prophets,  and  those  of  his  wife's,  telling  him  how  many  there  were  of  them, 
as  also  the  prophets  of  the  groves,  about  four  hundred  in  number.  And  as  all 
the  men  whom  Ahab  sent  for  ran  away  to  the  forenamed  mountain,  the  prophet 
Elijah  stood  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  said,  "  How  long  will  you  live  thus  in  un- 
certainty of  mind  and  opinion  ?"  He  also  exhorted  them,  that  in  case  they  es- 
teemed their  ov/n  country  God  to  be  the  true  and  the  only  God,  they  would  follow 
him  and  his  commandments  ;  but  in  case  they  esteemed  him  to  be  nothing,  but 
had  an  opinion  of  the  strange  gods,  and  that  they  ought  to  worship  them,  his  coun- 
sel was,  that  they  should  follow  them.  And  when  the  multitude  made  no  answer 
to  what  he  said,  Elijah  desired,  that  for  a  trial  of  the  power  of  the  strange  gods, 
and  of  their  own  God,  he,  who  was  his  only  prophet,  while  they  had  four  hundred, 
might  take  a  heifer  and  kill  it  as  a  sacrifice,  and  lay  it  upon  pieces  of  wood,  and 
not  kindle  any  fire,  and  that  they  should  do  the  same  things,  and  call  upon  their 
own  gods  to  set  the  wood  on  fire  ;  for  if  that  were  done,  they  would  thence  learn 
the  nature  of  the  true  God.  This  proposal  pleased  the  people.  So  Elijah  bid 
the  prophets  to  choose  out  a  heifer  first,  and  kill  it,  and  to  call  on  their  gods.  But 
when  there  appeared  no  effect  of  the  prayer  or  invocation  of  the  prophets  upon 
their  sacrifice,  Elijah  derided  them,  and  bade  them  call  upon  their  gods  with  a 
loud  voice,  for  they  might  either  be  on  a  journey,  or  asleep;  and  when  these 
|)rophets  had  done  so  from  morning  till  noon,  and  cut  themselves  with  swords  and 
lances,*  according  to  the  customs  of  their  country,  and  he  was  about  to  otier  his 
sacrifice,  he  bid  [the  prophets]  go  away,  but  bid  [the  people]  come  near  and 
observe  what  he  did,  lest  he  should  privately  hide  fire  among  the  pieces  of  wood. 

*  Mr.  Spanheim  takns  notice  here,  that  in  tiic  worship  of  Mithra  [the  god  of  the  Persians,]  the  priests 
ent  themselves  in  the  same  manner  as  diii  these  priests  in  their  invocation  of  Baal  [the  ^oi  of  the  Phoe- 
Bicions.] 


C.  Xin.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  295 

So,  upon  the  approach  of  the  multitude,  he  took  twelve  stones,  one  for  each  tribe 
of  the  people  of  the  Hebrews,  and  built  an  altar  with  them,  and  dug  a  very  deep 
trench  ;  and  when  he  had  laid  the  pieces  of  wood  upon  tlie  altar,  and  upon  them 
had  laid  the  pieces  of  the  sacrifices,  he  ordered  them  to  fill  four  barrels  with  the 
water  of  the  fountain,  and  to  pour  it  upon  the  altar,  till  it  ran  over  it,  and  till  the 
trench  was  tilled  with  the  water  poured  into  it.  When  he  had  done  this,  he  began 
to  pray  to  God,  and  to  invocate  liim  to  make  manifest  his  power  to  a  people  that 
had  already  been  in  an  error  a  long  time ;  upon  which  words  a  fire  came  on  a 
sudden  from  heaven,  in  the  sight  of  the  multitude,  and  fell  upon  the  aUar,  and 
consumed  the  sacrifice,  till  the  very  water  was  set  on  fire,  and  the  place  Avas  be- 
come dry. 

6.  Now  when  the  Israelites  saw  this,  they  fell  down  upon  the  "-round,  and 
worshiped  one  God,  and  called  him  the  groat  and  the  only  true  God,  but  they 
called  the  otliers  mere  names,  framed  by  the  evil  and  wild  opinions  of  men. 
So  they  caught  their  prophets,  and,  at  tlie  command  of  Elijah,  slew  them.  Eli- 
jah also  said  to  the  king,  that  he  should  go  to  dinner  without  any  further  con- 
cern, for  that  in  a  little  time  he  would  see  God  send  them  rain.  Accor- 
dingly Ahab  went  his  way :  but  Elijah  went  up  to  the  liighest  top  of  Mount  Car-" 
mel,  and  sat  down  upon  the  ground,  and  leaned  his  head  upon  his  knees,  and 
bade  his  servant  go  up  to  a  certain  elevated  place,  and  look  towards  the  sea, 
and  when  he  should  sec  a  cloud  rising  any  where,  he  should  give  him  notice  of  it, 
for  till  that  time  the  air  had  been  clear.  When  the  servant  had  gone  up,  and  had 
said  many  times  that  he  saw  nothing,  at  the  seventh  time  of  his  going  up,  he  said 
that  he  saw  a  small  black  thing  in  the  sky,  not  larger  than  a  man's  foot.  When 
Elijah  heard  that,  he  sent  to  Ahab,  and  desired  him  to  go  away  to  the  city  before 
the  rain  came  down.  So  he  came  to  the  city  Jezreel :  and  in  a  little  time  the 
air  was  all  obscured,  and  covered  with  clouds,  and  a  vehement  storm  of  wind 
came  upon  the  earth,  and  with  a  great  deal  of  rain  ;  and  the  prophet  was  under  a 
divine  fury,  and  ran  along  with  the  king's  chariot  unto  Jezreel,  a  city  of  Izar* 
[Isachar.] 

7.  When  Jezebel,  the  wife  of  Ahab,  understood  what  signs  Elijah  had  wrought, 
and  how  he  had  slain  her  prophets,  she  was  angry,  and  sent  messengers  to  him, 
and  by  them  threatened  to  kill  him,  as  he  had  destroyed  her  prophets.  At  this 
Elijah  was  affrighted,  and  fled  to  the  city  called  Bcrrshcha,  wliichis  situate  at  the 
utmost  limits  of  the  country  belonging  to  the  tribe  of  Judah,  towards  the  land  of 
Edom;  and  there  he  left  his  servant,  and  went  away  into  (he  desert,  lie  prayed 
also  that  he  might  die,  for  that  he  was  not  better  than  his  fathers,  nor  need  iie  be 
very  desirous  to  live,  when  they  were  dead ;  and  he  lay  and  slept  under  a  certain 
tree  ;  and  when  somebody  awakened  him,  and  he  was  risen  up,  lie  found  food  set 
by  him,  and  water ;  so  when  he  had  eaten,  and  recollected  his  strength  by  that 
his  food,  he  came  to  that  mountain  which  is  called  Sinai,  where  it  is  related  that 
Moses  received  his  laws  from  God;  and  finding  there  a  certain  hollow  cave,  ho 
entered  into  it,  and  continued  to  make  his  abode  in  it.  But  wlien  a  certain 
voice  came  to  him,  but  from  whence  he  knew  not,  and  asked  him,  "  Wiiy  lie  was 
come  thither,  and  had  left  the  city  ?"  lie  said,  that  "  because  he  had  slain  tlto 
prophets  of  the  foreign  gods,  and  had  persuaded  the  people  that  lie  alone  wliom 
they  had  worshiped  from  the  beginning  was  God,  he  was  sought  fur  by  the  king's 
wife  to  be  punished  for  so  doing."  And  when  he  had  heard  another  voice  tel- 
ling him  that  he  should  come  out  on  the  next  day  into  the  open  air,  and  should 
thereby  know  what  he  was  to  do,  he  came  out  of  the  cave  (he  next  day  accord- 
ingly,  when  he  both  heard  an  earthquake,  and  saw  the  bright  splendour  of  a  fire; 
and  after  a  silence  made,  a  divine  voice  exhorted  him  jiot  to  be  disturbed  with 
(he  circumstances  he  was  in,  for  that  non^  of  his  enemies  should  have    power 

*  For  Izar  we  may  hero  read  (with  Hudson  and  Cocceiiis)  harhnr,  i.  c.  of  the  tribe  of  Isachar,  for  to 
that  tribe  did  Jezreel  belong:  and  presently  at  the  bcniiining  of  sect.  B,  as  also  ch.  xv.  sect.  4,  we  may 
read  for  Izar,  with  one  i\lS.  nearly,  and  the  scripture,  Ji-zrcel;  for  that  was  the  city  meant  in  the  history 
of  Naboth, 


296  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  vTII. 

over  him.  The  voice  also  commanded  him  to  return  home,  and  to  ordain  Jehu 
the  son  of  Ninishi,  to  be  king  over  their  own  multitude ;  and  Hazael  of  Damascus 
to  be  over  the  Syrians  ;  and  Ehsha  of  the  city  Abel  to  be  a  prophet  in  his  stead  ;  . 
and  that  of  the  impious  multitude  some  should  be  slain  by  Hazael,  and  others  by 
Jehu.  So  Elijah,  upon  hearing  this  charge,  returned  into  the  land  of  the  He- 
brews. And  when  he  found  Elisha,  the  son  of  Shaphat,  ploughing,  and  certain 
others  with  him,  driving  twelve  yoke  of  oxen,  he  came  to  him,  and  cast  his  own 
garment  upon  him  ;  upon  which  Elisha  began  to  prophesy  presently,  and  lea- 
ving his  oxen,  he  followed  Elijah.  And  when  he  desired  leave  to  salute  his  pa- 
rents, Elijah  gave  him  leave  so  to  do :  and  when  he  had  taken  his  leave  of 
them,  he  followed  him,  and  became  the  disciple  and  the  servant  of  Elijah  all 
the  days  of  his  life.  And  thus  have  I  dispatched  the  afiairs  in  which  this  pro- 
phet was  concerned. 

8.  Now  there  was  one  Naboth  of  the  city  Izar  [Jezreel,]  who  had  a  field  ad- 
joining to  that  of  the  king's  :  the  king  would  have  persuaded  him  to  sell  him  that 
his  field,  which  lay  so  near  to  his  own  lands,  at  what  price  he  pleased,  that  he 
might  join  them  together,  and  make  them  one  farm  ;  and  if  he  would  not  accept 
"of  money  for  it,  he  gave  him  leave  to  choose  any  of  his  other  fields  in  its  stead. 
But  Naboth  said,  he  would  not  do  so,  but  would  keep  the  possession  of  that  land 
of  his  own,  which  he  had  by  inheritance  from  his  father.  Upon  this  the  king 
was  grieved,  as  if  he  had  received  an  injury,  when  he  could  not  get  another  man's 
possession,  and  would  neither  wash  himself  nor  take  any  food  ;  and  when  Jeze- 
bel asked  him,  what  it  was  that  troubled  him,  and  why  he  would  neither  wash 
himself,  nor  eat  either  dinner  or  supper?  he  related  to  her  the  perverseness  of 
Naboth;  and  how,  when  he  had  made  use  of  gentle  words  to  him,  and  such  as 
were  beneath  the  royal  authority,  he  had  been  affronted,  and  had  not  obtained 
what  he  desired.  How  ever,  she  persuaded  him  not  to  be  cast  down  at  this  acci- 
dent, but  to  leave  off  his  grief,  and  to  return  to  the  usual  care  of  his  body;  for 
that  she  would  take  care  to  have  Naboth  punished ;  and  she  immediately  sent 
letters  to  the  rulers  of  the  Israelites  [Jezreelites]  in  Ahab's  name,  and  comman- 
ded them  to  fast,  and  to  assemble  a  congregation,  and  to  set  Naboth  at  the  head 
of  them,  because  he  was  of  an  illustrious  family,  and  to  have  three  bold  men  ready 
to  bear  witness  that  he  had  blasphemed  God  and  the  king,  and  then  to  stone  him, 
and  slay  him  in  that  manner.  Accordingly,  when  Naboth  had  been  thus  testified 
against,  as  the  queen  had  written  to  them,  and  that  he  had  blasphemed  against 
God  and  Ahab  the  king,  and  desired  him  to  take  possession  of  Naboth's  vineyard 
on  free-cost.  So  Ahab  was  glad  at  what  had  been  done,  and  rose  up  immedi- 
ately from  the  bed  whereon  belay,  to  go  to  see  Naboth's  vineyard  ;  but  God  had 
great  indignation  at  it,  and  sent  Elijah  tiie  prophet  to  the  field  of  Naboth,  to  speak  to 
Ahab,  and  to  say  to  him,  that  "he  had  slain  the  true  owner  of  that  field  unjustlv." 
And  as  soon  as  he  came  to  him,  and  the  king  had  said  that  he  might  do  with  him 
what  he  pleased  (for  he  thought  it  a  reproach  to  him  to  be  thus  caught  in  his  sin,) 
Elijah  said,  that  "  in  that  very  place  in  which  the  dead  body  of  Naboth  was  eaten 
up  by  dogs,  both  his  own  blood  and  that  of  his  wife's  should  be  shed,  and  that  all 
his  family  should  perish,  because  he  had  been  so  insolently  wicked,  and  had  slain  a 
citizen  unjustly,  and  contrarj"  to  the  laws  of  his  country."  Hereupon  Ahab  be- 
gan to  be  sorry  for  the  things  he  had  done,  and  to  repent  of  them,  and  he  put  on 
sr.ckcloth,  and  went  barefoot,*  and  would  not  touch  any  food  :  he  also  confessed 
his  sins,  and  endeavoured  thus  to  appease  God.  But  God  said  to  the  prophet, 
that  "  while  Ahab  was  living  he  would  put  off  the  punishment  of  his  family,  be- 
cause he  repented  of  those  insolent  crimes  he  had  been  guilty  of,  but  tliat  still  he 
would  fulfil  his  threatenings  under  Ahab's  sen."  Which  message  the  prophet 
delivered  to  the  king. 

*  "  The  Jews  \\f  ep  to  this  riay  (snys  Jernin,  here  cited  b}'  Eeland,)  and  roll  themselves  upon  sack- 
cloth, in  ashes,  barefoot  upon  such  occasions."  To  which  ?panheini  adds,  "  that  after  ihe  same  rran- 
iicr  Berenice,  when  his  life  was  in  danger,  stood  at  the  tribunal  of  Floriis  barefoot."  Of  the  War,  B.  ii- 
ch.  XV.  sccU  1.     See  the  like  of  Dav;df2t:atn.  .w.  20  ;  Autiij.  B.  vii-  ch.  L\.  sect.  2. 


C.  XIV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  297 

CHAP.  XIV. 

How  Hadad,  King  of  Damascus  and  of  Syria,  made  two  Expcdiiiotis  against  Ahab, 

and  was  beaten. 

§  1.  WiiE?f  the  affairs  of  Ahab  were  thus,  at  that  vciy  time  the  son  of  Hadad 
[Benhadad,]whowas  king  of  the  Syrians  and  of  Damascus,  got  together  an  army- 
out  of  all  his  country,  and  procured  thirty-two  kings  beyond  Euphrates  to  be  his 
auxiharies  ;  so  he  made  an  expedition  against  Ahab  ;  but  because  Ahab's  army 
was  not  Uke  that  of  Benhadad's,  he  did  not  set  it  in  array  to  light  him,  but  havin'^ 
shut  up  every  thing  that  was  in  the  country,  in  the  strongest  cities  ho  had,  he 
abode  in  Samaria  himself;  for  the  walls  about  it  were  very  strong,  and  it  ap- 
peared  to  be  not  easily  to  be  taken  in  other  respects  also.  So  the  king  of  Syria 
took  his  army  with  him,  and  come  to  Samaria,  and  placed  his  armv  round  about 
the  city,  and  besieged  it.  He  also  sent  a  herald  to  Ahab,  and  desired  he  would 
admit  the  ambassadors  he  would  send  him,  by  whom  he  would  let  him  know  his 
pleasure.  So  upon  the  king  of  Israel's  permission  for  him  to  send,  those  ambas- 
sadors came,  and,  by  their  king's  command,  spake  thus  : — "  That  Ahab's  riches, 
and  his  children,  and  his  wives  were  Benhadad's  ;  and  if  he  would  make  an  aoree- 
ment,  and  give  him  leave  to  take  as  much  of  what  he  had  as  he  pleased,  he  would 
withdraw  his  army,  and  leave  off  the  siege."  Upon  this  Ahab  bid  the  ambassadors 
to  go  back,  and  tell  their  king  that  "  both  he  himself,  and  all  that  he  hath,  are  his 
possessions."  And  when  these  ambassadors  had  told  this  to  Benhadad,  he  sent 
to  him  again,  and  desired,  since  he  confessed  that  all  he  had  was  his,  that  he  would 
admit  those  servants  of  his  which  he  should  send  the  next  day  ;  and  he  comman- 
ded  him  to  deliver  to  those  whom  he  should  send  whatsoever  upon  their  search- 
ing  his  palace,  and  the  houses  of  his  friends  and  kindred,  they  should  find  to  be 
excellent  in  its  kind,  but  that  what  did  not  please  them  they  should  leave  to  him. 
At  this  second  embassage  of  the  king  of  Syria,  Ahab  was  surprised,  and  gathered 
together  the  multitude  to  a  congregation,  and  told  them,  that  "  for  himself  he  was 
ready,  for  their  safety  and  peace,  to  give  up  his  own  wives  and  children  to  fho 
enemy,  and  to  yield  to  him  all  his  own  possessions  ;  for  that  was  what  the  Syrian 
king  required  at  his  first  embassage  ;  but  that  now  he  desires  to  send  his  ser- 
vants to  search  all  their  houses,  and  in  them  to  leave  nothing  that  is  excellent  in. 
its  kind,  seeking  an  occasion  of  fighting  against  him,  as  knowing  that  I  would 
not  spare  what  is  mine  own  for  your  sakes,  but  taking  a  handle  from  the  disagree- 
able  terms  he  offers  concerning  you  to  bring  a  war  upon  us  :  however,  I  will  do 
what  you  shall  resolve  is  fit  to  be  done."  But  the  multitude  advised  him  to 
hearken  to  none  of  his  proposals,  but  to  despise  him,  and  be  in  readiness  to  figlit 
him.  Accordingly,  when  he  had  given  the  ambassadors  this  answer  to  be  re- 
ported, that  "  he  still  continued  in  the  mind  to  comply  with  what  terms  he  at  first 
desired,  for  the  safety  of  the  citizens,  but  as  for  his  second  desires,  he  cannot 
submit  to  them,"  he  dismissed  them. 

2.  Now  when  Benhadad  heard  this,  he  had  indignation,  and  sent  ambassadors 
to  Ahab  the  third  time,  and  threatened  "  that  his  army  would  raise  a  baidc  higher 
than  those  walls  in  confidence  of  whose  strength  he  despised  him,  and  that  by 
only  each  man  of  his  army  taking  a  handful  of  earth;"  hereby  making  a  show 
of  the  great  number  of  his  army,  and  aiming  to  afiright  him.  Aliab  answered, 
that  "  he  ought  not  to  vaunt  himself  when  he  had  only  put  on  his  armour,  but 
when  he  should  have  conquered  his  enemies  in  the  battle."  So  the  ambassadors 
came  back,  and  found  the  king  at  supper  with  hla  thirty-two  kings,  and  mformed 
him  of  Ahab's  answer ;  who  then  immediately  gave  order  for  proceeding  thus. 
To  make  lines  round  the  city,  and  raise  a  bulwark,  and  to  prosecute  the  siege  all 
manner  of  ways.  Now,  as  this  was  doing,  Ahab  was  in  a  great  agony,  and  all 
his  people  with  him  ;  but  he  took  courage,  and  was  freed  from  his  fears,  upon  a 
certain  prophet's  coming  to  him,  and  saying  to  him,  that  "  God  had  promised  to 

VOL.  I.  2  P 


298  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIU. 

subdue  SO  many  ten  thousands  of  his  enemies  under  him."  And  when  he  in- 
quired by  whose  means  the  victory  was  to  bo  obtained,  he  said,  "  By  the  sons  of 
the  princes,  but  under  thy  conduct,  as  their  leader,  by  reason  of  their  unskilful- 
ness  [in  wai*.]"  Upon  which  he  called  for  the  sons  of  the  princes,  and  found 
them  to  be  two  hundred  and  thirty-two  persons.  So  when  he  was  informed  that 
the  king  of  Syria  had  betaken  himself  to  feasting  and  repose,  he  opened  the 
gates,  and  sent  out  the  princes'  sons.  Now  when  the  sentinels  told  Benhadad 
of  it,  he  sent  some  to  meet  them,  and  commanded  them,  that  "  if  these  men  were 
come  out  for  fighting,  they  should  bind  them,  and  bring  them  to  him  ;  and  that  if 
they  came  out  peaceably,  they  should  do  the  same."  Now  Ahab  had  another 
army  ready  within  the  walls,  but  the  sons  of  the  princes  fell  upon  the  outguard, 
and  slew  many  of  them,  and  pursued  the  rest  of  them  to  the  camp:  and  when  the 
king  of  Israel  saw  that  these  had  the  upper  hand,  he  sent  out  all  the  rest  of  his 
army,  which  fldling  suddenly  upon  the  Syrians,  beat  them,  for  they  did  not  think 
they  would  have  come  out :  on  which  account  it  was  that  they  assaulted  them 
when  they  were  naked  and  drunk,*  insomuch  that  they  left  all  their  armour  behind 
them,  when  they  tied  out  of  the  camp,  and  the  king  himself  escaped  with  difficulty^ 
by  flying  away  on  horseback  :  but  Ahab  went  a  great  way  in  pursuit  of  the  Syri- 
ans  ;  and  when  he  had  spoiled  their  camp,  which  contained  a  great  deal  of  wealth, 
and,  moreover,  a  large  quantity  of  gold  and  silver,  he  took  Benhadad's  chariots 
and  horses,  and  returned  to  the  city :  but  as  the  prophet  told  him,  he  ought  to 
have  his  army  ready,  because  the  Syrian  king  would  make  another  expedition 
"against  him  the  next  year,  Ahab  was  busy  in  making  provision  for  it  accordingly. 

3.  Now  Benhadad,  when  he  had  saved  himself,  and  as  much  of  his  army  as  he 
could,  out  of  the  battle,  he  consulted  with  his  friends  how  he  might  make  another 
expedition  against  the  Israelites.  Now  those  friends  advised  him  not  to  fight  witlj 
them  on  the  hills,  because  their  God  was  potent  in  such  places,  and  thence  it  had 
come  to  pass  that  they  had  very  lately  been  beaten  ;  but  they  said,  that  if  they 
joined  battle  with  them  in  the  plain,  they  should  beat  them.  They  also  gave  him 
this  farther  advice,  to  send  home  those  kings  whom  he  had  brought  as  his  auxi- 
liaries, but  to  retain  their  army,  and  to  set  captains  over  it  instead  of  the  kings, 
and  to  raise  an  army  out  of  their  country,  and  let  them  be  in  the  place  of  the  for- 
merwho  perished  in  the  battle,  together  with  horses  and  chariots.  So  he  judged  their 
counsel  to  be  good,  and  acted  according  to  it  in  the  management  of  the  army. 

4.  At  the  beginning  of  the  spring  Benhadad  took  his  army  with  him,  and  led 
it  against  the  Hebrews,  and  when  he  was  come  to  a  certain  city  which  was  called 
ApJiek,  he  pitched  his  camp  in  the  great  plain.  Ahab  also  went  to  meet  him  with 
his  army,  and  pitched  his  camp  over  against  him,  although  Ids  army  was  a  very 
small  one,  if  it  were  compared  with  the  enemies  :  but  the  prophet  came  again  to 
him,  and  told  him,  that  "  God  would  give  him  the  victory,  tJiat  he  might  demon- 
slrate  his  own  power  to  be  not  only  on  the  mountains,  but  on  the  plains  also  ;" 
which  it  seems  was  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  the  Syrians.  So  they  lay  quiet  in 
their  camp  seven  days,  but  on  the  last  of  those  days,  when  the  enemies  came  out 
of  their  camp,  and  put  themselves  in  array,  in  order  to  fight,  Ahab  also  brought 
out  his  OM-n  army  ;  and  when  the  battle  was  joined,  and  they  Ibught  valiantly,  he 

*  Mr.  Reland  notes  here  very  truly,  that  the  word  naked  does  not  always  signify  entirely  naked,  but 
soinetiiiies  without  men's  usual  armour,  wfthout  their  usual  robes  or  upper  garments;  as  when  Virgil 
bids  tlie  husbandman  plough  naked^mA  sow  naked  ;  when  Josephus  says,  Antiq.  B.  iv.  ch.  iii.  sect.  2,  that 
God  had  given  tiie  Jews  tiie  security  of  armour  wlien  tlicy  were  naked;  and  when  he  here  says,  tliat 
Ahab  fell  on  the  Syrians  when  thev  were  naked  and  drunk;  when,  Antiq.  B.  xi.  ch.  v.  sect.  8,  he  says, 
that  Nehemiah  commanded  those  Jews  that  were  building  tiie  walls  of  Jerusalem,  to  take  care  to  have 
their  armour  on  upon  occasion,  that  the  enemy  might  not  fall  upon  them  naked.  I  may  add,tliat  the  case 
Ecenis  to  l)e  the  same  in  scripture,  when  it  says,  tliat  Saul  lay  down  naked  among  the  propliets,  1  Sam. 
-xix.  24 ;  when  it  says,  that  Isaiah,  walked  naked  and  barefoot,  Isaiah,  xx.  2,  3  ;  and  when  it  says  that 
Peter,  before  he  girthisfislier's  coat  to  him,  was  naked,  John,  xxi.  7.  What  is  said  of  David  also  gives 
light  to  this,  who  was  reproached  by  Michal  for  dancing  before  the  ark  andvncoi^ering  liitnsel/in  the  eyes 
of  the  handmaids,  as  one  of  the  vain  fellows  shamefdly  uncovereih  himself,  2  Sam.  vi.  14,  20;  yet  it  is 
there  expressly  said,  ver.  14,  that  David  was  girded  with  a  linen  ephod,  i.  e.  he  had  laid  aside  his  robes  of 
stale,  and  put  cm  the  sacerdotal,  Levitical,  or  sacred  garments,  proper  for  such  a  solemnity. 


G.  XIV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  399 

put  the  enemy  to  lligUt,  and  pursued  them,  and  pressed  upon  them,  and  slew 
them  ;  nay,  they  were  destroyed  by  their  own  chariots,  and  by  one  another  ;  nor 
could  any  more  than  a  tew  ot"  them  escape  to  their  own  city  Aphek,  who  were 
also  killed  by  the  walls  falling  upon  them,  being  in  number  twenty-seven  thou, 
sand.*  Now  there  were  slain  in  this  battle  a  hundred  thousand  more  ;  but  Ben- 
hadad,  king  of  the  Syrians,  fled  away,  with  certain  others  of  his  most  faithful 
servants,  and  hid  himself  in  a  cellar  under  ground  :  and  when  these  told  him,  that 
the  kings  of  Israel  were  humane  and  mcrcil-id  men,  and  that  they  might  make  use 
of  the  usual  manner  of  supplication,  and  obtain  deliverance  from  Ahab,  in  case 
he  would  give  them  leave  to  go  to  liim,  he  gave  them  leave  accordingly.  So  they 
came  to  Ahab,  clothed  in  sackcloth,  with  ropes  about  their  headsf  (for  this  was 
the  ancient  manner  of  supplication  among  the  Syrians,)  and  said,  that  "  Bcnha- 
dad  desired  he  would  save  him,  and  that  he  wouhl  ever  be  a  servant  to  hiin  for 
that  favour."  Ahab  replied,  "he  was  glad  that  he  was  alive,  and  not  hurt  in  the 
battle."  And  he  further  promised  him  the  same  honour  and  kindness  that  a  man 
would  show  to  his  brother.  So  they  received  assurances  upon  oath  from  him, 
that  when  he  came  to  him  he  should  receive  no  harm  from  him,  and  then  went 
and  brought  him  out  of  the  cellar  wherein  he  was  hid,  and  brought  him  to  Ahab 
as  he  sat  in  the  chariot.  So  Benhadad  worshiped  him,  and  Ahab  gave  him  his 
hand,  and  made  him  come  up  to  him  into  his  chariot,  and  kissed  him,  and  bid 
him  be  of  good  cheer,  and  not  to  expect  that  any  mischief  should  be  done  to  him. 
So  Benhadad  returned  him  thanks,  amd  professed  that  he  would  remember  his 
kindness  to  him  all  the  days  of  his  life  ;  and  promised  he  would  restore  those 
cities  of  the  Israelites  which  the  former  kings  had  taken  from  them,  and  grant 
that  he  should  have  leave  to  come  to  Damascus,  as  his  forefathers  had  to  come  to 
Samaria.  So  they  confirmed  their  covenants  by  oaths,  and  Ahab  made  him 
many  presents,  and  sent  him  back  to  his  own  kingdom.  And  this  was  the  con- 
elusion  of  the  war  that  Benhadad  made  against  Ahab  and  the  Israelites. 

5.  But  a  certain  prophet,  whose  name  was  Micaiah,^  came  to  one  of  the  Isra- 
elites, and  bid  him  smite  him  on  the  head,  for  by  so  doing  he  would  please  God : 
but  when  he  would  not  do  so,  he  foretold  to  him,  that  since  he  disobeyed  the  com. 
mands  of  God,  he  should  meet  with  a  lion,  and\)e  destroyed  by  him.  When  that 
sad  accident  had  befallen  the  man,  the  prophet  came  again  to  another,  and  gave 
him  the  same  injunction  ;  so  he  smote  him,  and  wounded  his  skull :  upon  which 
he  bound  up  his  head,  and  came  to  the  king,  and  told  him,  that  he  had  been 
a  soldier  of  his,  and  had  the  custody  of  one  of  the  prisoners  committed  to  him  by 
an  officer  ;  and  that  the  prisoner  being  run  away,  he  was  in  danger  of  losing  his 
own  life  by  the  means  of  that  officer,  who  had  threatened  him,  that,  if  the  prisoner 
escaped  he  would  kill  him.  And  when  Ahab  had  said,  that  he  would  justly  die, 
he  took  off  the  bindiiig  about  his  head,  and  was  known  by  the  king  to  be  IMicaiah 
the  prophet,  who  made  use  of  this  artifice  as  a  prelude  to  his  following  words  :  for 
he  said,  that  "  God  would  punish  him  who  had  sutiered  Benhadad,  a  blasphemer 
against  him,  to  escape  punishment,  and  that  he  would  so  bring  it  about,  that  ho 

*  Jospplius's  number,  two  mjTiads  and  seven  thousand,  agrees  liere  with  tlint  in  our  other  copies,  as 
those  tliat  were  slain  by  the  falliiin;  down  of  the  walls  of  Apliek  ;  but  I  suspected  at  first  that  tiiis  number 
in  Joscphus's  present  copies  could  not  be  his  original  number,  because  he  calls  tliem  01  icoi,  afiv,  which 
could  liardly  be  said  of  so  many  as  twenty-seven  thousand,  and  Ijccause  of  the  improbability  of  ilic  fall 
of  a  particular  wall's  killing  so  many  ;  yet,  wlien  I  consider  Josephus's  next  words,  liow  the  rest  which 
were  slain  in  the  battle  were  Un  other  layriads,  that  twenty-seven  tiiousand  are  but  a  few  in  comparison 
of  one  hundred  thousand  ;  and  that  it  was  not  a  vxill,  as  in  our  English  version,  but  iltc  ivall,  or  the  entire 
walls  of  the  city,  that  fell  down,  as  in  all  the  originals. 

t  This  manner  of  supplication  for  men's  lives  among  the  Syrians,  with  ropes  or  halters  about  their 
heads  or  necks,  is,  I  suppose,  no  strange  thing  in  later  ages,  even  in  our  own  country- 

t  It  is  here  remarkable,  that  in  .Josephus's  copy  this  prophet,  who^e  severe  dommciation  of  a  disobedi- 
ent person's  slaughter  by  a  lion  iiad  lately  come  to))ass,  was  no  otiier  than  Micaiah,  the  son  of  Imlaih 
who,  as  he  now  denounced  Ciod's  judgment  on  disobedient  Ahab,  seems  directly  to  liave  been  that  very 
propliet  whom  the  same  Ahab  in  1  Kings,  xxii.  8, 18,  complains  of,  as  nyie  whom  he  hated,  because  he  did 
not  prophesy  good  conrcrnini;  him,  hut  evil,  and  who  in  that  chapter  ojienly  repeats  his  denunciation* 
against  him  ;  all  which  came  to  pass  accoidingly :  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  doubt  but  this  and  iJie  ioh- 
Bier  were  the  very  same  propliet, 
2  P  2 


300  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VIII. 

should  die  by  the  other's  means,  and  his  people  by  the  other's  army.*"  Upon 
which  Ahab  was  very  angry  at  the  prophet,  and  gave  command  that  he  should 
be  put  in  prison,  and  there  kept ;  but  for  himself  he  was  in  confusion  at  the  words 
of  Micaiah,  and  returned  to  his  own  house. 


CHA.P.  XV. 

Concerning  Jehoshaphat,  the  King  of  Jerusalem,  and  how  Ahab  made  an  Ex- 
pedition against  the  Syrians,  and  was  assisted  therein  hy  Jehoshaphat,  hut 
was  himself  overcome  in  Battle,  and  perished  therein. 

§  1.  AxD  these  were  the  circumstances  in  which  Ahab  was.  But  I  now  return 
to  Jehoshaphat,  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  who,  when  he  had  augmented  his  king- 
dom, and  had  set  garrisons  in  the  cities  of  the  country  belonging  to  his  subjects, 
and  had  put  such  garrisons  no  less  into  those  cities  which  were  taken  out  of  the 
tribe  of  Ephraim  by  his  grandfather  Abijah,  when  Jeroboam  reigned  over  the  ten 
tribes  [than  he  did  into  the  other  :]  but  then  he  had  God  favourable  and  assisting 
to  him,  as  being  both  righteous  and  religious,  and  seeking  to  do  somewhat  every 
day  that  should  be  agreeable  and  acceptable  to  God.  The  kings  also  that  were 
round  about  him  honoured  him  with  the  presents  they  made  him,  till  the  riches 
that  he  had  acquired  were  immensely  great,  and  the  glory  he  had  gained  was  of 
a  most  exalted  nature. 

2.  Now,  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  he  called  together  the  rulers  of  the 
country,  and  the  priests,  and  commanded  them  to  go  round  the  land,  and  teach 
all  the  people  that  were  under  him,  city  by  city,  the  laws  of  Moses,  and  to  keep 
them,  and  to  be  diligent  in  the  worship  of  God.  With  this  the  whole  multitude 
was  so  pleased,  that  they  were  not  so  eagerly  set  upon,  or  affected  with,  any  thing 
so  much  as  the  observation  of  the  laws.  The  neighbouring  nations  also  continued 
to  love  Jehoshaphat,  and  to  be  at  peace  with  him.  The  Philistines  paid  their  ap- 
pointed tribute,  and  the  Arabians  supplied  him  every  year  with  three  hundred  and 
sixty  lambs,  and  as  many  kids  of  the  goats.  He  also  fortified  the  great  cities, 
which  were  many  in  number,  and  of  great  consequence.  He  prepared  also  a 
mighty  army  of  soldiers  and  weapons  against  their  enemies.  Now  the  army  of 
men  that  wore  their  armour  was  thi'ee  hundred  thousand  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  of 
whom  Adnah  was  the  chief  ;  but  John  was  chief  of  two  hundred  thousand. 
The  same  man  was  chief  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  and  had  two  hundred  thousand 
archers  under  him.  There  was  another  chief,  whose  name  was  Jehozabad,  who 
had  a  hundred  and  four  score  thousand  armed  men.  This  multitude  was  distri- 
buted to  be  ready  for  the  king's  service,  besides  those  whom  he  sent  to  the  best 
fortified  cities. 

3.  Jehoshaphat  took  for  his  son  Jehoram  to  wife,  the  daughter  of  Ahab,  the 
king  of  the  ten  tribes,  whose  name  was  Athaliah.  And  when,  after  some  time,  he 
went  to  Samaria,  Ahab  received  him  courteously,  and  treated  the  army  that  fol- 
lowed him  in  a  splendid  manner,  with  great  plenty  of  corn,  and  wine,  and  of  slain 
beasts  ;  and  desired  that  he  would  join  with  him  in  his  war  against  the  king  of 
Syria,  that  he  might  recover  from  him  the  city  of  Ramoth  in  Gilead  ;  for  though 
it  had  belonged  to  his  father,  yet  had  the  king  of  Syria's  father  taken  it  away  from 
him :  and  upon  Jehoshaphat's  promise  to  aflbrd  him  assistance  (for,  indeed,  his 
army  was  not  inferior  to  the  other's,)  and  his  sending  for  his  army  from  Jerusalem 
to  Samaria,  the  two  kings  went  out  of  the  city,  and  each  of  them  sat  on  his  own 

*  What  is  most  remarkable  in  this  history,  and  in  many  histories  on  other  occasions  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, is  this,  that  during  the  Jewish  theocracy  God  acted  entirely  as  the  supreme  king  of  Israel,  and  tho 
supreme  general  of  their  armies,  and  always  expected  that  the  Israelites  should  be  in  such  absolute  sub- 
jection to  him,  their  supreme  and  heavenly  king,  and  general  of  their  armies,  as  subjects  and  soldiers  are 
to  their  earthly  kings  and  gineriils,  and  tliat  usually  without  knowing  the  particular  reasons  of  their  in- 
Tunctions. 


C.  XV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEVVa  gOJ 

throne,  and  each  gave  their  orders  to  their  several  armies.  Now  Jehosha. 
phat  bid  them  call  some  of  the  prophets,  if  there  were  any  there,  and  inquire  of 
them  concernmg  this  expedition  against  the  king  of  Syria,  whether  they  would 
give  them  counsel  to  make  that  expedition  at  this  time  ;  for  there  was  peace  at 
that  time  between  Ahab  and  the  king  of  Syria,  which  had  lasted  three  years,  from 
the  time  he  had  taken  him  captive  till  that  day. 

4.  So  Ahab  called  his  own  prophets,  being  in  number  about  four  hundred,  and 
bid  them  inquire  of  God,  whether  he  would  grant  him  the  victory,  if  he  made  an 
expedition  against  Benhadad,  and  enable  Inm  to  overthrow  that  city,  for  whose 
sake  it  was  that  he  was  going  to  war.  Now  these  prophets  gave  their  counsel  for 
making  this  expedition  ;  and  said,  that  "  he  would  beat  the  king  of  Syria,  and,  as  for- 
merly, would  reduce  him  under  his  power."  But  Jehoshaphat,  understanding  by 
their  words  that  they  were  false  prophets,  asked  Ahab,  whether  there  were  not 
some  other  prophet,  and  he  belonging  to  the  true  God,  that  we  may  have  surer 
information  concerning  futurities  ?  Hereupon  Ahab  said,  "  there  was,  indeed,  such 
a  one,  but  that  he  hated  him,  as  having  prophesied  evil  to  him,  and  having  fore- 
told  that  he  sliould  be  overcome  and  slain  by  the  king  of  Syria,  and  that  lor  this 
cause  he  had  him  now  in  prison,  and  that  his  name  was  Mlcaiah,  the  son  of  Im- 
lah."  But  upon  Jehoshaphat's  desire  that  he  might  be  produced,  Ahab  sent  an 
eunuch,  who  brought  Micaiah  to  him.  Now  the  eunuch  had  informed  him,  by 
the  way,  that  all  the  other  prophets  had  foretold  that  the  king  should  gain  the  vic- 
tory ;  but  he  said,  that  "  it  was  not  lawful  for  him  to  lie  against  God,  but  that 
he  must  speak  what  he  should  say  to  him  about  the  king,  whatsoever  it  were." 
When  he  came  to  Ahab,  and  he  had  adjured  him  upon  oath  to  speak  the  truth  to 
him,  he  said,  that  "  God  had  showed  to  him  the  Israelites  running  away,  and  pur- 
sued by  the  Syrians,  and  dispersed  upon  the  mountains  by  them,  as  are  flocks  of 
sheep  dispersed  when  their  shepherd  is  slain."  He  said  farther,  that  "  God  sig- 
nified  to  him,  that  those  Israelites  should  return  in  peace  to  tlieir  own  home,  and 
that  he  only  should  fall  in  the  battle."  When  Micaiah  had  thus  spoken,  Ahab 
said  to  Jehoshapliat,  "  I  told  thee  a  little  while  ago  the  disposition  of  the  man 
with  regard  to  me,  and  that  he  uses  to  prophecy  evil  to  me."  Upon  which  Mi- 
caiah  replied,  "  that  he  ought  to  hear  all,  whatsoever  it  be,  that  God  foretells  ; 
and  that  in  particular,  they  were  false  prophets  that  encouraged  him  to  make  this 
war  in  hope  of  victory,  whereas  he  must  fight  and  be  killed."  Whereupon  the 
king  was  in  suspense  with  himself.  But  Zedckiah,  one  of  those  false  prophets, 
came  near,  and  exhorted  him  not  to  hearken  to  Micaiah,  for  he  did  not  at  all  speak 
truth  ;  as  a  demonstration  of  which,  he  instanced  in  what  Elijah*  had  said,  who 
was  a  better  prophet  in  foretelling  futurities  than  Micaiah,  for  he  foretold  that 
"  the  dogs  should  lick  his  blood  in  the  city  Jezrcel,  in  the  field  of  Naboth,  as  they 
licked  the  blood  of  Naboth,  who  by  his  means  was  there  stoned  to  death  by  the 
multitude  ;  that  therefore  it  was  plain  that  this  IMicaiah  was  a  liar,  as  contradic- 
ting  a  greater  prophet  than  himself,  and  saying,  that  he  should  be  slain  at  three 
days' journey  distance.  And  [said  he]  you  shall  soon  know  whether  he  be  a  true 
prophet,  and  hath  the  power  of  the  Divine  Spirit ;  for  I  will  smite  him,  and  let 
inm  then  hurt  my  hand,  as  Jadon  caused  the  hand  of  Jeroboam  the  king  to  wither 
when  he  would  have  caught  him  ;  for  I  suppose  thou  hast  certainly  heard  of  that 
accident."  So  when,  upon  his  smiting  Micaiah,  no  harm  happened  to  iiim,  Ahab 
took  courage,  and  readily  led  his  army  against  the  king  of  Syria ;  for,  as  I  suppose, 
fate  was  too  hard  for  him,  and  made"  him  believe  that  the  false  prophets  spako 
truer  than  the  true  one,  that  it  might  take  an  occasion  of  bringing  him  to  his  end. 
However,  Zedekiah  made  horns  of  iron,  and  said  to  Ahab,  that  "God  made  those 
horns  signals,  that  by  them  he  should  overthrow  all  Syria."     But  Micaiah  re- 

*  These  reasonings  of  Zedekiali.'the  false  proplip4,  in  order  to  persuade  Aliab  not  to  believe  Micaiah, 
the  true  prophet,  arc  plausible,  but  being  omitted  in  our  otiier  copies,  we  cannot  now  tell  whence  Jose- 
phiishad  them,  whether  from  his  own  temple  copy,  from  some  other  original  author,  or  froiu  certain 
ancient  notes.  That  some  such  plausible  objection  was  now  raised  against  Micaiah  is  very  likely,  other- 
wisG  Jehoshaphat,  who  used  to  disbelieve  all  such  false  prophets,  could  never  have  been  induced  to 
accompany  Ahab  in  these  desperate  circuinstancea. 


302  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  VHT. 

plied,  "  that  Zedekiah,  in  a  few  days,  should  go  from  one  secret  chamber  to 
another,  to  hide  himself,  that  he.miglit  escape  the  punishment  of  his  lying."  Then 
did  the  king  give  orders  that  they  should  take  Micaiah  away,  and  guard  him  to 
Amon,  the  governor  of  the  cit)^,  and  to  give  nothing  but  bread  and  water. 

5.  Then  did  Ahab,  and  Jehoshaphat  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  take  their  forces,  and 
marched  to  Ilamoth,  a  city  of  Gilead  ;  and  when  the  king  of  Syria  heard  of  this 
expedition,  he  brought  out  his  army  to  opposd  them,  and  pitched  his  camp  not  far 
from  Ramoth.  Now  Ahab  and  Jehoshaphat  had  agreed,  that  Ahab*  should  lay 
aside  his  royal  robes,  but  that  the  king  of  Jerusalem  should  put  on  his  [Ahab's] 
proper  habit,  and  stand  before  the  army,  in  order  to  disprove,  by  this  artifice,  what 
Micaiah  had  foretold  ;  but  Ahab's  fate  found  bun  out  without  his  robes  ;  for  Ben- 
hadad,  the  king  of  Assyria,  had  charged  his  army,  by  the  means  of  their  comman- 
ders, to  kill  nobody  else  but  only  the  king  of  Israel.  So  when  the  Syrians,  upon 
their  joining  battle  with  the  Israelites,  saw  Jehoshaphat  stand  before  tlie  army,  and 
conjectured  that  he  was  Ahab,  they  fell  violently  upon  him,  and  encompassed  him 
round  ;  but  when  they  were  near,  and  knew  that  it  was  not  he,  they  all  returned 
back ;  and  while  the  fight  lasted  from  the  morning  light  till  late  in  the  evening, 
and  the  Syrians  were  conquerors,  they  killed  nobody,  as  their  king  had  commanded 
them.  And  when  they  sought  to  kill  Ahab  alone,  but  could  not  find  him,  there 
was  a  young  nobleman  belonging  to  king  Benhadad,  whose  name  was  Naaman  ; 
he  drew  his  bow  against  the  enemy,  and  wounded  the  king,  through  his  breast- 
plate, in  his  lungs.  Upon  this  Ahab  resolved  not  to  make  his  mischance  known 
to  his  army,  lest  they  should  run  away,  but  he  bid  the  driver  of  his  chariot  to  turn 
it  back,  and  carry  him  out  of  the  battle,  because  he  was  sorely  and  mortally 
wounded.  However,  he  sat  in  his  chariot  and  endured  the  pain  till  sunset,  and 
then  he  fainted  away  and  died. 

G.  And  now  the  Syrian  army,  upon  the  coming  on  of  the  night,  retired  to  their 
camp  ;  and  when  the  herald  belonging  to  the  camp  gave  notice  that  Ahab  was 
dead,  they  returned  home  ;  and  they  took  the  dead  body  of  Ahad  to  Samaria,  and 
buried  it  there  ;  but  when  they  had  washed  his  chariot  in  the  fountain  of  Jezreel, 
which  was  bloody  with  the  dead  body  of  the  king,  they  aclaiowledged  that  the 
prophecy  of  Elijah  was  true,  for  the  dogs  licked  his  blood,  and  the  harlots  con- 
tinued afterwards  to  wash  themselves  in  that  fountain  ;  but  still  he  died  at  Ra- 
moth, as  Micaiah  had  foretold.  And  as  what  things  were  foretoldf  should  happen 
to  Ahab,  by  the  two  prophets,  came  to  pass,  we  ought  thence  to  have  high  notions 
of  God,  and  every  where  to  honour  and  worship  him,  and  never  to  suppose  that 
what  is  pleasant  and  agreeable  is  worthy  of  belief  before  what  is  true  ;  and  to  es- 
teem nothing  more  advantageous  than  the  gift  of  j)i'ophecy,  and  that  foreknowledge 
of  future  events  which  is  derived  from  it,  since  God  sho^v■s  men  thereby  what  we 
ought  to  avoid.  We  may  also  guess  from  what  happened  to  this  king,  and  have 
reason  to  consider  the  power  of  fate,  that  there  is  no  way  of  avoiding  it,  even  when 
we  know  it.  It  creeps  upon  human  souls,  and  flutters  them  with  pleasing  hopes,  till 
it  leads  them  about  to  the  place  whence  it  will  be  too  hard  for  them.  Accordingly 
Ahab  appears  to  have  been  deceived  thereb}',  till  he  disbelieved  those  that  foretold 
his  defeat,  but  by  giving  credit  to  such  as  foretold  what  was  grateful  to  him,  was 
slain  :  and  his  son  Ahaziah  succeeded  him. 

*  The  reading  of  Josephus,  that  Jehoshaphat  put  on  not  his  own,  but  Aliab's  rolies,  in  order  to  appear 
to  be  Aliab,  while  Ahab  was  without  any  robes  at  all,  and  hoped  thereby  to  escape  his  own  evil  fate,  and 
dispi-Qve  Micaiah's  ])rophecy  against  him,  is  exceeding  probable.  It  gives  great  light  also  to  his  whole 
history,  and  slwws,  that  aUliough  Ahab  hoped  Jeliushaphat  would  be  mistaken  for  him,  and  run  the  only 
risk  of  being  slain  in  the  battle,  yet  was  he  entirely  disappointed,  while  still  the  escape  of  the  good  man 
Jehoshaphat,  and  the  slaughter  of  the  bad  man  Ahab,  demonstrated  the  great  distinction  tliai  Divine 
Providence  made  betwixt  them. 

f  We  have  here  a  very  wise  reflection  of  Josephns  about  Divine  Providence,  and  what  is  derived  frotn 
il,  prophecy ;  and  the  inevitable  certainty  of  its  accomplishment ;  and  that  when  wicked  men  think  they 
take  proper  methods  to  elude  what  is  denounced  against  them,  and  to  escape  the  divine  judgments  there- 
by threatened  them,  withoLit  repentance,  they  are  ever  by  Providence  infatuated  to  bring  abotit  their  own 
destruction,  and  thereby  wiihal  to  demonstrate  the  perfect  veracity  of  that  God  whose  predictions  they 
tn  vain  endcaKfliit  to  eludt:. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  3O3 

BOOK  IX. 

CONTAINING  THK  INTERVAL  OP  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY-SEVEN  TEAKS. 
FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  AH  JIB  TO  THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  THE  TEjY  TRIBES. 


CHAP.  I. 

Concerning  Jehoshaphat  again;  how  he  constituted  Judges,  and,  hy  God's 
Assistance,  overcame  his  Enemies. 

§  1.  When  Jehoshaphat  the  king  was  come  to  Jerusalem,  from  the  assistance  he 
had  afForded  Ahab,  the  king  of  Israel,  when  he  fought  with  Benhadad,  king  of 
Syria,  the  pcophct  Jehu  met  him,  and  accused  him  for  assisting  Ahab,  a  man  both 
impious  and  wicked  ;  and  said  to  him,  that  "  God  was  displeased  with  him  for  so 
doing,  but  that  he  delivered  him  from  the  enemy,  notwithstanding  he  had  sinned, 
because  of  his  own  proper  disposition,  which  was  good."  Whereupon  the  king  betook 
himself  to  thanksgivings  and  sacrifices  to  God  ;  after  wliich  he  presently  went 
over  all  that  country  which  he  ruled  I'ound  about,  and  taught  the  people,  as  well 
the  laws  which  God  gave  them  by  Moses,  and  that  religious  worship  that  was  due 
to  him.  He  also  constituted  judges  in  every  one  of  the  cities  in  his  kingdom, 
and  charo-ed  them  "to  have  reo-ard  to  nothinj;  so  much  in  iud^fin^  the  multitude 
as  to  do  justice,  and  not  to  be  moved  by  bribes,  nor  by  tlie  dignity  of  men  eminent 
for  either  their  riches  or  their  high  birth,  but  to  distribute  justice  equally  to  all,  as 
knowing  that  God  is  conscious  of  every  secret  action  of  tlieirs."  When  he  had 
himself  instructed  them  thus,  and  gone  over  every  city  of  the  two  tribes,  he  re- 
turned to  Jerusalem.  He  there  also  constituted  judges  out  of  the  priests-""  and 
the  Levites,  and  principal  persons  of  the  multitude,  and  admonished  them  to  pass 
all  their  sentences  with  care  and  justice.  And  that  if  any  of  the  people  of  his 
country  had  differences  of  great  consequence,  they  should  send  them  out  of  the 
other  cities  to  these  judges,  who  would  be  obliged  to  give  righteous  sentences 
concerning  such  causes  ;  and  this  with  the  greater  care,  because  it  is  proper  that 
the  sentences  which  are  given  in  that  city  wherein  the  temple  of  God  is,  and 
wherein  the  king  dwells,  be  given  with  great  care  and  the  utmost  justice.  Now 
ho  set  over  them  Amariah  the  priest,  and  Zebadiah  [both]  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  ; 
and  after  this  manner  it  was  that  the  king  ordered  these  affairs. 

2.  About  the  same  time  the  Moabites  and  Ammonites  made  an  expedition 
against  Jehoshaphat,  and  took  with  them  a  great  body  of  Arabians,  and  pitched 
their  camp  at  Engedi,  a  city  that  is  situate  at  the  lake  Asphaltitis,  and  distant  three 
hundred  furlongs  from  Jerusalem.  In  that  place  grows  the  best  kind  of  palm- 
trees,  and  the  opobalsamum.f  Now  Jehoshaphat  heard  that  the  enemies  had 
passed  over  the  lake,  and  had  made  an  irru|)tion  into  that  country  which  belonged 
to  his  kingdom ;  at  which  news  he  was  aflrighfcd,  and  called  tlic  people  of  Jeru- 
salem to  a  congregation  in  the  temple ;  and  standing  over  against  the  temple  itself, 
he  called  upon  God  "  to  afford  him  power  and  strength,  so  as  to  inflict  punish- 
ment  on  those  that  made  this  expedition  against  them  (for  that  those  who  built 
this  his  temple  had  prayed  that  he  would  protect  that  city,  and  take  vengeance  on 

»  These  judges,  constituted  bv  Jehoshaphat,  were  a  kind  of  Jerusalem  Sanhedrim,  out  of  the  priests, 
the  Levites,  and  the  principal  of  the  people,  both  here  and  2  Chron.  xbc.  0,  much  likclho  old  Christian 
judicatures  of  the  bishop,  the  piesbyturs,  ilie  deacons,  and  the  people. 
^  f  Concerning  this  precious  balsam,  see  the  note  on  Aniiq.  B.  viii.  chap.  vi.  sect.  6. 


304  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IX. 

those  that  were  so  bold  as  to  come  against  it,)  for  they  are  come  to  take  from  us 
that  land  which  thou  hast  given  us  for  a  possession."  When  he  had  prayed  thus, 
he  fell  into  tears  ;  and  the  whole  multitude,  together  with  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren, made  their  supplications  also.  Upon  which  a  certain  prophet,  Jahazaleel 
by  name,  came  into  the  midst  of  the  assembly,  and  cried  out  and  spake  both  to 
the  multitude  and  to  the  king,  that  God  heard  their  prayers,  and  promised  to  fight 
against  their  enemies.  He  also  gave  order  that  the  king  should  draw  his  forces 
out  the  next  day,  for  that  he  should  find  them  between  Jerusalem  and  the  ascent 
of  Engedi,  at  a  place  called  the  Eminence  ;  and  that  he  should  not  fight  against 
them,  but  only  stand  still,  and  see  how  God  would  fight  against  them.  When 
the  prophet  had  said  this,  both  the  king  and  the  multitude  fell  upon  their  faces, 
and  gave  thanks  to  God,  and  worshiped  him  ;  and  the  Levites  continued  singing 
hymns  to  God  with  their  instruments  of  music. 

3.  As  soon  as  it  was  day,  and  the  king  was  come  into  that  wilderness  which  is 
under  the  city  of  Tekoa,  he  said  to  the  multitude,  that  "they  ought  to  give  credit 
to  what  the  prophet  had  said,  and  not  to  set  themselves  in  array  for  fighting,  but 
to  set  the  priests  with  their  trumpets,  and  the  Levites,  with  the  singers  of  hynms, 
to  give  thanks  to  God,  as  having  already  delivered  our  country  from  our  enemies." 
This  opinion  of  the  king  pleased  [the  people,]  and  they  did  what  he  advised  them 
to  do.  So  God  caused  a  terror  and  a  commotion  to  arise  among  the  Ammonites, 
who  thought  one  another  to  be  enemies,  and  slew  one  another,  insomuch  that  not 
one  man  out  of  so  great  an  army  escaped  ;  and  when  Jehoshaphat  looked  upon 
that  valley  wherein  the  enemies  had  been  encamped,  and  saw  it  full  of  dead  men, 
he  rejoiced  at  so  surprising  an  event  as  was  this  assistance  of  God,  while  he  him- 
self, by  his  own  power,  and  without  their  labour,  had  given  them  the  victory.  He 
also  gave  his  army  leave  to  take  the  prey  of  the  enemies'  camp,  and  to  spoil  their 
dead  bodies  ;  and  indeed  so  they  did  for  three  days  together,  till  they  were  weary, 
so  great  Avas  the  number  of  the  slain  ;  and  on  the  fourth  day  all  the  people  were 
gathered  together  unto  a  certain  hollow  place  or  valley,  and  blessed  God  for  his 
power  and  assistance,  from  which  the  place  had  this  name  given  it,  The  valley  of 
[Berachah,  or]  blessing. 

4.  And  when  the  king  had  brought  his  army  back  to  Jerusalem,  he  betook  him- 
self  to  celebrate  festivals,  and  offer  sacrifices,  and  this  for  many  days.  And,  in- 
deed,  after  this  destruction  of  their  enemies,  and  when  it  came  to  the  ears  of  the 
foreign  nations,  they  were  all  greatly  afirighted,  as  supposing  that  God  would 
openly  fight  for  him  hereafter.  So  Jehoshaphat  from  that  time  lived  in  great 
glory  and  splendour,  on  account  of  his  righteousness  and  his  piety  towards  God. 
He  was  also  in  friendship  with  Ahab's  son,  who  was  king  of  Israel ;  and  he  joined 
with  him  in  the  building  of  ships  that  were  to  sail  to  Pontus,*  and  the  trafic  cities 
of  Thrace  ;  but  he  failed  of  his  gains,  for  the  ships  were  destroyed  by  being  so 
great  [and  unwieldy  ;]  on  which  account  he  was  no  longer  concerned  about  ship- 
ping.    And  this  is  the  history  of  Jehoshaphat,  the  king  of  Jerusalem. 

*  What  are  here  Pontus  and  Thrace,  as  the  places  whither  Jehoshaphat's  fleet  sailed,  are  in  our  other 
copies  Ophir  and  IWshish,  and  the  place  whence  it  sailed  is  in  theni  Eziongcbcr,  which  lay  on  the  Red 
Sea,  whence  it  was  impossible  for  any  ships  to  sail  to  Fontus  or  Thrace  :  so  ilial  Josephus's  copy  differed 
from  our  other  copies,  as  is  farther  plain  from  liis  own  words,  wiiich  render  what  we  read,  that  the  ships 
were  broken  at  Eziongeljcr,J'rom  their  un  wieldly  g}-eainess.  But  so  far  we  may  conclude,  that  Jobephus 
thought  one  Ophir  to  be  somewhere  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  not  in  the  South  Sea,  though  perhaps 
there  might  be  another  Ophir  in  that  South  Sea  also,  and  that  fleets  might  then  sail  both  from  Pfioenicia 
and  from  the  Red  Sea  to  fetch  the  gold  of  Ophir. 


C.  XIV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


CHAP.  II. 


305 


Concerning  Ahaziah,  the  King  of  Israel ;  and  again  concerning  the  Prophet  Elijah. 

§  1.  Akd  now  Ahaziah,  the  son  of  Ahab  reigned  over  Israel,  and  made  his  abode 
in  Samaria.  He  was  a  wicked  man,  and  in  all  respects  like  (o  both  his  parents, 
and  to  Jeroboam,  who  first  of  all  transgressed,  and  began  to  deceive  the  people. 
In  the  second  year  of  bis  reign,  the  king  of  Moab  fell  olf  from  his  obedience,  and 
left  off  paying  those  tributes  which  he  before  paid  to  his  father  Ahab.  Now  it 
happened  that  Ahaziah,  as  he  was  coming  down  from  the  top  of  his  house,  fell 
down  from  it,  and  in  his  sickness  sent  to  the  Fly,*  which  was  the  trod  of  Ekron, 
for  that  was  this  god's  name,  to  inquire  about  his  recovery.  But  the  God  of  the 
Hebrews  appeared  to  Elijah  the  prophet,  and  commanded  him  to  go  and  meet 
the  messengers  that  were  sent,  and  to  ask  them  "AVhether  the  people  of  Israel 
had  not  a  God  of  their  own,  that  the  king  sent  to  a  foreign  god  to  inquire  about 
his  re:)overy  ;  and  to  bid  them  return  and  tell  the  king,  that  lie  would  not  escape 
this  disease."  And  when  Elijah  had  performed  what  God  had  commanded  him, 
and  the  messengers  had  heard  what  he  said,  they  returned  to  the  king  immediately  ; 
and  when  the  king  wondered  how  they  could  return  so  soon,  and  asked  them  the 
reason  of  it,  they  said,  that  a  "  certahi  man  met  them,  and  forbade  them  to  go  on 
any  farther,  but  to  return  and  tell  thee,  from  the  command  of  the  (iod  of  Israel, 
that  this  disease  will  have  a  bad  end."  And  when  the  king  bid  them  describe 
the  man  that  said  this  to  them,  they  replied,  "  That  he  was  a  hairy  man,  and  was 
girt  about  with  a  girdle  of  leather."  So  the  king  understood  by  this  that  the  fhau 
M'ho  was  described  by  the  messengers  was  Elijah ;  whereupon  he  sent  a  captain 
to  him,  with  fifty  soldiers,  and  commanded  them  to  bring  Elijah  to  him  ;  and  when 
the  captain  that  was  sent  found  Elijah  sitting  upon  the  top  of  a  hill,  he  com- 
manded  him  to  come  down,  and  to  come  to  the  king,  for  so  he  had  enjoined,  but 
tliat  in  case  he  refused,  they  would  cai-ry  him  by  force,  Elijah  said  to  him, 
"  That  you  may  have  a  trial  whether  I  be  a  true  prophet,  I  will  pray  that  href 
may  fall  from  heaven,  and  destroy  both  the  soldiers  and  yourself'."  So  he  prayed, 
and  a  whirlwind  of  fire  fell  [from  heaven,]  and  destroyed  the  captain  and  those  that 
were  with  him.  And  when  the  king  was  informed  of  the  destruction  of  these  men, 
he  was  very  angry,  and  sent  another  captain,  with  the  like  number  of  armed  men 
that  were  sent  before.  And  when  this  captain  also  threatened  the  prophet,  that 
unless  he  came  down  of  his  own  accord,  he  would  take  him  and  carry  him  away  ; 
upon  his  prayer  against  him,  the  fire  [from  heaven]  slew  this  captain  as  well  as 
t!ie  other.  And  when,  upon  inquiry,  the  king  was  informed  of  what  happened  to 
him,  he  sent  out  a  third  captain.  But  when  this  captain,  who  was  a  wise  man, 
and  of  a  mild  disposition,  came  to  the  place  where  Elijah  happened  to  be,  and 
spake  civilly  to  him  ;  and  said,  "  I'hat  he  knew  that  it  was  withoufhis  own  con- 

*  This  god  of Jlies  seems  to  have  been  so  called,  as  was  tlie  like  gorl  among  the  (Jiccks,  from  liis  supposed 
povi-er  over  flies  in  driving  them  away  from  the  flush  of  tiicir  sacrifices,  vvhicii  otiierwise  would  have  been 
very  troublesome  to  them. 

f  It  is  conmionly  esteemed  a  very  cruel  action  of  Elijah's,  when  he  called  for  fire  from  hea\en,  and 
consumed  no  fewer  than  two  captains  and  a  hundred  soldiers,  and  this  for  no  other  crime  than  obcyinK 
tlio  orders  of  their  kins;,  in  aUempting  to  seize  him  ;  and  it  is  owned  by  our  Saviour  that  it  was  an  ins-lance 
of  i;reaier  severity  th;in  the  spirit  of  the  New  Testament  allows,  Luke,  ix.  54.  But  then  we  must  con- 
sider, that  it  is  not  imhkely  that  these  captains  and  soldiers  believed  that  they  were  sent  to  fetch  the 
prophet,  that  he  might  be  put  to  death  for  foretollin;;  the  death  of  the  king,  and  this  while  they  knew  him 
to  be  the  prophet  of  the  true  God,  the  supreme  king  of  Israel  (for  they  were  still  under  the  theoracy,) 
which  was  no  less  than  impiety,  rebellion,  and  treason  in  tiie  highest  degree.  Nor  would  the  command 
of  a  subaltern,  or  inferior  captain  contradicting  the  commands  of  the  general,  when  the  caplani  and  sol- 
diers both  knew  it  to  be  so,  as  I  suppose,  justify  or  excuse  such  gross  rel)elli-)n  and  disobedience  m  soldiers 
at  this  day.  Accordingly,  when  Saul  commanded  his  guards  to  slay  Ahimclcch  and  the  priests  at  Nob, 
they  knew  it  to  be  an  unlawful  command,  and  would  not  obey  it,  1  Sam.  xxii.  17.  From  which  cases 
both  officers  and  soldiers  may  learn,  that  the  commands  of  iheic  leaders  or  kings  cannot  justify  or  excuse 
them  in  doing  wliat  is  wicked  in  the  sight  of  God,  or  in  lighting  in  an  unjust  cause  when  they  know  it 
to  be  so. 

VOL.1.        2Q 


80(J  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IX. 

sent,  and  only  in  submission  to  the  king's  command  that  he  came  to  him  ;  and 
that  those  that  came  before  did  not  come  willingiy,  but  on  the  same  account ;  he 
therefore  desired  him  to  have  pity  on  those  armed  men  that  were  with  him  ;  and 
that  he  would  come  down  and  follow  him  to  the  king."  So  Elijah  accepted  of 
his  discreet  words  and  courteous  behaviour,  and  came  down  and  followed  him. 
And  when  he  came  to  the  king,  he  prophesied  to  him,  and  told  him  that  "  God  said, 
since  thou  hast  despised  him  as  not  being  God,  and  so  unable  to  foretell  the  truth 
about  thy  distemper,  but  hast  sent,  to  the  god  of  Ekron  to  inquire  of  him  what  will 
be  the  end  of  this  thy  distemper,  know  this,  that  thou  shalt  die." 

2.  Accordingly  the  king  in  a  very  little  time  died,  as  Elijah  had  foretold  ;  but 
Jehoram  his  brother  succeeded  him  in  the  kingdom,  for  he  died  without  children  ; 
but  for  this  Jehoram  he  was  like  his  father  Ahab  in  wickedness  and  reigned 
twelve  years,  indulging  himself  in  all  sorts  of  wickedness  and  impiety  towards 
God  ;  for,  leaving  oil"  his  worship,  he  worshiped  foreign  gods,  but  in  other  respects 
he  was  an  active  man.  Now  at  this  time  it  was  that  Elijah  disappeared  from 
among  men,  and  no  one  knows  of  his  death  to  this  very  day  ;  but  he  left  behind 
him  his  disciple  Elisha,  as  we  have  formerly  declared.  And  indeed,  as  to  Elijah, 
and  as  to  Enoch,  who  w^as  before  the  deluge,  it  is  written  in  the  sacred  books 
that  they  disappeared,  but  so  tl^at  nobody  knew  that  they  died. 


CHAP.  III. 

Hbw  Joram  and  JeJioshaphat  made  an  Expedition  against  the  Moahites ;  as  also 
concerning  the  Wonders  of  Elisha,  and  the  death  of  Jehoshaphat. 

§  1.  Whex  Joram  had  taken  upon  him  the  kingdom,  he  determined  to  make  an 
expedition  against  the  king  of  Moab,  whose  name  was  Mesha ;  for,  as  we  told 
you  before,  he  was  departed  from  his  obedience  to  his  brother  [Ahaziah,]  while 
be  paid  to  his  father  Ahab  two  hundred  thousand  sheep,  with  their  fleeces  of  wool. 
When,  therefore,  he  had  gathered  his  own  army  together,  he  sent  also  to  Je- 
hoshaphat, and  entreated  him,  that  since  he  had  from  the  beginning  been  a  friend 
to  his  father,  he  would  assist  him  in  the  war  that  he  was  entering  into  against  the 
Moabites,  who  had  departed  from  their  obedience  ;  who  not  only  himself  pro- 
mised to  assist  him,  but  would  also  oblige  the  king  of  Edom,  who  was  under  his 
authority,  to  make  the  same  expedition  also.  When  Joram  had  received  these 
assurances  of  assistance  from  Jehoshaphat,  he  took  his  army  with  him,  and  came 
to  Jerusalem  ;  and  when  he  had  been  sumptuously  entertained  by  the  king  of  Je- 
rusalem,  it  was  resolved  upon  by  them  to  take  their  march  against  their  enemies 
through  the  wilderness  of  Edom  ;  and  when  they  had  taken  a  compass  of  seven 
days  journey,  they  were  in  distress  for  want  of  water  for  the  cattle  and  for  the 
army,  from  the  mistake  of  their  roads  by  the  guides  that  conducted  them,  inso- 
much  that  they  were  all  in  an  agony,  especially  Joram  ;  and  cried  to  God,  by  rea- 
son of  their  sorrow,  and  [desired  to  know]  what  wickedness  had  been  committed 
by  them,  that  induced  him  to  deliver  three  kings  together,  without  fighting,  unto 
the  king  of  Moab.  But  Jehoshaphat,  who  was  a  righteous  man,  encouraged  him, 
and  bid  him  send  to  the  camp,  and  know  whether  any  prophet  of  God  was  come 
along  with  them,  that  we  might  by  him  learn  from  God  -what  we  should  do.  And 
when  one  of  the  servants  of  Joram  said  that  he  had  seen  there  Elisha,  th-s  son 
Shaphat,  the  disciple  of  Elijah,  the  three  kings  went  to  him  at  the  entreaty  of 
Jehoshaphat ;  and  when  they  were  come  at  the  prophet's  tent,  which  tent  was 
pitched  out  of  the  camp,  they  asked  him,  "  What  would  become  of  the  army  ?" 
and  Joram  was  particularly  very  pressing  with  him  about  it.  And  when  he  re- 
plied  to  him,  that  "  he  should  not  trouble  him,  but  go  to  his  father's  and  mother's 
prophets,  for  they  [to  be  sure]  were  true  prophets,"  he  still  desired  him  to  pro- 


C.  TTk  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  3(^7 

j;hecy  and  to  save  tliem.  So  he  swore  by  God,  that  he  would  not  answer  him, 
unless  it  were  on  account  ot"  Jehoshaphat,  who  was  a  holy  and  righteous  man ; 
and  when,  at  his  dcsiro,  they  brought  liim  a  man  that  could  play  on  the  psaltery, 
the  divine  spirit  came  upon  him,  as  the  music  played,  and  he  commanded  them 
to  dig  many  trenches  in  the  valley  ;  "  tor,"  said  he,  "  though  there  appear  neither 
cloud,  nor  wind  nor  storm  of  rain,  ye  shall  see  this  river  full  of  water,  till  the 
army  and  (he  cattle  be  saved  for  you  by  drinking  of  it ;  nor  M'ill  this  be  all  the 
favour  that  you  shall  receive  from  God,  but  you  shall  also  overcome  your  ene- 
mies,  and  take  the  best  and  strongest  cities  of  the  Moabites,  and  yuu  shall  cut 
down  their  fruit  trees,*  and  lay  waste  their  countr}-,  and  stop  up  their  fountains 
and  rivers. 

2.  When  the  prophet  had  said  this,  tiie  next  day,  before  the  eun  was  risen,  a 
great  torrent  ran  strongly;  for  God  had  caused  it  to  rain  very  plentifully  at  the 
distance  of  three  days  journey  in  Edom,  sl»  that  the  army  and  the  cattle  found 
water  to  drink  in  abundance.  But  wlien  the  Moabites  heard  that  the  three  kings 
were  coming  upon  thom,  and  made  their  reproach  through  the  wilderness,  the 
king  of  Moab  gathered  his  army  together  presently ;  and  commanded  them  to 
pitch  their  camp  upon  the  mountains,  that  when  the  enemies  should  attempt  to 
enter  their  country,  they  might  not  be  concealed  from  them.  But  when  at  the 
rising  of  the  sun  they  saw  the  water  in  the  torrent,  for  it  was  not  far  from  the 
land  of  Moab,  and  that  it  was  of  the  colour  of  blood,  for  at  such  a  time  the  wa- 
ter especially  looks  red,  by  the  shining  of  the  sun  upon  it,  they  formed  a  false 
notion  of  the  state  of  their  enemies,  as  if  they  had  slain  one  another  for  thirst; 
and  that  the  river  ran  with  their  blood.  However,  supposing  that  this  was  the 
case,  they  desired  their  king  would  send  them  out  to  spoil  their  enemies;  where- 
upon  they  all  went  in  haste,  as  to  an  advantage  already  gained,  and  came  to  the 
enemies'  camp,  as  supposing  them  destroyed  already.  But  their  hope  deceived 
them,  for  as  their  enemies  stood  round  about  them,  some  of  them  were  cut  to 
pieces,  and  others  of  them  were  dispersed,  and  fled  to  their  own  country. 
And  Avhen  the  kings  fell  into  the  land  of  Moab,  they  overthrew  the  cities 
that  were  in  it,  and  spoiled  their  fields,  and  marred  them,  filling  them  with 
stones  out  of  the  brooks,  and  cut  down  the  best  of  their  trees,  and  stop- 
ped up  their  fountains  of  water,  and  overthrew  their  walls  to  their  foun- 
dations. But  the  king  of  Moab,  when  he  was  pursued,  endured  a  siege,  and  seeing 
his  city  in  danger  of  being  overthrown  by  force,  made  a  sally,  and  went  out  with 
seven  hundred  men,  in  order  to  break  through  the  enemies  camp  with  his  horse- 
men, on  that  side  where  the  watch  seemed  to  be  kept  most  negligently;  and  when 
upon  trial  he  could  not  get  away,  for  he  lighted  upon  a  place  that  was  carefully 
watched,  he  returned  into  the  city,  and  did  a  tiling  that  showed  despair  and  the 
utmost  distress ;  for  he  took  his  eldest  son,  who  was  to  reign  after  him,  and  lifting 
him  up  upon  the  wall  that  he  might  be  visible  to  all  the  enemies,  he  ollcrcd  him 
as  a  whole  burnt-ofl^ering  to  God  ;  whom,  when  the  kings  saw,  they  commiserated 
the  distress  tiiat  was  the  occasion  of  it,  and  were  so  afiected,  in  way  of  humanity 
and  pity,  that  they  raised  the  siege,  and  every  one  returned  to  his  own  house  ;  So 
Jehoshaphat  came  to  Jerusalem,  and  continued  in  peace  there,  and  outlived  this 
expedition  but  a  little  time,  and  then  died,  having  lived  in  all  sixty  years,  and  of 
them  reigned  twenty-five.  He  was  buried  in  a  magnificent  manner  in  Jerusa. 
lem,  for  he  had  imitated  the  actions  of  David, 

*  This  practice  of  ciitlinfr  down  or  plucking  up  by  the  roofs  the  fruit  treen,  was  forbidden,  even  in  or- 
dinary  wars,  bv  the  law  of  Moses,  Deut.  xx.  li\  20,  and  only  allowed  by  God  in  this  particular  case, 
when"  tlie  Moabites  were  to  be  punished  and  cut  olTin  an  extraordinary  uiainict  for  their  wickedness. 
See  Jer.  xlviii.  11,  12,  13,  and  many  the  like  prophesies  a;;ainst  them.  Nothing  could  therefore  justify 
this  practirn  but  a  particular  coinniission  from  God  by  his  prophets,  as  in  the  present  case,  which  wai 
ever  a  sufficient  warrant  for  breaiiing  any  such  ritual  or  ceremonial  law  whatever. 


2Q  2 


308  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IX 


CHAP.  IV. 

Jelwram  succeeds  Jeliosliaphat :  how  Joram,  Ids  Namesake,  King  of  Israel,  fought 
with  the  Syrians;  and  what  Wonders  were  done  by  the  Prophet  Elisha. 

§  1.  Jeiioshaphat  had  a  good  number  of  children  ;  but  he  appointed  his  eldest 
son  Jehoram  to  be  his  successor,  who  had  the  same  name  with  his  mother's  bro- 
ther, that  was  king  of  Israel,  and  tlie  son  of  Ahab.  Now  when  the  king  of  Israel 
was  come  out  of  the  land  of  Moab  to  Samaria,  he  had  with  him  Elisha  the  pro- 
phet,  whose  acts  I  liave  a  mind  to  go  over  particularly,  for  they  were  illustrious, 
and  worthy  to  be  related,  as  we  have  them  set  down  in  the  sacred  books. 

2.  For  they  say  that  the  widow  of  Obadiah,*  Ahab's  steward,  came  to  him, 
and  said,  that  "he  was  not  ignorant  how  her  husband  had  preserved  the  prophets 
that  were  to  be  slain  by  Jezebel,  the  wife  of  Ahab ;  for  she  said  that  he  hid  a 
hundred  of  them,  and  had  borrowed  money  for  their  maintenance,  and  that  after 
her  husband's  death  she  and  her  children  were  carried  away  to  be  made  slaves 
by  the  creditors  ;  and  she  desired  of  hun  to  have  mercy  upon  her  on  account  of 
what  her  husband  did,  and  afford  her  some  assistance."  And  when  he  asked  her 
what  she  had  in  the  house,  she  said,  nothing  but  a  very  small  quantity  of  oil  in  a 
cruise.  So  the  prophet  bid  her  go  away,  and  borrow  a  great  many  empty  vessels 
of  her  neighbours,  and  when  she  had  shut  her  chamber  door,  to  pour  the  oil  into 
them  all;  for  that  God  would  fill  them  full.  And  when  the  woman  had  done 
what  she  was  commanded  to  do,  and  bade  her  children  bring  every  one  of  the 
vessels,  and  all  were  filled,  and  not  one  left  empty,  she  came  to  the  prophet,  and 
told  him  that  they  were  all  full ;  upon  which  he  advised  her  to  go  away,  and  sell 
the  oil,  and  pay  the  creditors  what  was  owing  to  them,  for  that  there  would  be 
some  surplus  of  the  price  of  the  oil,  which  she  might  make  use  of  for  the  main- 
tenance of  her  children.  And  thus  did  Elisha  discharge  the  woman's  debts,  and 
free  her  from  the  vexation  of  her  creditors. 

3.  *Elisha  also  sent  a  hast}^  message  to  Joram,  and  exhorted  him  to  take  care 
of  that  place,  for  that  therein  were  some  Syrians  lying  in  ambush  to  kill  him. 
So  the  king  did  as  the  prophet  exhorted  him,  and  avoided  his  going  a  hunting. 
And  when  Benhadad  missed  of  the  success  of  his  lying  in  ambush,  he  was  wroth 
with  his  own  servants,  as  if  they  had  betrayed  his  ambushment  to  Joram,  and  he 
sent  for  them,  and  said  they  were  the  betrayers  of  his  secret  counsels  ;  and  he 

*  That  this  woman  who  cried  to  Elisha,  and  who  in  our  Bible  is  styled  the  unfe  of  one  of  the  sons  of 
theprophets,  2  Kings,  iv.  1,  was  no  other  than  the  widow  of  Obadiah,  the  good  steward  of  Ahab,  is  con- 
firmed by  the  Chaldee  paraphrast,  and  by  the  Rabbins  and  others.  Nor  is  that  unlikely  which  Josephus 
here  adds,  that  these  debts  were  contracted  by  her  husband  for  the  support  of  those  hundred  of  the 
Lord's  prophets  whom  he  maintained  by  fifty  in  a  cave,  in  the  days  of  Ahab  and  Jezebel,  1  Kinss,  xviii. 
4,  which  circumstances  render  it  highly  fit  that  the  prophet  Elisha  should  provide  her  a  remedy,  and 
enable  her  to  redeem  herself  and  her  sons  from  the  fear  of  that  slavery  which  insolvent  debtorswere  lia- 
ble to  by  the  law  of  Moses,  Levit.  xxv.  39 ;  Matt,  xviii.  25  ;  which  he  did  accordingly,  with  God's  help, 
at  the  expense  of  a  miracle. 

t  Dr.  Hudson,  with  very  good  reason,  suspects  that  there  is  no  small  defect  in  our  present  copies  of 
J.^sephus,  just  before  the  beginning  of  this  section,  and  that  chiefly  as  to  that  distinct  account  which  ho 
had  given  us  reason  to  expect  in  the  fust  section,  and  to  which  he' seems  to  refer,  chap.  viii.  sect,  fi,  con- 
cerning the  glorious  miracles  which  Klisha  wrought,  which  indeed  in  our  Bibles  are  not  a  few,  2  King?, 
if.— ix.  of  which  we  have  several  omitted  in  Josephus's  present  copies.  One  of  those  nistories,  omittetl 
at  present,  was  evidently  in  his  Bible,  I  mean  that  of  the  curing  of  Naaman's  leprosy,  2  Kings,  v.  for  he 
plainly  alludes  to  it,  B.  iii.  chap.  xi.  sect.  4,  where  he  observes,  "  tliat  there  were  lepers  in  many  nations 
who  yet  have  been  in  honour,  and  not  only  free  from  reproach  and  avoidance,  but  who  have  been  great 
captains  of  airmies,  and  been  intrusted  with  high  oflices  in  theconnnonwealth,  and  have  had  the  privilege 
of  entering  into  holy  places  and  temples."  But  what  makes  me  most  regret  the  want  of  that  history  in 
our  present  copies  of  Josephus  is  liiis,  that  we  have  here,  as  it  is  commonly  understood,  one  of  the  great- 
est difficulties  in  all  the  Bible,  that  in  2  Kings,  v.  IR,  19,  when  Naaman,  after  he  had  been  miraculously 
cured  by  a  prophet  of  the  true  God,  and  had  thereupon  promised,  verse  17,  that  "  he  would  henceforth 
offer  neither  burnt-offerings  nor  sacrifice  unto  other  gods,  but  unto  the  Lord,  adds.  In  this  thing  the  Lord 
pardon  thy  servant,  that  when  my  master  gocth  into  the  house  of  Rimmon  to  worship  there,  and  be  lean- 
eth  upon  my  hamls,  and  1  bow  down  -nyself  in  the  house  of  Rimmon,  the  Lord  pardon  thy  servant  in  thils 
thing.  .'\nd  ^;lish;^  said.  Go  in  peace."  This  looks  like  a  prophet's  permission  for  being  partaker  in 
laolatry  itself,  not  of  coinuliance  witli  an  idolatrous  court. 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


309 


threatened  that  he  would  put  them  to  death,  since  such  their  practice  was  evi- 
dent,  because  he  had  entrusted  this  secret  to  none  but  them,  and  yet  it  was  made 
known  to  his  enemy.  And  when  one  that  was  present  said,  that  "  he  should  not 
mistake  himself,  nor  suspect  that  they  had  discovered  to  his  enemy  his  sendino- 
men  to  kill  him,  but  that  he  ought  to  know  that  it  was  Elisha  the  prophet,  who 
discovered  all  to  him,  and  laid  open  all  his  counsels."  So  he  gave  order  that 
they  should  send  some  to  learn  in  what  city  Elisha  dwelt.  Accordingly,  those 
that  were  sent  brought  ^^•ol•d,  that  he  was  in  Dothan  :  wherefore  Benhadad  sent 
to  that  city  a  great  army,  with  horses  and  chariots  to  take  Elisha ;  so  they  en- 
compassed  the  city  round  about  by  night,  and  kept  him  therein  confined  ;  but 
when  the  prophet's  servant  in  the  morning  perceived  this,  and  that  his  enemies 
sought  to  take  Elisha,  ho  came  running,  and  crying  out  after  a  disordered  man- 
ner to  him,  and  told  him  of  it ;  but  he  encouraged  him,  and  bid  him  not  be  afraid, 
and  to  despise  the  enemy,  and  trust  in  the  assistance  of  God,  and  was  himself 
without  fear  ;  and  he  besought  God  to  make  manifest  to  his  servant  his  power 
and  presence,  so  far  as  was  possible  in  order  to  the  inspiring  him  with  hope  and 
courage.  Accordingly  God  heard  the  prayer  of  the  prophet,  and  made  the  ser- 
vant see  a  multitude  of  chariots  and  horses  encompassing  Elisha,  till  he  laid  aside 
liis  fear,  and  his  courage  revived,  at  the  sight  of  what  he  supposed  was  come  to 
tlieir  assistance.  After  this  Elisha  did  farther  entreat  God,  that  ho  would  dim 
the  eyes  of  their  enemies,  and  cast  a  mist  befoi'e  them,  whereby  they  might  not 
discern  him.  When  this  was  done,  he  went  into  the  midst  of  his  enemies,  and 
asked  them  who  it  was  that  they  came  to  seek  ;  and  when  they  replied,  the  pro- 
j)het  Elisha,  he  promised  he  would  deliver  him  to  them,  if  they  would  follow  him 
to  the  city  where  he  was.  So  these  men  were  so  darkened  by  God  in  their  sight 
and  in  their  mind,  that  they  followed  him  very  diligently  ;  And  when  Elisha  had 
brought  them  to  Samaria,  he  ordered  Joram  the  king  to  shut  the  gates,  and  to 
place  his  own  army  I'ound  about  them  ;  and  prayed  to  God  to  clear  the  eyes  of 
these  their  enemies,  and  take  the  mist  from  before  them.  Accordingly  when 
they  were  freed  from  the  obscurity  they  had  been  in,  they  saw  themselves  in  tho 
midst  of  their  enemies  ;  and  as  the  Syrians  were  strangely  amazed  and  distres- 
sed,  as  was  but  reasonable,  at  an  action  so  divine  and  surprising;  and  as  king 
Joram  asked  the  ]>rophet,  if  he  would  give  him  leave  to  shoot  at  them  ;  Elisha 
forbade  him  so  to  do  ;  and  said,  that  "  it  is  just  to  kill  those  that  are  taken  in  bat-* 
tie,  but  that  these  men  had  done  the  country  no  harm,  but,  without  knowing  it, 
were  come  thither  by  tho  divine  power."  So  that  his  counsel  was  to  treat  them 
in  an  hospitable  manner  at  his  table,  and  then  send  them  away  without  hurting 
them."*  VVheretbre  Joram  obeyed  tlwi  prophet ;  and  when  he  had  feasted  tho 
Syrians  in  a  splendid  and  magnificent  manner,  he  let  tnem  go  to  Benhadad  their 
king. 

4.  Now  when  these  men  were  come  back,  and  had  showed  Benhadad  how 
strange  an  accident  had  befallen  them,  and  what  an  appearance  and  power  tliey 
had  experienced  of  the  God  of  Israel,  he  wondered  at  it,  as  also  at  that  prophet 
with  whom  God  was  so  evidently  present;  so  he  determined  to  make  no  moro 
secret  attempts  upon  the  king  of  Israel,  out  of  fear  of  Elisha,  but  resolved  to  mako 
open  war  with  them,  as  supposing  he  could  be  too  hard  for  his  enemies  by  tho 
multitude  of  his  army  and  power.  So  he  made  an  expedition  with  a  great  army 
against  Joram,  who  not  thinking  himself  a  match  for  him,  shut  himself  up  in  Sa- 
maria, and  depended  on  the  strength  of  its  walls ;  but  Benhadad  supposed  ho 
should  take  the  city,  if  not  by  his  engines  of  war,  yet  that  he  should  overcome 
the  Samaritans  by  famine,  and  the  want  of  necessaries,  and  brought  his  army  up ' 
on  them,  and  besieged  the  city ;  and  the  plenty  of  necessaries  was  brought  so 

*  L'pon  occasion  of  tliis  stratagem  of  Elisha's  in  Joseplnis,  wc  may  take  notice,  tliat  although  Joscphus 
was  one  of  the  greatest  lovers  of  truth  in  the  world,  yet  in  a  just  war  he  seems  to  have  had  no  niannet 
of  scruple  upon  him  by  all  such  stratagems  possible  to  deceive  public  enemies.  See  this  Josephus's  ac- 
count of  Jeremiah's  imposition  on  the  great  men  of  the  Jews  in  somewhat  a  like  case,  Antiq.  B,  x.  chap. 
vii.  sect.  G,  and  'Z  Sam.  xvi.  10,  &,c. 


310  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IX, 

low  with  Joram,  that  from  the  extremity  of  want  an  ass's  head  was  sold  in  Sama- 
ria for  fourscore  pieces  of  silver,  and  the  Hebrews  bought  a  sextary  of  dove's 
dung  instead  of  salt,  for  five  pieces  of  silver.  Now  Joram  was  in  fear  lest  some- 
body should  betray  the  city  to  the  enemy,  by  reason  of  the  famine,  and  went 
every  day  round  the  walls  and  the  guai'ds  to  see  whether  any  such  were  concealed 
among  them  ;  and  being  thus  seen,  and  taking  such  care,  he  deprived  them  of 
the  opportunity  of  contriving  any  such  thing  ;  and  if  they  had  a  mind  to  do  it,  he 
by  this  means  prevented  them ;  but  upon  a  certain  woman's  crying  out,  "  Have 
pity  on  me,  my  lord,"  while  he  thought  that  she  was  about  to  ask  for  someM'hat  to 
eat,  he  imprecated  God's  curse  upon  her,  and  said.  He  had  neither  threshing- 
floor  nor  wine-presses,  whence  he  might  give  her  any  thing  at  her  petition." 
Upon  which  she  said,  "  She  did  not  desire  his  aid  in  any  such  thing,  nor  trouble 
him  about  food,  but  desired  that  he  would  do  her  justice  as  to  another  woman." 
And  when  he  bade  her  say  on,  and  let  him  know  what  she  desired,  she  said,  "  She 
had  made  an  agreement  with  the  other  woman,  who  was  her  neighbour  and  her 
friend,  that  because  the  famine  and  tlie  want  was  intolerable,  they  should  kill 
their  children,  each  of  them  having  a  son  of  her  own,  and  we  will  live  upon  them 
ourselves  for  two  days,  the  one  day  upon  one  son,  and  the  other  day  upon  the 
other  ;  and,  said  she,  I  have  killed  my  son  the  first  day,  and  we  lived  upon  my 
son  yesterday,  but  this  other  woman  will  not  do  the  same  thing,  but  hath  broken 
her  agreement,  and  hath  hid  her  son."  This  story  mightily  grieved  Joram  when 
he  heard  it ;  so  he  rent  his  garment,  and  cried  out  with  a  loud  voice,  and 
conceived  great  wrath  against  Elishathe  prophet,  and  set  himself  eagerly  to  have 
him  slain,  because  he  did  not  pray  to  God  to  provide  them  some  exit  and  way  of 
escape  out  of  the  miseries  with  which  they  were  surrounded,  and  sent  one  away 
immediately  to  cut  off  his  head,  who  made  haste  to  kill  the  prophet ;  but  Elisha 
was  not  unacquainted  with  the  wrath  of  the  king  against  him  ;  for  as  he  sat  in  his 
house  by  himself,  with  none  but  his  disciples  about  him,  he  told  them  that  Joram, 
who  was  the  son  of  a  murderer,*  had  sent  one  to  take  away  his  head  :  but,  said 
lie,  "  when  he  that  is  commanded  to  do  this  comes,  take  care  that  you  do  not 
let  him  come  m,  but  press  the  door  against  him,  and  hold  him  fast  there,  for  the 
king  himself  will  follow  him,  and  come  to  me,  having  altered  his  mind."  Accor- 
dingly they  did  as  they  were  bidden,  when  he  that  was  sent  by  the  king  to  kill 
'Elisha  came  ;  but  Joram  repented  of  his  wrath  against  the  prophet,  and  for  fear 
he  that  was  commanded  to  kill  him  should  have  done  it  before  he  came,  he  made 
haste  to  hinder  his  slaughter,  and  to  save  the  prophet :  and  when  he  came  to  him, 
he  accused  him  that  he  did  not  pi*ay  to  God  for  their  deliverance  from  the  mise- 
ries  they  now  lay  under,  but  saw  them  so  sadly  destroyed  by  them.  Hereupon 
Elisha  promised,  that  the  very  next  day,  at  the  very  same  hour  in  which  the  king 
came  to  him,  they  should  have  great  plenty  of  food,  and  that  two  seahs  of  barley 
should  be  sold  in  tlic  market  for  a  shekel,  and  a  seah  of  fine  flour  should  be 
sold  for  a  shekel.  This  prediction  made  Joram  and  those  that  were  present  very 
joyful,  they  did  not  scruple  believing  what  the  prophet  said,  on  account  of  the  ex- 
perience they  had  of  the  truth  of  his  former  predictions  ;  and  the  expectation  of 
plenty  made  the  want  they  were  in  that  day,  with  the  uneasiness  that  accompanied 
it,  appear  a  light  thing  to  them :  but  the  captain  of  the  third  band,  who  was  a 
friend  of  the  king's,  and  on  whose  hand  the  king  leaned,  said,  "  Thou  talkest  of 
incredible  things,  O  prophet !  for  as  it  is  impossible  for  God  to  pour  down  tor- 
rents  of  barley,  or  fine  flour,  out  of  heaven,  so  is  it  impossible  that  what  thou  say- 
est  should  come  to  pass."  To  which  the  prophet  made  this  reply,  "  Thou  shalt 
see  these  things  come  to  pass,  but  thou  shalt  not  be  in  the  least  a  partaker  of 
them." 


C.  Xin.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  311 

5.  Now  what  Elisha  had  thus  foretold  came  to  pass  in  the  manner  following : 
There  was  a  law  in  Samaria,*  that  those  that  had  the  leprosy,  and  whose  bodies 
were   not  cleansed   trom  it,  should  abide  without  the  city  ;  and  there  were  lour 
men  that  on  tliis  account  abode  before  the  gates,  while  nobody  gave  them  any 
food,  by  reason  of  the  extremity  of  the  famine  :  and  as  they  were  prohibited  from 
entering  into  the  city  by  the  law,  and  they  considered  that  if  they  were  permitted 
to  enter,  they  should  miserably  perish  by  the  famine,  as  also,  that  if  they  stayed 
where  they  were,  they  should  sulfer  in  the  same  manner,  they  resolved  to  deliver 
themselves  up  to  the  enemy,  that  in  case  they  should  spare  them,  tlicy  should 
live  ;  but  if  they  should  be  killed,  that  would  be  an  easy  death.     So  wlien  thev 
had  confirmed  this  their  resolution,  they  came  by  night  to  the  enemies'  camp 
Now  God  had  begun  to  atlright  and  disturb  the  Syrians,  and  to  bring  the  noise  of 
chariots  and  armour  to  their  ears,  as  though  an  army  were  coming  upon  them, 
and  had  made  them  suspect  that  it  was  coming  nearer  and  nearer  to  them.     In 
short,  they  were  in  such  a  dread  of  this  army,  that  they  left  their  tents,  and  ran 
together  to   Benhadad,  and  said,  that  "Joram  the  king  of  Israel  had  hired  for 
auxiliaries  both  the  king  of  Egypt  and  the  king  of  the  islands,  and  led  them  against 
them,  for  they  heard  the  noise  of  them  as  they  were  coming."     And  Benhadad 
believed  what  they  said  (for  there  came  the  same  noise  to  his  ears,  as  well  as  it 
did  to  theirs  ;)  so  they  fell  into  a  mighty  disorder  and  tumult,  and  left  their  horses 
and  beasts  in  their  camp,  witli  immense  riches  also,  and  betook  themselves  to 
flight;  and  those  lepers  who  had  departed  from  Samaria,  and  were  gone  to  the 
camp  of  the  Syrians,  of  whom  we  made  mention  a  little  before,  when  they  were 
in  the  camp,  saw  nothing  but  great  quietness  and  silence,  accordingly  they  entered 
into  it,  and  went  hastily  into  one  of  the  tents,  and  when  they  saw  nobody  there, 
they  eat  and  drank,  and  carried  garments,  and  a  great  quantity  of  gold,  and  hid  it 
out  of  the  camp ;  after  which  they  went  into  another  tent,  and   carried  off'  wha'' 
was  in  it,  as  they  did  at  the  former,  and  this  did  they  four  several  times,  without 
the  least  interruption  from  any  body;  so  they  gathered  thereby  that  the  enemies 
were  departed;  whereupon  they  reproached  themselves  that  they  did  not  inform 
Joram  and  the  citizens  of  it.     So  they  came  to  the  walls  of  Samaria,  and  called 
aloud  to  the  watchmen,  and  told  them  in  what  state  the  enemies  were,  as  did  these 
tell  the  king's  guards,  by  whose  means  Joram  came  to  know  of  it ;   who  then  sent 
for  his  friends,  and  the  captains  of  his  host,  and  said  to  them,  that  "he  suspected 
that  this  departure  of  the  king  of  Syria  Was  by  way  of  ambush  and  treachery, 
and  that  out  of  despair  of  ruining  you  by  famine,  when  you  imagine  them  to  be 
fled  away,  you  may  come  out  of  the  city  to  spoil  their  camp,  and  he  may  then 
fall  upon  you  on  a  sudden,  and  may  both  kill  you,  and  take  the  city  without  fight- 
ing; whence  it  is  that  I  exhort  you  to  guard  the  city  carefully,  and  by  no  means 
to  go  out  of  it,  or  proudly  to  despise  your  enemies,  as  though  they  were  really 
gone  away."     And  -when  a  certain  person  said,  that  "he  did  very  well  and  wisely 
to  admit  such  a  suspicion,  but  that  he  still  advised  him  to  send  a  couple  of  horse- 
men to  search  all  the  country,  as  far  as  Jordan,  that  if  they  were  seized  by  an 
ambush  of  the  enemy,  they  miglit  be  a  security  to  your  army,  that  they  may  not 
go  out  as  if  they  suspected  nothing,  nor  undergo  the  like  misfortune  ;  and  (said 
he)  those  horsemen  may  be  numbered  among  those  that  have  died  by  the  famine, 
supposing  they  be  caught  by  the  enemy."     So  the  king  was  pleased  with  this 
opinion,  and  sent  such  as  might  search  out  the  truth,  who  performed  their  journey 
over  a  road  that  was  without  any  enemies,  but  found  it  full  of  provisions  and  of 
weapons,  that  they  had  therefore  thrown  away  and  left  behind  them,  in  order  to 
their  being  light  and  expeditious  in  their  flight.     When  the  king  heard  this,  he 
sent  out  the  multitude  to  take  the  spoils  of  the  camp ;  which  gain  of  theirs  was 
not  of  things  of  small  value,  but  they  took  a  great  quantity  of  gold,  and  a  great 
quantity  of  silver,  and  flocks  of  all  kinds  of  cattle.     They  also  possessed  them- 

*  This  law  of  the  Jews,  for  the  exclusion  of  the  lepers  out  of  the  camp  in  the  wiklerness,  and  out  of 
cities  in  Judea  is  a  known  one,  Lev.  xiii.  46  j  and  Num.  v.  1 — 4. 


312  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  III. 

selves  of  [so  many]  ten  thousand  measures  of  wheat  and  barley  as  they  never  in 
the  least  dreamed  of;  and  were  not  only  freed  from  their  former  miseries,  but  has 
such  plenty,  that  two  seahs  of  barley  were   bought  for  a  shekel,  and  a  seah  of 
fine  flour  for  a  shekel,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  Elisha.     Now  a  seah  is  equal 
to  an  Italian  modius  and  a  half.     The  captain  of  the  third  band  was  the  only 
man  that  received  no  benefit  by  this  plenty  ;  for  as  he  was  appointed  by  the  king 
to  oversee  the  gate,  that  he  might  prevent  the  too  great  crowd  of  the  multitude, 
and  they  might  not  endanger  one  another  to  perish,  by  the  treading  on  one  another 
in  the  press,  he  suffered  himself  in  that  very  way,  and  died  in  that  very  manner, 
as  Elisha  had  foretold  such  his  death,  when  he  alone  of  them  all  disbelieved  what 
he  had  said  concerning  that  plenty  of  provisions  which  they  should  soon  have. 
6.  Hereupon,  when  Benhadad,  the  king  of  Syria,  had  escaped  to  Damascus, 
and  understood  that  it  was  God  himself  that  cast  all  his  army  into  this  fear  and 
disorder,  and  that  it  did  not  arise  from  the  invasion  of  enemies,  he  was  mightily 
cast  down  at  his  having  God  so  greatly  for  his  enemy,  and  fell  into  a  distemper. 
Now  it  happened  that  Ehsha  the  prophet,  at  that  time,  was  gone  out  of  his  own 
country  to  Damascus,  of  which  Benhadad  was  informed ;  he  sent  Hazael,  the 
most  faithful  of  all  his  servants,  to  meet  him,  and  carry  him  presents,  and  bade 
him  inquire  of  him  about  his  distemper,  and  whether  he  should  escape  the  dan- 
gers that  it  threatened.     So  Hazael  came  to  Elisha  with  forty  camels  that  car- 
ried the  best  and  most  precious  fruits  that  the  country  of  Damascus  afforded, 
as  well  as  those  which  the  king's  palace  supplied.     He  saluted  him  kindly,  and 
said,  that  he  "  was  sent  to  him  by  king  Benhadad,  and  brought  presents  with  him, 
in  order  to  inquire  concerning  his  distemper,  whether  he  should  recover  from  it 
or  not  ?"     Whereupon  the  prophet  bid  him  tell  the  king  no  melancholy  news, 
but  still  he  said  he  would  die.     So  the  king's  servant  was  troubled  to  hear  it ;  and 
Elisha  wept  also,  and  his  tears  ran  down  plenteously  at  his  foresight  of  what  mi- 
series  his  people  would  undergo  after  the  death  of  Benhadad.     And  when  Hazael 
asked  him,  what  was  the  occasion  of  this  confusion  he  was  in  ?  he  said,  that  "  he 
wept  out  of  his  commiseration  for  the  multitude  of  the  Israelites,  and  what  terrible 
miseries  they  will  suffer  by  thee  ;  tor  thou  wilt  slay  the  strongest  of  them,  and 
wilt  burn  their  strongest  cities,  and  will  destroy  their  children,  and  dash  them 
against  the  stones,  and  will  rip  up  their  women  with  child."     And  when  Hazael 
said,  "  How  can  it  be  that  I  should  have  power  enough  to  do  such  things  ?"  The 
prophet  replied,  "that  God  had  informed  him  that  he  should  be  king  of  Syria." 
So  when  Hazael  was  come  to  Benhadad,  he  told  him  good  news  concerning  his 
distemper  ;*   but  on  the  next  day  he  spread  a  wet  cloth,  in  the  nature  of  a  net, 
over  him,  and  strangled  him,  and  took  his  dominion.     He  was  an  active  man, 
and  had  the  good  w  ill  of  the  Syrians,  and  of  the  people  of  Damascus,  to  a  great 
degree  ;  by  whom  both  Benhadad  himself,  and  Hazael,  who  ruled  after  him,  are 
honoured  to  this  day  as  gods,  by  reason  of  their  benefactions,  and  their  building 
them   temples,  by  which  they  adorned  the  city  of  the  Damascens.     They  also 
every  day  do  with  great  pomp  pay  their  worship  to  these  kings,f  and  value  them- 
selves upon  their  antiquity ;  nor  do  they  know  that  these  kings  are  much  later 
than  they  imagine,  and  that  they  are  not  yet  eleven  hundred  years  old.     Now 
when  Joram,  the  king  of  Israel,  heard  that  Benhadad  was  dead,  he  recovered  ou< 
of  the  terror  and  dread  he  had  been  in  on  his  account,  and  was  very  glad  to  live  in 
peace. 

*  Since  Elijah  did  not  live  to  anoint  Hazael  king  nf  Syria  himself,  as  he  was  empowered  to  do,  1  Kings, 
xix.  15,  it  was  most  probably  now  done,  in  his  name,  by  liis  servant  and  successor  Elisha:  nor  does  it 
sectn  lo  ine  otherwise,  but  tliat  Benhadad  iinined lately  recovered  of  his  disease,  as  the  prophet  foretold  ; 
and  that  Hazael,  upon  his  being  anointed  to  succeed  him,  though  he  ought  to  have  staid  till  lie  died  by  the 
course  ol  nature,  c  some  other  way  of  divine  punishment,  as  did  David  for  many  years  in  the  like  case, 
was  ton  impatient,  and  the  very  next  day  smothered  or  strangled  him,  in  order  to  come  directly  to  the 
succession. 

t  What  ISTr.  Le  Clerc  pretends  here,  that  it  is  more  probable  that  Hazael  and  his  son  were  worshiped 
by  the  Syrians,  and  people  of  Damascus,  till  the  days  of  Josephns,  than  Benhadad  and  Hazael,  because 
under  Benhadad  they  had  greatly  suflered,  and  because  it  is  almost  incredible,  that  both  a  king,  and  that 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  313 


CHAP.  V. 

Concerning  the  Wickedness  of  Jelioram,  King  of  Jerusalem.     IFis  Defeat 

and  Death. 

§  1.  Now  Jehoram,  king  of  Jerusalem,  for  we  liave  said  before  tliat  he  had  tlic 
same  name  with  tlie  king  of  Israel,  as  soon  as  he  had  taken  tiic  government  upon 
him,  betook  himself  to  the  slaughter  of  his  brethren,  and  his  father's  friends,  who 
were  governors  under  him,  and  thence  made  a  beginning,  and  a  demonstration  of 
his  wickedness  ;  nor  was  he  at  all  better  than  those  kings  of  Israel  who  at  first 
transgressed  against  the  laws  of  their  country  and  of  the  Hebrews,  and  against 
God's  worship  ;  and  it  was  Athaliah,  the  daughter  of  Ahab,  whom  he  had  mar- 
ried,  who  taught  him  to  be  a  bad  man  in  other  respects,  and  also  to  worship  fo- 
reign  gods.  Now  God  Nvould  not  quite  root  out  this  family,  because  of  the  pro- 
mise he  had  made  to  David.  However,  Jehoram  did  not  leave  oft"  the  introduc- 
tion of  new  sorts  of  customs,  to  the  propagation  of  impiety,  and  to  the  ruin  of  tho 
customs  of  his  own  country.  And  when  the  Edomites  about  that  time  had  re- 
volted  from  him,  and  slain  their  former  king,  who  was  in  subjection  to  his  father, 
and  had  set  up  one  of  their  own  choosing,  Jehoram  fell  ujjon  the  land  of  Edom, 
with  the  horsemen  that  were  about  him,  and  the  chariots,  by  night,  and  destroyed 
those  that  lay  near  to  his  own  kingdom,  but  did  not  proceed  farther.  However, 
this  expedition  did  him  no  service,  for  they  all  revolted  from  him,  with  those  that 
dwelt  in  the  country  of  Libnah.  He  was  indeed  so  mad  as  to  compel  the  people 
to  go  up  to  the  high  places  of  the  mountains,  and  worship  foreign  gods. 

2.  As  he  was  doing  this,  and  had  entirely  cast  his  own  country  laws  out  of  his 
mind,  there  was  brought  him  an  epistle  from  Elijah.*  the  prophet,  which  declared 
that  "  God  would  execute  great  judgments  upon  him,  because  he  had  not  imitated 
his  own  fathers,  but  had  followed  the  wicked  courses  of  the  kings  of  Israel ;  and 
had  compelled  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  the  citizens  of  Jerusalem,  to  leave  the 
holy  worship  of  their  own  God,  and  to  worship  idols,  as  Ahab  had  compelled  the 
Israelites  to  do  and  because  he  had  slain  his  brethren,  and  the  men  that  were 
good  and  righteous.  And  the  prophet  gave  him  notice,  in  this  epistle,  what  pu- 
nishment he  should  undergo  for  these  crimes,  namely,  the  destruction  of  his  peo- 
ple, with  the  corruption  of  the  king's  own  wives  and  children  ;  and  that  he  should 
himself  die  of  a  distemper  in  his  bowels,  with  long  torments  those  his  bowels  tal- 
hng  out  by  the  violence  of  the  inward  rottenness  of  the  parts,  insomuch,  that 
though  he  see  his  own  misery,  he  shall  not  be  able  at  all  to  help  hunself,  but  shall 
die  in  that  manner."     This  it  was  which  Elijah  denounced  to  him  in  that  epistle. 

3.  It  was  not  long  after  this  that  an  army  of  those  Arabians  that  lived  near  to 
Ethiopia,  and  of  the  Philistines,  fell  upon  the  kingdom  of  Jehoram,  and  spoiled 
the  country  and  the  king's  house.  Moreover,  they  slew  his  sons  and  his  wives; 
one  only  of  his  sons  was  left  him,  who  escaped  the  enemy  ;  his  name  was  Aliazi- 
ah :  after  which  calamity  he  himself  fell  into  that  disease  which  was  foretold  by 
the  prophet,  and  lasted  a  great  while  (for  God  inflicted  this  punishment  upon  him 
in  his  belly,  out  of  his  wrath  against  him,)  and  so  he  died  miserably,  and  saw  his 
own  bowels  fall  out.     The  people   also  abused  his  dead  body  ;  I  suppose  it  was 

kinK'smiirrlerer,  should  be  worshiped  by  the  same  Syrians,  is  of  little  force  against  those  rocor<Is,  out  of 
wliich  Josephus  drew  tliis  history,  especially  when  it  is  likely  tliat  they  thouaht  Benhadad  died  of  the 
distcpiper  he  laboured  under,  and  not  by  Hazael's  treachery.  Bubidcs,  the  reason  that  .losephus  gives 
for  this  adoration,  that  these  two  kings  had  been  great  benefactors  to  the  inhabitants  of  Damascus,  and 
had  built  them  temples,  is  too  remote  from  the  political  suspicions  of  Le  Clerc ;  nor  ought  such  weak  sus- 
picious to  l>e  deemed  of  any  force  against  authentic  testimonies  of  antiquity. 

*  This  epistle,  in  bome  copies  of  Josephus,  is  said  to  rome  to  Joram  from  Elijah,  with  this  addition, 
Jor  he  7VCIS  yel  i/pon  earth,  which  could  not  be  true  of  Elijah,  who  as  all  agree,  was  j^one  from  the  eaith 
'about  four  years  before,  and  could  only  be  true  of  Elisha  ;  nor  perhaps  is  there  any  more  mystery  here, 
than  that  the  name  of  Elijah  has  very  anciently  crept  into  the  text  instead  of  Elibha,  by  the  copiers,  there 
being  nothing  in  any  copy  of  tliat  epistle  peculiar  to  Elijah. 
VOL.  1.        2  R 


314  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IX. 

because  they  thought  that  such  his  death  came  upon  him  by  the  wrath  of  God, 
and  that  therefore  he  was  not  worthy  to  partake  of  such  a  funeral  as  became 
kings.  Accordingly  they  neither  buried  him  in  the  sepulchres  of  his  fathers,  nor 
vouchsafed  him  any  honours,  but  buried  him  like  a  private  man,  and  this  when 
he  had  lived  forty  years,  and  reigned  eight.  And  the  people  of  Jerusalem  deli- 
vered the  government  to  his  son  Ahaziah. 


CHAP.  VI. 

How  Jehu  was  anointed  King  ;  and  slew  both  Joram  and  AhaziaJi ;  as  also 
what  he  did  for  ilie  Punishment  of  the  Wicked. 

§  1.  Now  Joram,  the  king  of  Israel,  after  the  death  of  Benhadad,  hoped  that  he 
might  now  take  Ramoth,  a  city  of  Gilead,  from  the  Syrians.  Accordingly  he 
made  an  expedition  against  it  with  a  great  army ;  but  as  he  was  besieging  it,  an 
arrow  was  shot  at  him  by  one  of  the  Syrians,  but  the  wound  was  not  mortal ;  so 
he  returned  to  have  his  wound  healed  in  Jezreel,  but  left  his  whole  army  in  Ra- 
moth, and  Jehu  the  son  of  Nimshi  for  their  general ;  for  he  had  already  taken  the 
city  by  force  ;  and  he  proposed  after  he  was  healed,  to  make  war  with  the  Syri- 
ans. But  Elisha  the  prophet  sent  one  of  his  disciples  to  Ramoth,  and  gave  him 
holy  oil  to  anoint  Jehu,  and  to  tell  him,  that  God  had  chosen  him  to  be  their 
king.  He  also  sent  him  to  say  other  things  to  him,  and  bid  him  to  take  his  jour- 
ney as  if  he  fled,  that  when  he  came  away  he  might  escape  the  knowledge  of  all 
men.  So  when  he  was  come  to  the  city,  he  found  Jehu  sitting  in  the  midst  of  the 
captains  of  the  army,  as  Elisha  had  foretold  he  should  find  him.  So  he  came  up 
to  him,  and  said,  that  he  desired  to  speak  with  him  about  certain  matters ;  and 
when  he  was  arisen  and  had  followed  him  into  an  inward  chamber,  the  young 
man  took  the  oil  and  poured  it  on  his  head,  and  said  that  "  God  ordained  him  to 
be  king,  in  order  to  his  destroying  the  House  of  Ahab,  and  that  he  might  revenge 
the  blood  of  the  prophets  that  were  unjustly  slain  by  Jezebel,  that  so  their  house 
might  utterly  perish,  as  those  of  Jeroboam  the  son  of  Nebat,  and  of  Baasha,  had 
perished  for  their  wickedness,  and  no  seed  might  remain  of  Ahab's  family.  So 
when  he  had  said  this,  he  went  away  hastily  out  of  the  chamber,  and  endeavoured 
not  to  be  seen  by  any  of  the  army. 

2.  But  Jehu  came  out,  and  went  to  the  place  where  he  before  sat  with  the 
captains  :  and  when  they  asked  him,  and  desired  him  to  tell  them,  wherefore  it 
was  that  this  young  man  came  to  him  ?  and  added  withal,  that  he  was  mad  ;  he 
replied,  "  You  guess  right,  for  the  words  he  spake  were  the  words  of  a  mad- 
man:" and  Avhen  they  were  eager  about  the  matter,  and  desired  he  would  tell 
them,  he  answered,  that  God  had  said,  "  he  had  chosen  him  to  be  king  over  the 
multitude."  When  he  had  said  this,  ever}^  one  of  them  putoff'his  garment,*  and 
strewed  it  under  him,  and  blew  with  trumpets,  and  gave  notice  that  Jehu  was 
king.  So  when  he  had  gotten  the  army  together,  he  was  preparing  to  set  out 
immediately  against  Joram,  at  the  city  of  Jezreel,  in  which  city  as  we  said  before, 
he  was  healing  of  the  wound  which  he  had  received  in  the  siege  of  Ramoth.  It 
happened  also  that  Ahaziah,  king  of  Jerusalem,  was  now  come  to  Joram,  for  he 
was  his  sister's  son,  as  we  have  said  already,  to  see  how  he  did  after  his  wound, 
and  this  upon  account  of  their  kindred  :  but  as  Jehu  was  desirous  to  fall  upon  Jo- 
ram and  those  with  him  on  the  sudden,  he  desired  that  none  of  the  soldiers  might 
run  away,  and  tell  to  Joram  what  had  happened,  for  that  thisi^ouM  be  an  evident 
demonstration  of  their  kindness  to  him,  and  would  show  that  their  real  inclinations 
were  to  make  him  king. 

3.  So  they  were  pleased  with  what  he  did,  and  guarded  the  roads,  lest  some- 

»  Spantieini  here  notes,  that  this  putting  off  men's  garments,  and  strewing  them  under  a  king,  was  an 
eastern  custom  which  be  had  elsewhere  explained. 


C.  VL  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  315 

body  should  privately  tell  the  thing  to  those  that  were  at  Jezreel.  Now  Jehu 
took  his  choice  horsemen,  and  sat  upon  his  chariot,  and  went  on  for  Jezreel,  and 
when  he  was  come  near,  the  watchman  whom  Joram  had  set  there  to  spy  out 
such  as  came  to  the  city,  saw  Jehu  marching  on,  and  told  Joram  that  he  saw  a 
troop  of  horsemen  marching  on.  Upon  which  he  immediately  gave  orders  that 
one  of  his  horsemen  should  be  sent  out  to  meet  them,  and  to  know  who  it  was 
that  was  coming.  So  when  the  horseman  came  up  to  Jehu,  he  asked  him  in  what 
condition  the  army  was  ?  for  that  the  king  wanted  to  know  it ;  but  Jehu  bid  him 
not  at  all  to  meddle  with  such  matters,  but  to  follow  him.  When  the  watchman 
saw  this,  he  told  Joram  that  the  horseman  had  mingled  himself  among  the  com- 
pany, and  came  along  with  them.  And  when  the  king  had  sent  a  second  messcn- 
ger,  Jehu  commanded  him  to  do  as  the  former  did  ;  and  as  soon  as  the  watch- 
man told  this  also  to  Joram,  he  at  last  got  up  on  his  chariot  himself,  together  with 
Ahaziah,  the  king  of  Jerusalem  ;  for,  as  we  said  before,  he  was  there  to  see  how 
Joram  did,  after  he  had  been  wounded,  as  being  his  relation.  So  he  went  out  to 
Jehu,  who  marched  slowly,*  and  in  good  order  ;  and  when  Joram  met  him  in  the 
field  of  Naboth,  he  asked  him  if  all  things  were  well  in  the  camp  ?  But  Jehu  re- 
proached him  bitterly,  and  ventured  to  call  his  mother  a  witch  and  a  harlot. 
Upon  this  the  king  fearing  what  he  intended,  and  suspecting  he  had  no  good  mean- 
ing, he  turned  his  chariot  about  as  soon  as  he  could,  and  said  to  Ahaziah,  We 
are  fought  against  by  deceit  and  treachery.  But  Jehu  drew  his  bow,  and  smote 
him,  the  arrow  going  through  his  heart.  So  Joram  fell  down  immediately  on  his 
knee,  and  gave  up  the  ghost.  Jehu  also  gave  orders  to  Bidkar,  tiie  captain  of 
the  third  part  of  his  army,  to  cast  the  dead  body  of  Joram  into  the  field  of  Naboth, 
putting  him  in  mind  of  the  prophecy  which  Elijah  prophesied  to  Ahab  his  fa* 
ther,  when  he  had  slain  Naboth,  that  both  he  and  his  family  should  perish  in  that 
place,  for  that  as  they  sat  behind  Ahab's  chariot,  they  heard  the  prophet  say  so, 
and  that  it  was  now  come  to  pass  according  to  his  pi-ophecy.  Upon  the  fall  of 
Joram,  Ahaziah  was  afraid  of  his  own  life,  and  turned  his  chariot  into  another 
road,  supposing  he  should  not  be  seen  by  Jehu  ;  but  he  followed  after  him,  and 
overtook  him  at  a  certain  acclivity,  and  drew  his  bow,  and  wounded  him  ;  so  he 
left;  his  chariot,  and  got  upon  his  horse,  and  fled  from  Jehu  to  Megiddo,  and  though 
he  was  under  cure,  in  a  little  time  he  died  of  that  wound,  and  was  carried  to  Je- 
rusulem,  and  buried  there,  after  he  had  reigned  one  year,  and  had  proved  a  wic- 
ked man,  and  worse  than  his  father. 

4.  Now  when  Jehu  was  come  to  Jezreel,  Jezebel  adorned  herself  and  stood 
upon  a  tower,  and  said  "  He  was  a  fine  servant  that  had  killed  his  master." 
And  when  he  looked  up  to  her,  he  asked  who  she  was,  and  commanded  her  to 
come  down  to  him.  At  last  he  ordered  the  eunuchs  to  throw  her  down  from  the 
tower;  and  being  thrown  down,  she  besprinkled  the  wall  with  her  blood,  and  was 
trodden  upon  by  the  horses,  and  so  died.  When  this  was  done,  Jehu  came  to 
the  palace  with  his  friends,  and  took  some  refreshment  after  his  journey,  both 
with  other  things,  and  by  eating  a  meal.  He  also  bid  his  s(;rvants  to  take  up  Je- 
zebel and  bury  her,  because  of  the  nobility  of  her  blood,  for  she  was  descended 
from  kings ;  but  those  that  were  appointed  to  bury  her  found  nothing  else  re- 
maining but  the  extreme  parts  of  her  body,  for  all  the  rest  were  eaten  by  dogs. 
When  Jehu  heard  this,  he  admired  the  prophecy  of  Elijah,  for  he  foretold  that 
she  should  perish  in  this  manner  at  Jezreel. 

5.  Now  Ahab  had  seventy  sons  brought  up  in  Samaria.  So  Jehu  sent  two 
epistles,  the  one  to  them  that  brought  up  the  children,  the  other  to  the  rulers  of 
Samaria,  which  said,  "  that  they  should  set  up  the  most  valiant  of  Ahab's  sons 

*  Our  copies  sa}',  that  this  "  driving  of  the  chariots  was  like  tlie  driving  of  Jehu  the  son  of  Nimshi ; 
for  lie  driveth  furiously,"  2  Kings,  ix.  20  ;  whereas  Josephus's  copy,  as  he  understood  it,  was  this,  that, 
on  the  contrary,  Jehu'marched  slowly,  and  in  good  order.  Nor  ran  it  be  denied,  that  since  there  was  in- 
terval enough  for  king  Joram  to  send  out  two  horsemen,  one  after  another,  lo  Jeliu,  andat  length  to  go 
out  with  king  Ahaziah  to  meet  liini,  and  all  this  after  he  was  come  within  sight  of  the  watchman,  and 
before  he  was  come  to  Jezreel,  the  probability  is  greatly  on  the  side  of  Josephus's  copy  or  iiiterpreiatlon. 
2R  2 


316  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B,  IX. 

for  king,  for  that  they  had  abundance  of  chariots,  and  horses,  and  armour,  and  a 
great  army,  and  fenced  cities,  and  that  by  so  doing  they  might  avenge  the  mur- 
der  of  Ahab,"  This  he  wrote  to  try  the  intentions  of  those  of  Samaria.  Now 
Avhen  the  rulers  and  those  that  had  brought  up  the  children,  had  read  the  letter, 
they  were  afraid  ;  and  considering  that  they  were  not  at  all  able  to  oppose  him, 
who  had  already  subdued  two  very  great  kings,  they  returned  him  this  answer, 
"  that  they  owned  him  for  their  lord,  and  would  do  whatsoever  he  bade  them." 
So  he  wrote  back  to  them  such  a  reply  as  enjoined  them  to  obey  what  he  gave 
order  for,  and  to  cut  off  the  heads  of  Ahab's  sons,  and  send  them  to  him.  Ac- 
cordingly the  rulers  sent  for  those  that  brought  up  the  sons  of  Ahab,  and  com- 
manded  them  to  slay  them,  to  cut  off  their  heads,  and  send  them  to  Jehu.  So 
they  did  whatsoever  they  were  commanded,  without  omitting  any  thing  at  all,  and 
put  them  up  in  wicker  baskets,  and  sent  them  to  Jezreel.  And  when  Jehu,  as  he 
was  at  supper  with  his  friends,  was  informed  that  the  heads  of  Ahab's  sons  were 
brought,  he  ordered  them  to  make  two  heaps  of  them,  one  before  each  of  the 
gates  ;  and  in  the  morning  he  went  out  to  take  a  view  of  them,  and  when  he  saw 
them,  he  began  to  say  to  the  people  that  were  present,  "  he  did  himself  make  an 
expedition  against  his  master  [Joram]  and  slew  him,  but  that  it  was  not  him  that 
slew  all  these  :  and  he  desired  them  to  take  notice,  that  as  to  Ahab's  family,  all 
things  had  come  to  pass  according  to  God's  prophecy,  and  his  house  was  perished, 
according  as  Elijah  had  foretold."  And  when  he  had  failher  destroyed  all  the 
kindred  of  Ahab  that  were  found  in  Jezreel,  he  went  to  Samaria ;  and  as  he  was 
upon  the  road,  he  met  the  relations  of  Ahaziah  king  of  Jerusalem,  and  asked 
them,  whither  they  were  going?  they  replied,  that  they  came  to  salute  Joram, 
and  their  own  king  Ahaziah,  for  they  knew  not  that  he  had  slain  them  both :  so 
Jehu  gave  orders  that  they  should  catch  these,  and  kill  them,  being  in  number 
forty.two  persons. 

6.  After  these,  there  met  him  a  good  and  righteous  man,  whose  name  was 
Jehonadab,  and  who  had  been  his  friend  of  old.  He  saluted  Jehu,  and  began  to 
commend  him,  because  he  had  done  every  thing  according  to  the  will  of  God,  in 
extirpating  the  house  of  Ahab.  So  Jehu  desired  him  to  come  up  into  his  cha- 
riot, and  make  his  entry  with  him  into  Samaria:  and  told  him,  that  "he  would 
not  spare  one  wicked  man,  but  would  punish  the  false  prophets,  and  false  priests, 
and  those  that  deceived  the  multitude,  and  persuaded  them  to  leave  the  worship 
of  God  Almighty,  and  to  Avorship  foreign  gods  ;  and  that  it  was  a  most  excellent 
and  most  pleasing  sight  to  a  good  and  a  righteous  man  to  see  the  wicked  punish- 
ed." So  Jehonadab  was  persuaded  by  these  arguments,  and  came  up  into  Jehu's 
chariot,  and  came  to  Samaria.  And  Jehu  sought  out  for  all  Ahab's  kindred,  and 
slew  them.  And  being  desirous  that  none  of  the  false  prophets,  nor  the  priests 
of  Ahab's  god,  might  escape  punishment,  he  caught  them  deceitfully  by  this  wile : 
for  he  gathered  all  the  people  together  and  said,  that  "  he  would  worship  twice 
as  many  gods  as  Ahab  worshiped,  and  desired  that  his  priests,  and  prophets,  and 
servants,  might  be  present,  because  he  would  offer  costly  and  great  sacrifices  to 
Ahab's  god,  and  that  if  any  of  his  priests  were  wanting,  they  should  be  punished 
with  death."  Now  Ahab's  god  was  called  Baal:  and  when  he  had  appointed  a 
day  on  which  he  would  offer  those  sacrifices,  he  sent  messengers  through  all  the 
country  of  the  Israelites,  that  they  might  bring  the  priests  of  Baal  to  him.  So 
Jehu  commanded  to  give  all  the  priests  vestments ;  and  when  they  had  received 
them,  he  went  into  the  house  [of  Baal,]  with  his  friend  Jehonadab,  and  gave  or- 
ders to  make  search  whether  there  were  not  any  foreigner  or  stranger  among 
them,  for  he  would  have  no  one  of  a  different  religion  to  mix  among  their  sacred 
offices.  And  when  they  said  that  there  was  no  stranger  there,  and  they  were 
beginning  their  sacrifices,  he  set  fourscore  men  without,  they  being  such  of  his 
soldiers  as  he  knew  to  be  most  faithful  to  him,  and  bid  them  slay  the  false  pro- 
phets, and  now  vindicate  the  laws  of  their  country,  Avhich  had  been  a  long  time 
ill  discsteem.     lie  also  threatened,  that  if  any  one  of  them  escaped,  their  own 


C.  VU  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  '  gjy 

lives  should  go  for  them.  So  they  slew  them  all  with  the  sword  ;  and  burned 
the  house  of  Baal,  and  by  that  means  purged  Samaria  of  foreign  customs  [idola- 
trous worship.]  Now  this  Baal  was  the  god  of  the  Tyrians  ;  and  Ahab,  in  order 
to  gratify  his  fiither-in-law,  Ethbaal,  who  was  the  king  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  built 
a  temple  for  him  in  Samaria,  and  appointed  him  prophets,  and  worshiped  him 
with  all  sorts  of  worship,  although  wlien  this  god  was  dcmolisiied,  Jehu  permit- 
ted  the  Israelites  to  worship  the  golden  heifers.  However,  because  he  had  done 
thus,  and  taken  care  to  punish  the  wicked,  God  foretold  by  his  prophet,  that  his 
sons  should  reign  over  Israel  for  four  generations :  and  in  this  condition  was  Jehu 
at  this  time. 


CHAP.  VII. 

How  Athaliah  reigned  over  Jerusalem  for  five  [six]  Years,  u-Jien  Jehoiada  the 
High,  Priest  sleio  her,  and  made  Jehoash,  the  Son  of  Ahasiah,  King. 

§  1.  Now  when  Athaliah,  the  daughter  of  Ahab,  heard  of  the  death  of  her  bro- 
ther Joram,  and  of  her  son  Ahaziah,  and  of  the  royal  family,  slie  endeavoured 
that  none  of  the  house  of  David  might  be  left  alive,  but  that  the  whole  family 
might  be  exterminated,  that  no  king  might  arise  out  of  it  afterward ;  and,  as  she 
thought,  she  had  actually  done  it ;  but  one  of  Ahaziah's  sons  was  preserved,  who 
escaped  death  after  the  manner  following;  Ahaziah  had  a  sister  by  the  same 
father,  whose  name  was  Jehosheba,  and  she  was  married  to  the  high  priest  Jeho- 
iada. She  went  into  the  king's  palace,  and  found  Jehoash,  for  that  was  tlie  little 
child's  name,  who  was  not  above  a  year  old,  among  those  that  were  slain,  but  con- 
cealed  with  his  nurse ;  so  she  took  him  with  her  into  a  secret  bedchamber,  and 
shut  him  up  there,  and  she  and  her  husband  Jehoiada  brought  him  up  privately 
in  the  temple  six  years,  during  which  time  Athaliah  reigned  over  Jerusalem,  and 
the  two  tribes. 

2.  Now,  on  the  seventh  year,  Jehoiada  communicated  the  matter  to  certain  of 
the  captains  of  hundreds,  five  in  number,  and  persuaded  them  to  be  assistin"-  in 
what  attempts  he  was  making  against  Athaliah,  and  to  join  with  liim  in  asserting 
the  kingdom  to  the  child.  He  also  received  such  oaths  from  tliern  as  are  proper 
to  secure  those  that  assist  one  another  from  the  fear  of  discovery  ?  and  he  was 
then  of  good  hope  that  they  should  depose  Athaliah.  Now  those  men  wliom  Je- 
hoiada  the  priest  had  taken  to  be  his  partners  went  into  all  the  country,  and  gatii- 
ered  together  the  priests  and  the  Levites,  and  the  heads  of  the  tribes  out  of  it, 
and  came  and  brought  them  to  Jerusalem,  to  the  high  priest.  So  he  demanded 
the  security  of  an  oath  of  them,  to  keep  private  whatsoever  he  should  discover 
to  them  which  required  both  their  silence  and  their  assistance.  So  when  they 
had  taken  tiie  oath,  and  and  thereby  made  it  safe  for  him  to  speak,  he  produced 
the  child  that  he  had  brought  up  of  the  family  of  David,  and  said  to  them,  "  This  is 
your  king,  of  that  house  which  you  know  God  hath  foretold  should  reign  over  you 
for  all  time  to  come  I  exhort  you  therefore  that  one  third  part  of  you  guard  hira 
in  the  temple,  and  that  a  fourth  part  keep  watch  at  all  the  gates  of  tlio  temple, 
and  that  the  next  part  of  you  keep  guard  at  the  gate  which  opens  and  leads  to  the 
king's  palace,  and  let  the  rest  of  the  multitude  be  unarmed  in  the  temple,  and  let 
no  armed  person  go  into  the  temple,  but  the  priest  only.  lie  also  gave  llicm  this 
order  besides,  that  a  pai"t  of  the  priests  and  the  Levites  should  be  ai)out  the  king 
himself,  and  be  a'guard  to  him,  with  their  drawn  swords,  and  to  kill  that  man  im- 
mediately,  whoever  he  be,  that  should  be  so  bold  as  to  enter  armed  into  the  tem- 
ple ;  and  bid  them  be  afraid  of  nobody,  but  persevere  in  guarding  the  king."  So 
these  men  obeyed  what  the  high  priest  advised  them  to,  and  declared  the  reality 
of  their  resol«tion  by  their  actions.  Jehoiada  also  opened  that  armoury  wiiich 
David  had  made  in  the  temple,  and  distributed  to  tho  captains  of  hundreds,  as 
also  to  the  priests  and  Levites,  all  the  spears  and  quivers,  and  what  kind  of  wea- 


31Q  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IX. 

pons  soever  it  contained,  and  set  them  armed  in  a  circle  round  about  the  temple, 
so  as  to  touch  one  another's  hands,  and  by  that  means  excluding  those  from  en- 
terinfT  that  ouglit  not  to  enter.  So  they  brought  the  child  into  the  midst  of  them, 
and  put  on  him  the  royal  crown,  and  Jehoiada  anointed  him  with  the  oil,  and 
made  him  king  ;  and  the  multitude  rejoiced,  and  made  a  noise,  and  cried  "  God 
save  the  king !" 

3.  When  Athaliah  unexpectedly  heard  the  tumult  and  the  acclamations,  she 
was  greatly  disturbed  in  her  mind,  and  suddenly  issued  out  of  the  royal  palace 
with  her  own  army  ;  and  when  she  was  come  to  the  temple,  the  priests  received 
her,  but  as  for  those  that  stood  round  about  the  temple,  as  they  were  ordered  by 
the  high  priest  to  do,  they  hindered  the  armed  men  that  foUo-wed  her  from  going 
in.  But  when  Athaliah  saw  the  child  standing  upon  a  pillar,  with  the  royal  crown 
upon  his  head,  she  rent  her  clothes,  and  cried  out  vehemently,  and  commanded 
[her  guards]  to  kill  him  that  had  laid  snai-es  for  her,  and  endeavoured  to  deprive 
her  of  the  government.  But  Jehoiada  called  for  the  captains  of  hundreds,  and 
commanded  them  to  bring  Athaliah  to  the  valley  of  Cedron,  and  slay  her  there, 
for  he  would  not  have  the  temple  defiled  with  the  punishments  of  this  pernicious 
woman  ;  and  he  gave  order,  that  if  any  one  came  near  to  help  her,  he  should  be 
slain  also  ;  wherefore  those  that  had  the  charge  of  her  slaughter,  took  hold  of 
her,  and  led  her  to  the  gate  of  the  king's  mules,  and  slew  her  there. 

4.  Now  as  soon  as  what  concerned  Athaliah  was  by  this  stratagem,  after  this 
manner  dispatched,  Jehoiada  called  together  the  people  and  the  armed  men  into 
the  temple,  and  made  them  take  an  oath,  that  they  would  be  obedient  to  the  king, 
and  take  care  of  his  safety,  and  of  the  safety  of  his  government ;  after  which  he 
obhged  the  king  to  give  security  [upon  oath]  that  he  would  worship  God,  and  not 
trangress  the  laws  of  Moses.  They  then  ran  to  the  house  of  Baal,  which  Atha- 
liah and  her  husband  Jehoram  had  built,  to  the  dishonour  of  the  God  of  their  fa- 
thers, and  to  the  honour  of  Ahab,  and  demolished  it,  and  slew  Matan,  that  had 
his  priesthood.  But  Jehoiada  intrusted  the  care  and  custody  of  the  temple  to  the 
priests  and  Levites,  according  to  the  appointment  of  king  David,  and  enjoined 
them  to  bring  their  regular  burnt-offerings  twice  a  day,  and  to  offer  incense  ac- 
cording to  the  law.  He  also  ordained  some  of  the  Levites,  with  the  porters,  to 
be  a  guard  to  the  temple,  that  no  one  that  was  defiled  might  come  there. 

5.  And  when  Jehoiada  had  set  these  things  in  order,  he,  with  the  captains  of 
hundreds,  and  the  rulers,  and  all  the  people,  took  Jehoash  out  of  the  temple  into 
the  king's  palace,  and  when  he  had  set  him  upon  the  king's  throne,  the  people 
shouted  for  joy,  and  betook  themselves  to  feasting,  and  kept  a  festival  for  many- 
days  ;  but  the  city  was  quiet  upon  the  death  of  Athaliah.  Now  Jehoash  was  se- 
ven years  old  when  he  took  the  kingdom  :  his  mother's  name  was  Zibiah,  of  the 
city  Beersheba.  And  all  the  time  that  Jehoiada  lived,  Jehoash  was  careful  that 
the  laws  should  be  kept,  and  very  zealous  in  the  worship  of  God  ;  and  when  he 
was  of  age,  he  married  two  wives,  who  were  given  to  him  by  the  high  priest,  by 
whom  were  born  to  him  both  sons  and  daughters.  And  this  much  shall  suffice 
to  have  related  concerning  king  Jehoash,  how  he  escaped  the  treachery  of  Atha- 
liah, and  how  he  received  the  kingdom. 


CHAP.  vni. 

Hazael  makes  an  Expedition  against  the  People  of  Israel,  and  the  Inhabitants  of 

Jerusalem.  Jehu  dies,  and  Jehoahaz  succeeds  in  the  Government.  Jeohash,  the 

King  of  Jerusalem,  at  first  is  careful  about  the  Worship  of  God,  but  afterward 

becomes  impious,  and  commands  Zechariah  to  be  stoned.     When  Jehoash 

{King  of  Judali]  was  dead,  Amaziah  succeeds  him  in  the  Kingdom. 

^  1.  Now  Hazael,  king  of  Syria,  fought  against  the  Israelites,  and  their  king 
Jehu,  and  spoiled  the  eastern  parts  of  the  country  beyond  Jordan,  which  belong 


C.  Vnr.-  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  319 

ed  to  the  Reubenites  and  Gadites,  and  to  [the  half  tribe  of]  Manassites  ;  as  also 
Gileadand  Basban,  burning  and  spoiling,  and  offering  violence  to  all  tnai  he  laid 
his  hands  on,  and  this  without  impeaclnnent  from  Jehu,  who  made  no  haste  to 
defend  the  country  when  it  was  under  this  distress ;  nay,  he  was  become  a  con- 
ternner  of  religion,  and  a  despiser  of  holiness,  and  of  the  laws ;  and  died  when 
he  had  reigned  over  the  Israelites  twenty-seven  years.  He  v/as  buried  in  Sama- 
ria  ;  and  left  Jehoahaz  his  son  his  successor  in  the  government. 

2,  Now  Jehoash,  king  of  Jerusalem,  had  an  inclination  to  repair  the  temple  of 
God  ;  so  he  called  Jehoiada,  and  bid  him  send  the  Levites  and  priests  through 
all  the  country,  to  require  half  a  shekel  of  silver  for  every  head,  towards  the  re- 
building and  repairing  of  the  temple,  whicli  was  brought  to  decay  by  Jehoram, 
and  Athaliah,  and  her  sons.  But  the  high  priest  did  not  do  this,  as  concluding 
that  no  one  would  willingly  pay  that  money  ;  but  in  the  twenty -third  year  of  Je- 
hoash's  reign,  when  the  king  sent  for  him  and  the  Levites,  and  complained  that 
they  had  not  obeyed  what  he  enjoined  them,  and  still  commanded  them  to  take 
care  of  the  rebuilding  the  temple,  he  used  this  stratagem  for  collecting  the  money, 
with  which  the  multitude  was  pleased.  He  made  a  wooden  chest,  and  closed  it 
up  fast  on  all  sides,  but  opened  one  whole  in  it ;  he  then  set  in  the  temple  beside 
the  altar,  and  desired  every  one  to  cast  into  it,  through  the  hole,  what  he  pleased, 
for  the  repair  of  the  temple.  This  contrivance  was  acceptable  to  the  people, 
and  they  strove  one  with  another,  and  brought  in  jointly  large  quantities  of  silver 
and  gold  :  and  when  the  scribe  and  the  priest  that  were  over  the  treasuries  had 
emptied  the  chest,  and  counted  the  money  in  the  king's  presence,  they  then  set 
it  in  its  former  place,  and  thus  did  they  every  day.  B'lt  when  the  multitude  ap- 
peared  to  have  cast  in  as  much  as  was  wanted,  the  high  priest  Jehoiada,  and  king 
Jehoash,  sent  to  hire  masons  and  carpenters,  and  to  buy  large  pieces  of  timber, 
and  of  the  most  curious  sort ;  and  when  they  had  repaired  the  temple,  they  made 
use  of  the  remaining  gold  and  silver,  which  was  not  a  little,  fort)owls,  and  basins, 
and  cups,  and  other  vessels ;  and  they  went  on  to  make  the  altar  every  dav  fat 
with  sacrifices  of  great  value.  And  these  things  were  taken  suitable  care  of  as 
long  as  Jehoiada  lived. 

3.  But,  as  soon  as  he  was  dead  (which  was  when  he  had  lived  one  hundred 
and  thirty  years,  having  been  a  righteous  and  in  every  respect  a  very  good  man, 
and  was  buried  in  the  king's  sepulchres  at  Jerusalem,  because  he  had  recovered 
the  kingdom  to  the  family  of  David,)  king  Jehoash  betrayed  his  [want  of ]  care 
about  God.  The  principal  men  of  the  people  were  corrupted  also  together  with 
him,  and  offended  against  their  duty,  and  what  their  constitution  determined  to  be 
most  for  their  good.  Hereupon  God  was  displeased  with  the  change  that  was 
made  on  the  king,  and  on  the  rest  of  the  people,  and  sent  prophets  to  testify  to 
them  what  their  actions  were,  and  to  bring  them  to  leave  off  their  wickedness  : 
but  they  had  gotten  so  strong  an  affection,  and  so  violent  an  inclination  to  it,  that 
neither  could  the  examples  of  these  that  had  offered  affronts  to  the  laws,  and  had 
been  so  severely  punished,  they  and  their  entire  families,  nor  could  the  fear  of 
what  the  prophets  now  foretold  bring  them  to  repentance,  and  turn  them  back 
from  their  course  of  trangression  to  their  former  duty.  But  the  king  comman- 
ded that  Zechariah,  the  son  of  the  high  priest  Jehoidah,  should  be  stoned  to  death 
in  the  temple,  and  forgot  the  kindnesses  he  had  received  from  liis  father  ;  for 
when  God  had  appointed  him  to  prophecy,  he  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  multitude, 
and  gave  this  counsel  to  them,  and  to  the  king,  that  they  should  act  rigiitcously  ; 
and  foretold  to  them,  that  if  they  would  not  hearken  to  his  admonitions,  tliey 
should  suffer  a  heavy  punishment :  but  as  Zechariah  was  ready  to  die,  he  ap- 
pealed to  God  as  a  witness  of  what  he  suffered  for  the  good  counsel  lie  had  given 
them,  and  how  he  had  perished  after  a  most  severe  and  violent  manner  for  the 
good  deeds  his  father  had  done  to  Jehoash. 

4.  However,  it  was  not  long  before  the  king  suffered  punislmient  for  his  trans, 
gression  ;  for  when  Hazael,  king  of  Syria,  made  an  irruption  into  this  count  vy,  and 


320  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IX 

when  he  had  overthrown  Gath,  and  spoiled  it,  he  made  an  expedition  against  Je . 
rusalem ;  upon  which  Jehoash  was  afraid,  and  emptied  all  the  treasures  of  God, 
and  of  the  kings  [before  him,]  and  took  down  the  gifts  that  had  been  dedicated 
Fin  the  temple,]  and  sent  them  to  the  king  of  Syria,  and  procured  so  much  by 
them,  that  he  was  not  besieged,  nor  his  kingdom  quite  endangered,  but  Hazael 
was  induced  by  the  greatness  of  the  sum  of  money  not  to  bring  his  army  against 
Jerusalem ;  yet  Jehoash  fell  into  a  severe  distemper,  and  was  set  upon  by  his 
friends,  in  order  to  revenge  the  death  of  Zechariah,  the  son  of  Jehoiada.  These 
laid  snares  for  the  king,  and  slew  him.  He  was  indeed  buried  in  Jerusalem,  but 
not  in  the  royal  sepulchres  of  his  forefathers,  because  of  his  impiety.  He  lived 
forty-seven  years,  andAmaziah  his  son  succeeded  him  in  the  kingdom. 

5.  In  the  one-and-twentieth  year  of  the  reign  of  Jehoash,  Jehoahaz,  the  son 
of  Jehu,  took  the  government  of  the  Israelites  in  Samaria,  and  held  it  seventeen 
years.  He  did  not  [properly]  imitate  his  father,  but  was  guilty  of  as  wicked 
practices  as  those  that  first  had  God  in  co'ntempt  :  but  the  king  of  Syria  brought 
him  low,  and  by  an  expedition  against  him  did  so  greatly  reduce  his  forces  that 
there  remained  no  more  of  so  great  an  army  than  ten  thousand  armed  men  and 
fifty  horsemen.  He  also  took  away  from  him  his  great  cities,  and  many  of  them 
also,  and  destroyed  his  army.  And  these  were  the  things  that  the  people  of  Israel 
suffered,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  Elisha,  when  he  foretold  that  Hazael 
should  kill  his  master,  and  reign  over  the  Syrians  and  Damascens.  But  when 
Jehoahaz  was  under  such  unavoidable  miseries,  he  had  recourse  to  prayer  and 
supplication  to  God,  and  besought  him  to  deliver  him  out  of  the  hands  of  Hazael, 
and  not  overlook  him,  and  give  him  up  into  his  hands.  Accordingly  God  ac- 
cepted of  his  repentance  instead  of  virtue,  and  being  desirous  rather  lo  admonish 
those  that  might  repent  and  not  to  determine  that  they  should  be  utterly  destroy, 
ed,  he  granted  him  deliverance  from  war  and  dangers.  So  the  country,  having 
obtained  peace,  returned  again  to  its  former  condition,  and  flourished  as  before. 

6.  Now  after  the  death  of  Jehoahaz,  his  son  Joash  took  the  kingdom,  in  the 
thirty-seventh  year  of  Jehoash,  the  king  of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  This  Joash  then 
took  the  kingdom  of  Israel  in  Samaria,  for  he  had  the  same  name  with  the  king 
of  Jerusalem,  and  he  retained  tha  kingdom  sixteen  years.  He  was  a  good  man, 
and  in  his  disposition  was  not  at  an  like  to  his  father.*  Now  at  this  time  it  was, 
that  when  Elisha  the  prophet,  who  was  already  very  old,  and  was  now  fallen  into 
a  disease,  the  King  of  Israel  came  to  visit  him  ;  and  when  he  found  him  very 
near  death,  he  began  to  weep  in  his  sight,  and  lament,  "to  call  him  his  father, 
and  his  weapons,  because  it  was  by  his  means  that  he  never  m.ade  use  of  his  wea- 
pons against  his  enemies,  but  that  he  overcame  his  own  adversaries  by  his  pro- 
phecies, without  fighting  ;  and  that  he  was  now  departing  this  life,  and  leaving  hiin 
to  the  Syrians,  that  were  already  armed,  and  to  other  enemies  of  his  that  were  un- 
der their  power  ;  so  he  said,  it  was  not  safe  for  him  to  live  any  longer,  but  that 
it  would  be  well  for  him  to  hasten  to  his  end,  and  depart  out  of  this  life  with  him." 
As  the  king  was  thus  bemoaning  himself,  Elisha  comforted  him,  and  bid  the  king 
bend  a  bow  that  was  brought  him ;  and  when  the  king  had  fitted  the  bow  for 
shooting,  Elisha  took  hold  of  his  hands,  and  bid  him  shoot ;  and  when  he  had 

*  Thk  character  of  Joash,  the  son  of  Jehnahnz,  that  "  he  was  a  good  man,  and  in  his  disposition  not 
at  all  like  to  his  father,"  seems  a  direct  contradiction  to  our  ordinar}-  copies,  which  say,  2  Kings,  xiii.  11, 
that  "  he  did  evil  in  tlie  sigiit  of  the  Lord ;  an<i  that  he  departed  not  from  all  tlie  sins  of  Jerohoani,  the 
son  of  iNebat,  who  made  Israel  to  sin,  he  walked  therein."  Which  copies  are  h^e  the  truest,  it  is  liartily 
j«)ssil)le  to  determine.  If  Josephus's  he  true,  this  Joasli  is  the  single  instance  of  a  i;nod  king  over  tlie 
ti'n  tribes  :  il  the  other  be  true,  we  have  not  one  such  example.  The  account  that  Ihllows,  in  all  copies, 
of  I'ilisha  tlu;  propliel's  concern  for  him,  and  liisconcern  forfllisha,  greatly  favour  Jo^cphus's  copies,and 
suppose  lliisking  to  have  been  then  a  good  man,  and  no  idolater,  with  whom  God's  jirophets  used  not  lo 
l)Cso  familiar.  I'pon  the  whole,  since  it  appears,  even  by  .losephus'sown  account,  that  Amaziah,  the 
g')od  king  of  Judah,  while  he  was  a  good  king,  was  forbidden  to  make  use  of  the  10(1,000  auxiliaries  he 
iiad  hired  of  this  .loash,  the  kiug  of  Israel,  as  if  he  and  they  were  then  idolaters,  2  Chron.  xxv.  6—9,  it 
is  most  likely  that  these  different  chaiacters  of  Joash  suited  the  dift'erent  parts  of  his  reign,  and  that,  ac- 
cording to  our  common  copies,  he  was  at  first  a  wicked  king;  and  alterwards  was  reclaimed,  and  be« 
came  a  good  one,  according  to  Joseplms. 


C.  IX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEW'S.  821 

shot  three  arrows  and  then  left  off,  Elisha  said,  "  If  thou  hadst  shot  more  arrows, 
thou  hadst  cut  the  kingdom  of  Syria  up  by  the  roots,  but  since  tliou  hast  been  sa- 
tisfied with  shooting  three  times  only,  thou  shall  fight  and  beat  the  Syrians  no 
more  times  than  three,  that  thou  mayest  recover  that  country  which  they  cut  off 
from  thy  kingdom  in  the  reign  of  thy  father."  So  when  the  king  had  heard  that, 
he  departed;  and  a  little  while  after  the  prophet  died.  He  was  a  man  celebrated 
fur  righteousness,  and  in  eminent  favour  with  God.  He  also  performed  wondei-- 
ful  and  surprising  works  by  prophecy,  and  such  as  were  gloriously  preserved  in 
memory  by  the  Hebrews.  He  also  obtained  a  magnificent  funeral,  such  a  one 
indeed  as  it  was  fit  a  person  so  beloved  of  God  should  have.  It  also  happened, 
that  at  that  time  certain  robbers  cast  a  man,  whom  they  had  slain,  into  Elislia's 
grave,  and  upon  his  dead  body  coming  close  to  Elisha's  body,  it  revived  again. 
And  thus  far  have  we  enlarged  about  ihe  actions  of  Klisha  the  prophet,  both  such 
as  he  did  while  he  was  alive,  and  how  he  had  a  divine  power  after  his  death  also. 
7.  Now,  upon  the  death  of  Hazael,  the  king  of  Syria,  that  kingdom  came  to 
Adad  his  son,  with  whom  Joash,  king  of  Israel,  made  war  ;  and  when  he  had 
beaten  him  in  three  battles,  he  took  from  him  all  that  country,  and  all  those  cities 
and  villages,  which  his  father  Hazael  had  taken  from  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  which 
came  to  pass,  however,  according  to  tlie  prophecy  of  Elisha.  But  when  Joash 
happened  to  die,  he  was  buried  in  Samaria,  and  the  government  devolved  on  his 
son  Jeroboam, 


CHAP.  IX. 

How  Amaziah  made  an  Expedition  against  the  Edomiies  and  AmaleJcifes,  and 

conquered  them ;  hut  when  he  aflerwuTds  made  War  against  Joash,  he  was 

beaten,  and  not  long  after  was  slain  ;  and  Uzziah  succeeded  in  the 

Government. 

§  1.  Now,  in  the  second  year  of  the  reign  of  Joash  over  Israel,  Amaziah  reign- 
ed  over  the  tribe  of  Judah  in  Jerusalem.  His  mother's  name  was  JeJioaddan, 
who  was  born  at  Jerusalem.  He  was  exceeding  careful  of  doing  wliat  was  right, 
and  this  when  he  v/as  very  young  ;  -but  when  he  came  to  the  management  of  af. 
fairs,  and  to  the  government,  he  resolved  that  he  ought  first  of  all  to  avenge  his 
father  Jehoash,  and  to  punish  those  his  friends  that  had  laid  violent  hands  upon 
him  ;  so  he  seized  upon  them  all,  and  put  them  to  death  ;  yet  did  he  execute  no 
severity  on  their  children,  but  acted  therein  according  to  the  laws  of  Moses,  who 
did  not  think  it  just  to  punish  children  for  the  sins  of  their  fathers.  After  this  he 
chose  him  an  army  out  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  of  such  as  were  in 
the  flower  of  their  age,  and  about  twenty  years  old  ;  and  when  he  had  collected 
about  three  hundred  thousand  of  them  together,  he  set  captains  of  hundreds  over 
them.  He  also  sent  to  the  king  of  Israel,  and  hired  a  hundred  thousand  of  his 
soldiers  for  a  hundred  talents  of  silver,  for  he  had  resolved  to  make  an  expedition 
against  the  nations  of  the  Amalekitcs,  and  Edomites,  and  Gebalites:  but  as  he 
was  preparing  for  his  expedition,  and  ready  to  go  out  to  the  war,  a  prophet  gave 
him  counsel  to  dismiss  the  army  of  the  Israelites,  because  they  were  bad  men, 
and  because  God  foretold  that  he  should  be  beaten  if  he  made  use  of  them  as  aux- 
iliaries, but  that  he  should  overcome  his  enemies,  though  he  had  but  a  few  sol- 
diers,  when  it  so  pleased  God.  And  when  the  king  grudged  at  his  having  already 
paid  the  hire  of  the  Israehtes,  the  prophet  exhorted  him  to  do  what  God  would 
have  him,  because  he  should  thereby  obtain  much  wealth  from  God.  So  he  dis- 
missed  them.,  and  said,  that  he  still  freely  gave  them  their  pay,  and  went  himself 
with  his  own  army,  and  made  war  with  the  nations  before  mentioned  ;  and  when 
he  had  beaten  them  in  battle,  he  slew  of  them  ten  thousand,  and  took  as  many 
prisoners  alive,  whom  he  brought  to  the  great  rock  which  is  in  Arabia,  an^^  threw 
them  down  from  it  headlong.  He  also  brought  away  a  great  deal  of  prey,  and 
VOL.  I.  2  S 


323  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B,  IX. 

vast  riches,  from  those  nations.  But  ^vhile  Amaziah  was  engaged  in  this  expe- 
dition, those  Israelites  whom  he  had  hired,  and  then  dismissed,  were  very  uneasy 
at  it,  and  taking  their  dismission  for  an  afiront,  as  supposing  that  this  would  not 
have  been  done  to  them  but  out  of  contempt,  they  fell  upon  his  kingdom,  and 
proceeded  to  spoil  the  country  as  far  as  Beth-horon,  and  took  much  cattle,  and 
slew  three  thousand  men. 

2.  Now  upon  the  victory  which  Amaziah  had  gotten,  and  the  great  acts  he  had 
done,  he  was  puffed  up,  and  began  to  overlook  God,  who  had  given  him  the  vic- 
tory, and  proceeded  to  worship  the  gods  he  had  brought  out  of  the  country  of  the 
Amalekites.  So  a  prophet  came  to  him,  and  said,  that  "  he  wondered  how  he 
could  esteem  these  to  be  gods,  who  had  been  of  no  advantage  to  their  own  peo- 
ple, who  paid  them  honours,  nor  had  delivered  them  from  his  hands,  but  had  over- 
looked the  destruction  of  many  of  them,  and  had  suftered  themselves  to  be  car- 
ried captive,  for  that  they  had  been  carried  to  Jerusalem  in  the  same  manner  as 
any  one  might  have  taken  some  of  the  enemy  ahve,  and  led  them  thither."  This 
reproof  provoked  the  king  to  anger,  and  he  commanded  the  prophet  to  hold  his 
peace,  and  threatened  to  punish  him  if  he  meddled  with  his  conduct.  So  he  re- 
plied that  "  he  should  indeed  hold  his  peace  ;  but  foretold  withal,  that  God  would 
not  overlook  his  attempts  for  innovation."  But  Amaziah  was  not  able  to  contain 
himself  under  that  prosperity  which  God  had  given  him,  although  he  had  affront- 
ed  God  thereupon;  but  in  a  vein  of  insolence  he  wrote  to  Joash,  the  king  of  Is- 
rael, and  commanded  that  he  and  all  his  people  should  be  obedient  to  him,  as 
they  had  formerly  been  obedient  to  his  progenitors,  David  and  Solomon  ;  and  he 
let  him  know,  that  if  he  would  not  be  so  wise  as  to  do  what  he  commanded  him, 
he  must  light  for  his  dominion."  To  which  message  Joash  returned  this  answer 
in  writing  :  "  King  Joash  to  king  Amaziah.  There  was  a  vastly  tall  cypress  tree 
in  Mount  Lebanon,  as  also  a  thistle  :  this  thistle  sent  to  the  cypress  tree,  to  give 
the  cypress  tree's  daughter  in  marriage  to  the  thistle's  son  ;  but  as  the  thistle  was 
saying  this,  there  came  a  wild  beast,  and  trod  down  the  thistle  :  And  this  may  be 
a  lesson  to  thee,  not  to  be  so  ambitious,  and  to  hare  a  care,  lest,  upon  thy  good 
success  in  the  fight  against  the  Amalekites,  thou  growest  so  proud  as  to  bring 
dangers  upon  thyself  and  upon  thy  kingdom." 

3.  When  Amaziah  had  read  this  letter  he  was  more  eager  upon  this  expedition, 
which,  I  suppose,  was  by  the  impulse  of  God,  that  he  might  be  punished  for  his 
offence  against  him.  But  as  soon  as  he  led  out  his  army  against  Joash,  and  they 
were  going  to  join  battle  with  him,  there  came  such  a  fear  and  consternation 
upon  the  army  of  Amaziah,  as  God  when  he  is  displeased  sends  upon  men,  and 
discomfited  them,  even  before  they  came  to  a  close  fight.  Now  it  happened,  that, 
as  they  were  scattered  about  by  the  terror  that  was  upon  them,  Amaziah  was  lefl 
alone,  and  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  enemy;  whereupon  Joash  threatened  to 
kill  him,  unless  he  would  persuade  the  people  of  Jerusalem  to  open  their  gates  to 
him,  and  receive  him  and  his  army  into  the  city.  Accordingly  Amaziah  was  so 
distressed,  and  in  such  fear  of  his  life,  that  he  made  his  enemy  to  be  received  into 
the  city.  So  Joash  overthrew  a  part  of  the  v.all,  of  the  length  of  four  hundred 
cubits,  and  drove  his  chariot  through  the  breach  into  Jerusalem,  and  led  Amaziah 
captive  along  whh  him  ;  by  v.hich  means  he  became  master  of  Jerusalem,  and 
took  away  the  treasures  of  God,  and  carried  off  all  the  gold  and  silver  that  was 
in  the  king's  palace,  and  then  freed  the  king  from  captivity,  and  returned  to  Sa- 
maria.  Now  these  things  happened  to  the  people  of  Jerusalem  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  the  reign  of  Amaziah,  who,  after  this,  had  a  conspiracy  made  against 
him  by  his  friends,  and  fled  to  the  city  Lachish,  and  was  there  slain  by  the  con- 
spirators, who  sent  men  thither  to  kill  him.  So  they  took  up  his  dead  body,  and 
carried  it  to  Jerusalem,  and  made  a  royal  funeral  for  him.  This  was  the  end  of 
the  lite  ot  Amaziah,  because  of  his  innovations  in  religion  and  his  contempt  of 
God,  when  he  had  hvcd  fifty-four  years,  and  had  reigned  twenty-nine.  He  was 
succeeded  by  his  son,  whose  name  was  Uzziah. 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF   THE  JEWS.  323 


CHAP.  X. 

Concerning  Jeroboam,  King  of  Israel,  and  Jonah  the  Prophet ;  and  Jiow,  after  the 

Death  of  Jeroboam,  his  Soti  Zechariah  took  the  Government.    How  Uzziah, 

King  of  Jerusalem,  subdued  the  Nations  that  were  round  about  him;  and 

what  befell  him  when  he  attempted  to  offer  incense  to  God. 

§  1.  In  the  fifteenth  year  of  tlie  reign  of  Amazinh,  Jeroboam,  the  son  of  Joash, 
reigned  over  Israel,  in  Samaria,  forty  years.  This  king  was  guiUy  of  contumely 
against  God,*  and  became  very  wicked  in  worsliiping  of  idols  and  in  many  un- 
dertakings that  were  absurd  and  foreign.  He  was  also  the  cause  of  ten  thou, 
sand  misfortunes  to  the  people  of  Israel.  Now  one  Jonah,  a  prophet  foretold  to 
him,  that  he  should  make  war  with  the  Syrians,  and  concjuer  their  army,  and  en- 
large the  bounds  of  his  kingdom,  on  the  northern  parts  to  the  city  Hamath,  and 
on  the  southern  to  the  Lake  Asphaltitis,  for  the  bounds  of  the  Canaanites  origin, 
ally  were  these,  as  Joshua  their  general  had  determined  them.  So  Jeroboam 
made  an  expedition  against  the  Syrians,  and  overran  all  their  country,  as  Jonah 
liad  foretold. 

2.  Now  I  cannot  but  think  it  necessary  for  me  who  have  promised  to  give  an 
accurate  account  of  our  affiiirs,  to  describe  the  actions  of  this  prophet,  so  far  as 
I  have  found  them  written  down  in  the  Hebrew  books.  Jonah  had  been  com. 
manded  by  God  to  go  to  the  kingdom  of  Nineveh  ;  and  when  he  was  there,  to 
publish  it  in  that  city,  how  it  should  lose  the  dominion  it  had  over  the  nations. 
But  he  went  not,  out  of  fear ;  nay,  he  ran  away  from  God,  to  the  city  of  Joppa, 
and  finding  a  ship  there,  he  went  into  it,  and  sailed  to  Tarsus,  in  Cilicia  •,\  and 
upon  the  rise  of  a  most  terrible  storm,  which  was  so  great  that  the  ship  was  in 
danger  of  sinking,  the  mariners,  the  mastei',  and  the  pilot  himself,  made  prayers 
and  vows,  in  case  they  escaped  the  sea  ;  but  Jonah  lay  still  and  covered  [in  the 
ship,]  without  imitating  any  thing  which  the  others  did  ;  but  as  the  waves  grew 
greater,  and  the  sea  became  more  violent  by  the  winds,  they  suspected,  as  is  usual 
in  such  cases,  that  some  one  of  the  persons  that  sailed  with  them  was  the  occasion 
of  this  storm,  and  agreed  to  discover  by  lot  which  of  them  it  was.  When  they 
had  cast  lots,:j:  the  lot  fell  upon  the  prophet ;  and  when  they  asked  him  whence 
he  came  ?  and  what  he  had  done  ?  he  replied,  That  he  was  a  Hebrew  by  nation, 
and  a  prophet  of  Almighty  God  ;  and  he  persuaded  them  to  cast  him  into  the  sea, 
if  they  would  escape  the  danger  they  were  in,  for  that  he  was  the  occasion  of  the 
storm  which  was  upon  them.  Now  at  the  first  they  durst  not  do  so,  esteeming 
it  a  wicked  thing  to  cast  a  man  who  was  a  stranger,  and  who  had  committed  his 

*  What  I  have  above  noted  concerning  Jelioash,  seems  to  me  to  have  been  true  also  concerning  his  son 
Jeroboam  II.  viz.  that  ahhough  he  began  wickedly,  as  Josepluis  agrees  with  our  other  copies,  and  as  ho 
adds,  "  was  the  cause  of  a  vast  number  of  misfortunes  to  the  Israelites  in  those  his  first  years  (the  parti 
culars  of  which  are  unhappily  wanting  both  in  Josephus  and  \n  all  our  copies,)  so  docs  it  seem  to  me 
that  he  was  afterwards  reclaimed,  and  became  a  good  king,  and  so  was  encouraged  by  the  prophet  Jo 
nah,  and  had  great  successes  afterward,  when  "God  saved  the  Israelites  by  the  hand  of  Jeroboam,  the 
son  of  Joash."  2  Kings,  xiv.  27  ;  winch  encouragement  by  Jonaii,  and  great  successes,  arc  equally  obser- 
vable in  Josephus,  and  in  the  other  copies. 

f  When  Jonaii  is  said  in  our  bibles  to  have  gone  to  Tarshish,  Jonah,  i.  8,  Josephus  understood  it  that 
he  went  to  Tarshish  in  Cilicia,  or  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  upon  which  Tarsus  lay  ;  so  that  he  does  not 
appear  to  have  read  thete.\t,l  Kings,  xxii.  48,  as  our  copies  do,  that  shipsof  Tarshish  could  lie  at  Iv/.ion- 
Geber,  upon  the  Red  Sea.  But  as  to  Joscphus's  assertion,  that  .lonas's  fish  was  carried  by  the  streiigtii 
of  the  current,  upon  a  storm,  as  far  as  the  Kuxine  Sea,  it  is  no  way  impossible ;  and  since  the  storm  might 
have  driven  the  ship,  while  Jonah  was  in  it,  near  to  the  Euxinc  Sea,  and  since  in  tliree  more  days,  wiiile 
he  was  in  the  fish's  bellv,  that  current  might  bring  him  to  the  Assyrian  coast,  and  since  withal  that  coast 
could  bring  him  nearer  to  Nineveh  than  could  any  coast  of  the  j\iediterraiiean,  it  is  by  no  means  an  im- 
probable determination  in  .Josephus. 

i  This  ancient  piece  of  religion,  of  supposing  there  viti^  great  sm  where  there  wasgrMf  tmaery,  and  of 
casting  lots  to  discover  great  sinners  not  only  among  the  Israelites  but  among  these  heathen  mariners, 
seems  a  remarkable  remains  of  the  ancient  tradition  which  prevailed  of  old  over  all  mankind,  that  Provi- 
dence used  to  interpose  visibly  in  all  human  atV;iirs,  and  never  to  bring,  or  at  least  nut  long  to  continue 
notorious  judgments  but  for  notorious  sins,  which  the  most  ancient  book  of  Job  shows  to  have  been  the 
state  of  mankind  for  alioul  the  former  3000  years  of  the  world,  till  the  days  of  Job  and  Moses. 
23  2 


324 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IX. 


life  to  them  into  such  manifest  perdition  ;  but  at  last  when  their  misfortunes 
overbore  them,  and  the  ship  was  just  going  to  be  drowned,  and  when  they  were 
animated  to  do  it  by  the  prophet  himself,  and  by  the  fear  concerning  their  own 
safety,  they  cast  him  into  the  sea ;  upon  which  the  sea  became  calm.  It  is  also 
related,  that  Jonah  was  swallowed  down  by  a  whale,  and  that  when  he  had  been 
there  three  days,  and  as  many  nights,  he  was  vomited  out  upon  the  Euxine  Sea, 
and  this  alive,  and  without  any  hurt  upon  his  body ;  and  there,  on  his  prayer  to 
Gud,  he  obtained  pardon  for  his  sins,  and  went  to  the  city  Nineveh,  where  he 
stood  so  as  to  be  heard,  and  preached,  that  "  in  a  very  little  time  they  should  lose 
the  dominion  of  Asia."  And  when  he  had  published  this,  he  returned.  Now  I 
have  wiven  this  account  about  him,  as  I  found  it  written  [in  our  books.] 

3.  When  Jeroboam  the  king  had  passed  his  life  in  great  happiness,  and  had 
ruled  forty  years,  he  died,  and  was  buried  in  Samaria,  and  his  son,  Zechariah 
took  the  kingdom.  After  the  same  manner  did  Uzziah,  the  son  of  Amaziah,  be. 
gin  to  reign  over  the  two  tribes  in  Jerusalem,  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Jeroboam.  He  was  born  of  Jecoliah,  his  mother,  who  was  a  citizen  of  Jeru- 
salem. He  was  a  good  man,  and  by  nature  righteous  and  magnanimous,  and 
very  laborious  in  taking  care  of  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom.  He  made  an  expedi- 
tion also  against  the  Philistines,  and  overcame  them  in  battle,  and  took  the  cities 
of  Gath  and  Jabneh,  and  brake  down  their  walls ;  after  which  expedition,  he  as- 
saulted the  Arabs  that  adjoined  to  Egypt.  He  also  built  a  city  upon  the  Red 
Sea,  and  put  a  garrison  into  it.  He  after  this  overthrew  the  Ammonites,  and  ap- 
pointed that  they  should  pay  tribute.  He  also  overcame  all  the  countries  as  far 
as  to  the  bounds  of  Egypt,  and  then  began  to  take  care  of  Jerusalem  itself  for  the 
rest  of  his  hfe  ;  for  he  rebuilt  and  repaired  all  those  parts  of  the  wall  which  had 
either  fallen  down  by  the  length  of  time,  or  by  the  carelessness  of  the  kings  his 
predecessors,  as  well  as  all  that  part  which  had  been  thrown  down  by  the  king 
of  Israel,  when  he  took  his  father  Amaziah  prisoner,  and  entered  with  him  into 
the  city.  Moreover,  he  built  a  great  many  towers,  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  cu- 
bits high,  and  built  walled  towns  in  desert  places,  and  put  garrisons  into  them, 
and  dug  many  channels  for  conveyance  of  water.  He  had  also  many  beasts  for 
labour,  and  an  immense  number  of  cattle  ;  for  his  country  was  fit  for  pasturage. 
He  was  also  given  to  husbandry,  and  took  care  to  cultivate  the  ground,  and  plan- 
ted it  with  all  sorts  of  plants,  and  sowed  it  with  all  sorts  of  seeds.  He  had  also 
about  him  an  army  composed  of  chosen  men,  in  number  three  hundred  and  se- 
venty thousand,  who  were  governed  by  general  officers  and  captains  of  thousands, 
who  were  men  of  valour,  and  of  unconquerable  strength,  in  number  two  thousand. 
He  also  divided  his  whole  army  into  bands,  and  armed  them,  giving  every  one  a 
sword,  with  brazen  bucklers  and  breast-plates,  with  bows  and  slings  ;  and  besides 
these,  he  made  for  them  many  engines  of  war,  for  besieging  of  cities,  such  as  cast 
stones  and  darts,  with  grapplers  and  other  instruments  of  that  sort. 

4.  While  Uzziah  was  in  this  state,  and  making  preparations  [for  futurity,]  he 
was  corrupted  in  his  mind  by  pride,  and  became  insolent,  and  this  on  account  of 
that  abundance  which  he  had  of  things  that  will  soon  perish,  and  despised  that 
power  which  is  of  eternal  duration  (\vliich  consisted  in  piety  towards  God,  and  in 
the  observation  of  his  laws;)  so  he  fell  by  occasion  of  the  good  success  of  his 
ailiiirs,  and  was  carried  headlong  into  those  sins  of  his  fathers,  which  the  splen- 
dour of  that  prosperity  he  enjoyed,  and  the  glorious  actions  he  had  done,  led  him 
into,  while  he  was  not  able  to  govern  himself  well  about  them.  Accordingly, 
when  a  remarkable  day  was  come,  and  a  general  festival  was  to  be  celebrated, 
he  put  on  the  holy  garment,  and  went  into  the  temple  to  oiler  incense  to  God  up- 
on the  golden  altar,  which  he  was  prohibited  to  do  by  Azariah,  the  high  priest, 
who  had  four  score  priests  with  him,  and  who  told  him  that  it  was  not  tawful  for 
him  to  offer  sacrifice,  and  that  "  none  besides  the  posterity  of  Aaron  were  per- 
mitted so  to  do."  And  when  they  cried  out,  that  he  must  go  out  of  the  temple, 
and  not  transgress  against  God,  he"  was  wroth  at  them,  and  threatened  to  kill  them 


C   XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


325 


unless  they  would  hold  their  peace.  In  the  mean  time,  a  great  earthquake*  shook 
the  ground,  and  a  rent  was  made  in  tlie  temple,  and  the  bright  rays  of  the  sun 
shone  through  it,  and  fell  upon  the  king's  face,  insomuch  that  the  leprosy  seized 
upon  him  immediately.  And  before  tlie  city,  at  a  place  called  Eroge,  half  the 
mountain  broke  off  from  the  rest  on  the  west,  and  rolled  itself  four  fourlongs,  and 
stood  still  at  the  east  mountain,  till  the  roads,  as  well  as  the  king's  gardens,  were 
spoiled  by  the  obstruction.  Now,  as  soon  as  the  priests  saw  that  the  king's  face 
was  infected  with  the  leprosy,  they  told  him  of  the  calamity  he  was  under,  and 
commanded  that  he  should  go  out  of  the  city  as  a  polluted  person.  Horeupon 
he  was  so  confounded  at  the  sad  distemper,  and  sensible  that  he  was  not  at  liber- 
ty to  contradict,  that  he  did  as  he  was  commanded,  and  underwent  this  miserable 
and  terrible  punishment  for  an  intention  beyond  what  befitted  a  man  to  have,  and 
for  that  impiety  against  God  which  was  implied  therein.  So  he  abode  out  of  Uio 
city  tor  some  time,  and  lived  a  private  life,  while  his  son  Jothamtook  the  govern- 
mcnt :  after  which  he  died  with  grief  and  anxiety  at  what  had  happened  to  him, 
when  he  had  lived  sixty-eight  years,  and  reigned  of  them  fifty-two;  and  was  bu- 
ried  by  himself  in  his  own  gardens. 


CHAP.  XL 

How  Zechariah,  Shallum,  McnaJiem,  PeJcahiah,  and  Pekah,  took  the  Government 

over  the  Israelites  ;  and  hoio  Pul  and  Tiglath-Pilcser  made  an  Expedition 

against  the  Israelites.  How  Jotham,  the  Son  of  Uzziah,  reigned  over 

the  Tribe  of  Judah,  and  what  Things  Nahum  prophesied 

against  the  Assyrians. 

§  1.  Now  when  Zechariah,  the  son  of  Jeroboam,  had  reigned  six  months  over 
Israel,  he  was  slain  by  the  treachery  of  a  certain  triend  of  his,  whose  name  was 
Shallum,  the  son  of  Jabesh,  who  took  the  kingdom  afterward,  but  kept  it  no  long- 
er  than  thirty  days  ;  for  Menahem,  the  general  of  his  army,  who  was  at  that  time 
in  the  city  Tirsah,  and  heard  of  what  had  befallen  Zechariah,  removed  thereupon 
with  all  his  forces  to  Samaria,  and  joining  battle  with  Shallum,  slew  him  ;  and 
when  he  had  made  himself  king,  he  went  thence,  and  came  to  the  city  Tiphsah, 
but  the  citizens  that  were  in  it  shut  their  gates,  and  barred  them  against  the  king, 
and  would  not  admit  him ;  but  in  order  to  be  avenged  on  them,  he  burned  the 
country  round  about  it,  and  took  the  city  by  force,  upon  a  siege;  and  being  very 
much  displeased  at  what  the  inhabitants  of  Tiphsah  had  done,  he  slew  them  all, 
and  spared  not  so  much  as  the  infants,  without  omitting  the  utmost  instances  of 
cruelty  and  barbarity  ;  for  he  used  such  severity  upon  his  own  countrymen,  as 
would  not  be  pardonable  with  regard  to  strangers,  who  had  been  conquered  by 
him.  After  this  manner  it  was  that  this  Menahem  continued  to  reign  with  cruelty 
and  barbarity  for  ten  years  :  but  when  Pul,  king  of  Assyria,  had  made  an  cxpe-  , 
dition  against  him,  he  did  not  meet  to  fight  or  engage  in  battle  with  the  Assyri- 
ans,  but  he  persuaded  him  to  accept  of  a  thousand  talents  of  silver,  and  to  go 
away,  and  so  put  an  end  to  the  war.  This  sum  the  multitude  collected  for  Mena- 
hem,! by  exacting  fifty  drachmas  as  poll-money  for  every  head  ;  after  which  he 
died,  and  was  buried  in  Samaria,  and  left  his  son  Pekhiah  his  successor  in  the 
kingdom,  who  followed  the  barbarity  of  his  father,  and  so  ruled  but  two  years  only, 

*  This  account  of  an  earthquake  at  Jerusalem,  at  the  very  time  when  Uzziah  usurped  the  priest's  office 
anrl  went  into  the  sanctuary  to  burn  incense,  aiiti  of  the  consequences  of  that  earthquake,  is  entirely  wan- 
ting in  our  other  copies,  liiou»h  it  be  exceeding  like  to  a  projjhecy  of  Jeremiah's  now  in  Zecli.  xiv.  4,  5, 
in  which  propliecv  mention  is  made  of  "  fleeing  from  that  earth<]uake,  as  they  fled  from  this  earthquake 
in  tlie  days  of  Uzziah,  king  of  Judah  :"  so  that  there  seems  to  have  been  some  consi<lerable  resemblance 
between  these  historical  and  prophetical  earthquakes. 

t  Dr.  Wall,  in  his  critical  notes  on  2  Kings,  xv.  20,  observes,  "  that  when  this  Menahem  is  said  to  have 
exacted  the  money  of  Israel,  of  all  the  mighty  men  of  wealth,  of  each  man  filiy  shekels  of  silver,  to  give 
Pul,  the  king  of  Assyria,  one  thousand  talents,  this  is  the  first  public  money  raised  by  any  (Israelite]  king 
by  a  tajc  on  the  peojjle  ;  tliat  they  used  before  to  raise  it  out  of  the  treasures  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  or 


326  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IX.  * 

after  which  he  was  slain  with  his  friends  at  a  feast,  by  the  treachery  of  one  Pekah, 
the  general  of  his  horse,  and  the  son  of  Remaliah,  who  laid  snares  for  him.  Now 
this  Peka  held  the  government  twenty  years,  and  proved  a  wicked  man  and  a 
transo-ressor.  But  the  king  of  Assyria,  whose  name  was  Tiglath-Pileser,  when 
he  liad  made  an  expedition  against  the  Israelites,  and  had  overrun  all  the  land  of 
Gilead,  and  the  region  beyond  Jordan,  and  the  adjoining  country,  which  is  called 
Galilee,  and  Kadesh,  and  Hazor,  he  made  the  inhabitants  prisoners,  and  trans- 
planted  them  into  his  own  kingdom.  And  so  much  shall  suffice  to  have  related 
here  concerning  the  king  of  AssjTia. 

2.  Now  Jotham  the  son  of  Uzziah  reigned  over  the  tribe  of  Judah  in  Jerusa- 
lem, being  a  citizen  thereof  by  his  mother  whose  name  was  Jerusha.  The  king 
was  not  defective  in  any  virtue,  but  was  religious  towards  God,  and  righteous  to- 
wards men,  and  careful  of  the  good  of  the  city  (for  what  parts  soever  wanted  to 
be  repaired  or  adorned,  he  magnificently  repaired  and  adorned  them.)  He  also 
took  care  of  the  foundations  of  the  cloisters  in  the  temple,  and  repaired  the  walls 
that  were  fallen  down,  and  built  very  great  towers,  and  such  as  were  almost  im- 
pregnable ;  and  if  any  thing  else  in  his  kingdom  had  been  neglected,  he  took 
great  care  of  it.  He  also  made  an  expedition  against  the  Ammonites,  and  over- 
came them  in  battle,  and  ordered  them  to  pay  tribute  a  hundred  talents,  and  ten 
thousand  cori  of  wheat,  and  as  many  of  barley,  every  year,  and  so  augmented  his 
his  kingdom,  that  his  enemies  could  not  despise  it,  and  his  own  people  livedhappily. 

Now  there  was  at  this  time  a  prophet,  whose  name  was  Nahum,  who  spoke 
after  this  manner  concerning  the  overthrow  of  the  Assyrians  and  of  Nineveh  : 
"  *  Nineveh  shall  be  a  pool  of  v/ater  in  motion  ;  so  shall  all  her  people  be  trou- 
bled, and  tossed,  and  go  away  by  flight,  while  they  say  one  to  another,  Stand, 
stand  still,  seize  their  gold  and  silver,  for  there  shall  be  no  one  to  wish  them 
well,  for  they  will  rather  save  their  lives  than  their  money  ;  for  a  terrible  con- 
tention shall  possess  them  one  with  another,  and  lamentation,  and  loosing  of  the 
members,  and  their  countenances  shall  be  perfectly  black  with  fear,  and  there 
will  be  the  den  of  the  lions,  and  the  mother  of  the  young  lions  !  God  says  to 
thee,  Nineveh,  that  they  shall  deface  thee,  and  the  lion  shall  no  longer  go  out 
from  thee  to  give  laws  to  the  world."  And  indeed  this  prophet  prophesied  many 
other  things  besides  these  concerning  Nineveh,  which  I  do  not  think  necessaiy 
to  repeat,  and  I  here  omit  them,  that  I  may  not  appear  troublesome  to  my  rea- 
ders ;  all  which  things  happened  about  Nineveh  a  hundred  and  fifteen  years  after- 
ward;  so  this  may  suffice  to  have  spoken  of  these  matters. 


CHAP.  XH. 

JIotD,  vjyon  the  death  of  Jotham,  Ahaz  reigned  in  his  stead :  against  whom  Rezin, 
King  of  Syria,  and  Pekah,  King  of  Israel,  made  war;  and  how  Tiglath-Pile- 
ser, King  of  Assyria,  came  to  the  Assistance  of  Ahaz,  and  laid 
Syria  waste,  and,  removing  the  Damescens  into  Media 
placed  other  Nations  in  their  Room. 

§  1 .  Now  Jotham  died  when  he  had  lived  forty-one  years,  and  of  them  reigned 
sixteen,  and  was  buried  in  the  sepulchres  of  the  kings;  and  the  kingdom  came  to 
his  son  Ahaz,  who  proved  most  impious  towards  God,  and  a  transgressor  of  the 

of  their  own  house;  that  it  was  a  poll-money  on  the  rich  men  [and  them  only]  to  raise  353,000/.  or  as 
oiheis  count  a  talent  400,000/.  at  the  rate  of  6/.  or  11.  per  head  ;  and  that  God  commanded  by  Ezekiel, 
chap.  xlv.  8,  and  xlvi.  18,  that  no  such  thing  sliould  be  done  [at  the  Jews'  restoration,]  but  the  king  should 
have  land  of  his  own." 

*  Tliis  passage  is  taken  out  of  the  prophet  Nahum,  chap.  ji.  8 — 13,  and  is  the  principal,  or  rather  the 
only  one  that  is  given  us  almost  fcr/jahm,  but  a  little  abridged,  in  all  Josephus's  known  writings:  by 
vhich  quotation  we  learn  what  he  himself  always  asserts,  viz.  that  he  made  use  of  the  Hebrew  original 
far.d  not  of  the  CJreek  vprsinn  :J  ns  also  we  learn,  that  liis  Hebrew  copy  considerably  differed  from  ours. 
St-e  nil  three  texts  parliculailv  s>€t  down,  anu  coinpari-'d  together,  in  the  Essay  on  the  Old  Testament, 
page  J87. 


C.  IX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS 


827 


laws  of  his  country.  He  imitated  the  kings  of  Israel,  and  reared  altars  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  ofiered  sacrifices  upon  them  to  idols  ;  to  which  he  also  offered  his  own 
son  as  a  burnt-offering,  according  to  the  practices  of  the  Canaanites.  His  other 
actions  were  also  of  the  same  sort.  Now  as  he  was  going  on  in  this  mad  course, 
Rezin  the  king  of  Syria  and  Damascus,  and  Pekah,  the  king  of  Israel,  who 
were  now  at  amity  one  with  another,  made  war  with  him;  and  when  they  had 
driven  him  into  Jerusalem,  they  besieged  that  city  a  long  while,  making  but  a 
small  progress,  on  account  of  the  strength  of  its  walls  ;  and  when  the  king  of 
Syria  had  taken  the  city  Elath,  upon  the  Red  Sea,  and  had  slain  the  inhabitants, 
he  peopled  it  whh  Syrians  ;  and  when  he  had  slain  those  in  the  [other]  garri- 
sons,  and  the  Jews  in  their  neighbourhood,  and  had  driven  away  much  prey,  he 
returned  with  his  army  back  to  Damascus.  Now  when  the  king  of  Jerusalem 
knew  that  the  Syrians  were  returned  home,  he,  supposing  himself  a  match  for 
the  king  of  Israel,  drew  out  his  army  against  him,  and  joining  battle  with  him, 
was  beaten  ;  and  this  happpened  because  God  was  angry  with  him,  on  account 
of  his  many  and  great  enormities.  Accordingly  there  were  slain  by  tiie  Israel- 
ites one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  of  his  men  that  day,  whose  general,  Ama- 
ziah  by  name,  slew  Zechariah  the  king's  son  in  his  conflict  with  Ahaz,  as  well 
as  the  governor  of  the  kingdom,  whose  name  was  Azricam.  He  also  carried 
Elkanah,  the  general  of  the  troops  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  into  captivity.  They 
also  carried  the  women  and  children  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  captives  ;  and  when 
they  had  gotten  a  great  deal  of  prey  they  returned  to  Samaria. 

2.  Now  there  was  one  Obed,  who  was  a  prophet  at  that  time  in  Samaria:  he 
met  the  army  before  the  city  walls,  and  with  a  loud  voice  told  them,  that  "  they 
had  gotten  the  victory,  not  by  their  own  strength,  but  by  reason  of  the  anger  God 
had  against  king  Ahaz.  And  he  complained  that  they  were  not  satisfied  with 
the  good  success  they  had  had  against  him,  but  were  so  bold  as  to  make  captives 
out  of  their  kiasmen,  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin.  He  also  gave  them 
counsel  to  let  them  go  home  without  doing  them  any  harm,  for  that  if  they  did 
not  obey  God  herein,  they  should  be  punished."  So  the  people  of  Israel  came 
together  to  their  assembly,  and  considered  of  these  matters,  when  a  man  whose 
name  was  Berechiah,  and  who  was  one  of  chief  reputation  in  the  government, 
stood  up,  and  three  others  with  him,  and  said,  "  We  will  not  sutler  the  citizens 
to  bring  these  prisoners  into  the  city,  lest  wo  be  all  destroyed  by  God  :  we  have 
sins  enough  of  our  own  that  we  have  committed  against  him,  as  the  prophets  as- 
sure us  ;  nor  ought  we  therefore  to  introduce  the  practice  of  new  crimes."  When 
the  soldiers  heard  that,  tliey  permitted  them  to  do  what  they  thought  best.  So 
the  forenamed  men  took  the  captives,  and  lf;t  them  go,  and  took  care  of  them,  and 
gave  them  provisions,  and  sent  them  to  their  own  country,  without  doing  them 
any  harm.  However,  these  four  went  along  with  them,  and  conducted  them  as 
far  as  Jericho,  which  is  not  far  from  Jerusalem,  and  returned  to  Samaria. 

3.  Hereupon  king  Ahaz,  having  been  so  thoroughly  beaten  by  the  Israelites, 
sent  to  Tiglath-Pileser,  king  of  the  Assyrians,  and  sued  for  assistance  from  him 
in  his  wars  against  the  Israelites,  and  Syrians,  and  Damascens,  with  a  promise  to 
send  him  much  money  :  he  sent  him  also  great  presents  at  the  same  time.  Now 
this  king,  upon  the  reception  of  those  ambassadors,  came  to  assist  Ahaz,  and 
made  war  upon  the  Syrians,  and  laid  their  country  waste,  and  took  Damascus  by 
force,  and  slew  Rezin  their  king,  and  transplanted  the  people  of  Damascus  into 
the  Upper  Media,  and  brought  a  colony  of  Assyrians,  and  planted  tbem  in  Da- 
mascus. He  also  aillicted  the  land  of  Israel,  and  took  many  captives  out  of  it. 
While  he -was  doing  thus  with  the  Syrians,  king  Ahaz  took  all  the  gold  that  was 
in  the  king's  treasures,  and  the  silver,  and  what  was  in  the  temple  of  God,  and 
what  precious  gifts  were  there,  and  he  carried  them  with  him,  and  came  to  Da- 
mascus, and  gave  it  to  the  king  of  Assyria,  according  to  his  agreement.  So  ho 
confessed  that  he  owed  him  thanks  for  all  that  he  had  done  for  him,  and  returned 
to  Jerusalem.     Now  this  king  was  so  sottic^h,  and  thoughtless  of  what  was  for  his 


328  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  IX. 

own  good,  that  he  would  not  leave  off  worshiping  the  Syrian  gods  when  he  was 
beaten  by  them,  but  he  went  on  in  worshiping  them,  as  though  they  would  pro- 
cure him  the  victory  :  and  when  he  was  beaten  again,  he  began  to  honour  the 
gods  of  the  Assyrians  ;  and  he  seemed  more  desirous  to  honour  any  other  gods 
than  his  own  paternal  and  true  God,  whose  anger  was  the  cause  of  his  defeat ; 
nay,  he  proceeded  to  such  a  degree  of  despite  and  contempt  [of  God's  worship,] 
that  he  shut  up  the  temple  entirely,  and  forbade  them  to  bring  in  the  appointed 
sacrifices,  and  took  away  the  gifts  that  had  been  given  to  it.  And  when  he  had 
ofl'ered  these  indignities  to  God,  he  died,  having  lived  thirty-six  years,  and  of 
them  reigned  sixteen ;  and  he  left  his  Son  tlezekiah  for  his  successor 


CHAP.  XIII. 

How  Pekah  died  by  the  Treachery  of  Hoskea,  who  was  a  little  after  subdued  by 

Shalmanezer  :  and  how  Hezekiah  reigned  instead  of  Ahaz  ;  and  what 

Actions  of  Piety  and  Justice  he  did. 

§  1.  About  the  same  time  Pekah,  the  king  of  Israel,  died,  by  the  treachery  of  a 
friend  of  his,  whose  name  was  Hoshea,  who  retained  the  kingdom  nine  years 
time,  but  was  a  wicked  man,  and  a  despiser  of  the  divine  worship  :  and  Shalma- 
nezer,  the  king  of  Assyria,  made  an  expedition  against  him,  and  overcame  him 
(which  must  have  been  because  he  had  not  God  favourable  nor  assistant  to  him,) 
and  brought  him  to  submission,  and  ordered  him  to  pay  an  appointed  tribute.  Now 
in  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  Hcshea,  Hezekiah,  the  son  of  Ahaz,  began  to 
reio-n  in  Jerusalem  ;  and  his  mother's  name  was  Abijah,  a  citizen  in  Jerusalem. 
His  nature  was  good,  and  righteous  and  religious  ;  for  when  he  came  to  the  king- 
dom, he  thought  that  nothing  was  prior,  or  more  necessary,  or  more  advantage- 
ous to  himself  and  to  his  subjects,  than  to  worship  God.  Accordingly  he  called 
the  people  together,  and  the  priests,  and  the  Levites,  and  made  a  speech  to  them, 
and  said,  "  You  are  not  ignorant  how,  by  the  sins  of  my  father,  who  transgressed 
that  sacred  honour  which  was  due  to  God,  you  have  had  experience  of  man}^  and 
great  miseries,  while  you  were  corrupted  in  your  mind  by  him,  and  were  indu- 
ced  to  worship  those  which  he  supposed  to  be  gods  ;  I  exhort  you,  therefore,  who 
have  learned  by  sad  experience  how  dangerous  a  thing  impiety  is,  to  put  that  im- 
mediately  out  of  your  memory,  and  to  purify  yourselves  from  your  former  poUu- 
fions,  and  to  open  the  temple  to  these  priests  and  Levites  who  are  here  con- 
vened,  and  to  cleanse  it  with  the  accustomed  sacrifices,  and  to  recover  all  to  the 
ancient  honour  which  our  fathers  paid  to  it ;  for  by  this  means  we  may  render 
God  favourable,  and  he  will  remit  the  anger  he  hath  had  to  us." 

2.  When  the  king  had  said  this,  the  priests  opened  the  temple  ;  and  when  they 
I'.iul  set  in  order  the  vessels  of  God,  and  cast  out  what  was  impure,  they  laid  the 
accustomed  sacrifices  upon  the  altar.  The  king  also  sent  to  the  country  that  was 
under  him,  and  called  the  people  to  Jerusalem  to  celebrate  the  feast  of  unleav- 
ened bread,  for  it  had  been  intermitted  a  long  time,  on  account  of  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  forementioned  kings.  He  also  sent  to  the  Israelites,  and  exhorted 
them  to  leave  off  their  present  way  of  living,  and  to  return  to  their  ancient  prac- 
tices, and  to  worship  God,  for  that  he  gave  them  leave  to  come  to  Jerusalem, 
and  to  celebrate,  all  in  one  body,  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread;  and  this  he  said 
was  by  way  of  invitation  only,  and  to  be  done  of  their  own  good  will,  and  for 
their  own  advantage,  and  not  out  of  obedience  to  him,  because  it  would  make  them 
happy.  Rut  the  Israelites,  upon  the  coming  of  the  ambassadors,  and  upon  their 
laying  before  them  what  they  had  in  charge  from  their  own  king,  were  so  far  from 
complying  therewith  that  they  laughed  the  ambassadors  to  scorn,  and  mocked 
ihem  as  fools  ;  as  also  they  affronted  the  prophets  who  gave  them  the  same  ex 


C.  Xirr.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  329 

hortations,  and  foretold  wliat  fhey  would  sufTor  if  they  did  not  return  to  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  insomuch  that  at  Ictigth  they  cauglit  them,  and  slow  them  :  nor  did 
this  degree  of  transgressing  sullice  them,  but  they  had  more  wicked  contrivan- 
ces  than  what  have  been  described  :  nor  did  they  leave  oil",  before  God,  as  a  pu- 
nishment  for  their  impiety,  brought  them  under  their  enemies  :  but  of  that  more 
hereafter.  However,  many  there  were  of  the  tribe  of  IManasseh,  and  of  Zebu, 
km,  and  of  Issachar,  who  were  obedient  to  what  the  propliets  exhorted  them  to 
do,  and  returned  to  the  worship  of  God.  Now  all  these  came  running  to  Jeru- 
salem,  to  HezeUiah,  that  they  might  worship  God  [there.] 

3.  When  these  men  were  come,  king  Ilezekiah  went  up  into  the  temple,  with 
the  rulers,  and  all  the  people,  and  olTered  for  himself  seven   bulls,  and   as  many 
rams,  with  seven  lambs,  and  as  many  kids  of  the  goats.     The  king  also  himself, 
and  the  rulers,  laid  their  hands  on  the  heads  of  the  sacrifices,  and  permitted  the 
priests  to  complete  the  sacred  offices  about  them.     So  they  both  slew  the  sacri- 
fices, and  burned  the  burnt-offerings,  while  the  Levites  stood  round  about  them, 
with  their  musical  instruments,  and  sang  hymns  to  God,  and  played  on  their  psal- 
teries, as  they  were  instructed  by  David  to  do,  and   this   while  the   rest  of  the 
priests  returned  the  music,  and  sounded  the  trumpets  which  they  had  in  their 
hands  :  and  when  this  was  done,  the  king  and  the   multitude  threw  themselves 
down  upon  their  faces,  and  worshiped   God.     He  also  sacrificed  seventy  bulls, 
one  hundred  rams,  and  two  hundred  lambs.     He  also  granted  the  multitude  sa- 
crifices to  feast  upon,  six  hundred  oxen,  and  three  thousand  other  cattle  ;  and  the 
priests  performed  all  things  according  to  the  law.     Now  the  king  was  so  pleased 
herewith  that  he  feasted  with  the  people   and  returned  thanks  to  God  :  but  as  the 
feast  of  unleavened  bread  was  now  come  when  they  had  oflered  that   sacrifice 
which  is  called  the  Passover,  they  after  that  offered  other  sacrifices  for  seven 
days.     When  the  king  had  bestowed  on  the  multitude,  besides  what  they  sancti- 
fied of  themselves,  two  thousand  bulls,  and  seven  thousand  other  cattle,  the  same 
thing  was  done  by  the  rulers  ;  for  they  gave  them  a  thousand  bulls,  and  a  thou- 
sand and  forty  other  cattle.     Nor  had  this  festival  been  so  well  observed  from  the 
days  of  king  Solomon,  as  it  was  now  first  observed  with  great  splendour  and  mag- 
nificence :  and  when  this  festival  was  ended,  they  went  out  into  the  country  and 
purged  it ;  and  cleansed  the  city  of  all  the  pollution  of  the  idols.     The  king  also 
gave  order  that  the  daily  sacrilices  should  be  offered,  at  his  own  charges,  and  ac- 
cording to  the  law  ;  and  appointed  that  the  tithes   and  the  first  fruits  should  be 
given  by  the  multitude  to  the  priests  and  Levites,  that  they  might  constantly  at- 
tend upon  divine  service,  and  never  be  taken  off  from  the  worship  of  God.     Ac 
cordingly,  the  multitude  brought  together  all  sorts  of  their  fruits  to  the  priests  and 
the  Levites.     The  king  also  made  garners  and  receptacles  for  these  fruits,  and 
distributed  them  to  every  one  of  the  priests  and   Levites,  and  to  their  children 
and  wives.     And  thus  did  they  return  to  their  old  form  of  divine  worship.     Now 
when  the  king  had  settled  these  matters  after  the  manner  already  described,  he 
made  war  upon  the  Philistines,  and  beat  them,  and  possessed  iiimself  of  all  the 
enemies'  cities,  from  Gaza  to  Gath :  but  the   king  of  Assyria  sent  to  him,  and 
threatened  to  overturn  all  his  dominions,  unless  he  would  pay  him  the  tribute 
which  his  father  paid  him  formerly  ;  but  king  Hezekiah  was  not  concerned  at  his 
tlireatenings,  but  depended  on  his  piety  towards  God,  and  upon    Isaiah  the  pro- 
phet, by  Nvhoin  he  inquired,  and  accurately  knew  all  future  events.     And  thus 
much  shall  suffice  for  the  present  concerning  this  king  Hezekiah. 


VOL.  I.  2  T 


330  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B-  IX. 


CH.\P.  XIV. 

How  Shalmanezer  took  Samaria  by  Force,  and  how  he  transplanted  the  Ten  Tribes 
into  Media,  and  brought  the  Nation  of  the  Cutheans  into  ihsir  Country  [in  their 

Room.] 

&  1.  When  Shalmanezer,  the  king  of  Assyria,  had  it  told  him,  that  [Hoshea] 
the  king  of  Israel  had  sent  privately  to  So,  the  king  of  Egypt,  desiring  his  assis- 
tance  against  him,  he  was  very  angry,  and  made  an  expedition  against  Samaria, 
in  the  seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  Hoshea;  but  when  he  was  not  admitted  [into 
the  city]  by  the  king,  he  besieged  Samaria*  three  years,  and  took  it  by  force  in 
the  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of  Hoshea,  and  in  the  seventh  year  of  Hezekiah  king 
of  Jerusalem,  and  quite  demolished  the  government  of  the  Israelites,  and  trans- 
planted all  the  people  into  Media  and  Persia,  among  whom  he  took  king  Hoshea 
alive  ;  and  when  he  had  removed  these  people  out  of  this  their  land,  he  trajisplan- 
ted  other  nations  out  of  Cuthah,  a  place  so  called  (for  there  is  [still]  a  river  of  that 
name  in  Persia,)  into  Samaria,  and  into  the  country  of  the  Israelites.  So  the  ten 
tribes  of  the  Israelites  were  removed  out  of  Judea  nine  hundred  and  forty-seven 
years  after  their  forefathers  were  come  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  possessed 
themselves  of  this  country,  but  eight  hundred  years  after  Joshua  had  been  their 
leader,  and,  as  I  have  already  observed,  two  hundred  and  forty  years,  seven 
months,  and  seven  days,  after  they  had  revolted  from  Rehoboam,  the  grandson 
of  David,  and  had  given  the  kingdom  to  Jeroboam.  And  such  a  conclusion  over- 
took the  Israelites,  when  they  had  transgressed  the  laws,  and  would  not  hearken  to 
the  prophets,  who  foretold  that  this  calamity  would  come  upon  them,  if  they  would 
not  leave  off  their  evil  doings.  What  gave  birth  to  these  evil  doings  was  that 
sedition  which  they  raised  against  Rehoboam  the  grandson  of  David,  when  they 
set  up  Jeroboam  his  servant  to  be  their  king,  who  by  sinning  against  God,  and 
bringing  them  to  imitate  his  bad  examjjle,  made  God  to  be  their  enemy,  while  Je- 
roboam underwent  that  punishment  which  he  justly  deserved. 

2.  And  now  the  king  of  Assyria  invaded  all  Syria  and  Phoenicia  in  a  hostile 
manner.  The  name  of  this  king  is  also  set  down  in  the  archives  of  Tyre,  for  he 
made  an  expedition  against  Tyre  in  the  reign  of  Eluleus  ;  and  Menander  attests 
to  it,  who,  when  he  wrote  his  Chronology,  and  translated  the  archives  of  Tyre 
into  the  Greek  language,  gives  us  tlie  following  history :  "  One  whose  name  was 
Eluleus  reigned  thirty-six  years :  this  king,  upon  the  revolt  of  the  Citteans, 
sailed  to  them,  and  reduced  them  again  to  a  submission.  Against  these  did  the 
king  of  Assyria  send  an  army,  and  in  a  hostile  manner  overrun  all  Phoenicia,  but 
soon  made  peace  with  them  all,  and  returned  back  :  but  Sidon,  and  Ace,  and 
Patetyrus  revolted  :  and  many  other  cities  there  were  which  delivered  them- 
selves up  to  the  king  of  Assyria.  Accordingly,  when  the  Tyrians  would  not 
submit  to  him,  the  king  returned,  and  fell  upon  them  again,  while  the  Phoenicans 
had  furnished  him  with  threescore  ships,  and  eight  hundred  men  to  row  them  ;  and 
when  the  Tyrians  had  come  upon  them  in  twelve  ships,  and  the  enemies'  ships 
were  dispersed,  they  took  five  hundred  men  prisoners,  and  the  reputation  of  all 
the  citizens  of  Tyre  was  thereby  increased  :  but  tiie  king  of  Assyria  returned, 
and  placed  guards  at  their  rivers  and  aqueducts,  who  should  hinder  the  Tyrians 
from  drawing  water.  This  continued  for  five  years,  and  still  the  Tyrians  bore 
the  siege,  and  drank  of  the  water  they  had  out  of  the  wells  they  dug."  And  this  is 
what  is  written  in  theTyrian  archives  concerning  Shalmaneser  the  king  of  Assyria. 

*  This  siege  of  Samaria,  though  not  given  a  pavticiilnr  ar.count  of,  either  in  our  Hebrew  and  Greek 
Bibles,  or  in  Josephiis,  was  so  veiy  long,  no  less  than  three  years,  that  it  was  no  way  improbable  but  that 
)iarents,  and  particularly  niothcrs,  ini^ht  therein  be  reduced  to  eat  their  own  children,  as  the  law  of  Mo- 
ses hud  threatened  upon  their  disnbedie.ice,  Levit.  xxvi  29;  Deut.  xxviii.  53 — 57,  and  as  was  accom- 
plished in  the  other  shorter  sieges  of  both  the  capital  cities,  Jerusalem  and  Samaria,  the  former  mentioaed, 
Jer.  x«.  9  ;  Antiq.  B.  ix.  ch.  iv.  sect.  4;  and  the  latter,  2  Kings,  vi.  26— 29. 


C.  XIV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  33I 

3.  But  now  the  Cutheans,  who  removed  into  Samaria  (for  that  is  the  name  they 
have  been  called  by  to  this  time,  because  they  were  brought  out  of  the  country 
called  Cuthah,  which  is  a  country  of  Persia,  and  there  is  a  river  of  the  same 
name  in  it,)  each  of  them,  according  to  their  nations,  which  were  in  number  five 
brought  their  own  gods  into  Samaria,  and  by  worshiping  them,  as  was  the  custom 
of  their  own  countries,  they  provoked  Almighty  God  to  be  angry  and  displeased 
al  them  ;  for  a  plague  seized  upon  them,  by  which  they  were  destroyed ;  and 
when  they  found  no  cure  for  their  miseries,  they  learned  by  the  oracle  that  they 
ought  to  worship  Almighty  God,  as  the  method  for  their  deliverance.  So  they 
sent  ambassadors  to  the  king  of  Assyria,  and  desired  him  to  send  them  some 
of  those  priests  of  the  Israelites  whom  he  had  taken  captive.  And  when  he  there- 
upon sent  them,  and  the  people  were  by  them  taught  the  laws,  and  the  holy  wor- 
ship  of  God,  they  worshiped  him  in  a  respectful  manner,  and  the  plague  ceased 
immediately  ;  and  indeed  they  continue  to  make  use  of  the  very  same  customs  to 
this  very  time,  and  are  called  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  Cutheans,  but  in  the  Greek 
tongue  Samaritans.  And  when  they  see  the  Jews  in  prosperity,  they  pretend 
that  they  are  changed,  and  allied  to  them,  and  call  them  kinsmen,  as  though  they 
were  derived  from  Joseph,  and  had  by  that  means,  an  original  alliance  with  them  ; 
but  when  they  see  them  falling  into  a  low  condition,  they  say  they  arc  no  way 
related  to  them,  and  that  the  Jews  have  no  right  to  expect  any  kindness  or  marks 
of  kindred  from  them,  but  they  declare  that  they  are  sojourners,  that  come  from 
other  countries.  But  of  these  we  shall  have  a  more  seasonable  opportunity  to  dis- 
course hereafter. 


2T2 


332  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


BOOK  X. 


CONTAINING  THE  INTERVAL  OF  ONE  HTTNDKED  AND  EIGHTY-TWO 
YEARS  AND  A  HALF. 

FROM  THE  CAPTIFITY  OF  THE  TE.Y  TRIBES  TO  THE  FIRST  OF  CYRUS. 


CHAP.  I. 

How  Sennacherib  made  an  Expedition  against  Hezekiah ;  v-liat  Threatenings  Rah- 

sluxkeh  made  to  Hezekiah  when  Sennacherib  was  gone  against  the  Egyptians ; 

hoiD  Isaiah  the  Prophet  encouraged,  him;  hoio  Sennacherib,  having  failed 

of  Success  in  Egypt,  returned  thence  to  Jerusalein  ;  and  hoic,  upon 

finding  his  Army  destroyed,  he  returned  home  ;  and  what  befell 

him  a  little  afterward. 

§  1.  It  was  now  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  government  of  Hezekiah,  king  of 
the  two  tribes,  when  the  king  of  Assyria,  whose  name  was  Sennacherib,  made  an 
expedition  against  him  with  a  great  army,  and  took  all  the  cities  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah  and  Benjamin  by  force  ;  and  when  he  was  ready  to  bring  his  army  against 
Jerusalem,  Hezekiah  sent  ambassadors  to  him  beforehand  promised  to  submit, 
and  pay  what  tribute  he  should  appoint.  Hereupon  Sennacherib,  when  he  heard 
of  what  offers  the  ambassadors  made,  resolved  not  proceed  in  the  war,  but  to  ac- 
cept of  the  proposals  that  were  made  him  :  and  if  he  might  receive  three  jiundred 
talents  of  silver  and  thirty  talents  of  gold,  he  promised  that  he  would  depart  in  a 
friendly  manner  ;  and  he  gave  security  upon  oath  to  the  ambassadors  that  he 
would  then  do  him  no  harm,  but  go  away  as  he  came.  So  Hezekiah  submitted, 
and  emptied  his  treasures  and  sent  the  money,  as  supposing  he  should  be  freed 
from  his  enemy,  and  from  any  farther  distress  about  his  kingdom.  Accordingly 
the  Assyrian  king  took  it,  and  yet  he  had  no  regard  to  what  he  had  promised : 
but  while  he  himself  went  to  the  war  against  the  Egyptians  and  Ethiopians,  he 
left  his  general  Rabshakeh,  and  two  other  of  his  principal  commanders,  with  great 
forces,  to  destroy  Jerusalem.  The  names  of  the  other  two  commanders  were 
Tartan  and  Rabsaris. 

2.  Now,  as  soon  as  they  were  come  before  the  walls,  they  pitched  their  camp, 
and  sent  messengers  to  Hezekiah,  and  desired  that  they  might  speak  with  him  : 
but  he  did  not  himself  come  out  to  them  for  fear,  but  he  sent  three  of  his  most  in- 
timate friends,  the  name  of  one  was  Eliakim,  who  was  over  the  kingdom  of  Sheb- 
na,  and  Joah  the  recorder.  So  these  men  came  out,  and  stood  over  against  the 
commanders  of  the  Assyrian  army ;  and  when  Rabshakeh  saw  them,  he  bid  them 
go  and  speak  to  Hezekiah  in  the  manner  following  ;  that  "  Sennacherib,  the  great 
king,*  desires  to  know  of  him,  on  whom  it  is  that  he  relies  and  depends  in  flying 
from  his  lord,  and  will  not  hear  him,  nor  admit  his  army  into  the  city  1  Is  it  on  ac- 
count of  the  Egyptians,  and  in  hopes  that  his  army  would  be  beaten  by  them? 
Whereupon  he  lets  him  know,  that  if  this  be  what  he  expects,  he  is  a  foolish  man, 
and  like  one  who  leans  on  a  broken  reed,  while  such  a  one  will  not  only  fall  down, 
but  will  have  his  hand  pierced  and  hurt  by  it.  That  he  ought  to  know,  he  makes 
this  expedition  against  him  by  the  will  of  God,  who  hath  granted  this  favour  to 
him,  that  he  shall  overthrow  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  and  that  in  the  very  same 

*  This  title  <if  Great  Kinor^  both  in  our  Bibles,  2  Kinss  xviii.  19;  Isaiah,  xxxvi.  4  ;  and  here  in  Jose- 
f\\vs,  is  t.ie  veiy  iUine  hat  Hevodolus  gives  tiiis  .Sonnaclicribas  Spanheini  takes  notice  on  tliis  place. 


C.  L  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEW3  333 

manner  he  shall  destroy  those  that  are  his  subjects  also."  When  Rabshalceh  had 
made  this  speech  in  tl>e  Hebrew  tongue,  for  he  was  skilful  in  that  language,  Eli- 
akini  was  afraid  lest  the  multitude  that  heard  him  should  be  disturbed,  so  he  de- 
sired him  to  speak  in  the  Syrian  tongue  ;  but  the  general  understanding  what  ho 
meant,  and  perceiving  the  fear  that  he  was  in,  he  made  his  answer  with  a  greater 
and  louder  voice,  but  in  the  Hebrew  tongue :  and  said,  that  "  since  tlaey  all 
heard  what  ware  the  king's  commands,  they  would  consult  their  own  advantao^e 
in  delivering  themselves  up  to  us  ;  for  it  is  plain  that  both  3-ou  and  your  kin"-  dis- 
suade the  people  from  submitting  by  vain  hopes,  and  so  induce  them  to  resist ; 
but  if  you  be  courageous,  and  think  to  drive  our  ibrces  away,  I  am  ready  to  deli- 
ver to  you  two  thousand  of  these  horses  that  are  with  me  for  your  use,  if  you  can 
set  as  many  horsemen  on  their  backs,  and  show  your  strength  ;  but  what  you  have 
not,  you  cannot  produce.  Why  therefore  do  you  delay  to  deliver  up  yourselves 
to  a  superior  force,  who  can  take  you  without  your  consent  ?  although  it  will  be 
safer  for  you  to  deliver  yourselves  up  voluntarily  ;  while  a  forcible  capture,  when 
you  are  beaten,  must  appear  more  dangerous,  and  will  bring  farther  calamities 
upon  you." 

3.  When  the  people,  as  well  as  the  ambassadors,  heard  what  the  Assyrian 
commander  said,  they  related  it  to  Hezekiah,  who  thereupon  put  ofl" his  ro}al  ap- 
parel, and  clothed  himself  with  sackcloth,  and  took  the  habit  of  a  mourner,  and, 
after  the  manner  of  his  country,  he  fell  upon  his  face,  and  besought  God,  and 
entreated  hira  to  assist  them,  now  they  had  no  other  hope  of  relief.  He  also 
sent  some  of  his  friends,  and  some  of  the  priests,  to  the  prophet  Isaiah,  and  de- 
sired that  he  would  pray  to  God,  and  ofiier  sacrifices  for  their  common  deliver- 
ance, and  so  put  up  supplications  to  him,  that  he  would  have  indignation  at  the 
expectations  of  their  enemies,  and  have  mercy  upon  his  people.  And  when  the 
prophet  had  done  accordingly,  an  oracle  came  from  God  to  him,  and  encouraged 
the  king  and  his  friends  that  were  about  him  ;  and  foretold,  that  "their  enemies 
should  be  beaten  without  fighting,  and  should  go  away  in  an  ignominious  man- 
ner, and  not  with  that  insolence  which  they  now  show,  for  that  God  v/ould  take 
care  they  should  be  destroyed."  He  also  foretold,  that  "Sennacherib,  the  king 
of  Assyria,  should  fail  of  his  purpose  against  Egypt,  and  that  Avhen  he  came 
home  he  should  perish  by  the  sword." 

4.  About  the  same  time  also  the  king  of  Assyria  wrote  an  epistle  to  Hezekiah, 
in  which  he  said,  "  He  was  a  foolish  man  in  supposing  that  he  should  escape  from 
being  his  servant,  since  he  had  already  brought  under  many  and  great  nations  : 
and  he  threatened,  that  when  he  took  him,  he  would  utterly  destroy  him,  unless  he 
now  opened  the  gates,  and  willingly  received  his  army  into  Jerusalem."  When 
he  had  read  this  epistle,  he  despised  it  on  account  of  the  trust  that  he  had  in  God, 
but  he  rolled  up  the  epistle,  and  laid  it  up  within  the  temple.  And  as  ho  anade 
his  farther  prayers  to  God  for  the  city,  and  for  the  preservation  of  all  the  peo- 
ple, the  pro|)het  Isaiah  said,  that  "God  had  heard  his  prayer,  and  that  he  should 
not  be  *  besieged  at  this  time  by  the  king  of  Assyria;  and  that  for  the  future  he 
might  be  secure  of  not  being  at  all  disturbed  by  him ;  and  that  the  people  might 
go  on  peaceably,  and  without  fear,  with  their  husbandry  and  otber  aifairs."  JJut 
after  a  little  while,  the  king  of  Assyria,  when  he  had  failed  of  his  treacherous 
designs  against  the  lOgyptians,  returned  home  without  success  on  the  following 
occasion  :  He  spent  a  long  time  in  the  siege  of  Pclusium;  and  when  the  banks 
that  he  had  raised  over  against  the  walls  were  of  a  great  height,  and  when  he  was 

*  What  Joscplnis  says  here,  how  Isaiah  the  prophet  assurefl  Hezekiah,  that  "  at  this  tiine  lie  should 
not  be  besica;e(l  by  tlie  king  of  Assyria;  that  for  the  future  ho  might  be  secure  of  being  not  at  all  disturbed 
l)y  him  ;  and  tliat  [afterward]  the  peojile  might  go  on  peaceably  and  witliout  fear  will)  ilieir  husbandry 
and  other  affairs,"  is  more  distinct  in  our  other  copies,  botli  of  the  Kings  and  of  Isaiah,  and  deserves  very 
great  consideration.  The  words  are  these  :  "  This  shall  be  a  sign  unto  thte  ;  ye  shall  eat  this  year  sircli 
as  groweih  of  itself;  and  the  second  year  that  which  springeth  of  the  same  ;  and  in  the  third  year  sow 
ye  and  reap,  and  plant  vineyards,  and  cat  the  fruit  tlicreof,"  2  Kings,  xix.  20 ;  Isa.  xxxvii.  30  ;  which 
seem  to  me  plaiidy  to  design  re  sniibciilc  year,  a  year  of  Jubilee  next  after  it,  and  tiie  succeeding  usual  la* 
Lulus  and  fruits  of  them  en  the  the  third  and  following  years. 


334  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  X. 

ready  to  make  an  immediate  assault  upon  them,  but  heard  that  Tirhaka,  king  of 
the  Ethiopians,  was  coming,  and  bringing  great  forces  to  aid  the  Egyptians,  and 
was  resolved  to  march  through  the  desert,  and  so  to  fall  directly  upon  the  Assy. 
rians,  this  king  Sennacherib  was  disturbed  at  the  news,  and,  as  I  said  before,  \e£t 
Pelusium  and  returned  back  without  success.  Now,  concerning  this  Sennache- 
rib,  Herodotus  also  says,  in  the  second  book  of  his  histories,  "  How  this  king 
came  against  the  Egyptian  king,  who  was  the  priest  of  Vulcan,  and  that,  as  he 
was  besieging  Pelusium,  he  broke  up  the  siege  on  the  following  occasion  :  this 
Ei^yptian  priest  prayed  to  God,  and  God  heard  his  prayer,  and  sent  a  judgment 
upon  the  Arabian  king."  But  in  this  Herodotus  was  mistaken,  when  he  called 
this  king,  not  the  king  of  the  Assyrians,  but  of  the  Arabians  :  for  he  saith,  that 
"  a  multitude  of  mice  gnawed  to  pieces  in  one  night  both  the  bows  and  the  rest  of 
the  armour  of  the  Assyrians,  and  that  it  was  on  that  account  that  the  king,  when 
he  had  no  bows  left,  drew  otf  his  army  from  Pelusium."  And  Herodotus  does 
indeed  give  us  this  history ;  nay,  and  Berosus,  who  wrote  of  the  affairs  of  Chal- 
dea,  makes  mention  of  this  king  Sennacherib,  and  that  he  ruled  over  the  Assy- 
rians, and  that  he  made  an  expedition  against  all  Asia  and  Egypt ;  and  says 
thus*  : 

5.  "  Now  when  Sennacherib  was  returning  from  his  Egyptian  war  to  Jerusa- 
lem, he  found  his  army  under  Rabshakeh,  his  general,  in  danger  [by  a  plague, 
for]  God  -had  sent  a  pestilential  distemper  upon  his  army  ;  and  on  the  very  first 
night  of  the  siege,  a  hundred  four  score  and  five  thousand,  with  their  captains 
and  generals,  were  destroyed  :  So  the  king  was  in  a  great  dread,  and  in  a  terri- 
ble agony  at  this  calamity  ;  and  being  in  great  fear  for  his  whole  army,  he  fled 
with  the  rest  of  his  forces  to  his  own  kingdom,  and  to  his  city  Nineveh  ;  And 
when  he  had  abode  there  a  little  while,  he  was  treacherously  assaulted,  and  died 
by  the  hands  of  his  elder  sons,f  Adrammelech  and  Seraser,  and  was  slain  in  his 
OM'n  temple,  which  Avas  called  Arashe.  Now  these  sons  of  his  were  driven  away, 
on  account  of  the  murder  of  their  father  by  the  citizens,  and  went  into  Armenia, 
while  Assarachoddas  took  the  kingdom  of  Sennacherib."  And  this  proved  to  b« 
the  conclusion  of  this  Assyrian  expedition  against  the  people  of  Jerusalem. 


CHAP.  H. 

How  Hezeliah  was  sicJt;  and  ready  to  die  ;  and  how  God  bestowed  upon  him  Fifteen 

Years  longer  Life,  [and  secured  that  Promise^  by  the  going  back  of  the 

Shadow  ten  Degrees. 

§  1.  Now  king  Hezekiah,  being  thus  delivered,  after  a  surprising  manner,  from 
the  dread  he  was  in,  offered  thank-offerings  to  God,  with  all  his  people,  because 
nothing  else  had  destroyed  some  of  their  enemies,  and  made  the  rest  so  fearful  of 
undergoing  the  same  fate  that  they  departed  from  Jerusalem,  but  that  divine  as- 
sistance ;  yet,  while  he  was  very  zealous  and  diligent  about  the  worship  of  God^ 
did  he  soon  aflerward  fall  into  a  severe  distemper,:}:  insomuch  that  the  physicians 

*  That  this  terrible  calamity  of  the  slaughter  of  the  135,000  Assyrians  is  here  delivered  in  the  words  of 
Eerosus  the  Chaldean,  and  that  it  was  certainly  and  frequently  foretold  by  the  Jewish  prophets,  and 
that  it  was  certainly  and  undeniably  accomplished,  see  Authent.  Rec.  part  ii.  page  858. 

t  We  are  here  to  take  notice,  that  these  two  sons  of  Sennacherib,  that  ranawayinto  Armenia,  became 
the  heads  of  two  famous  families  there,  the  Arzerunii  and  theGenunii,  of  which  see  the  particular  his- 
tories ill  Moses  Chorenensis,  p.  60. 

\  Joscphus  and  all  our  copies  place  the  sickness  of  Hezekiah  after  the  desirudion  of  Sennacherib's 
arniy,  because  it  appears  to  have  been  after  his  first  assault,  as  he  was  going  into  Arabia  and  Egypt, 
where  he  pushed  his  conquests  as  far  as  they  would  go,  and  in  order  to  dispatch  his  story  altogether*:  yet 
does  noco|)y  but  this  of  Josephus's  say  it  was  after  that  destruction,  but  only  that  it  happened  inthost 
(la>/s,  or  about  that  t\me  of  llczekiah's  life.  Nor  will  tiie  fifteen  year's  prolongation  of  his  life  after  his 
Jickness  allow  that  sickness  to  have  been  later  than  the  former  part  of  the  15th  year  of  his  reign,  since 
chronnlosy  dopsnoi  allow  liiui  in  all  above  20  years  and  a  few  months,  whereas  the  first  assault  of  Sen- 
naciipni)  was  m  tlie  I4ih  year  of  the  reign  of  liczckiah,  but  the  destruction  of  Sennacherib's  army  was 
not  till  his  lOiii  year. 


C.  U.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  335 

despaired  of  him,  and  expected  no  good  issue  of  his  sickness,  as  neither  did  his 
friends  ;  and,  besides  the  distemper  itself,  there  was  a  very  melancholy  circum- 
stance that  disordered  the  king,  which  was  the  consideration  that  he  was  childless, 
and  was  going  to  die,  and  leave  his  house  and  his  goveriMuent  without  a  succes- 
sor of  his  own  body  :  So  he  was  troubled  at  the  thouglits  of  this  his  condition,  and 
lamented  himself,  and  entreated  of  God  that  he  would  prolong  his  life  for  a  little 
while,  till  he  had  some  children,  and  not  suffer  him  to  depart  this  life  before  he 
was  become  a  father.  Hereupon  God  had  mercy  upon  him,  and  accepted  of  his 
supplication,  because  the  trouble  he  was  under  at  his  supposed  death  was  not  be- 
cause he  was  soon  to  leave  the  advantages  he  enjoyed  in  the  kingdom,  nor  did 
he  on  that  account  pray  that  he  might  have  a  longer  life  afforded  him,  but  in  order 
to  have  sons  that  might  receive  the  government  after  him.  And  so  God  sent 
Isaiah  the  prophet,  and  commanded  liim  to  infonii  Hezekiah,  that  "  within  three 
days'  time,  he  should  get  clear  of  his  distemper,  and  should  survive  it  fifteen  years, 
and  that  he  should  have  children  also."  Now,  upon  the  prophet's  saying  this,  as 
God  had  commanded  him,  he  could  hardly  believe  it,  both  on  account  of  the  dis- 
temper he  was  under,  which  was  very  sore,  and  by  reason  of  the  surprising  na- 
ture of  what  was  told  him  ;  so  he  desired  that  Isaiah  would  give  him  some  sign  or 
wonder,  that  he  might  believe  him  in  what  he  had  said,  and  be  sensible  that  he  came 
from  God ;  for  things  that  are  beyond  expectation,  and  greater  than  our  hopes, 
are  made  credible  by  actions  of  the  like  nature.  And  when  Isaiah  had  asked 
him.  What  sign  he  desired  to  be  exhibited  ?  he  desired  that  he  would  make  the 
shadow  of  the  sun,  which  he  had  already  made  to  go  down  ten  steps  [or  degrees] 
in  his  house,  to  return  again  to  the  same  place,  and  to  make  it  as  it  was  before.* 
And  when  the  prophet  prayed  to  God  to  exhibit  this  sign  to  the  king,  he  saw  what 
he  desired  to  see,  and  was  freed  from  his  distemper,  and  went  up  to  the  temple, 
where  he  worshiped  God,  and  made  vows  to  him. 

2.  At  this  time  it  was  that  the  dominion  of  the  Assyrians  was  overthrown  by 
the  Modes  ;  but  of  these  things  I  shall  treat  elsewhere.  But  the  king  of  Baby- 
Ion,  whose  name  was  Baladan,  sent  ambassadors  to  Hezekiah,  with  presents,  and 
desired  he  would  be  his  ally  and  his  friend.  >  So  he  received  the  ambassadors 
gladly,  and  made  them  a  feast,  and  showed  them  his  treasui'es,  and  his  armoury, 
and  the  other  wealth  he  was  possessed  of,  in  precious  stones,  and  in  gold,  and 
gave  them  presents  to  be  carried  to  Baladan,  and  sent  them  back  to  him.  Upon 
which  the  prophet  Isaiah  came  to  him,  and  inquired  of  him,  "  Whence  those  am- 
bassadors came  ?"  To  which  he  replied,  that  "  They  came  from  Babylon,  from 
the  king  ;  and  that  he  had  showed  them  all  he  had,  that  by  the  sight  of  his  riches 
and  forces  he  might  thereby  guess  at  [the  plenty  he  was  in,]  and  be  able  to  in- 
form the  king  of  it."  But  the  prophet  rejoiued,  and  said,  "  Know  thou,  that,  af- 
ter a  little  while,  these  riches  of  tliine  sliall  be  carried  away  to  Babylon,  and  thy 
posterity  shall  be  made  eunuchs  there,  and  lose  their  manhood,  and  be  servants 
to  the  king  of  Babylon,  for  that  God  foretold  such  things  would  come  to  pass." 

*  Asto  this  regressof  the  shadow,  either  upon  a  smirlial  or  llie  steps  of  the  royal  palace  built  hy  Ahaz 
whether  it  were  physically  done  by  the  real  miraculous  revolution  of  the  earth  in  its  diurnal  motion  back- 
ward from  east  to  west  for  a  while,  and  its  return  a^ain  to  its  old  natural  revolution  from  west  to  east,  or 
whether  it  were  not  ap[)arent  only,  and  performed  by  an  atnial  pliosphorus,  which  imitated  the  sun  s  mo- 
tion backward,  while  a  cloud  hid  the  real  sun,  caimot  be  determined.  Philosophers  and  astronomers  will 
natmally  incline  to  the  latter  hypothesis.  However  it  must  be  noted  ttiat  Joscjihus  seems  to  have  under- 
stood itetherwise  than  we  generally  do,  that  the  shadow  was  accelerated  as  niucli  at  first  forward,  as  it 
was  made  to  go  backward  afterward,  and  so  the  day  was  neither  Ioniser  nor  shorter  than  usual,  which  it 
mus;  be  confessed,  ai^rees  best  of  all  to  astronomy,  whose  eclipses  older  than  that  time  were  observed  at 
the  sametin>es  ol  the  day  as  if  this  miracle  had  never  happened.  After  all,  this  wonderful  signal  "^'i^""* 
it  seems,  peculiar  to  Judea,  but  either  seen,  oral  least  heard  of  at  l>abylon  also,  as  appears  by  2  Cnr. 
xxxii.  31,  where  we  learn  that  the  Babylonian  ambassadors  were  sent  to  Hezekiah,  among  other  tilings,  to 
inquire  of  the  wonder  that  was  done  in  the  land. 

+  Tins  expression  of  Josephus,  that  the  Medes,  upon  this  destruction  of  the  Assyrian  army,  overthrew 
the  Assyrian  empire,  seems  to  be  too  strong  ;  for  although  they  immediately  cast  off  the  Assyrian  yoke, 
and  set  up  Deioces,  a  king  of  their  own,  yet  it  was  some  time  before  the  Medes  and  Babylonians  over- 
threw Nineveh,  and  some' generations  ere  the  Medes  and  rersians,  under  Cyaxares  and  Cyrus,  overthrew 
the  Assyrian  or  Babylonian  empire,  and  took  Babylon. 


33G  ANTIQTUTIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  X. 

Upon  which  v/ords  Hczekiah  was  troubled,  and  said,  that  "  he  was  himself  un- 
willino-  that  his  nation  should  fall  into  suclx  calamities,  yet,  since  it  is  not  possible 
to  alter  what  Gud  had  determined,  he  })rayod  that  there  might  be  peace  while  he 
lived.  Cerosus  also  makes  mention  of  this  Baladan,  king  of  Babylon.  '  Now  as 
to  this  prophet  [Isaiah,]  he  was  by  the  confession  of  all  a  divine  and  a  wonderful 
man  in  speaking  truth  ;  and  out  of  the  assurance,  that  he  had  never  written  what 
was  false,  he  wrote  down  all  his  prophecies,  and  lett  them  behind  him  in  books, 
that  their  accomplishment  might  be  judged  of  from  the  events  by  posterity  ;  no;* 
did  this  prophet  do  so  alone,  but  the  others,  which  were  t\velve  in  number,  did 
the  same.  And  whatsoever  is  done  among  us,  whether  it  be  good,  or  whether  it 
be  bad,  comes  to  pass  according  to  their  prophecies  ;  but  of  every  one  of  these 
we  shall  speak  hereafter. 


CHAP.  III. 

How  Mcmasseh  reigned  after  Hezckiah ;  and  how,  when  he  was  in  Captivity,  Jie 
returned  to  God,  and  was  restored  to  his  Kingdom,  and  left  it  to  [his  Son^  Amon. 

§  1.  When  king  Ilezekiah  had  survived  the  interval  of  time  already  mentioned, 
and  had  dwelt  all  that  time  in  peace,  he  died,  having  completed  fifty-four  years  of 
his  life,  and  reigned  twenty-nine  :  But  when  his  son  Manasseh,  whose  mother's 
name  was  Hephzibah,  of  Jerusalem,  had  taken  the  kingdom,  he  departed  from 
the  conduct  of  his  father,  and  fell  into  a  course  of  life  quite  contrary  thereto, 
and  showed  himself  in  his  manners  most  wicked  in  all  respects,  and  omitted  no 
sort  of  impiety,  but  imitated  those  transgressions  of  the  Israelites,  by  the  com- 
mission of  which  against  God  they  had  been  destroyed  ;  for  he  was  so  hardy  as 
to  defile  the  temple  of  God,  and  the  c\ij,  and  the  whole  country  ;  for  by  setting 
out  from  a  contempt  of  God,  he  barbarously  slew  all  the  righteous  men  that  were 
among  the  Hebrews  ;  nor  would  he  spare  the  j^rophets,  for  he  every  day  slew 
ftome  of  them,  till  Jerusalem  was  overflown  with  blood.  So  God  was  angry  at 
these  proceedings,  and  sent  prophets  to  the  king,  and  to  the  multitude,  by  whom 
he  threatened  the  very  same  calamities  to  them,  which  their  brethren  the  Israel- 
ites, upon  the  like  aflronts  oflered  to  God,  were  now  under.  But  these  men 
would  not  believe  their  words,  by  which  belief  they  might  have  reaped  the  ad- 
vantage of  escaping  all  those  miseries  ;  yet  did  they  in  earnest  learn  that  what 
tlie  prophets  had  told  them  was  true. 

2.  And  when  they  persevered  in  the  same  course  of  life,  God  raised  up  war 
against  them,  from  the  king  of  Babylon  and  Chaldea,  who  sent  an  army  against 
Judea,  and  laid  waste  the  country,  and  caught  king  Manasseh  by  treachery,  and 
ordered  him  to  be  brought  to  him,  and  had  him  under  his  power  to  inflict  what 
punishment  he  pleased  upon  him.  But  then  it  was  that  Manasseh  perceived  v/hat 
a  miserable  condition  he  was  in,  and  esteeming  himself  the  cause  of  all,  he  be- 
sought  God  to  render  his  enemy  humane  and  merciful  to  him.  Accordingly  God 
lic;ud  his  prayer,  and  granted  him  what  he  prayed  tor.  So  Manasseh  was  re- 
leased by  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  escaped  the  danger  he  was  in;  and  when  he 
was  come  to  Jerusalem,  he  endeavoured,  if  it  Mere  possible,  to  cast  out  of  his 
memory  those  his  fonner  sins  against  God,  of  which  he  now  repented,  and  to 
apply  himself  to  a  very  religious  life.  He  sanctified  the  temple,  and  purged  the 
city,  and  for  the  remainder  of  his  days  he  was  intent  on  nothing  but  to  return  his 
(hanks  to  God,  for  his  deliverance,  and  to  preserve  him  prophious  to  him  all  his 
.lie  long.  IIo  also  instructed  the  multitude  to  do  the  same,  as  having  very  nearly 
fc.\i)erienced  what  a  calamity  he  was  fallen  into  by  a  contrary  conduct.  He  also 
rebudt  tiie  altar,  and  oflered  (he  legal  sacrifices,  as  Moses  commanded.  And 
when  he  had  reestablished  what  concerned  the  divine  worship,  as  it  ought  to  be, 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  337 

he  took  care  of  the  security  of  Jerusalem ;  he  did  not  only  repair  the  old  walls 
with  great  diligence,  but  added  another  wall  to  the  Ibrmer.  He  also  built  very 
lofty  towers,  and  the  garrisoned  places  before  the  city  he  strengthened,  not  only 
in  other  respects,  but  with  provisions  of  all  sorts  that  they  wanted.  And  indeed, 
when  he  had  changed  his  former  course,  he  so  led  his  life  for  the  time  to  come, 
that,  from  the  time  of  his  return  to  piety  towards  God,  he  was  deemed  a  happy 
man  and  a  j)attern  for  imitation  :  When,  therefore,  he  had  lived  sixty-seven  years, 
he  departed  this  life,  having  reigned  hity-live  years,  and  was  buried  in  his  own 
gardens;  and  the  kingdom  came  to  his  son  Anion,  whose  mother's  name  was 
Meshulemelh,  of  the  city  of  Jotbalh. 


CHAP.  IV. 

How  Amon  reigned  instead  of  Manasseh ;  and  after  Amon  reigned  Josiah  ;  he  was 
both  righteous  and  religious.    As  also  concerning  lluldah  the  Prophetess. 

§  1 .  This  Amon  imitated  those  works  of  his  father  which  he  innocently  did  when  he 
was  young  ;  so  he  had  a  conspiracy  made  against  him  by  his  own  servants,  and  was 
slain  in  his  own  house,  when  he  had  lived  twenty.'four  years,  and  of  them  had 
reigned  two  :  But  the  multitude  punished  those  that  slew  Amon,  and  buried  him 
with  his  father,  and  gave  the  kingdom  to  his  son  Josiah,  \\\\o  was  eight  years  old. 
His  mother  was  of  the  city  Boscath,  and  her  name  was  Jedidah.  He  was  of  a 
most  excellent  disposition,  and  naturally  virtuous,  and  followed  the  actions  of  king 
David,  as  a  pattern  and  a  rule  to  him  in  the  whole  conduct  of  his  life.  And,  when 
he  was  twelve  years  old,  he  gave  demonstrations  of  his  religious  and  righteous  be- 
haviour ;  for  he  brought  the  people  to  a  sober  way  of  living,  and  exhorted  them 
to  leave  off  the  opinion  they  had  of  their  idola,  because  they  were  not  gods,  but 
to  worship  their  own  God.  And  by  reilecting  on  the  actions  of  his  progenitors,  he 
prudently  corrected  what  they  did  wrong,  like  a  very  elderly  man,  and  like  one 
abundantly  able  to  understand  what  was  fit  to  be  done ;  and  what  he  found  they 
had  well  done  he  observed  all  the  country  over,  and  imitated  the  same.  And  thus 
he  acted,  in  following  the  wisdom  and  sagacity  of  his  own  nature,  and  in  compli- 
ance  with  the  advice  and  instruction  of  the  elders  ;  for  by  following  the  laws  it 
was  that  he  succeeded  so  well  in  the  order  of  his  government,  and  in  piety  with 
regard  to  the  divine  worship.  And  this  happened  because  the  transgressions  of 
the  former  kings  were  seen  no  more,  but  quite  vanished  away  ;  for  the  king  went 
about  the  city  and  the  whole  country,  and  cut  down  the  groves  which  were  devo- 
ted  to  strange  gods  and  overthrew  their  altars;  and  if  there  were  any  gifts  dedi- 
cated to  them  by  his  forefathers,  he  made  them  ignominious,  and  plucked  them 
down,  and  by  this  means  he  brought  the  pco|)le  back  from  their  opinion  about 
them  to  fhe  worship  of  God.  He  also  offered  his  accustomed  sacrifices  and  burnt 
offerings  ui)on  the  altar.  Moreovei',  he  ordained  certain  judges  and  overseers, 
that  they  might  order  tlie  matters  to  them  severally  belonging,  and  have  regard 
to  justice  above  all  things,  and  distribute  it  witli  the  same  concern  they  would 
have  about  their  own  soul.  He  also  scut  over  all  the  country,  and  desired  such  as 
pleased  to  bring  gold  and  silver  for  the  repairs  of  tiie  temple,  according  (o  every 
one's  inclinations  and  abilities  :  And  when  the  money  was  brought  in,  he  made 
one  iMaaseiah  the  governor  of  the  city,  and  Shaphan  the  scribe,  and  Joah  the 
recorder,  and  Eliakim  the  high  priest,  curators  of  the  te*hip]e  and  of  the  charges 
contributed  thereto,  who  fnado  no  delay,  nor  put  tlie  work  off  at  all,  but  prepared 
'architects  and  whats<iever  was  proper  for  those  repairs,  and  set  closely  about  the 
work.  So  the  temple  Avas  repaired  by  this  means,  and  became  a  public  demon- 
stralion  of  the  the  king's  piety. 

2.  Hut  when  he  was  now  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  reign,  he  sent  to  Elia- 
kirn  the  high  priest,  and  gave  order  that,  out  of  what  money  was  overplus,  he 
siiould  cast  cups  and  dishes  arid  vials,  for  ministeralion  [in  the  temple  ;]  and,  be- 
VOL.  1.       2V 


g3g  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  X. 

sides,  that  they  should  bring  all  the  gold  or  silver  which  was  among  the  treasures, 
and  expend  that  also  in  making  cups  and  the  like  vessels.  But  as  the  high  priest 
was  brino-ing  out  the  gold,  he  lighted  upon  the  holy  books  of  Moses  that  were  laid 
up  in  the  temple ;  and  when  he  had  brought  them  out,  he  gave  them  to  Shaphan 
the  scribe,  who,  when  ho  had  read  them,  came  to  the  king,  and  informed  him  that 
all  was  finished  which  he  had  ordered  to  be  done.  He  also  read  over  the  books 
to  him,  who,  when  he  had  heard  them  read,  rent  his  garment,  and  called  for  Elia- 
kini  the  high  priest,  and  for  [Shaphan]  the  scribe,  and  for  certain  [other]  of  his 
most  particular  friends,  and  sent  them  to  Huldah  the  prophetess,  the  wife  of  Shal- 
lum  (which  Shallum  was  a  man  of  dignity,  and  of  an  eminent  family,)  and  bid 
them  to  go  to  her  and  say,  that  [he  desirecij  "  she  would  appease  God,  and  en- 
deavour to  render  him  propitious  to  them  ;  for  that  there  was  cause  to  fear  lest, 
upon  the  transgression  of  the  laws  of  Moses  by  their  forefathers,  they  should  be 
in  peril  of  going  into  captivity  rnd  t'f  being  cast  out  of  their  own  country;  lest 
they  should  be  in  want  of  all  things,  and  so  end  their  days  miserably."  When  the 
prophetess  had  heard  this  from  the  messengers  that  were  sent  to  her  by  the  king, 
she  bid  them  go  back  to  the  king,  and  say,  that  "  God  had  already  given  sentence 
against  them,  to  destroy  the  people,  and  cast  them  out  of  their  country,  and  de- 
prive them  of  all  the  happiness  they  enjoyed  ;  which  sentence  none  could  set 
aside  by  any  prayers  of  theirs,  since  it  was  passed  on  account  of  their  transgres- 
sions of  the  laws,  and  of  their  not  having  repented  in  so  long  a  time,  while  the 
prophets  had  exhorted  them  to  amend,  and  had  foretold  the  punishments  that 
would  ensue  on  their  impious  practices  ;  which  thi'eatening  God  would  certainly 
execute  upon  them,  that  they  might  be  persuaded  that  he  is  God,  and  had  not  de- 
ceived them  in  any  respect  as  to  what  he  had  denounced  by  his  prophets ;  that 
yet,  because  Josiah  was  a  righteous  man,  he  would  at  present  delay  those  cala- 
mities, but  that  after  his  death  he  would  send  on  the  multitude  what  miseries  he 
had  determined  for  them." 

3.  So  these  messengers,  upon  this  prophecy  of  the  woman,  came  and  told  ii 
to  the  king  ;  whereupon  he  sent  to  the  people  everywhere,  and  ordered  that  the 
priests  and  the  Levites  should  come  together  to  Jerusalem  ;  and  commanded  that 
those  of  every  age  should  be  present  also.  And  when  they  were  gathered  to- 
gether, he  first  read  to  them  the  holy  books  ;  after  which  he  stood  upon  a  pulpit 
in  the  midst  of  the  multitude,  and  obliged  them  to  make  a  covenant,  with  an  oath, 
that  they  would  worship  God  and  keep  the  laws  of  Moses.  Accordingly,  they 
gave  their  assent  willingly,  and  undertook  to  do  what  the  king  had  recommended 
to  them.  So  thej'^  immediately  ofl'ered  sacrifices,  and  that  after  an  acceptable 
manner,  and  besought  God  to  be  gracious  and  n^erciful  to  them.  He  also  en- 
joined the  high-priest,  that  if  there  remained  in  the  temple  any  vessel  that  was 
dedicated  to^  idols,  or  to  foreign  gods,  they  should  cast  it  out.  So  when  a  great 
number  of  such  vessels  Avere  got  together,  he  burnt  them,  and  scattered  their 
ashes  abroad,  and  slew  the  priests  of  the  idols,  that  were  not  of  the  family  of 
Aaron. 

4.  And  when  he  had  done  thus  in  Jerusalem,  he  came  into  the  country,  and 
utterly  destroyed  what  buildings  hud  been  made  therein  by  king  Jeroboam,  in 
honour  of  strange  gods;  and  lie  burnt  the  bones  of  the  false  projihets  upon  the 
altar  which  Jeroboam  first  built.  And  as  the  projihet  [Jadon,  |  Avho  came  to  Jc- 
rol)()um  when  he  was  oflering  sacrifice,  and  when  all  the  people  heard  him,  fore- 
lold  what  would  come  to  pass,  viz.  that  "  a  certain  man  of  the  house  of  David, 
Josiah  by  name,  should  do  what  is  here  mentioned."  And  it  happened  that  those 
predictions  took  effect  after  tliree  hundred  and  sixtv-ono  ytnirs. 

5.  After  those  things,  Josiah  went  also  to  such  other  Israelites  as  had  escaped 
caplivity  and  slavery  under  the  Assyrians,  and  persuaded  them  to  desist  from 
their  impious  practices,  ami  to  leave  off  the  honours  they  jiaid  to  strange  gods, 
but  to  worshi[)  rightly  their  own  Almighty  Gud,  and  adhere  to  him.  He  also 
searched  the  houses  and  the  villages  and  the  cities,  out  of  a  suspicion  that  some- 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  ^^^ 

body  might  have  one  idol  or  other  in  private  ;  nay,  indeed,  ho  took  auay  the 
chariots  [of  the  sun]  that  were  set  up  in  his  royal  palace*  Avhich  his  precleces- 
sors  had  framed,  and  what  thing  soever  there  was  hesidcs  wliich  they  worsliiped 
as  a  god.  And  when  lie  had  thus  purged  all  the  country,  he  called  the  people  to 
Jerusalem,  and  there  ceiehrated  the  feast  of  unleavened  hread,  and  tliat  called 
the  Passover.  He  also  gave  the  people,  for  paschal  sacrifices,  young  kids  of  the 
goats  and  lamhs  thirty  thousand,  and  three  thousand  oxen  for  hurnt  offerings. 
The  principal  of  the  priests  also  gave  to  the  priests,  against  the  passover,  two 
thousand  and  six  hundred  lambs ;  the  principal  of  the  Levites  also  gave  to  the 
Levites  five  thousand  lambs  and  five  hundred  oxen,  by  which  means  there  was 
great  plenty  of  sacrifices  :  and  they  offered  those  sacrifices  according  to  the  laws 
of  Moses,  while  every  priest  explained  the  matter,  and  ministered  to  the  multitude. 
And  indeed  there  had  been  no  other  festival  thus  celebrated  by  the  Hebrews  from 
the  times  of  Samuel  the  prophet ;  and  the  plenty  of  sacrifices  now  was  the  oc 
casion  that  all  things  were  performed  according  to  the  laws,  and  according  to  tlie 
custom  of  their  forefathers.  So  when  Josiah  had  after  this  lived  in  peace,  nay, 
in  riches  and  reputation  also  among  all  men,  he  ended  his  life  in  the  manner  fol- 
lowinjr. 


CHAP.  V. 

Hoio  Josiah  fought  with  Neco,  [King  of  Egypt,]  and  loas  wounded ,  and  died  in  a 

Utile  Time  afterward :  As  also,  how  ]\eco  carried  Jehoahaz,  who  had  been 

made  King,  into  Egypt,  and  delivered  the  Kingdom  to  Jehoiakim:  and 

\lastly]  concerning  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel. 

§  1.  Now  Neco,  king  of  Egypt,  raised  an  army  and  marched  to  the  river  Eu- 
phrates, in  order  to  fight  with  the  Medes  and  Babjdonians,  who  had  overthrown 
the  dominion  of  the  Assyrians,!  for'  he  had  a  desire  to  reign  over  Asia.  Now 
when  he  was  come  to  the  cityMendes,  which  belonged  to  the  kingdom  of  Josiah, 
he  brought  an  army  to  hinder  him  from  passing  through  his  own  country,  in  his 
expedition  against  the  Medcs.  Now  Neco  sent  a  herald  to  Josiah,  and  told  him, 
that  "  he  did  not  make  this  expedition  against  him,  but  was  making  haste  to  Eu- 
phrates ;  and  desired  that  he  would  not  provoke  him  to  fight  against  him,  because 
he  obstructed  his  march  to  the  place  whither  he  had  resolved  to  go."  But  Josiah 
did  not  admit  of  tliis  advice  of  Neco's,  but  put  himself  into  a  posture  to  hinder 
him  from  his  intended  march.  I  suppose  that  it  was  fate  that  pushed  him  on  to 
this  conduct,  that  it  miglit  take  an  occasion  against  him  ;  for,  as  he  was  setting 
his  army  in  array,:]:  and  rode  about  in  his  chariot,  from  one  wing  of  his  army  to 
another,  one  of  the  Egyptians  shot  an  arrow  at  him,  and  put  an  end  to  his  eager- 
ness of  fighting  ;  fbr  being  sorely  wounded,  he  commanded  a  retreat  to  be  soun- 
ded for  his  army,  and  returned  to  Jerusalem,  and  died  of  that  wound,  and  was 
magnificently  buried  in  the  sepulchre  of  his  fathers,  when  he  had  lived  thirty- 
nine  years,  and  of  them  had  reigned  thirty-one.  But  all  the  people  mourned 
greatly  for  him,  and  lamenting  and  grieving  on  his  account  many  days  :  and  Je- 

*  It  isliard  to  reconcile  tlie  account  in  the  second  book  of  Kings,  ch.  xxiii.  11,  with  this  account  in 
Josephus,  and  to  translate  tills  passage  truly  in  Josejihus,  wliose  copies  arc  supposed  to  be  here  imper- 
fect: however,  the^reneral  sense  of  both  seems  to  be  this,  that  there  were  certain  chariots,  with  their  hor- 
ses, dedicated  to  the  idol  of  tiie  sun,  ortoMolcch,  whicli  idol  might  be  carried  about  in  procession  and 
worsliiped  by  the  people,  which  chariots  were  now /n^-en  away,  as  Josephus  says,  or,  as  the  book  of 
Kings  says,  bin-ni  wit/i  fiKC  hy  Josiiih. 

+  This  is  a  remarkable  passage  of  chronology  in  Josephiis,  that  about  the  Intter  end  of  the  reign  of  Jo- 
Biah,  the  Medes  and  Hab.ylonians  overthrew  the  empire  of  the  Assyrians;  or,  in  the  words  ofTobit'scon- 
tinuator,  thaf  "before  Tobias  died,  he  heard  of  the  deslniction  of  Ninevcli,  which  was  taken  by  Nebu- 
chodonosor  the  Babylonian,  and  Assuenis  the  Mcde."  Tob.  xiv.  15;  see  Dean  Pudeaux's  Connexion, 
at  the  year  61 2. 

t  This  battle  is  justly  esteemed  the  very  same  that  Herodotus,  B.  ii.  sect.  l.'iC,  mentions,  when  he  says,* 
that  "  Necao  joined  battle  with  the  Syrians  [or  Jews,]  atiMagdoluui  [Megiddo]  and  beat  thcni,"  as  Dr. 
Hudson  hero  observes. 
2U2 


340  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  X. 

remiah  the  prophet  composed  an  elegy  to  lament  him,  which  is  extant  till  this 
time  also.*  Moreover,  this  prophet  denounced  beforehand,  the  sad  calamities 
that  were  coming  upon  the  city.  He  also  left  behind  him  in  writing  a  descrip- 
tion of  that  destruction  of  our  nation  which  has  lately  happened  in  our  days,  and 
the  taking  of  Babylon  ;  nor  was  he  the  only  prophet  who  delivered  such  predic- 
tions beforehand  to  the  multitude,  but  so  did  Ezekiel  also,  who  was  the  first  per- 
son that  wrote,  and  left  behind  him  in  writing  two  books  concerning  these  events. 
Now  these  two  prophets  were  priests  by  birth,  but  of  them  Jeremiah  dwelt  in  Je- 
rusalem, from  the  thirteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Josiah,  until  the  city  and  tem- 
ple were  utterly  destroyed.  However,  as  to  what  befell  this  prophet,  we  will  re. 
late  in  its  proper  place. 

2.  Upon  the  death  of  Josiah,  which  we  have  already  mentioned,  his  son  Jeho- 
ahaz  by  name,  took  the  kingdom,  being  about  twenty-thi'ee  years  old.  He  reigned 
in  Jerusalem,  and  his  mother  was  Hamrtal,  of  the  city  Libnah.  He  was  an  im- 
pious man,  and  impure  in  his  course  of  life  ;  but  as  the  king  of  Egypt  returned 
from  the  battle,  he  sent  for  Jehoahaz  to  come  to  him,  to  the  city  called  Hamath,"]" 
which  belongs  to  Syria  :  and  when  he  was  come,  he  put  him  in  bands,  and  de- 
livered the  kingdom  to  a  brother  of  his,  by  the  father's  side,  whose  name  was  Eli- 
akim,  and  changed  his  name  to  Jchoiakim,  and  laid  a  tribute  upon  the  land  of  a 
hundred  talents  of  silver  and  a  talent  of  gold,  and  this  sum  of  money  Jehoiakim 
paid  by  way  of  tribute  ;  but  Neco  carried  away  Jehoahaz  in  Egypt,  where  he  died 
when  he  had  reigned  three  months  and  ten  days.  Now  Jehoiakim's  mother  was 
called  Zebudah,  of  the  city  Rumah.  He  was  of  a  wicked  disposition,  and  ready 
to  do  mischief:  nor  was  he  either  religious  towards  God  or  good-natured  towards 
men. 


CHAP.  VI. 

How  Nebuchadnezzar,  when  he  had  conquered  the  King  of  Egypt,  made  an  Expe- 
dition against  the  Jews,  and  slew  Jehoiakim,  and  made  Jehoiachin,  Jiis  Son,  King. 

§  1.  Now  in  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim,  one  whose  name  was 
Nebuchadnezzar  took  the  government  over  the  Babylonians,  who  at  the  same 
time  went  up  with  a  great  army  to  the  city  Carchemish,  which  was  at  Euphrates, 
upon  a  resolution  he  had  taken  to  fight  with  Neco.  king  of  Egypt,  under  whom 
all  Syria  then  was.  And  when  Neco  understood  the  intention  of  the  king  of  Ba- 
bylon, and  that  this  expedition  was  made  against  him,  he  did  not  despise  his  at- 
tempt, but  made  haste  with  a  great  band  of  men  to  Euphrates,  to  defend  himself 
from  Nebuchadnezzar;  and  when  they  had  joined  battle,  he  was  beaten,  and  lost 
many  ten  thousands  [of  his  soldiers]  in  the  battle.  So  the  king  of  Babylon  passed 
over  Euphrates,  and  took  all  Syria,  as  far  as  Pelusium,  excepting  Judea.  But 
when  Nebuchadnezzar  had  already  reigned  four  years,  which  was  the  eighth  of 
Jehoiakim's  government  over  the  Hebrews,  the  king  of  Babylon  made  an  exjie- 
dition  with  mighty  forces  against  the  Jews,  and  required  tribute  of  Jehoiakim, 
and  threatened  upon  his  refusal,  to  make  war  against  him.  He  was  aflrighted  at 
his  threatening,  and  bought  his  peace  with  money,  and  brought  the  tribute  he  was 
ordered  to  bring  for  three  years. 

2.  But  on  the  third  year,  upon  hearing  that  the  king  of  the  Babylonians  made 
an  expedition  against  the  Egyptians,  he  did  not  pay  his  tribute  ;  yet  was  he  dis- 
appointed of  his  hope,  for  the  Egyptians  durst  not  fight  at  this  time.     And  indeed 

*  ■\Vhctlier  .Tosepliiis,  from  2  Chron.  xxxv.  25,  lieie  means  the  book  of  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah 
siill  cxiaiit,  which  chiefly  belongs  to  tlie  destruction  of  Jerusalem  under  Nebuchadnezzar,  or  to  any  other 
like  melancholy  poem  now  lost,  but  extant  in  the  days  of  Josephus,  belonging  peculiarly  to  Josiahj  can- 
not now  be  delennined. 

t..  '  '"*  ancient  city  llamalh,  which  is  joined  with  Arpad,  or  Aradus,  and  with  Damascus,  2  Kings, 
xviii.  34;  Isa.  xxxvi.  T.) ;  J  or.  xiix.  23;  cities  of  Syria  and  Phoenicia,  near  the  borders  of  Judea,  was  also 
Itself  evidently  near  the  same  borders,  though  long  ago  utterly  destroyed. 


C.  VII.  ANTIQUITIES.  OF  THE  JEWS.  ^41 

the  prophet  Jeremiah  foretold  every  day  how  vainly  they  relied  on  their  hopes 
from  Egypt,  and  how  the  city  would  be  overthrown  by  tiie  king  of  Babylon,  and 
Jehoiakim  the  king  would  be  subdued  by  him.  But  what  he  thus  spake  proved 
to  be  of  no  advantage  to  them,  because  there  were  none  that  should  escape ;  for 
both  the  multitude  and  the  rulers,  when  they  heard  him,  had  no  concern  about 
what  they  heard,  but  being  displeased  at  what  was  said,  as  if  the  prophet  were  a 
diviner  against  the  king,  they  accused  Jeremiah,  and  bringing  him  before  the 
court,  they  required  that  a  sentence  and  a  punishment  might  be  given  against 
him.  Now  all  the  rest  gave  their  votes  for  liis  condemnation,  but  the  elders  re- 
fused, who  prudently  sent  away  the  prophet  from  the  court  of  [the  prison,]  and 
persuaded  the  rest  to  do  Jeremiah  no  harm  ;  for  they  said  "  he  was  not  the  only 
person,  who  foretold  what  would  come  to  the  city,  but  that  Micah  signified  the 
same  before  him,  as  well  as  many  others,  none  of  which  suffered  any  thing  of  the 
kings  that  then  reigned,  but  were  honoured  as  the  prophets  of  God."  So  they 
mollified  the  multitude  with  these  words,  and  delivered  Jeremiah  from  the  punish- 
ment to  which  he  was  condemned.  Now  when  this  prophet  had  written  all  his 
prophecies,  and  the  people  were  fasting  and  assembled  at  the  temple,  on  the  ninth 
monlii  of  the  fifth  year  of  Jehoiakim,  he  read  the  book  he  had  composed  of  his 
predictions,  of  what  was  to  befall  the  city,  and  the  temple,  and  the  multitude. 
And  when  the  rulers  heard  of  it,  they  took  the  book  from  him,  and  bid  him  and 
Barach  the  scribe  to  go  their  ways,  lest  they  should  be  discovered  by  one  or 
other ;  but  they  carried  the  book,  and  gave  it  to  the  king  ;  so  he  gave  order,  in 
the  presence  of  his  Iriends,  that  his  scribe  should  take  it  and  read  it.  When  tho 
king  heard  what  it  contained,  he  was  angry,  and  tore  it  and  cast  it  into  the  fire, 
wliere  it  was  consumed.  He  also  connnanded  that  they  should  seek  for  Jere- 
miah and  Baruch  the  scribe,  and  bring  them  to  him,  that  they  might  be  punished. 
However,  they  escaped  his  anger. 

3.  Now  a  little  time  afterwards,  the  king  of  Babylon  made  an  expedition  against 
Jehoiakim,  wliom  he  received  [into  the  city,]  and  tiiis  out  of  fear  of  the  Ibregoing 
predictions  of  this  prophet,  as  supposing  that  he  siiould  sufier  nothing  that  was 
terrible,  because  he  neither  shut  the  gates  nor  fought  against  him ;  yet,  when  he 
was  come  into  the  city,  he  did  not  observe  the  covenants  he  had  made,  but  he 
slew  such  as  were  in  the  flower  of  their  age,  and  such  as  were  of  the  greatest 
dignity,  together  with  their  king  Jehoiakim,  whom  he  commanded  to  be  thrown 
betore  the  walls,  without  any  burial,  and  made  his  son  Jehoiachin  king  of  the 
country  and  of  the  city  :  he  also  took  the  principal  persons  in  dignity  for  captives, 
three  thousand  in  number,  and  led  them  away  to  Babylon,  among  which  was  the 
prophet  Ezekiel,  who  was  then  but  young.  And  this  was  the  end  of  king  Jehoia- 
kim, when  he  had  lived  thirty-six  years,  and  of  them  reigned  eleven  ;  but  Jehoia- 
chin  succeeded  him  in  the  kingdom,  whose  mother's  name  was  Nehushta :  she 
was  a  citizen  of  Jerusalem.     He  reigned  tiirec  months  and  ten  days. 


CHAP,  vn 

That  the  King  of  Bah/Jon  rcfcnled  of  maldng  Jehoiachin  King,  and  toolc  him  away 

to  Babylon,  and  delivered  the  Kingdom  to  Zedekiah.      This  King  would  not 

believe  what  was  jiredicled  by  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel,  but  joined  himself  to 

the  Egyptians,  who,  udien  they  came  into  Judca,  were  vanquished  by 

the  King  of  Babylon :  As  also  what  befell  Jeremiah. 

§  1.  But  a  terror  seized  on  the  king  of  Babylon,  who  had  given  the  kingdom  to 
Jehoiachin,  and  that  ininiccliately ;  he  was  airaid  that  he  should  bear  him  a  grudge, 
because  of  his  killing  his  father,  and  ihernupon  should  make  the  country  revolt 
liom  him  ;  wherefore  he  sent  an  armv  and  besieged  Jehoiachin  in  Jerusalem 


342  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  X. 

but,  because  he  was  of  a  gentle  and  just  disposition,  he  did  net  desire  to  see  the  city 
endangered  on  his  account,  but  he  took  his  mother  and  kindred,  and  dehvered  them 
to  the  commanders  sent  by  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  accepted  of  their  oaths,  that 
neither  should  they  suffer  any  harm  nor  the  city,  which  agreement  they  did  not 
observe  for  a  single  year;  for  the  king  of  Babylon  did  not  keep  it,  but  gave  or- 
ders to  his  generals  to  take  all  that  were  in  the  city  captives,  both  the  youth  and 
the  handicraftsmen,  and  bring  them  bound  to  him  ;  their  number  was  ten  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  thirty -two  ;  as  also  Jehoiachin,  and  his  mother  and  friends  : 
and  when  these  were  brought  to  him,  he  kept  them  in  custody,  and  appointed  Je- 
hoiachin's  uncle,  Zedekiah,  to  be  king,  and  made  him  take  an  oath  that  he  would 
certainly  keep  the  kingdom  for  him,  and  make  no  innovation,  nor  have  any  leagne 
of  friendship  with  Egyptians. 

2.  Now  Zedekiah  was  twenty  and  one  years  old  when  he  took  the  govern- 
ment, and  had  the  same  mother  with  his  brother  Jehoiakim,  but  was  a  despiser 
of  justice  and  of  his  duty  ;  for  truly  those  of  the  same  age  with  him  were  wicked 
about  him,  and  the  whole  multitude  did  what  unjust  and  insolent  things  they  plea- 
sed ;  for  which  reason  the  prophet  Jeremiah  came  often  to  him  and  protested  to 
him,  and  insisted  that  "  he  must  leave  off  his  impieties  and  transgressions,  and 
take  care  of  what  was  right,  and  neither  give  ear  to  the  rulers  (among  whom  were 
wicked  men)  nor  give  credit  to  their  false  prophets,  who  deluded  them,  as  if  the 
king  of  Babylon  would  make  no  more  war  against  him,  and  as  if  the  Egyptians 
would  make  war  against  him  and  conquer  him,  since  what  they  said  was  not  true, 
and  the  events  would  not  prove  such  [as  they  expected."]  Now  as  to  Zedekiah 
himself,  Avhile  he  heard  the  prophet  speak  he  believed  him,  and  agreed  to  every 
thing  as  true,  and  supposed  it  was  for  his  advantage;  but  then  his  friends  per- 
verted him,  and  dissuaded  him  from  what  the  prophet  advised,  and  obliged  him  to 
do  what  they  pleased.  Ezekiel  also  foretold  in  Babylon  what  calamities  were 
coming  upon  the  people,  which  when  he  heard,  he  sent  accounts  of  them  unto 
Jerusalem  ;  but  Zedekiah  did  nut  believe  their  prophecies,  for  the  reasons  follow- 
ing :  It  happened  that  the  two  prophets  agreed  with  one  another  in  what  they 
said  as  to  all  other  things,  that  the  city  should  be  taken  and  that  Zedekiah  him- 
self should  be  taken  captive,  but  Ezekiel  disagreed  with  him,  and  said  that  "  Ze- 
dekiah should  not  see  Babylon,"  while  Jeremiah  said  to  him,  that  "  the  king  of 
Bubjrlon  should  cany  him  away  thither  in  bonds."  And  because  they  did  not 
both  say  the  same  thing  as  to  this  circumstance,  he  disbelieved  what  they  both  ap- 
pearcd  to  agree  in,  and  condemned  them  as  not  speaking  truth  therein,  although 
all  the  things  foretold  him  did  come  to  pass,  according  to  their  prophecies,  as  we 
eh  all  show  upon  a  fitter  opportunity. 

3.  Now  when  Zedekiah  preserved  the  league  of  mutual  assistance  he  had  made 
with  the  Babylonians,  for  eight  years,  he  brake  it,  and  revolted  to  the  Egyptians, 
in  hopes,  by  their  assistance,  of  overcoming  the  Babylonians.  When  the  king 
of  Babylon  knew  this,  he  made  war  against  him  :  he  laid  his  country  waste,  and 
took  his  fortified  towns,  and  came  to  the  city  Jerusalem  itself  to  besiege  it :  But 
when  the  king  of  Egypt  heard  what  circumstances  Zedekiah  his  ally  was  in,  he 
took  a  great  army  with  him,  and  came  into  Judea,  as  if  he  would  raise  the  siege  ; 
niton  which  the  king  of  Babylon  departed  from  Jerusalem  and  met  the  Egyptians, 
and  joined  battle  with  them  and  beat  them,  and  when  he  had  put  them  to  flight 
he  pursued  them  and  drove  them  out  of  all  Syria.  Now  as  soon  as  the  king  of 
I'ahylon  was  departed  from  Jerusalem,  the  false  prophets  deceived  Zedekiah,  and 
said  that  "  the  king  of  Babylon  would  not  any  more  make  war  against  him  or  his 
people,  nor  remove  them  out  of  their  own  country  into  Babylon,  and  that  those 
then  in  captivity  would  return,  with  all  those  vessels  of  the  temple  of  which  the 
king  of  Babylon  had  despoiled  that  temple."  But  Jeremiah  came  among  them 
and  prophesied  what  contradicted  these  .predictions,  and  what  proved  to  be  true, 
that  "  they  did  ill  and  deluded  the  king;  that  the  Egyptians  would  be  of  no  advan- 
tage to  them,  but  that  the  king  of  Babylon  would  renew  the  war  against  Jerusa- 


C.  VII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  343 

lem  and  besiege  it  again,  and  would  d(3.stroy  the  people  by  famine,  and  carry  away 
fnose  that  remained  into  captivity,  and  would  take  away  what  they  had  as  spoils, 
and  would  carry  off  those  riches  that  were  in  the  temple  ;  nay,  that,  besides  this, 
he  would  burn  it,  and  utterly  overthrow  the  city;  and  that  th'^y  should  serve  him 
and  his  posterity  seventy  years,  and  then  the  Persians  and  tiie  Medes  should  put 
an  end  to  their  servitude  and  overthrow  the  Babylonians,  and  that  we  shall  be 
dismissed  and  return  to  this  land,  and  rebuild  the  temple,  and  restore  Jerusalem."* 
When  Jeremiah  said  this,  the  greater  part  believed  him,  l)ut  the  rulers  and  those 
that  were  wicked  despised  him,  as  one  disordered  in  his  senses.  Now  he  had  re- 
solved to  go  elsewhere,  to  his  own  country,  which  was  called  Anathoth,  and  was 
twenty  furlongs  distant  from  Jerusalem,  and  as  he  was  going,  one  of  the  rulers 
met  him,  and  seized  upon  him,  and  accused  him  falsely,  as  though  he  were  going 
as  a  deserter  to  the  Babylonians  ;  but  Jeremiah  said  that  he  accused  him  falsely, 
and  added  that  he  was  only  going  to  his  own  country;  but  the  other  would  not 
believe  him  ;  but  seized  upon  him  and  led  him  away  to  the  rulers,  and  laid  an 
accusation  against  him,  under  whom  he  endured  all  sorts  of  torments  and  tor- 
tures,  and  was  reserved  to  be  punished  ;  and  this  was  the  condition  he  was  in 
for  some  time,  while  he  suflered  Avhat  I  have  already  described  unjustly. 

4.  Now,  in  the  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of  Zedekiah,  on  the  tenth  day  of  the 
tenth  month,  the  king  of  Babylon  made  a  second  expedition  against  Jerusalem, 
and  lay  before  it  eigiiteen  months,  and  besieged  it  with  the  utmo.st  application. 
There  came  upon  them  also  two  of  the  greatest  calamities  at  the  same  time  that 
Jerusalem  was  besieged,  a  famine  and  a  pestilential  distemper,  and  made  great 
havoc  of  them,  and  though  the  prophet  Jeremiah  was  in  prison,  he  did  not  rest, 
but  cried  out,  and  proclaimed  aloud,  and  exhorted  the  multitude  to  open  their 
gates,  and  admit  the  king  of  Babylon,  for  that  if  they  did  so,  they  should  be  pre- 
served, and  their  whole  laniilies;  but  if  they  did  not  so,  they  should  be  destroyed; 
and  he  foretold,  that  if  any  one  stayed  in  the  city,  he  should  certainly  perish  by 
one  of  these  ways,  either  be  consumed  by  the  famine  or  slain  by  the  enemy's 
sword,  but  that  if  he  would  lly  to  the  enemy  he  sl.ould  escape  death  ;  yet  did  not 
these  rulers  who  heard  believe  hinr,  even  when  they  were  in  the  midst  of  their 
sore  calamities,  but  they  came  to  the  king,  and,  in  their  anger,  informed  him 
what  Jeremiah  said,  and  accused  him,  and  complained  of  the  prophet  as  of  a  mad- 
man and  one  that  disheartened  their  minds,  and  by  the  denunciation  of  miseries 
weakened  the  alacrity  of  the  multitude,  who  v/erc  otherwise  ready  to  expose 
themselves  to  dangers  for  him  and  for  their  country;  while  he  in  a  way  of  threaten- 
ing warned  them  to  fly  to  the  enemy,  and  told  them  that  certainly  the  city  should 
be  taken  and  be  utterly  destroyed. 

5.  But  for  the  king  himself,  he  was  not  at  all  irritated  against  Jeremiah,  such 
was  his  gentle  and  righteous  disposition  ;  yet,  that  he  might  not  be  engaged  in  a 
quarrel  with  those  rulers  at  such  a  time,  by  opposing  what  they  intended,  he  let 
them  do  with  the  prophet  whatsoever  they  would;  whereupon,  when  the  king  had 
granted  them  such  a  permission  th-y  presently  came  into  the  prison  and  took  him, 
and  let  him  down  with  a  cord  into  a  pit  full  of  mire,  that  he  might  be  suffocated 
and  die  of  himself.  So  he  stood  up  to  the  neck  in  the  mire,  which  was  all  about 
him,  and  so  continued  ;  but  there  was  one  of  the  king's  servants,  who  was  in  es- 
teem with  him,  an  Ethiopian  by  descent,  who  told  the  king  what  a  state  the  pro- 
phet was  in,  and  said  that  his  friends  and  his  rulers  had  done  evil  in  putting  the 
prophet  into  the  mire,  and  by  that  means  contriving  against  him  that  he  should  suf- 
fer a  death  more  bitter  than  that  by  his  bonds  only.  When  the  king  heard  this, 
he  repented  of  his  having  delivered  up  the  prophet  to  the  ruiiu-s,  and  bid  the  Ethi- 
opian  take  thirty  men  of  the  king's  guards,  and  cords  with  them,  and  whatsoever 

*  Josephus  says  here,  ihat  Jereniiati  prophesied  not  only  of  tlio  inluni  of  the  Jews  from  the  Babylo- 
nian captivity,  and  this  under  the  Persians  and  Medes,  as  in  our  other  copies,  but  of  their  rebuilding  tiie 
toiiiple,  and  even  the  city  Jerusalem,  which  does  not  appear  in  our  copies  under  his  name;  see  the  note 
on  Antiq.  B.xi.  chap.  i.  sect.  3. 


344  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  X. 

else  they  understood  to  be  necessary  for  the  prophet's  presentation,  and  to  draw 
him  up  immediately.  So  the  Ethiopian  took  the  men  he  was  ordered  to  take, 
and  drew  up  the  prophet  out  of  the  mire,  and  left  him  at  liberty  [in  the  prison.] 
6.  But  when  the  king  had  sent  to  call  him  privately,  and  inquired  what  he  could 
say  to  him  from  God  which  might  be  suitable  to  his  present  circumstances,  and 
desired  him  to  inform  him  of  it,  Jeremiah  replied  that  "  he  had  somewhat  to  say  ;" 
but  he  said  withal,  "  he  should  not  be  believed,  nor,  if  he  admonished  them,  should 
he  be  hearkened  to  ;  for,  said  he,  thy  friends  have  determined  to  destroy  me,  as 
though  I  had  been  guilty  of  some  wickedness ;  and  where  are  now  those  men 
who  deceived  us,  and  said  that  the  king  of  Babylon  would  not  come  to  fight  against 
us  any  more?  But  I  am  afraid  now  to  speak  the  truth,  lest  thou  shouldst  con- 
demn me  to  die."  And  when  the  king  had  assured  him,  upon  oath,  that  he  would 
neither  himself  put  him  to  death  nor  deliver  him  up  to  the  rulers,  he  became  bold 
upon  that  assurance  that  was  given  him,  and  gave  him  this  advice,  that  "  he  should 
deliver  the  city  up  to  the  Babylonians;  and  he  said  that  it  was  God  that  prophe- 
sied this  by  him,  that  [he  mast  do  so]  if  he  Avould  be  preserved  and  escape  out 
of  the  danger  he  was  in,  and  that  then  neither  should  the  city  fall  to  the  ground 
nor  should  the  temple  be  burned  ;  but  that  [if  he  disobeyed]  he  would  be  the  cause 
of  these  miseries  coming  upon  the  citizens,  and  of  the  calamity  that  would  befall 
his  whole  house."  When  the  king  heard  this,  he  said  that  "  he  would  willingly 
do  what  he  persuaded  him  to,  and  what  he  declared  would  be  to  his  advantage,  but 
that  he  was  afraid  of  those  of  his  own  country  that  had  fallen  away  to  the  Baby- 
lonians, lest  he  should  be  accused  by  them  to  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  be  pu- 
nished." But  the  prophet  encouraged  him,  and  said  "  he  had  no  cause  to  fear  such 
punishment,  for  that  he  should  not  have  the  experience  of  any  misfortune,  if  he 
would  deliver  all  up  to  the  Babylonians,  neither  himself  nor  his  children  nor  his 
wives,  and  that  the  temple  should  then  continue  unhurt."  So  when  Jeremiah  had 
said  this,  the  king  let  him  go,  and  charged  him  "  to  betray  what  they  had  resolved 
on  to  none  of  the  citizens,  nor  to  tell  any  of  these  matters  to  any  of  the  rulers, 
if  they  should  have  learned  that  he  had  been  sent  for,  and  should  inquire  of  him 
what  it  was  that  he  was  sent  foi*,  and  what  he  had  said  to  him  ;  but  to  pretend  to 
them  that  he  besought  him  that  he  might  not  be  kept  in  bonds  and  in  prison." 
And  indeed,  he  said  so  to  them;  for  they  came  to  the  prophet  and  asked  him 
what  advice  it  was  that  he  came  to  give  the  king  relating  to  them.  And  thus  I 
have  Ihiished  what  concerns  this  matter. 


CHAP.  VIII. 

How  the  King  of  Babylon  iool'  Jerusalem,  and  hurnedthc  Temple,  and  removed  the 

People  of  Jerusalem  and  Zedekiah  to  Babylon.     A  s  also,  who  they  toere  that 

had  succeeded  in  the  High  Priesthood  under  the  Kings. 

§  1.  Now  the  king  of  Babylon  was  very  intent  and  earnest  upon  the  siege  of 
Jerusalem;  and  he  creeled  towers  upon  great  banks  of  earth,  and  from  them  re- 
pelled those  that  stood  upon  the  walls;  he  also  made  a  great  number  of  such  banks 
round  about  the  whole  city,  whose  height  was  equal  to  those  walls.  However, 
(hose  that  were  Avithin  bore  the  siege  with  courage  and  alacrity;  for  they  were 
not  discouraged,  either  by  the  famine  or  by  the  pestilential  distemper,  but  Avere  of 
cheerful  minds  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  although  those  miseries  within  op- 
pressed them  also  ;  and  they  did  not  suffer  themselves  to  be  terrified,  either  by 
(lie  contrivances  of  the  enemy,  or  by  their  engines  of  war,  but  contrived  still  dif 
fcrent  engines  to  oppose  all  (lie  other  withal,  till  ii>deed  here  seemed  to  be  an  en- 
tire struggle  between  the  Babylonians  and  the  people  of  Jersusalem,  which  had 
tlie  greater  sagacity  and  skill ;  the  former  party  supposing  they  should  be  thereby 
too  hard  for  the  other,  for  the  destruction  of  the  city ;  the  latter  placing  their 


C.  VIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  345 

hopes  of  deliverance  in  nothing  else  but  in  persevering  in  such  Inventions  in  oppo- 
•sition  to  tlie  other,  as  might  demonstrate  the  enemies'  engines  were  useless  to 
them.  And  this  siege  they  endured  for  eighteen  montlis,  until  they  were  de- 
stroyed by  the  famine,  and  by  the  darts  which  the  enemy  threw  at  them  from 
the  towers. 

2.  Now  the  city  was  taken  on  the  ninth  day  of  the  fourth  month,  in  the  eleventh 
year  of  the  reign  of  Zedekiah.  They  were  indeed  only  generals  of  the  kino-  of 
Babylon,  to  whom  Nebuchadnezzar  committed  the  care  of  the  siege,  for  he  abode 
himself  in  the  city  of  Riblah.  The  names  of  these  generals  who  ravaged  and 
subdued  Jerusalem,  if  any  one  desire  to  know  them,  were  these,  Nergal  Sharezer, 
Samgar  Nebo,  Rabsaris,  Sarsechim,  and  Rabmag.  And  when  the  city  was  taken 
about  midnight,  and  the  enemies'  generals  were  entered  into  the  temple,  and  when 
Zedekiah  was  sensible  of  it,  he  took  his  wives  and  his  children,  and  his  captains, 
and  his  friends,  and  with  them  fled  out  of  the  city,  through  the  fortified  ditch,  and 
through  the  desert ;  and  when  certain  of  the  deserters  had  informed  the  Babylo- 
nians  of  this,  at  break  of  day  they  made  haste  to  pursue  after  Zedekiah,  and  over- 
took him  not  far  from  Jericho,  and  encompassed  him  about;  but  for  those  friends 
and  captains  of  Zedekiah  who  had  fled  out  of  the  city  with  him,  when  they  saw 
their  enemies  near  them,  they  left  him  and  dispersed  themselves,  some  one  way 
and  some  another,  and  every  one  resolved  to  save  himself;  so  the  enemy  took 
Zedekiah  alive,  when  he  was  deserted  by  all  but  a  few,  with  his  children  and  his 
wives,  and  brought  him  to  the  king.  When  he  was  come,  Nebuchadnezzar  began 
to  "call  him  a  wicked  wretch,  and  a  covenant  breaker,  and  one  that  had  forgotten 
his  former  words  when  he  promised  to  keep  the  country  for  him.  He  also  re- 
preached  him  for  his  ingratitude,  that  when  he  had  received  the  kingdom  from 
him,  who  had  taken  it  from  Jehoiachin,  and  given  it  him,  he  had  made  use  of 
the  power  he  gave  him  against  him  that  gave  it:  but,  said  he,  God  is  great,  who 
hateth  that  conduct  of  thine  and  hath  brought  thee  under  us."  And  wlien  he  had 
used  these  words  to  Zedekiah,  he  commanded  his  sons  and  his  friends  to  be  slain, 
while  Zedekiah  and  the  rest  of  the  captains  looked  on,  after  which  he  put  out  the 
eyes  of  Zedekiah,  and  bound  him,  and  carried  him  to  Babylon.  And  these  things 
happened  to  him,*  as  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  had  foretold  to  him,  that  he  should  be 
caught  and  brought  before  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  should  speak  to  him  face  to 
face,  and  should  see  his  eyes  with  bis  own  eyes;  and  thus  far  did  Jeremiah  pro- 
))hesy;  but  he  was  also  made  blind  and  bi-ought  to  Babylon,  but  did  not  see  it,  ac 
cording  to  the  prediction  of  Ezekiel. 

•3.  We  have  said  thus  much,  because  it  was  suflicient  to  show  the  nature  of  God 
to  sucli  as  are  ignorant  of  it,  that  it  is  various,  and  acts  many  dillerent  ways,  and 
that  all  events  happen  after  a  regular  manner,  in  their  proper  season,  and  that  it 
foretells  what  must  come  to  pass.  It  is  also  suftlcient  to  show  the  ignorance  and 
incredulity  of  men,  whereby  they  are  not  permitted  to  foresee  any  thing  that  is  fu- 
ture,  and  are,  without  any  guard,  exposed  to  calamities,  so  that  it  is  impossible 
for  them  to  avoid  the  experience  of  those  calamities. 

4.  And  after  this  manner  have  the  kings  of  David's  race  ended  their  lives, 
being  in  number  twenty-one  until  the  last  king;  who  altogether  reigned  five  hun- 
dred and  fourteen  years,  and  six  months  and  ten  days  ;  of  whom  Saul,  who  was 
their  first  king,  retained  the  government  twenty  years,  though  he  was  not  of  the 
same  tribe  with  the  rest. 

5.  And  now  it  was  that  the  king  of  Babylon  sent  Nebuzaradan  the  general  of 
ids  army  to  Jerusalem,  to  pillage  the  temple,  who  had  it  also  in  command  to  burn 
it,  and  the  royal  palace,  and  to  lay  the  city  even  with  the  ground,  and  to  trans- 

*  Tliisohservatioiiof  Josephus's  about  tlie  seeming  disagreement  of  Jercn)iali,ch.  xxxii.  4,  and  xxxiv. 
3;  and  Kzek.  xii.  V.i,  but  real  agreement  at  last,  concerning  ilie  fate  of  Zedekiali,  is  very  true  and  very 
remarkable  :  see  chap.  vii.  sect.  2.  Nor  is  it  at  all  unlikely  that  the  courtiers  and  false  prophets  might 
make  use  of  this  seeming  contradiction  to  dissuade  Zedekiah  from  believing  cither  of  these  prophets,  ai 
Josephus  here  intimates  he  was  dissuaded  thereby. 
VOL.1.        2X 


346  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  X. 

plant  the  people  into  Babylon.  Accordingly,  he  came  to  Jerusalem  in  the  eleventh 
year  of  king  Zedckiah,  and  pillaged  the  temple,  and  carried  out  the  vessels  of 
God,  both  gold  and  silver,  and  particularly  that  large  laver  Avhich  Solomon  dedi- 
cated, as  also  the  pillars  of  brass,  and  their  chapitres,  with  the  golden  tables  and 
the  candlesticks ;  and  when  he  had  carried  these  off,  he  set  fire  to  the  temple  in 
the  filth  month,  the  first  day  of  the  month,  on  the  eleventh  year  of  the  reign  of 
Zedekiah,  and  on  the  eighteenth  year  of  Nebuchadnezzar ;  he  also  burnt  the 
palace  and  overthrew  the  city.  Now  the  temple  was  burnt  four  hundred  and 
seventy  years,  six  months,  and  ten  days  after  it  was  built.  It  was  then  one  thou- 
sand and  sixty-two  years,  six  months,  and  ten  days  from  the  departure  out  of 
Egypt ;  and  from  the  deluge  to  the  destruction  of  the  temple,  the  whole  interval 
was  one  thousand  nine  hundred  fifty-seven  years,  six  months,  and  ten  days ;  but 
from  the  generation  of  Adam  until  this  befell  the  temple,  there  were  three  thou- 
sand five  hundred  and  thirteen  years,  six  months,  and  ten  days;  so  great  was  the 
number  of  years  hereto  belonging.  And  what  actions  were  done  during  those 
years,  we  have  particularly  related.  But  the  general  of  the  Babylonian  king 
now  overthrew  the  city  to  the  very  foundations,  and  removed  the  people,  and  look 
for  prisoners  the  high  priest  Seraiah,  and  Zephania  the  priest  that  was  next  to 
him^  and  the  rulers  that  guarded  the  temple,  who  were  three  in  number,  and  the 
eunuch  who  was  over  the  armed  men,  and  seven  friends  of  Zedekiah,  and  his 
scribe,  and  sixty  other  rulers;  all  which,  together  with  the  vessels  which  they  had 
pillaged,  he  carried  to  the  king  of  Babylon  to  Riblah,  a  city  of  Syria.  So  the 
king  commanded  the  heads  of  the  high  priest  and  of  the  rulers  to  be  cut  off  tliere ; 
but  he  himself  led  all  the  captives,  and  Zedekiah,  to  Babylon.  He  also  led  Jo- 
sedek  the  high  priest  away  bound.  He  was  the  son  of  Seraiah,  the  high  priest 
whom  the  king  of  Babylon  had  slain  in  Riblah,  a  city  of  Syria,  as  we  have  just 
now  related. 

6.  And  now,  because  we  have  enumei'ated  the  succession  of  the  kings,  and 
^vho  they  were,  and  how  long  they  reigned,  I  think  it  necessary  to  set  down  the 
names  of  the  high  priests,  and  who  they  were  that  succeeded  one  another  in  the 
high  priesthood  under  the  kings.  The  first  high  priest  then  at  the  temple  which 
Solomon  built,  was  Zadok  :  after  him  his  son  Achimas  received  that  dignify  ;  after 
Achimas  was  Azarias ;  his  son  was  Jorani,  and  Joram's  son  was  Isus  ;  after  him 
Avas  Axioramus  ;  his  son  was  Phideas,  and  Phideas's  son  was  Sudcas,  and  Sudeas's 
son  was  .Tuelus,  and  Juelus's  son  was  Jotham,  and  Jotiiam's  son  was  Urias,  and 
Urias's  son  was  Nerias,  and  Nerias's  son  was  Odeas,  and  his  son  was  Sallumus, 
and  Salhnnus's  son  was  Elcias,  and  his  son  [was  Azarias,*  and  his  son]  was  Sa- 
l-eas,  and  his  son  Avas  Josadoc,  who  was  carried  captive  to  Babylon.  All  these 
received  the  higli  priesthood  by  succession,  the  sons  from  their  father. 

7.  When  tlie  king  was  come  to  Babylon,  he  kept  Zedekiah  in  prison  until  he 
died,  and  buried  him  magnificently,  and  dedicated  the  vessels  he  had  pillaged  out 
of  the  temple  of  Jerusalem  to  his  own  gods,  and  planted  the  people  in  the  country 
of  Babylon,  but  freed  the  high  priest  from  his  bonds. 

*  I  have  here  inserted  in  brackets  thisbigli  priest  Azarias,  thoiicli  he  be  omitted  in  all  Josephus's  co- 
pies, out  of  the  Jewish  chronicle,  Seder  Ohr.n,  of  how  litllc  authority  soever  I  generally  esteem  such  late 
rabbinical  historians;  because  we  know  from  Joscp'uis  himself,  tiiat  the  nimtber  of  the  high  priests  be- 
longing to  this  interval  was  eighteen,  Antitj.  B.  xx.  cli.  x,  w  hcreas  his  copies  have  here  but°seventeen. 


C.  IX.  ANTIQUITIES  CF  THE  JEWS.  347 


CHAP.  IX. 

How  Nebuzaradan  set  Gcdaliah  over  the  Jews  that  were  left  in  Judea,  which  Geda. 

liah  was  a  little  afterward  slain  by  Ishmael :  and  how  Jonathan,  after  Ishmael 

was  driven  away,  went  down  into  Egypt  with  the  People ;  which  People 

Nebuchadnezzar,  when  he  had  made  an  Expedition  afrainst  tlie 

Egyptians,  took  captive,  and  brought  them  away  to  Babylon. 

^  1.  Now  the  general  of  the  army,  Nebuzaradan,  when  he  had  carried  tlie  pco- 
pie  of  the  Jews  into  captivity,  left  the  poor  and  those  that  had  deserted  in  the 
country,  and  made  one  whose  name  was  Gedaliah,  the  son  of  Ahikam,  a  person 
of  a  noble  family,  their  governor,  which  Gedaliah  was  of  a  gentle  and  righteous 
disposition.  He  also  commanded  tliem  that  they  should  cultivate  flie  ground, 
and  pay  an  appointed  tribute  to  the  king.  He  also  took  Jeremiah  the  prophet 
out  of  prison,  and  would  have  persuaded  him  to  go  along  with  him  to  Babylon, 
for  that  he  had  been  enjoined  by  the  king  to  supply  him  with  whatsoever  he  wan- 
ted  :  and  if  he  did  not  like  to  do  so,  he  desired  him  to  inform  iiim  where  he  re- 
solved to  dwell,  that  he  might  signify  the  same  to  the  king  ;  but  the  prophet  had 
no  mind  to  follow  him,  nor  to  dwell  anywhere  else,  but  would  gladly  live  in  the 
ruins  of  his  country,  and  in  tlie  miserable  remains  of  it.  When  the  general  un- 
derstood what  his  purpose  was,  he  enjoined  Gcdaliah,  whom  he  left  behind,  to 
take  all  possible  care  of  him,  and  to  supply  him  with  whatsoever  he  wanted  :  so 
when  he  had  given  him  rich  presents  he  dismissed  him.  Accordingly  Jeremiah 
abode  in  a  city  of  that  country  which  was  called  Mispah,  and  desired  of  Nebuza- 
radan that  he  would  set  at  liberty  his  disciple,  Baruch,  the  son  of  Neriah,  one  of 
a  very  eminent  family,  and  exceeding  skilful  in  the  language  of  his  country.* 

2..  When  Nebuzaradan  had  done  thus,  he  made  haste  to  Babylon ;  but  as  to 
those  that  fled  away  during  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  and  had  been  scattered  over 
the  country,  when  they  heard  that  the  Babylonians  were  gone  away,  and  had  letl 
a  remnant  in  the  land  of  Jerusalem,  and  th(jse  such  as  were  to  cultivate  the  same, 
they  came  together  from  all  parts  to  Gedaliah  to  Mispah.  Now  the  rulers  that 
were  over  them  were  Johanan,  the  son  of  Kareah,  and  Jezaniah  and  Seraiah, 
and  others  beside  them.  Now  there  was  of  the  royal  family  one  Ishmael,  a  wick- 
ed man  and  very  crafty,  who,  during  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  fled  to  Baalis,  the 
king  of  the  Ammonites,  and  abode  with  him  during  that  time  :  and  Gcdaliah  per- 
suaded  them,  now  they  were  there,  to  stay  with  him,  and  to  have  no  fear  of  the 
Babylonians,  for  that  if  tliey  would  cultivate  the  country  they  should  sufi'er  no 
harm.  This  he  assured  them  of  by  oath,  and  said  that  they  should  have  him  for 
their  patron,  and  that  if,  any  disturbance  should  arise,  they  should  find  him  ready 
to  defend  them.  He  also  advised  them  to  dwell  in  any  city,  as  every  one  of  them 
pleased  ;  and  that  they  would  send  men  along  with  his  ow'n  servants,  and  rebuild 
their  houses  upon  the  old  foundations  and  dwell  there  ;  and  he  admonished  them 
beforehand  that  they  should  make  preparation,  while  the  season  lasted,  of  corn, 
and  wine,  and  oil,  that  they  might  have  whereon  to  feed  during  the  winter. 
When  he  had  thus  discoursed  to  them,  he  dismissed  them,  that  every  one  might 
dwell  in  what  place  of  the  country  he  pleased. 

3.  Now  when  this  report  was  spread  abroad  as  far  as  the  nations  that  bordered 
on  Judea,  that  Gcdaliah  kindly  entertained  those  that  came  to  him,  after  they  had 
fled  away,  upon  this  [only]  condition,  that  they  should  pay  tribute  to  the  king  of 
Babylon,  they  also  came  readily  to  Gedaliah,  and  inhabited  the  country.  And 
when  Johanan  and  the  rulers  that  were  with  him'  observed  the  country  and  the 
humanity  of  Gedaliah,  they  were  exceedingly  in  love  with  him,  and  told  him  that 

*  Of  this  clmractcr  of  P.nrucli.  ilie  son  of  Ncrinli,  nnd  iho  ^Piinincncss  ofhis  hook  that  stands  now  in 
our  Apocrypha,  and  that  it  is  rcajly  a  canonical  book,  and  an  appcudix  to  Jeiciniah,  see  Autlient  Rec 
pajt  i.  page  1—11. 

2  X2 


348 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  X. 


-Baalig,  the  king  of  the  Ammonites,  had  sent  Ishmael  to  kill  him  by  treachery  and 
•secretly,  that  he  might  have  the  dominion  over  the  Israelites,  as  being  of  the 
royal  family  ;  and  they  said  that  he  might  deliver  himself  from  this  treacheros  de- 
sign if  he  would  give  them  leave  to  slay  Ishmael,  and  nobody  should  know  it ; 
for  they  told  him  they  were  afraid  that,  when  he  was  killed  by  the  other,  the  en- 
tire ruin  of  the  remaining  strength  of  the  Israelites  would  ensue  :  But  he  profes- 
sed that  "he  did  not  believe  what  they  said,  when  they  told  him  of  such  a  treach- 
erous  desio-n  in  a  man  that  had  been  well  treated  by  him,  because  it  was  not  pro- 
bable that  one  who,  under  such  a  want  of  all  things,  had  failed  of  nothing  that 
was  necessary  for  him,  should  be  found  so  wicked  and  ungrateful  towards  his  be- 
nefactor, that  when  it  would  be  an  instance  of  wickedness  in  him  not  to  save 
him,  had  he  been  treacherously  assaulted  by  others,  to  endeavour,  and  that  ear- 
nestly,  to  kill  him  with  his  own  hand  :  that,  however,  if  he  ought  to  suppose  this 
information  to  be  true,  it  was  better  for  himself  to  be  slain  by  the  other,  than  to 
destroy  a  man  who  fled  to  him  for  refuge,  and  entrusted  his  own  safety  to  him, 
and  committed  himself  to  his  disposal." 

4.  So  Johanan  and  the  rulers  that  were  with  him,  not  being  able  to  persuade 
Gedaliah,  went  away  ;  but  after  the  interval  of  thirty  days  was  over,  Ishmael 
came  again  to  Gedaliah,  to  the  city  Mispah,  and  ten  men  with  him  ;  and  when  he 
had  feasted  Ishmael  and  those  that  were  with  him  in  a  splendid  manner  at  his  ta- 
ble, and  had  given  them  presents,  he  became  disordered  in  drink,  while  he  en- 
deavoured to  be  very  merry  with  them ;  and  when  Ishmael  saw  him  in  that  case, 
and  that  he  was  drowned  in  his  cups  to  the  degree  of  insensibility,  and  had  fallen 
asleep,  he  rose  up  on  a  sudden,  with  his  ten  friends,  and  slew  Gedaliah  and  those 
that  were  with  him  at  the  feast ;  and  when  he  had  slain  them,  he  went  out  by 
night  and  slew  all  the  Jews  that  were  in  the  city,  and  those  soldiers  also  which 
were  left  therein  by  the  Babylonians :  but  the  next  day  fourscore  men  came  out 
of  the  country,  with  presents  to  Gedaliah,  none  of  them  knowing  what  had  be- 
fallen  him ;  when  Ishmael  saw  them,  he  invited  them  into  Gedahah,  and  when  they 
were  come  in,  he  shut  up  the  court  and  slew  them,  and  cast  their  dead  bodies 
down  into  a  certain  deep  pit,  that  they  might  not  be  seen  ;  but  of  these  fourscore 
men  Ishmael  spared  those  that  entreated  him  not  to  kill  them,  till  they  had  deli- 
vered up  to  him  what  riches  they  had  concealed  in  the  fields,  consisting  of  their 
furniture  and  garments  and  corn  ;  but  he  took  captive  the  people  that  wer.e  in 
Mispah,  with  their  Avives  and  children,  among  whom  were  the  daughters  of  king 
Zedekiah,  whom  Nebuzaradan,  the  general  of  the  army  of  Babylon,  had  left 
with  Gedaliah:  And  when  ho  had  done  this,  he  came  to  the  king  of  the  Ammo- 
nites. 

5.  But  when  Johanan  and  the  rulers  with  him  heard  of  what  was  done  at  Mis- 
pah by  Ishmael,  and  of  the  death  of  Gedaliah,  they  had  indignation  at  it,  and 
every  one  of  them  took  his  own  armed  men  and  came  suddenly  to  fight  with  Ish- 
tnael,  and  overtook  him  at  the  fountain  in  Hebron  :  And  when  those  that  were 
carried  away  captives  by  Ishmael  saw  Johanan  and  the  rulers,  they  were  very 
glad,  and  looked  upon  them  as  coming  to  their  assistance  ;  so  they  left  him  that 
had  carried  them  captives  and  came  over  to  Johanan  :  then  Ishmael,  with  eight 
men,  fled  to  the  king  of  the  Ammonites ;  but  Johanan  took  those  whom  he  had 
rescued  out  of  the  hands  of  Ishmael,  and  the  eunuchs,  and  their  wives  and  chil- 
dron,  and  came  to  a  certain  place  called  Mandra,  and  there  they  abode  that  day, 
for  they  had  determined  to  remove  from  thence  and  to  go  into  Egypt,  out  of  fear 
lest  the  Babylonians  should  slay  them,  in  case  they  continued  in  the  country,  and 
that  out  of  anger  at  the  slaughter  of  Gedaliah,  who  had  been  by  them  set  over  it 
for  governor. 

6.  Now  while  they  were  under  this  deliberation,  Johanan,  the  son  of  Kareah, 
and  the  rulers  that  were  with  him,  came  to  Jeremiah  the  prophet,  and  desired 
that  he  would  pray  to  God  that,  because  they  were  at  an  utter  loss  about  what 
they  ought  to  do,  ha  would  discover  it  to  them,  and  they  sware  that  they  would 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  349 

do  whatsoever  Jeremiah  should  say  to  them :  And  when  the  prophet  said  he 
would  be  their  intercessor  with  God,  it  came  to  pass,  that  after  ten  days  God  ap- 
peared to  him,  and  said  that  "  he  should  inform  Johanan  and  the  other  rulers, 
and  all  the  people,  that  he  would  be  with  them  while  they  continued  in  that  coun- 
try, and  take  care  of  them,  and  keep  them  from  being  hurt  by  the  Babylonians, 
of  whom  they  were  afraid  ;  but  that  he  would  desert  them  if  they  went  into 
Egypt,  and,  out  of  his  wrath  against  them,  would  inflict  the  same  punishments 
upon  them  whicli  they  knew  their  brethren  had  already  endured."  So  when  the 
prophet  had  informed  Johanan  and  the  people  that  God  had  foretold  these  things, 
he  was  not  believed  when  he  said  that  God  commanded  them  to  continue  in  that 
country,  but  they  imagined  that  he  said  so  to  gratify  Baruch,  his  own  disciple, 
and  belied  God,  and  that  he  persuaded  them  to  stay  there  that  they  might  be  de. 
stroyed  by  the  Babylonians.  Accordingly,  both  the  people  and  Johanan  dis- 
obeyed the  counsel  of  God,  which  he'  gave  them  by  tlie  prophet,  and  removed 
into  Egypt,  and  carried  Jeremiah  and  Baruch  along  with  them. 

7.  And  when  they  were  there,  God  signified  to  the  prophet  that  the  king  of 
Babylon  was  about  making  an  expedition  against  the  Egyptians,  and  commanded 
him  to  foretell  to  the  people  that  Egypt  should  be  taken,  and  the  king  of  Babylon 
should  slay  some  of  them,  and  should  take  others  captive  and  bring  them  to  Ba- 
bylon ;  which  things  came  to  pass  accordingly,  for  on  the  fifth  year  after  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  which  was  the  twenty-third  of  the  reign  of  Nebuchadnez- 
zar, he  made  an  expedition  against  Celesyria,  and  when  he  had  possessed  himself 
of  it,  he  made  war  against  the  Ammonites  and  Moabites ;  and  when  lie  had  brought 
all  those  nations  under  subjection,  he  tell  upon  Egypt  in  order  to  overthrow  it, 
and  he  slew  the  king*  that  then  reigned,  and  set  up  another,  and  he  took  those 
Jews  tbat  were  there  captives  and  led  them  away  to  Babylon.  And  such  was  the 
end  of'the  nation  of  tlie  Hebrews,  as  it  hath  been  delivered  down  to  us,  it  having 
twice  gone  beyond  Euphrates ;  for  the  people  of  the  ten  tribes  were  carried  out 
of  Samaria  by  the  Assyrians,  in  the  days  of  king  Hoshea  :  after  which  the  peo- 
ple of  the  two  tribes  that  remained  after  Jerusalem  was  taken  [were  carried 
away]  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  king  of  Babylon  and  Chaldea.  Now  as  to  Shal- 
manezer,  he  removed  the  Israelites  out  of  their  country,  and  placed  therein  the 
nation  of  the  Cutheans,  who  had  formerly  belonged  to  the  inner  parts  of  Persia 
and  Media,  but  were  then  called  Samaritans,  by  taking  tlie  name  of  the  country  to 
which  they  were  removed  ;  but  the  king  of  Babylon,  who  brought  out  the  two 
tribes,  placed  no  other  nation  in  their  country,f  by  which  means  all  Judea  and 
Jerusalem  and  the  temple  continued  to  be  a  desert  for  seventy  years  :  but  the  en- 
tire interval  of  time  which  passed  from  the  captivity  of  the  Israelites  to  the  carry- 
ing away  of  the  two  tribes  proved  to  be  a  hundred  and  thirty  years,  six  months, 
and  ten  days. 


CHAP.  X. 

Concerning  Daniel,  and  what  befell  him  at  Babylon. 

§  1.  But  now  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  took  some  of  the  most  noble  of 
the  Jews  that  were  children,  and  the  kinsmen  of  Zedekiah  their  king,  such  as 
were  remarkable  for  the  beauty  of  their  bodies  and  the  comeliness  of  their  coun- 
tenances, and  delivered  them  into  the  hands  of  tutors,  and  to  the  improvement  to 

*  Herodotus  says,  this  king  of  Egypt  [Pharaoh  Hophra,  or  Apries]  was  slain  by  the  Egyptians,  as  Jere- 
miah ("oretold  his  slaughter  by  his  enemies,  Jer.  xliv.  20,  30,  and  tbat  as  a  sign  of  the  destruction  of  Egypt 
(by  Nebiicliadiiez7,ar.]     J.osephus  says,  this  king  was  slain  by  Nebuchadnezzar  himself. 

t  We  see  here  that  Judea  was  left  in  a  manner  flesolate  after  the  captivity  of  the  two  tribes,  and  was 
not  repeopled  with  foreign  colonies,  perhaps  as  an  indication  of  I'rovidence  that  the  Jews  were  to  repeo- 
ple  it  without  opposition  themselves.  I  also  esteem  the  later  and  present  desolate  condition  of  the  sani« 
country,  without  being  repeopled  by  foreign  colonies,  to  bo  a  like  iiuiication  that  the  same  Jews  are  here- 
after to  repeople  it  again  themselves,  at  their  so  long  e.'^pected  future  restoration. 


350  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  X. 

be  made  by  them.  He  also  made  some  of  them  to  be  eunuchs,  which  course  he 
took  also  with  those  of  other  nations,  whom  he  had  taken  in  tlie  flower  of  their 
acre,  and  aflbrded  them  their  diet  from  his  own  table,  and  had  tliem  instructed  in 
the  institutes  of  the  country,  and  taught  the  learning  of  the  Chaldeans;  and  they 
had  now  exercised  themselves  sufficiently  in  that  wisdom  which  he  had  ordered 
tiiey  should  apply  themselves  to.  Now  among  these  there  were  four  of  the  family 
of  Zedekiah,  of  most  excellent  dispositions,  the  one  of  whom  was  called  Daniel, 
anotiier  was  called  Ananis,  another  Misael,  and  the  fourtli  Azarias :  and  the  king 
of  Babylon  changed  their  names,  and  commanded  that  they  should  make  use  of 
other  names ;  Daniel  he  called  Baltaser,  Ananias  Shadrach,  Misael,  Meshach, 
and  Azarias  Ahednego.  These  the  king  had  in  esteem  and  continued  to  love,  be- 
cause of  the  very  excellent  temper  they  were  of,  and  because  of  their  appHcation 
to  learning  and  the  progress  they  made  in  wisdom. 

2.  Now  Daniel  and  his  kinsmen  had  resolved  to  use  a  severe  diet,  and  to  ab- 
stain from  those  kinds  of  food  which  came  from  the  king's  table,  and  entirely  to 
forbear  to  eat  of  all  living  creatures  :  So  he  came  to  Ashpenaz,  who  was  that  eu- 
nuch* to  whom  the  care  of  tliem  was  committed,  and  desired  him  to  take  and 
spend  what  was  brought  for  them  from  the  king,  but  to  give  them  pulse  and  dates 
for  their  food,  and  any  thing  else  besides  the  Hesh  of  living  creatures,  that  he 
pleased  ;  for  that  their  inclinations  were  to  that  sort  of  food,  and  that  they  de- 
spised the  other.  He  replied  that  he  was  ready  to  serve  them  in  what  they  de- 
sired, but  he  suspected  that  they  would  be  discoA'ered  by  the  king,  from  their 
meagre  bodies  and  the  alteration  of  their  countenances,  because  it  could  not  be 
avoided  but  their  bodies  and  colours  must  be  changed  Avith  their  diet,  especially 
while  thc)^  would  be  clearly  discovered  by  the  finer  appearance  of  the  other  chil- 
dren, who  would  fare  better,  and  thus  they  should  bring  him  into  danger  and 
occasion  him  to  be  punished  ;  yet  did  they  persuade  Arioch,  who  w-as  thus  fear- 
ful, to  give  them  wliat  food  they  desired  for  ten  days  by  way  of  trial,  and  in  case 
the  habit  of  their  bodies  were  not  altered,  to  go  on  in  the  same  wa)',  as  expecting 
that  they  should  not  be  hurt  thereby  afterwards,  but  that  if  he  saw  them  look 
meagre  and  worse  than  the  rest,  he  should  reduce  them  to  their  former  diet.  Now, 
wlien  it  appeared  that  they  were  so  far  from  becoming  worse,  by  the  use  of  this  food, 
that  they  grew  plumper  and  fuller  in  body  than  the  rest,  insomuch  that  he  thought 
those  who  fed  on  what  came  from  the  king's  table  seemed  less  plump  and  full, 
while  those  that  were  with  Daniel  looked  as  if  they  had  lived  in  plenty  and  in  all 
sorts  of  luxury,  Arioch,  from  that  time,  securely  took  himself  what  the  king  sent 
every  day  from  his  supper,  according  to  custom,  for  the  children,  but  gave  them 
the  foremcntioned  diets,  while  they  had  their  souls  in  some  measure  more  pure 
and  less  burdened,  and  so  filter  for  learning,  and  had  their  bodies  in  better  tune 
f  jr  hard  labour  ;  for  they  neither  had  the  former  oppressed  and  heavy  with  va- 
riety of  meats,  nor  Avcre  the  other  efleminate  on  the  same  account ;  so  they  rea- 
dily understood  all  the  learning  that  was  among  the  Hebrews  and  among  the 
Chaldeans,  as  especially  did  Daniel,  who  being  already  sufficiently  skilful  in  wis- 
dom, was  very  busy  about  the  interpretation  of  dreams  ;  and  God  manifested 
liimself  to  him. 

3.  Now,  two  years  after  the  destruction  of  Egypt,  king  Nebuchadnezzar  saw 
a  wonderfid  dream,  the  accomplishment  of  which  God  sliowed  him  in  hissleep, 
Dut  when  he  arose  out  of  h.is  bed,  he  forgot  the  accomplishment:  so  he  sent  for 
the  Chaldeans  and  magicians  and  the  prophets,  and  told  them  that  he  had  seen  a 
dream,  and  informed  them  that  he  had  forgotten  the  accomplishment  of  what  he 
had  seen,  and  he  enjoined  them  to  tell  him  both  what-  the  dream  was  and  what  was 
its  signification ;  and  they  said  tliat  this  was  a  thing  impossible  to  be  discovered 

"  That  naiiifl  was  niailc  one  of  thoso  emniclis  of  which  Isaiah  prophesied,  Isaiah  xxxix.  7,  and  the 
tliree  childion  liis  coiiipanioiis  also,  seems  to  me  plain,  both  l)er6  in  Josephus  and  in  om-  copies  ofDaniel, 
Dan.  i.  3,  6,  7 — 1 . ,  liJ ;  altiioui,h  it  must  be  granted,  tliat  some  married  persons,  tliat  had  children,  were 
sometimes  calleil  euiuK-lu;,  in  a  Rnncral  acceptation  liir  courtiers,  on  account  that  so  many  of  the  ancien* 
cnnrtiers  were  real  eunuchs.     S 'O  Cicn.  xx.\ix.  t.  - 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  351 

by  men,  but  they  promised  bim  that,  if  ho  would  explain  to  them  what  dream  he 
had  seen,  tiiey  would  tell  him  its  signification.  Hereupon  he  threatened  to  put 
them  to  death  unless  they  told  him  his  dream ;  and  he  gave  command  to  have 
them  all  put  to  death,  since  they  confessed  ihey  could  not  do  what  they  were 
commanded  to  do.  Now  when  Daniel  heard  that  the  king  liad  given  a  command 
that  all  the  v.isc  men  should  be  put  to  death,  and  that  among  them  himself  and  his 
three  kinsmen  were  in  danger,  he  went  to  Arioch,  who  was  captain  of  the  king's 
guards,  and  desired  to  know  of  him  what  was  the  reason  why  the  king  had  given 
command  that  all  the  wise  men  and  Chaldeans  and  magicians  should  be  slain. 
So  when  he  had  learned  that  the  king  had  had  a  dream  and  iiad  forgotten  it,  and 
that,  when  they  were  enjoined  to  intorm  the  king  of  it,  they  had  said  they  could 
not  do  it,  and  had  thereby  provoked  bim  to  anger,  he  desired  of  Arioch  that  he 
would  go  in  to  the  king  and  desire  respite  for  the  magicians  lor  one  night,  and  to 
put  off  their  slaughter  so  long,  for  that  he  hoped  within  that  time  to  obtain,  by 
prayer  to  God,  the  knowledge  of  the  dream.  Accordingly  Arioch  informed  the 
king  of  what  Daniel  desired.  So  the  king  bid  them  delay  the  slaughter  of  the 
magicians  till  he  knewwliat  Daniel's  promise  would  come  to  ;  but  the  young  man 
retired  to  his  ov/n  house  w  ith  his  kinsmen,  and  besouglit  God  tliat  whole  night  to 
discover  the  dream,  and  thereby  deliver  tlie  magicians  and  Chaldeans,  with  whom 
they  were  themselves  to  perish,  from  the  king's  anger,  by  enabling  him  to  declare 
•  his  vision,  and  to  make  manifest  what  the  king  had  seen  the  night  before  in  his 
sleep,  but  had  forgotten  it.  Accordingly  God,  out  of  pity  to  those  that  were  in 
danger,  and  out  of  regard  to  the  wisdom  of  Daniel,  made  known  to  him  the  dream 
and  its  interpretation,  that  so  the  king  might  understand  by  him  its  signification 
also.  When  Daniel  had  obtained  this  knowledge  from  God,  he  arose  very  joyful, 
and  told  it  to  his  brethren^  and  made  them  glad,  and  to  hope  well  that  they  should 
now  preserve  their  lives,  of  which  they  despaired  before,  and  liad  their  minds  full 
of  nothing  but  the  thoughts  of  dying.  So  when  he  had  with  them  returned  thanks 
to  God,  who  had  commiserated  their  youth,  when  it  was  day  he  came  to  Arioch 
and  desired  him  to  bring  him  to  the  king,  because  he  would  discover  to  him  that 
dream  which  he  had  seen  the  night  before. 

4.  When  Daniel  was  come  in  to  the  king,  he  excused  himself  first,  that  "  he 
did  not  pretend  to  be  wiser  than  the  otlier  Chaldeans  and  magicians,  when,  upon 
their  entire  inability  to  discover  the  dream,  he  was  undertaking  to  inform  him  of 
it,  for  this  was  not  by  his  own  skill  or  on  account  of  his  having  better  cultivated 
his  understanding  than  the  rest;  but  he  said,  God  hath  h.ad  pity  upon  us,  when  we 
were  in  danger  of  death,  and  when  I  prayed  lor  the  life  of  myself,  and  of  those 
of  my  own  nation,  hath  made  manifest  to  me  both  the  dream  and  the  interpretation 
thereof:  for  I  was  not  less  concerned  for  thy  glory  tb.an  for  the  sorrow  tliat  we 
were  by  thee  condemned  to  die,  while  thou  didst  so  unjustly  command  men,  both 
good  and  excellent  in  themselves,  to  1)6  put  to  death,  wiien  thou  enjoinedst  them  to 
do  what  was  entirely  above  the  reach  of  human  wisdom,  and  requircdst  of  them 
what  was  oidy  the  work  of  God.  Wherefore,  as  thou  in  thy  sleep  wast  solicitous 
concerning  those  that  should  succeed  thee  in  the  government  of  the  Avhole  world, 
God  was  desirous  to  show  thee  all  those  that  should  reign  after  thee,  and  to  that 
end  exhibited  to  thee  the  following  dream;  Thou  seemcdst  to  sec  a  great  image 
standing  before  thee,  the  head  of  which  proved  to  be  of  gold,  the  shoulders  and 
arms  of  silver,  and  the  belly  and  the  thighs  of  brass,  but  the  legs  and  the  feet  of 
iron  ;  after  which  thou  sawest  a  stone  broken  off  from  a  mountain,  which  fell 
upon  the  image  and  threw  it  down,  and  brake  it  to  picces,«and  cHd  not  permit  any 
part  of  it  to  remain  whole,  but  the  gold,  the  silver,  the  iron,  and  the  brass,  became 
smaller  than  meal,  which,  upon  the  blast  of  a  violent  wind,  was  by  force  carried 
away  and  scattered  abroad,  but  the  stone  did  increase  (o  such  a  degree  that  the 
whole  earth  seemed  to  be  filled  ihtjrowilh.  This  is  the  dream  which  thou  sawest, 
and  its  interpretation  is  as  follows:  The  head  of  gold  denotes  thee  and  the  kings 
of  Babylon  that  have  been  before  thee  ;  but  the  f.vo  bauds  und  amid  signity  this. 


852  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  X. 

that  your  government  shall  be  dissolved  by  two  kings  ;  but  another  king  that  sliall 
come  from  the  west,  armed  with  brass,  shall  destroy  that  government ;  and  another 
government,  that  shall  be  like  unto  iron,  shall  put  an  end  to  the  power  of  the 
former,  and  shall  have  dominion  over  all  the  earth,  on  account  of  the  nature  of 
iron,  which  is  stronger  than  that  of  gold,  of  silver,  and  of  brass."  Daniel  did 
also  declare  the  meaning  of  the  stone  to  the  king,  but  I  do  not  think  proper  to  re. 
late  it,*  since  I  have  only  undertaken  to  describe  things  past  or  things  present, 
but  not  things  that  are  future  ;  yet  if  any  one  be  so  very  desirous  of  knowing 
truth  as  not  to  wave  such  points  of  curiosity,  and  cannot  curb  his  inclination  for 
imderstanding  the  uncertainties  of  futin-it)',  and  whether  they  will  happen  or  not, 
let  him  be  diligent  in  reading  the  book  of  Daniel,  which  he  will  find  among  the 
sacred  writings. 

5.  When  Nebuchadnezzar  heard  this,  and  recollected  his  dream,  he  was  as 
tonished  at  the  nature  of  Daniel,  and  fell  upon  his  face,  and  saluted  Daniel  in  the 
manner  that  men  worship  God,  and  gave  command  that  he  should  be  sacrificed  to 
as  a  god.  And  this  was  not  all,  for  he  also  imposed  the  name  of  his  own  god  upon 
him  [Baltasar,]  and  made  him  and  his  kinsmen  rulers  of  his  whole  kingdom ;  which 
Jdnsraen  of  his  happened  to  fall  into  great  danger  by  the  envy  and  malice  [of  their 
enemies  ;]  for  they  offended  the  king  upon  the  occasion  following  :  he  made  an 
image  of  gold,  whose  height  was  sixty  cubits,  and  its  breadth  six  cubits,  and  set  it  in 
the  great  plain  of  Babylon;  and  when  he  was  going  to  dedicate  the  image,  he  invited 
the  principal  men  out  of  all  the  earth  that  was  under  his  dominions,  and  commanded 
them,  in  tlie  first  place,  that  when  they  should  hear  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  they 
sliould  then  fall  down  and  worship  the  image  ;  and  he  threatened  that  those  who 
did  not  do  so  should  be  cast  into  a  fiery  furnace.  AVhen,  therefore,  all  the  rest, 
upon  the  hearing  of  the  sound  of  ihe  trumpet,  worshiped  the  image,  the)'  relate 
that  Daniel's  kinsmen  did  not  do  it,  because  they  would  not  transgress  the  laws 
of  their  country ;  so  these  men  were  convicted  and  cast  immediately  into  the 
fire,  but  were  saved  by  divine  providence,  and  after  a  surprising  manner  escaped 
death,  tor  the  fire  did  not  touch  them  ;  and  I  suppose  that  it  touched  them  not,  as 
if  it  reasoned  with  itself  that  they  were  cast  into  it  without  any  fault  of  theirs  ;  and 
that  therefore  it  was  too  weak  to  burn  the  young  men  when  they  were  in  it. 
This  was  done  by  the  power  of  God,  who  made  their  bodies  so  far  superior  to 
the  fire  that  it  could  not  consume  them.  This  it  was  which  recommended  them  to 
tlie  king  as  righteous  men,  and  men  beloved  of  God  ;  on  which  account  they 
continued  in  great  esteem  with  him. 

G.  A  little  after  this  the  king  saw  in  his  sleep  again  another  vision,  how  he 
should  fail  tromhis  dominion  and  feed  among  the  wild  beasts,  and  that  when  he  had 
lived  in  this  manner  in  the  desert  for  seven  years,f  he  should  recover  his  domi- 

*  Of  this  remarkable  passfigein  Joseplnis  conceniinsthe  ,<;fo?te  cvt  out  of  the  mountain, and  destroying 
the  i:nngr,  which  he  would  not  explain,  but  intimated  to  be  a  prophecy  of  futurit}',  and  probably  not  safe 
for  him  toeNi)laiii,  as  belongina;  to  the  destruction  of  the  Roman  empire  by  Jesus  Christ,  the  true  Messiah 
of  the  Jews,  take  the  words  of  Havercamp,  chap.  x.  sect.  4.  "  Nor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at,  th.at  lie 
w.]ul(i  not  now  meddle  with  things  future,  for  he  had  no  iiiiitd  to  provoke  the  liomans,  by  speaking  of  the 
ili'siriiction  of  that  city,  whicli  ihey  called  \he  ctci-rwl  cili/." 

f  .Since  Josephus  here  explains  the  seven  prophetic  times  which  were  to-  pass  over  Nebuchadnezzar, 
Dan.  iv.  IG,  to  be  se^-en  years,  we  thence  learn  how  he  most  probalily  must  have  understood  those  other 
parallel  phrases  of  a  time,  times  and  a  ha!/',  Antiq.  B.  vii.  ch.  xxv.  of  so  many  prophetic  years  also,  th(jii;^h 
i.e  withal  lets  us  know,  (jy  his  hint  at  the  interpretation  of  the  seventy  iveeks,  as  belonging  to  the  fourth 
i-v.iiarchy,  and  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans  in  the  days  of  Josephus,  ch.  ii.  sect.  7,  that 
Jk'  did  not  think  those  years  to  be  ha>-e  years,  but  rather  days  for  years  ;  by  which  reckoning,  and  l,v 
v\  liK  h  alone,  could  70  weeks,  or  490  days,  reach  to  the  age  of  Josephus.  But  as  to  the  triith  of  those  se- 
V  i-n  years'  banishment  of  Nebuchadnezzar  from  men,  and  his  living  so  long  among  the  beasts,  the  verv  sjnall 
r  'mams  we  have  any  wliere/;lse  of  this  Nebuchadnezzar  prevent  our  expectation  of  any  other  jful)  ae- 
C'luntofit.  So  far  we  know  by  Ptolemy's  canon,  a  cotemporary  record,  as  well  as  by  Josephus  jire- 
wntly,  iliat  he  reigned  in  all  43  ypars,  that  is  eight  years  after  we  meet  with  any  account  of  iiis  actions, 
one  of  the  last  of  which  was  the  Xi  years'  siege  of  Tyre,  Antiq.  B.  xi.  ch.  xi.  where  yet  the  old  Latin  has 
hilt  three  years  and  ten  months,  yet  were  his  actions  hefiire  so  remarkable,  both  in  sacred  and  profane 
aiuhors,  that  such  a  vaciiity  of  eight  years  at  the  least,  at  the  latter  end  of  his  reign,  must  be  allowed  to 
a;:rcc  very  well  with  Daniel's  accounts,  that  after  a  seven  years'  brutal  life  he  might  return  to  his  reason 
and  10  the  exercise  of  hi»  royal  authority,  for  one  whole  year  at  least  before  his  death. 


C.  XL  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  353 

nion  again.  When  he  had  seen  this  dream,  he  called  the  magicians  together 
again,  and  inquired  of  them  about  it,  and  desired  them  to  tell  him  what  it  signi. 
lied  ;  but  when  none  of  them  could  find  out  the  meaning  of  the  dream,  nor  disco- 
ver  it  to  the  king,  Daniel  was  the  only  person  that  explained  it :  and  as  he  fore- 
told,  so  it  came  to  pass  ;  for  after  he  had  continued  in  the  wilderness  the  foremen, 
tioned  interval  of  time,  while  no  one  durst  attempt  to  seize  his  kingdom  during 
those  seven  years,  he  prayed  to  God  that  he  might  recover  his  kingdom,  and  he 
returned  to  it.  But  let  no  one  blame  me  for  writing  down  every  thing  of  this  na- 
ture,  as  I  find  it  in  our  ancient  books ;  for  as  to  that  matter,  I  have  plainly  as- 
sured  those  that  think  me  defective  in  any  such  point  or  complain  of  my  manage, 
ment,  and  have  told  them,  in  the  beginning  of  tliis  history,  that  I  intended  to  do 
no  more  than  translate  the  Hebrew  books  into  the  Greek  laaguage,  and  promised 
them  to  explain  those  facts,  without  adding  any  thing  to  them  of  my  own,  or  ta- 
king  any  thing  away  from  them. 


CHAP.  XL 

Concerning  Nebuchadnezzar  and  his  Successoi'S ;  and  how  their  Government  was 

dissolved  by  the  Persians ;  and  tvhat  Things  befell  Daniel  in  Media,  and 

what  Prophecies  he  delivered  there. 

§  1.  Now  when  king  Nebuchadnezzar  had  reigned  forty-three  years,*  he  ended 
ihis  life.  He  was  an  active  man,  and  more  fortunate  than  the  kings  that  were 
before  him.  Now  Berosus  makes  mention  of  his  actions  in  the  third  book  of  his 
Chaldaic  history,  where  he  says  thus  :  "  When  his  father  Nebuchodonosor  [Na- 
bopollassar]  heard  that  the  governor  whom  he  had  set  over  Egypt  and  the  places 
about  Celesyria  and  Phoenicia  had  revolted  from  him,  while  he  was  not  himself 
able  any  longer  to  undergo  the  hardships  [of  war,]  he  committed  to  his  son  Ne- 
buchadnezzar, who  was  still  but  a  youth,  some  parts  of  his  army,  and  sent  them 
against  them.  So  when  Nebuchadnezzar  had  given  battle  and  fought  with  the 
rebel,  he  beat  him,  and  reduced  the  country  from  under  his  subjection,  and  made 
it  a  branch  of  his  own  kingdom :  but  about  that  time  it  happened  that  his  father 
Nebuchodonosor  [Nabopollassar]  fell  ill,  and  ended  his  life  in  the  city  of  Baby. 
Ion,  when  he  had  reigned  twenty-one  years  ;"j"  and  when  he  was  made  sensible, 
as  he  was  in  a  little  time,  that  his  father  Nebuchodonosor  [Nabopollassar]  was 
dead,  and  having  settled  the  affairs  of  Egypt  and  the  other  countries,  as  also 
those  that  concerned  the  captive  Jews  and  Phoenicians  and  Syrians  and  those  of 
the  Egyptian  nations,  and  having  committed  the  conveyance  of  them  to  Baby- 
lon to  certain  of  his  friends,  together  with  the  gross  of  his  army,  and  the  rest  of 
their  ammunition  and  provisions,  he  went  himself  hastily,  accompanied  with  a 
few  others,  over  the  desert,  and  came  to  Babylon.  So  he  took  upon  him  the  ma- 
nagement of  public  affairs  and  of  the  kingdom,  which  had  been  kept  for  him  by 
one  that  was  the  principal  of  the  Chaldeans,- and  he  received  the  entire  dominions 
of  his  father,  and  appointed  that  when  the  captives  came  they  should  be  placed 
as  colonies,  in  the  most  proper  places  of  Babylonia ;  but  then  he  adorned  the 
temple  of  Belus,  and  the  rest  of  the  temples,  in  a  magnificent  manner,  with  the 

*  These  43  years  for  the  duration  of  the  reign  of  Nebuchatinczzar  are,  as  I  have  just  now  observed, 
the  very  same  number  in  I 'tnleniy's  canon.  Moses  Chorenensis  does  also  confirm  this  captivity  of  the 
Jews  under  Nebucliadnezzar  ;  and  adds,  what  is  very  remarkable,  that  one  of  those  Jews  that  were  car- 
ried by  him  into  captivity  got  away  into  Armenia,  and  raised  tiie  great  family  of  the  Bagratidae  there. 

f  These  21  years  here  ascribed  to  one  named  Js'abovLissar  in  the  first  book  against  A|)ion,  or  to  Nabo- 
pollassar, the  father  of  the  great  Nebucliadnezzar,  are  also  the  very  same  with  those  given  him  in  Ptole- 
my's canon.  And  note  here,  that  what  Dr.  rrideau.\  says,  at  the  year  612,  that  Nebuchadnezzar  must 
have  been  a  common  name  of  other  kings  of  I>abylon,  besides  the  great  Nebuchadnezzar  himself,  is  a 
groundless  mistake  of  some  modern  chronologers  only,  and  destitute  of  all  proper  original  authority. 
VOL.  I.    2Y  , 


354  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  \ 

spoils  he  had  taken  in  the  war.  He  also  added  another  city  to  that  which  was 
there  of  old,  and  rebuilt  it,  that  such  as  would  besiege  it  hereafter  might  no  more 
turn  the  course  of  the  river,  and  thereby  attack  the  city  itself ;  he  therefore  built 
three  walls  round  about  the  inner  city,  and  three  others  about  that  which  was  the 
outer,  and  this  he  did  whh  burnt  brick.  And  after  he  had,  after  a  becoming 
manner,  walled  the  city,  and  adorned  its  gates  gloriously,  he  built  another  palace 
before  his  father's  palace,  but  so  that  they  joined  to  it,  to  describe  whose  vast 
height  and  immense  riches  it  would  perhaps  be  too  much  for  me  to  attempt,  yet 
as  large  and  lofty  as  they  were,  they  were  completed  in  fifteen  days.*  He  also 
erected  elevated  places  for  walking,  of  stone,  and  made  it  resemble  mountains, 
and  built  it  so  that  it  might  be  planted  with  all  sorts  of  trees.  He  also  erected  what 
was  called  a  pensile  paradise,  because  his  wife  was  desirous  to  have  things  like 
her  own  country,  she  having  been  bred  up  in  the  palaces  of  Media."  Megas- 
thenes  also,  in  his  fourth  book  of  his  accounts  of  India,  makes  mention  of  these 
things,  and  thereby  endeavours  to  show  that  this  king  [Nebuchadnezzar]  exceed- 
ed Hercules  in  fortitude  and  in  the  greatness  of  his  actions,  for  he  saith,  that  "  he 
conquered  a  great  part  of  Libya  and  Iberia."  Diodes,  also,  in  the  second  book 
of  his  accounts  of  Persia,  mentions  this  king  ;  as  does  Philostrates,  in  his  ac- 
counts both  of  India  and  of  Phoenicia,  say  that  "  this  king  besieged  Tyre  thirteen 
years,  while  at  the  same  time  Ethbaal  reigned  at  Tyre."  These  are  all  the  his- 
tories that  I  have  met  with  concerning  this  king. 

2.  But  now,  after  the  death  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  Evil-Merodach,  his  son,  sue- 
ceeded  in  the  kingdom,  who  immediately  set  Jeconiah  at  liberty,  and  esteemed 
him  among  his  most  intimate  friends.  He  also  gave  him  many  presents,  and 
made  him  honourable  above  the  rest  of  the  kings  that  were  in  Babylon  ;  for  his 
father  had  not  kept  his  faith  with  Jeconiah,  when  he  voluntarily  delivered  up 
himself  to  him,  with  his  wives  and  children,  and  his  whole  kindred,  for  the  sake 
of  his  country,  that  it  might  not  be  taken  by  siege  and  utterly  destroyed,  as  we 
said  before.  When  Evil-Merodach  was  dead,  after  a  reign  of  eighteen  years, 
Niglissar,  his  son,  took  the  government,  jand  retained  it  forty  years,  and  then 
ended  his  life  :  and  after  him  the  succession  in  the  kingdom  came  to  his  son,  La- 
bosordacus,  who  continued  in  it  in  all  but  nine  months  ;  and  when  he  was  dead, 
it  came  to  Baltasar,  who  by  the  Babylonians  was  called  Naboandelus  rf  against 
him  did  Cyrus  the  king  of  Persia,  and  Darius  the  king  of  Media,  make  war; 
and  when  he  was  besieged  in  Babylon  there  happened  a  wonderful  and  prodi- 
gious vision.  He  was  sat  down  at  supper  in  a  large  room,  and  there  were  a  great 
many  vessels  of  silver,  such  as  were  made  for  royal  entertainments,  and  he  had 
with  him  his  concubines,  and  his  friends  ;  whereupon  he  came  to  a  resolution, 
and  commanded  that  those  vessels  of  God  which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  plundered 

*  TheseJifieen  clays  for  finishing  sur.h  vast  buildings  at  Babylon,  in  Joseplius's  copy  ofBerosiis,  would 
seem  too  absurd  to  be  supposed  to  be  the  true  number,  were  it  not  for  the  same  testimony  extant  also  in 
the  first  book  against  Apion,  sect.  19,  vol  iv.  witli  the  same  number.  It  thence  indeed  appears,  that  Jo- 
sephus's  copy  of  Berosus  had  this  small  number,  but  that  it  is  the  true  number  I  still  doubt.  Josephus 
assures  us  that  the  walls  of  so  much  a  smaller  citj'  as  Jerusalem  were  two  years  and  four  months  in  buil- 
ding by  Nehemiah,  who  yet  hastened  the  work  all  he  could,  Antiq.  B.  xi.  chap.  v.  sect.  8.  1  should  think 
115  days,  or  a  year  and  15  days,  much  more  proportionable  to  so  great  a  work. 

+  It  is  here  remarkable,  that  Josephus,  without  the  knowledge  of  Ptolemy's  canon,  should  call  the 
same  king,  whom  he  himselfhere.  Bar.  i.  11,  and  Dan.  v.  1,  2,  9,  12,  22,  29,  36,  styles  Bnltnsnr  or  Bel- 
sliazzar,  from  the  Babylonian  god  Bel,  JVaboandehis  also ;  and  in  the  first  book  against  Apion,  sect.  19, 
from  the  same  citation  out  of  Berosus,  J^nbonnedon,  from  the  Baliylonian  god  IVabo  or  IVebo.  This  last 
is  not  remote  from  the  original  pronunciation  itself  in  Ptolemy's  canon,  JVabonadius,  for  both  the  place 
of  this  king  in  that  canon,  as  the  last  of  the  Assyrian  or  Babylonian  kings,  and  the  number  of  years  of 
his  reign,  seventeen,  the  same  in  both,  demonstrate  that  it  is  one  and  the  same  king  that  is  meant  by  them 
all.  It  is  also  worth  noting,  that  Josephus  knew  that  Darius,  the  partner  of  Cyrus,  was  the  son  of  Asty- 
ages,  and  was  called  by  another  name  among  the  Greeks,  though  it  does  not  appear  he  knew  what  that 
name  was,  as  having  never  seen  the  best  history  of  this  period,  which  is  Xenophon's.  But  then  what 
Josephus's  present  copies  say  presently,  sect.  4,  that  it  was  only  within  no  long  time  after  the  hand-wri- 
ting on  the  wall  that  Beltazar  was  slain,  does  not  so  well  agree  with  our  copies  of  Daniel,  which  say  it 
was  the  $anu  night,  Dan.  v.  30. 


C.  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  355 

out  of  Jerusalem,  and  had  not  made  use  of,  but  had  put  them  into  his  own  tem- 
ple, shcRild  be  brought  out  of  that  temple.  He  also  grew  so  haughty  as  to  pro- 
ceed to  use  them  in  the  midst  of  his  cups,  drinking  out  of  them,  ujid  blaspheming 
against  God.  In  the  meantime  he  saw  a  hand  proceed  out  of  the  wall,  and  wri- 
ting  upon  the  wall  certain  syllables;  at  which  sight  being  dis:urbed,  he  called  the 
magicians  and  Chaldeans  together,  and  all  that  sort  of  men  that  are  among  these 
barbarians,  and  were  able  to  interpret  signs  and  dreams,  that  they  might  explain 
the  writing  to  him.  But  when  the  magicians  said  they  could  discover  nothing, 
nor  did  understand  it,  the  king  was  in  great  disorder  of  mind,  and  under  great 
trouble  at  this  surprising  accident ;  so  he  caused  it  to  be  proclaimed  through  all 
the  country,  and  promised  that  to  him  who  could  explain  the  writing  and  give  the 
signification  couched  therein,  he  would  give  him  a  golden  chain  for  his  neck,  and 
leave  to  wear  a  purple  garment,  as  did  the  kings  of  Chaldea,  and  would  bestow 
on  him  the  third  part  of  his  own  dominions.  When  this  proclamation  was  made, 
the  magicians  ran  together  more  earnestly,  and  were  very  ambitious  to  find  out 
the  importance  of  the  writing,  but  still  hesitated  about  it  as  much  as  before.  Now 
when  the  king's  grandmother*  saw  him  cast  down  at  this  accident,  she  began  to 
encourage  him,  and  to  say  that  "  there  was  a  certain  captive  who  came  from  Ju- 
dea,  a  Jew  by  birth,  but  brought  away  thence  by  Nebuchadnezzar  when  he  had 
destroyed  Jerusalem,  whose  name  was  Daniel,  a  wise  man,  and  one  of  great  sa- 
gacity in  finding  out  what  was  impossible  for  others  to  discover,  and  what  was 
known  to  God  alone,  who  brought  to  light  and  answered  such  questions  to  Ne- 
buchadnezzar as  no  one  else  was  able  to  answer,  when  they  were  consulted. 
She  therelbre  desired  that  he  would  send  for  him,  and  inquire  of  him  concerning 
the  writing,  and  to  condemn  the  unskilfulness  of  those  who  could  not  find  their 
meaning,  and  this  although  what  God  signified  thereuy  should  be  of  a  melancholy 
nature. 

3.  When  Baltasar  heard  tliis,  he  called  for  Daniel  ;  and  when  he  had  discour- 
sed to  him  what  he  had  learned  concerning  him  and  his  wisdom,  and  how  a  di- 
vine spirit  was  with  him,  and  that  he  alone  was  fully  capable  of  finding  out  what 
others  would  never  have  thought  of,  he  desired  him  to  declare  to  him  what  this 
writing  meant ;  and  if  he  did  so,  he  would  give  him  leave  to  wear  purple,  and  to 
put  a  chain  of  gold  about  his  neck,  and  would  bestow  on  him  the  third  |)art  of  his 
dominion,  as  an  honorary  reward  for  his  wisdom,  that  thereby  he  might  become 
illustrious  to  those  who  saw  him,  and  who  inquired  upon  what  occasion  he  ob- 
tained such  honours.  But  Daniel  desired  that  "  he  would  keep  his  gifts  to  him- 
self;  for  what  is  the  effect  of  wisdom  and  of  divine  revelation  admits  of  no  gitts, 
and  bestows  its  advantages  on  petitioners  freely  ;  but  that  still  he  would  explain 
the  wrhing  to  him,  which  denoted  that  he  should  soon  die  ;  and  this  because  he 
had  not  learned  to  honour  God,  and  not  to  admit  things  above  human  nature,  by 
what  punishments  his  progenitor  had  undergone  for  the  injuries  he  had  olfered  to 
God,  and  because  he  had  quite  forgotten  how  Nebuchadnezzar  was  removed  to 
leed  among  wild  beasts,  for  his  impieties,  and  did  not  recover  his  former  life 
among  men  and  his  kingdom  but  upon  God's  mercy  to  him,  after  many  supplica- 
tions and  prayers,  who  did  thereupon  praise  God  all  the  days  of  his  life,  as  one 
of  almighty  power  and  who  takes  care  of  mankind.  [He  also  put  hini  in  mind] 
how  he  had  greatly  blasphemed  against  God,  and  had  made  use  of  his  vessels 
amongst  his  concubines  :  that  therefore  God  saw  this  and  was  angry  with  Inm, 
and  declared  by  this  writing  beibrehand,  what  a  sad  conclusion  ot  his  lite  ho 
should  come  to.  And  he  explained  the  writing  thus : — MANEH.  This,  it  it  be 
expounded  in  the  Greek  language,  may  signify  a  Number,    because    God   hath 

*  This  j^randmnthcr  or  mother  of  Baltasar,  the  qiieen-rio\v;i:;pr  of  Babylon  (for  she  is  Histinguished 
from  his  queen,  Dan.  v.  10,  23, )  seems  to  have  been  the  famous  Nitocris,  who   fortified  Babylon  againsl 
the  Medes  and  Persians,  and  in  all  probability  ^overneil  under  Baltasar,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  weak 
and  effeminate  prince. 
2Y2 


356  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  X. 

numbered  so  long  a  time  for  thy  life  and  for  thy  government,  and  that  there  re- 
mains but  a  smaJl  portion.  THEKEL.  This  signifies  a  Weight,  and  means 
that  God  hath  weighed  thy  kingdom  in  a  balance,  and  finds  it  going  down  al- 
ready. P HARES.  This  also  in  the  Greek  tongue  denotes  a  IVo^wenf ;  God 
will  therefore  break  thy  kingdom  in  pieces,  and  divide  it  among  the  Medes  and 
Persians. 

4.  When  Daniel  had  told  the  king  that  the  writing  upon  the  wall  signified  these 
events,  Baltasar  was  in  great  sorrow  and  affliction,  as  was  to  be  expected  when 
the  interpretation  was  so  heavy  upon  him.  However,  he  did  not  refuse  what  he 
had  promised  Daniel,  although  he  were  become  a  foreteller  of  misfortunes  to  him, 
but  bestowed  it  all  upon  him  ;  as  reasoning  thus,  that  what  he  was  to  reward  was 
peculiar  to  himself  and  to  fate,  and  did  not  belong  to  the  prophet ;  but  that  it  was 
the  part  of  a  good  and  just  man  to  give  what  he  had  promised,  although  the  events 
were  to  be  of  a  melancholy  nature.  Accordingly  the  king  determined  so  to  do. 
Now,  after  a  little  while,  both  himself  and  the  city  were  taken  by  Cyrus  the  king 
of  Persia,  who  fought  against  him  ;  for  it  was  Baltasar  under  whom  Babylon  was 
taken,  when  he  had  reigned  seventeen  years.  And  this  is  tlie  end  of  the  poste- 
rity  of  king  Nebuchadnezzar,  as  history  informs  us ;  but  when  Babylon  was  ta- 
ken by  Darius,  and  when  he,  with  his  kinsman  Cyrus,  had  put  an  end  to  the  domi- 
nion  of  the  Babylonians,  he  was  sixty-two  years  old.  He  was  the  son  of  Asty^ 
ages,  and  had  another  name  among  the  Greeks.  Moreover,  he  took  Daniel  the 
prophet,  and  carried  him  with  him  into  Media,  and  honoured  him  very  greatly, 
and  kept  him  with  him  ;  for  he  was  one  of  the  three  presidents  whom  he  set  over 
his  three  hundred  and  sixt)^  provinces,  for  into  so  many  did  Darius  part  them. 

5.  However,  while  Daniel  was  in  so  great  dignity,  and  in  so  great  favour  with 
Darius,  and  was  alone  intrusted  with  every  thing  by  him,  as  having  somewhat  di- 
vine in  him,  he  was  envied  by  the  rest ;  for  those  that  see  others  in  greater  ho- 
nour than  themselves  with  kings  envy  them  ;  and  when  those  that  were  grieved 
at  the  great  favour  Daniel  was  in  with  Darius,  sought  for  an  occasion  against 
him,  he  afforded  them  no  occasion  at  all ;  for  he  was  above  all  temptations  of 
money,  and  despised  bribery,  and  esteemed  it  a  very  base  thing  to  take  any  thing 
by  way  of  reward  ;  even  when  it  might  be  justly  given  him,  he  afforded  those  that 
envied  him  not  the  least  handle  for  an  accusation.  So  when  they  could  find  noth- 
ing  for  which  they  might  calumniate  him  to  the  king,  nothing  that  was  shameful 
or  reproachful,  and  thereby  deprive  him  of  the  honour  he  was  in  with  him,  they 
sought  for  some  other  method  whereby  they  might  destroy  him.  When  therefore 
they  saw  that  Daniel  prayed  to  God  three  times  a  day,  they  thought  they  had  got- 
ten  an  occasion  by  which  they  might  ruin  him  ;  so  they  came  to  Dai'ius,  and  told 
him,  that  "  the  princes  and  governors  had  thought  proper  to  allow  the  multitude  a 
relaxation  for  thirty  days,  that  no  one  might  ofler  a  petition  or  prayer  either  to 
himself  or  to  the  gods,  but  that  he  who  shall  transgress  this  decree  shall  be  cast 
into  the  den  of  lions,  and  there  perish." 

6.  Whereupon  the  king,  not  being  acquainted  with  their  wicked  design,  nor 
suspecting  that  it  Avas  a  contrivance  of  theirs  against  Daniel,  said,  he  was  pleased 
with  this  decree  of  theirs,  and  he  promised  to  confirm  what  they  desired  ;  he  also 
published  an  edict  to  promulgate  to  the  people  that  decree  which  the  princes  had 
made.  Accordingly,  all  the  rest  took  care  not  to  transgress  those  injunctions, 
and  rested  in  quiet ;  but  Daniel  had  no  regard  to  them,  but,  as  he  was  wont,  he 
stood  and  prayed  to  God  in  the  sight  of  them  all ;  but  the  princes  having  met  with 
the  occasion  they  so  earnestly  sought  to  find  against  Daniel,  came  presently  to 
the  king,  and  accused  him,  that  Daniel  was  the  only  person  that  transgressed  the 
decree,  while  not  one  of  the  rest  durst  pray  to  their  gods.  This  discovery  they 
made,  not  because  of  his  impiety,  but  because  they  had  watched  him,  and  obser- 
ved him  out  of  envy  ;  for  supposing  that  Darius  did  thus  out  of  a  greater  kindness 
to  him   than  they  expected,  and  tliat  he  was  ready  to  grant  him  pardon  for  this 


C.  XT.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  357 

contempt  of  his  injunctions,  and  envying  this  very  pardon  to  Daniel,  they  did  not 
become  more  favourable  to  him,  but  desired  he  might  be  cast  into  the  den  of  hons, 
according  to  the  law.  So  Darius,  hoping  that  God  would  deliver  him,  and  that 
he  would  undergo  nothing  that  was  terrible  by  the  wild  beasts,  bid  him  bear  his 
accident  cheerfully  ;  and  when  he  was  cast  into  the  den,  he  put  his  seal  to  the 
stone  that  lay  upon  the  mouth  of  the  den,  and  went  his  way ;  but  he  passed  all 
the  night  without  food  and  without  sleep,  being  in  great  distress  for  Daniel ;  but 
when  it  was  day,  he  got  up,  and  came  to  the  den,  and  found  the  seal  entire,  which 
he  had  lefl  the  stone  sealed  withal :  he  also  opened  the  seal,  and  cried  out,  and 
called  to  Daniel,  and  asked  him  if  he  were  alive.  And  as  soon  as  he  heard  the 
king's  voice,  and  said  that  he  had  suffered  no  harm,  the  king  gave  order  that  he 
should  be  drawn  up  out  of  the  den.  Now  when  his  enemies  saw  that  Daniel  had 
suffered  nothing  which  was  terrible,  they  would  not  own  that  he  was  preserved 
by  God,  and  his  providence ;  but  they  said  that  the  lions  had  been  filled  full 
with  food,  and  on  that  account  it  was,  as  they  supposed,  that  the  lions  would  not 
touch  Daniel,  nor  come  to  him  ;  and  this  they  alleged  to  the  king.  But  the  king, 
out  of  an  abhorrence  of  their  wickedness,  gave  order  that  they  should  throw  in  a 
great  deal  of  flesh  to  the  lions  ;  and  when  they  had  filled  themselves,  he  gave  far- 
ther orders  that  Daniel's  enemies  should  be  cast  into  the  den,  that  he  might  learn 
whether  the  lions,  now  they  were  full,  would  touch  them  or  not.  And  it  appeared 
plain  to  Darius,  after  the  princes  had  been  cast  to  the  wild  beasts,  that  it  was  God 
who  preserved  Daniel,*  for  the  lions  had  spared  none  of  them,  but  tore  them  all 
to  pieces,  as  if  they  had  been  very  hungry  and  wanted,  food.  I  suppose,  there- 
fore, it  was  not  their  hunger,  which  had  been  a  little  before  satisfied  with  abun- 
dance of  flesh,  but  the  wickedness  of  these  men,  that  provoked  them  [to  destroy 
the  princes ;]  for  if  it  so  please  God,  that  wickedness  might,  by  even  those  irra- 
tional creatures,  be  esteemed  a  plain  foundation  for  their  punishment. 

7.  When,  therefore,  those  that  had  intended  thus  to  destroy  Daniel  by  trea- 
chery,  were  themselves  destroyed,  king  Darius  sent  [letters]  over  all  the  country, 
and  praised  that  God  whom  Daniel  worshiped,  and  said,  that  "  he  was  the  only 
true  God,  and  had  all  power."  He  had  also  Daniel  in  very  great  esteem,  and 
made  him  the  principal  of  his  friends.  Now  when  Daniel  was  become  so  illus- 
trious and  famous,  on  account  of  the  opinion  men  had  that  he  was  beloved  of  God, 
he  built  a  tower  at  Ecbatana,  in  Media  ;  it  was  a  most  elegant  building,  and  won- 
derfully made,  and  it  is  still  remaining,  and  preserved  to  this  day ;  and  to  such 
as  see  it,  it  appears  to  have  been  lately  built,  and  to  have  been  no  older  than  that 
very  day  ;  when  any  one  looks  upon  it,  it  is  so  fresh,  flourishing,  and  beautiful,  and 
no  way  grown  old  in  so  long  time  :f  for  buildings  suffer  the  same  as  men  do,  they 
grow  old  as  well  as  they,  and  by  numbers  of  years  their  strength  is  dissolved  and 
their  beauty  withered.  Now  they  bury  the  kings  of  Media,  of  Persia,  and  Par- 
thia,  in  this  tower,  to  this  day  ;  and  he  who  was  intrusted  with  the  care  of  it  was  a 
Jewish  priest,  which  thing  is  also  observed  to  this  day.  But  it  is  fit  to  give  an 
account  of  what  this  man  did,  which  is  most  admirable  to  hear;  for  he  was  so 
happy  as  to  have  strange  revelations  made  to  him,  and  those  as  to  one  of  the 
greatest  of  the  prophets,  insomuch,  that  while  he  was  alive  he  had  the  esteem 

*  It  is  no  way  improbable  that  Daniel's  enemies  mii;ht  siiRp;cst  this  reason  to  the  king,  why  the  lions 
did  not  inedrile  witii  him,  and  liiat  they  might  suspect  the  king's  kindness  to  Daniel  iiad  procured  these 
lions  to  be  filled  beforeliand,  and  that  thence  it  was  that  he  encouraged  Daniel  to  sulnnit  to  this  experi- 
ment, in  hopes  of  coming  off  safe  ;  and  that  this  was  the  true  reason  of  making  so  terrible  an  experi- 
ment upon  those  his  enemies,  and  all  tlieir  families,  Dan.  vi.  24,  though  our  other  copies  do  not  directly 
take  notice  of  it. 

f  What  Josephus  here  says,  that  the  stones  of  the  sepulchres  of  the  kings  of  Persia  at  this  tower,  or 
those  perhaps  of  tiie  same  sort  that  are  now  commonly  called  the  ruins  of  I'ersepolis,  continued  so  entire 
and  unaltered  in  his  days,  as  if  they  were  lately  put  tiiere,  "  1"  saysFickuid,  "  here  can  show  to  be  true, 
as  to  tiiose  stones  of  the  Persian  kings'  mausoleum  which  Corn.  Ihunius  I)rake  ofl'and  gave  me."  He  as- 
cribed this  to  the  hardness  of  the  stone,  which  scarcely  yields  to  iron  tools,  and  proves  frequently  too  hard 
fur  cutting  by  the  chisel,  but  oftentimes  breaks  it  to  pieces. 


358  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  X. 

and  applause  both  of  the  kings  and  of  the  multitude  ;  and  now  he  is  dead,  he  re- 
tains a  remembrance  that  will  never  fail,  for  the  several  books  that  he  wrote  and 
left  behind  him  are  still  read  by  us  till  this  time  ;  and  from  them  we  believe  that 
Daniel  conversed  with  God  ;  for  he  did  not  only  prophesy  of  future  events,  as  did 
the  other  prophets,  but  he  also  determined  the  time  of  their  accomplishment :  and 
while  the  prophets  used  to  foretell  misfortunes,  and  on  that  account  were  dis- 
agreeable both  to  the  kings  and  to  the  multitude,  Daniel  was  to  them  a  prophet 
of  ffood  things,  and  this  to  such  a  degree,  that  by  the  agreeable  nature  of  his  pre- 
dictions, he  procured  the  good  will  of  all  men,  and,  by  the  accomplishment  of 
them,  he  procured  the  belief  of  their  truth,  and  the  opinion  of  [a  sort  of]  divinity 
for  himself  among  the  multitude.     He  also  wrote  and  left  behind  him  what  made 
manifest  the  accuracy  and  undeniable  verachy  of  his  predictions :  for  he  sahh 
that  "  when  he  was  in  Susa,  the  metropolis  of  Persia,  and  went  out  into  the  field 
with  his  companions,  there  was,  on  the  sudden,  a  motion  and  concussion  of  the 
earth,  and  that  he  was  left  alone  by  himself,  his  friends  flying  away  from  him,  and 
that  he  was  disturbed,  and  fell  on  his  face  and  on  his  two  hands,  and  that  a  cer- 
tain person  touched  him,  and,  at  the  same  time,  bid  him  rise,  and  see  what  would 
befall  his  countrymen  after  many  generations.     He  also  related,  that  when  he 
stood  up,  he  was  shown  a  great  ram,  with  many  horns  growing  out  of  his  head, 
and  that  the  last  was  higher  than  the  rest ;  that  after  this  he  looked  to  the  west 
and  saw  a  he-goat  carried  through  the  air  from  that  q>iarter  ;  that  he  rushed  upon 
the  ram  with  violence,  and  smote  him  twice  with  his  horns,  and  overthrew  him  to 
the  ground,  and  trampled  upon  him;  that  afterwards  he  saw  a  very  great  horn 
growing  out  of  the  head  of  the  he-goat,  and  that  when  it  was  broken  off",  four  horns 
grew  up  that  were  exposed  to  each  of  the  four  winds,  and  he  wrote  that  out  of 
them  arose  another  lesser  horn,  which,  as  he  said,  waxed  great ;  and  that  God 
showed  to  him  that  it  should  fight  against  his  nation,  and  take  their  city  by  force, 
and  bring  the  temple-worship  to  confusion,  and  forbid  the  sacrifices  to  be  oflered 
for  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety-six  days."     Daniel  wrote  that  he  saw 
these  visions  in  the  plain  of  Susa;  and  he  hath  informed  us,  that  God  interpreted 
the  appearance  of  this  vision  after  the  following  manner :     "  He  said,  that  the 
ram  signified  the  kingdom  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  and  the  horns  those  kings 
that  were  to  reign  in  them  ;  and  that  the  last  horn  signified  the  last  king,  and  that 
he  should  exceed  all  the  kings  in  riches  and  glory  :  that  the  he-goat  signified  that 
one  should  come  and  reign  from  the  Greeks,  who  would  twice  fight  with  the  Per- 
sian, and  overcome  him  in  battle,  and  should  receive  his  entire  dominion  :  that  by 
the  great  horn  M'hich  sprang  out  of  the  forehead  of  the  he-goat  was  meant  the  fii'st 
king  ;  and  that  the  springing-up  of  four  horns  upon  its  falling  off",  and  the  conver- 
eion  of  every  one  of  them  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  signified  the  succes- 
sors  that  should  arise  after  the  death  of  the  first  king,  and  the  partition  of  the  king, 
dom  among  them,  and  that  they  should  be  neither  his  children,  nor  of  his  kindred, 
that  should  reign  over  the  habitable  earth  for  many  years;  and  that  from  among 
them  there  should  arise  a  certain  king,  that  should  overcome  our  nation,  and  their 
laws,  and  should  take  away  our  political  government,  and  should  spoil  the  temple, 
and  forbid  the  sacrifices  to  be  offered  for  three  years  time."     And  indeed  it  so 
came  to  pass,  that  our  nation  suflered  these  things  under  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
according  to  Daniel's  vision,  and  what  he  wrote  many  years  before  they  came  to 
pass.    In  the  very  same  manner  Daniel  also  wrote  concerning  the  Roman  govern- 
ment, and  that  our  country  should  be  made  desolate  by  them.     All  these  things 
did  this  man  leave  in  writing,  as  God   had  showed  them  to  him,  insomuch  that 
such  as  read  his  prophecies,  and  see  how  they  have  been  fulfilled,  would  wonder 
at  the  honour  wherewith  God  honoured  Daniel,  and  may  thence  discover  how  the 
Epicureans  are  in  error,  who  cast  providence  out  of  human  life,  and  not  beheve 
that  God  takes  care  of  the  affairs  of  the  world,  nor  that  the  universe  is  governed 
and  continued  in  being  by  that  blessed  and  immortal  nature ;  but  say  that  the 


C.  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  359 

world  is  carried  along  of  its  own  accord,  without  a  ruler  and  a  curator,  which, 
were  it  destitute  of  a  guide  to  conduct  it,  as  they  imagine,  would  be  like  ships 
Without  pilots,  which  we  see  drowied  by  the  winds,  or  like  chariots  witliout  dri- 
vers,  which  are  overturned;  so  would  tiie  world  be  dashed  to  pieces  by  its  being 
carried  without  a  Providence,  and  so  perish  and  come  to  nought.  So  that,  by  the 
forementionod  predictions  of  Daniel,  those  men  seem  to  me  very  much  to  err  from 
the  truth,  who  determine  that  God  exercises  no  providence  over  human  affairs ; 
for  if  that  were  the  case,  that  the  world  went  on  by  mechanical  necessity,  we  should 
not  see  that  all  things  would  come  to  pass  according  to  his  prophecy.  Now,  as  to 
niyseli",  I  have  described  these  matters  as  I  have  found  them  and  read  them ;  but 
if  any  one  is  inclined  to  another  opinion  about  them,  let  him  enjoy  his  different 
sentiments  without  any  blame  from  me. 


360  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


BOOK  XL 


CONTAINING  THE  INTERVAL  OP  TWO  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY-THREE 
YEARS  FIVE  MONTHS. 

FROM  THE  FIRST  OF  CYRUS  TO  THE  DEATH  OFALEXAJ^DER  THE  GREAT. 


CHAP.  I. 

How  Cyrus,  King  of  the  Persians,  delivered  the  Jews  out  of  Babylon,  and  suffered 

them  to  return  to  their  own  Country,  and  to  build  their  Temple;  for  which  Work 

he  gav'e  them  Money. 

§  1.  In  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Cyrus,*  which  was  the  seventieth  from 
the  day  that  our  people  were  removed  out  of  their  own  land  into  Babylon,  God 
commiserated  the  captivity  and  calamity  of  these  poor  people,  according  as  he 
had  foretold  to  them  by  Jeremiah  the  prophet,  before  the  destruction  of  the  city, 
that  after  they  had  served  Nebuchadnezzar  and  his  posterity,  and  after  they  had 
undergone  that  servitude  seventy  years,  he  would  restore  them  again  to  the  land 
of  their  fathers,  and  they  should  build  their  temple,  and  enjoy  their  ancient  pros- 
perity. And  these  things  God  did  afford  them ;  for  he  stirred  up  the  mind  of 
Cyrus,  and  made  him  write  thus  throughout  all  Asia:  "Thus  saith  Cyrus  the 
king,  since  God  Almighty  hath  appointed  me  to  be  king  of  the  habitable  earth,  I 
believe  that  he  is  that  God  which  the  nation  of  the  Israelites  worship  ;  for  indeed 
he  foretold  my  name  by  the  prophets,  and  that  I  should  build  him  a  house  in  Je- 
rusalem, in  the  country  of  Judea." 

2.  This  was  known  to  Cyrus  by  his  reading  the  book  which  Isaiah  left  behind 
him  of  his  prophecies  ;  for  this  prophet  said,  that  God  had  spoken  thus  to  him  in  a 
secret  vision :  "  My  will  is,  that  Cyrus,  whom  I  have  appointed  to  be  king  over  many 
and  great  nations,  send  back  my  people  to  their  own  land,  and  build  my  temple." 
This  was  foretold  by  Isaiah  one  hundred  and  forty  years  before  the  temple  was 
demolished.  Accordingly,  when  Cyrus  read  this,  and  admired  the  divine  power, 
an  earnest  desire  and  ambition  seized  upon  him  to  fulfil  what  was  so  written ;  so 
he  called  for  the  most  eminent  Jews  that  were  in  Babylon,  and  said  to  them,  that 
"  he  gave  them  leave  to  go  back  to  their  own  country,  and  to  rebuild  their  city 
Jerusalem,!  ^'^^  the  temple  of  God,  for  tliat  he  would  be  their  assistant,  and  that 
he  would  write  to  the  rulers  and  governors  that  were  in  the  neighbourhood  of  their 
country  of  Judea,  that  they  should  contribute  to  them  gold  and  silver  for  the  bull- 
ding  of  the  temple,  and  besides  that,  beasts  for  their  sacrifices." 

3.  When  Cyrus  had  said  this  to  the  Israelites,  the  rulers  of  the  two  tribes  of 
Judah  and  Benjamin,  with  the  Levites  and  priests,  went  in  haste  to  Jerusalem,  yet 

*  Tliis  Cyrus  is  called  God's  shepherd  by  Xenophon,  as  well  as  by  Isaiah,  Isa.  xliv.  28,  as  also  it  is 
sairl  of  him  by  the  same  prophet,  that  "  I  will  make  a  man  more  precious  than  fine  gold,  even  a  man  than 
the  golden  wedge  of  Opliir,"  Isa.  xiii.  12,  which  character  makes  Xenophon's  most  excellent  history  of 
him  very  credible.  ' 

t  This  leave  to  build  Jerusalem,  J  2,  3,  and  this  epistleof  Cyrus  to  Sisinnes  and  Sathrabuzanes,  tothe 
same  purpose,  are  most  luifortunatelv  omitted  in  all  our  copies  but  this  best  and  completest  copy  of  Jo- 
sepluis's;  and  by  such  omission  the  famous  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  Isa.  xliv.  28,  where  we  are  informed,  that 
God  saki  of  or  to  Cyrus,  "  He  is  my  shepherd,  and  shall  perform  all  my  pleasure;  even  saying  to  Jeru- 
salem, Thou  Shalt  be  built,  and  to  the  temple,  thy  foundation  shall  be  laid,"  could  not  hitherto  be  demon- 
strated from  the  sacred  history  to  have  been  completely  fulfilled,  I  mean  as  to  that  part  of  it  which  con- 
cerned his  givmg  leave  er  commission  for  rebuilding  the  city  of  Jerusalem  as  distinct  from  the  temple, 
whoso  rebuilding  is  alone  permitted  or  directed  in  the  decree  of  Cyrus  in  all  our  copies. 


C.  It.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  361 

did  many  of  them  stay  at  Babylon,  as  not  willing  to  leave  their  possessions ;  and 
when  thoy  were  come  thither,  all  the  king's  friends  assisted  them,  and  brought  in, 
for  the  building  of  the  temple,  some  gold,  and  some  silver,  and  some  a  great  many 
cattle  and  horses.  So  they  performed  their  vows  to  God,  and  offered  the  sacri- 
fices  that  had  been  accustomed  of  old  time  ;  I  mean  this  upon  the  rebuilding  of 
their  city,  and  the  revival  of  the  ancient  practices  relating  to  their  worship.  Cyrus 
also  sent  back  to  them  the  vessels  of  God  which  king  Nebuchadnezzar  had  pil- 
laged out  of  the  temple,  and  carried  to  Babylon.  So  he  committed  these  things 
to  Mitliridates,  the  treasui'er,  to  be  sent  away,  with  an  order  to  give  them  to  Sa- 
nabassar,  that  he  might  keep  them  till  the  temple  was  built ;  and  when  it  was 
finished,  he  might  deliver  them  to  the  priests  and  rulers  of  the  multitude,  in  order 
to  their  being  restored  to  the  temple.  Cyrus  also  sent  an  epistle  to  the  governors 
that  were  in  Syria,  the  contents  whereof  here  follow  : 

"King  Cyrus  to  Sisinnes  and  Saturabuzanes,  sendeth  greeting: 

"  I  have  given  leave  to  as  many  of  the  Jews  that  dwell  in  my  country  as  please 
to  return  to  their  own  country,  and  to  rebuild  their  city,  and  to  build  the  temple 
of  God  at  Jerusalem,  on  the  same  place  where  it  was  before.  I  have  also  sent 
my  treasurer  Mithridates,  and  Zerobabel,  the  governor  of  the  Jews,  that  they 
may  lay  the  foundations  of  the  temple,  and  may  build  it  sixty  cubits  high,  and  of 
tlie  same  latitude,  making  three  edifices  of  polished  stones,  and  one  of  the  wood 
of  the  country,  and  the  same  order  extends  to  the  altar  whereon  they  offer  sacri- 
fices to  God.  I  require  also,  that  the  expenses  for  these  things  be  given  out  of 
my  revenues.  Moreover,  I  have  also  sent  the  vessels  which  king  Nebuchad- 
nozzar  pillaged  out  of  the  temple,  and  have  given  them  to  Mithridates  the  trea- 
surer,  and  to  Zorobabel  the  governor  of  the  Jews,  that  they  may  have  them  car- 
ried to  Jerusalem,  and  may  restore  them  to  the  temple  of  God.  Now  their  num. 
ber*  is  as  follows  :  fifty  chargers  of  gold,  and  five  hundred  of  silver;  forty  The- 
riclean  cups  of  gold,  and  five  hundred  of  silver  ;  fifty  basins  of  gold,  and  five  hun- 
dred of  silver  ;  thirty  vessels  for  pouring  [the  drink  offerings,]  and  three  hundred 
of  silver ;  thirty  vials  of  gold,  and  two  thousand  four  hundred  of  silver ;  with  a 
thousand  other  large  vessels.  I  permit  them  to  have  the  same  honour  which 
they  were  used  to  have  from  their  forefathers,  as  also  for  their  small  cattle,  and 
for  wine  and  oil,  two  hundred  and  five  thousand  and  five  hundred  drachmiE  ; 
and  for  wheat  flour,  twenty  thousand  and  five  hundred  artabai :  and  I  give  order 
that  these  expenses  shall  be  given  them  out  of  the  tributes  due  from  Sama- 
ria. The  priests  shall  also  offer  these  sacrifices  according  to  the  laws  of 
Moses  in  Jerusalem  ;  and  when  they  offer  them,  they  shall  pray  to  God  for  the 
preservation  of  the  king  and  of  his  family,  that  the  kingdom  of  Persia  may  con- 
tinue.  But  my  will  is,  that  those  who  disobey  these  injunctions,  and  make  them 
void,  shall  be  hung  upon  a  cross,  and  their  substance  brought  into  the  king's  trea- 
sury."  And  such  was  the  import  of  this  epistle.  Now  the  number  of  those  that 
came  out  of  captivity  to  Jerusalem  were  forty-two  thousand  four  hundred  and 
sixty-two. 


CHAP.  II. 

How,  upon  the  Death  of  Cyrus,  the  Jews  vxre  hindered  in  building  the  Temple  by 

the  Cutheans,  and  the  Neighbouring  Governors;  and  how  Camhyses  entirely 

forbade  the  Jews  to  do  any  such  thing. 

§  1.  WiiEBT  the  foundations  of  the  temple  were  laying,  and  when  the  Jews  were 
very  zealous  about  building  it,  the  neiglibouring  nations,  and  especially  the  Cu- 
theans, whom  Shalmanezer,  king  of  Assyria,  had  brought  out  of  Persia  and  Media, 

*  Of  the  true  number  of  gnldyn  and  silver  vessels,  here  and  elsewhere,  belonging  to  the  teini'le  of  So- 
l.mion,  see  the  dcsnriptiop  of  tliu  temple,  cl-.ap.  xiii. 

VOL.  r.         2  Z 


2^  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XI. 

and  had  planted  in  Samaria,  when  he  carried  the  people  of  Israel  captive,  be- 
sought the  governors,  and  those  that  had  the  care  ot"  such  affairs,  that  they  would 
interrupt  the  Jews,  both  in  the  rebuilding  of  their  city,  and  in  the  building  of  their 
temple.  Now  as  these  men  were  corrupted  by  them  with  money,  they  sold  the 
Cutheans  their  interest  for  rendering  this  building  a  slow  and  careless  work  ;  for 
Cyrus,  who  was  busy  about  other  wars,  knew  nothing  of  all  this  :  and  it  so  hap- 
pened, that  when  he  had  led  his  army  against  the  Messagetae,*  he  ended  his  life. 
But  when  Cambyses,  the  son  of  Cyrus,  had  taken  the  kingdom,  the  governors  in 
Syria,  and  Phoenicia,  and  in  the  countries  of  Ammon,  and  Moab,  and  Samaria, 
wrote  an  epistle  to  Cambyses ;  whose  contents  were  as  follows  :  "  To  our  lord 
Cambyses :  we  thy  servants,  Rathumus  the  historiographer,  and  Semellius  the 
scribe,  and  the  rest  that  are  thy  judges  in  Syria  and  Phoenicia,  send  greeting.  Il 
is  fit,  O  king,  that  thou  shouldest  know,  that  those  Jews  which  were  carried  to 
Babylon  are  come  into  our  country,  and  are  building  that  rebellious  and  wicked 
city,  and  its  market  places,  and  setting  up  its  walls,  and  raising  up  the  temple  : 
know,  therefore,  that  when  these  things  are  finished,  they  will  not  be  willing  to 
pay  tribute,  nor  will  they  submit  to  thy  commands,  but  will  resist  kings,  and  will 
choose  rather  to  rule  over  others,  than  be  ruled  over  themselves.  We,  therefore, 
thought  it  proper  to  write  to  thee,  O  king,  while  the  works  about  the  temple  ai-e 
going  on  so  fast,  and  not  to  overlook  this  matter,  that  thou  mayest  search  into  the 
books  of  thy  fathers,  for  thou  wilt  find  in  them  that  the  Jews  have  been  rebels, 
and  enemies  to  kings,  as  hath  their  city  been  also,  which,  for  that  reason,  hath 
been  till  now  laid  waste.  We  thought  proper  also  to  inform  thee  of  this  matter, 
because  thou  mayest  perhaps  be  otherwise  ignorant  of  it,  that  if  this  city  be  once 
inhabited,  and  be  entirely  encompassed  with  walls,  thou  wilt  be  excluded  from  thy 
passage  to  Celesyria  and  Phoenicia." 

2.  When  Cambyses  had  read  the  epistle,  being  naturally  wicked,  he  was  irri- 
tated at  what  they  told  him ;  and  wrote  back  to  them  as  follows  :  "  Cambyses, 
the  king,  to  Rathumus  the  historiographer,  toBeeltethmus,  to  Semellius  the  scribe, 
and  the  rest  that  are  in  commission,  and  dwelling  in  Samaria  and  Phoenicia,  after 
this  manner :  I  have  read  the  epistle  that  was  sent  from  you ;  and  I  gave  order 
that  the  books  of  my  forefathers  should  be  searched  into,  and  it  is  there  found 
that  this  city  has  always  been  an  enemy  to  kings,  and  its  inhabitants  have  raised 
seditions  and  wars :  we  also  are  sensible  that  their  kings  have  been  powerful  and 
tyrannical,  and  have  exacted  tribute  of  Celesyria  and  Phoenicia:  wherefore  I 
give  order,  that  the  Jews  shall  not  be  perniitted  to  build  that  city,  lest  such  mis- 
chief  as  they  used  to  bring  upon  kings  be  greatly  augmented."  When  this  epis- 
tie  was  read,  Rathumus,  and  Semellius  the  scribe,  and  their  associates,  got  sud- 
denly  on  horseback,  and  made  haste  to  Jerusalem ;  they  also  brought  a  great 
company  with  them,  and  forbade  the  Jews  to  build  the  city  and  the  temple.  Ac- 
cordingly  these  works  were  hindered  from  going  on  till  the  second  year  of  the 
reign  of  Darius,  for  nine  years  more  ;  for  Cambyses  reigned  six  years,  and  within 
that  time  overthrew  Egypt,  and  when  he  was  come  back,  he  died  at  Damascus. 

f  Josephus  here  follows  Herodotus,  and  those  that  related  how  Cyrus  made  war  with  the  Scythians 
and  Messagets,  near  the  Caspian  sea,  and  perished  in  it ;  while  Xenophon's  account,  which  appears  never 
to  have  been  seen  by  Josephus,  that  Cyrus  died  in  peace  in  his  own  country  of  Persia,  is  attested  to  bv 
the  writers  of  the  affairs  of  Alexander  the  Great,  when  they  agree  that  he  found  Cyrus's  sepulchre  at 
Pasargada;,  near  Fersepolis.  This  account  of  Xenophon  is  also  confirmed  by  the  circumstances  of  Cam- 
byses, upon  his  succession  to  Cyrus,  who  instead  of  a  war  to  avenge  his  father's  death  upon  the  Scytin- 
ans  and  Messagets,  and  to  prevent  those  nations  from  overrunning  his  northern  provnices,  which  would 
have  been  the  natural  consequence  of  his  father's  ill  success  and  death  there,  went  immediately  to  an 
Egyptian  war,  long  ago  begun  by  Cyrus,  according  to  Xenophon,  page  644,  and  conouered  that  kingdom  : 
nor  is  there,  that  1  ever  heard  of,  the  least  mention  in  the  reign  of  this  Cambyses  of  any  war  against  the 
Scythians  and  Messagets  that  he  was  ever  engaged  in  all  his  life. 


C.  III.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


CHAP.  III. 


How  after  the  Death  of  Cambyses,  and  the  Slaughter  of  the  Magi,  bid  under  tJie 

Reign  of  Darius,  Zorobabel  was  superior  to  the  rest  in  the  Solution  of  Problems, 

and  thereby  obtained  this  Favour  of  tfie  King,  that  the 

Temple  should  be  built. 

§  1.  After  the  slaughter  of  the  Magi,  who,  upon  the  death  of  Cambyses,  at- 
tained  the  government  of  the  Persians  for  a  year,  those  famihes  which  were  called 
the  seven  families  of  the  Persians,  appointed  Darius,  the  son  of  Hystaspes,  to  be 
their  king.  Now  he,  while  he  was  a  private  man,  had  made  a  vow  to  God,  that 
if  he  came  to  be  king,  he  would  send  all  the  vessels  of  God  that  were  in  Babylon 
to  the  temple  of  Jerusalem.  Now  it  so  fell  out,  that  about  this  time  Zorobabel, 
who  had  been  made  governor  of  the  Jews  that  had  been  in  captivity,  came  to 
Darius  from  Jerusalem,  for  there  had  been  an  old  friendsliip  between  him  and  the 
king.  He  was  also,  with  two  others,  thought  worthy  to  be  guards  of  the  king's 
body,  and  obtained  that  honour  which  he  hoped  for. 

2.  Now,  in  the  first  year  of  the  king's  reign,  Darius  feasted  those  that  were 
about  him,  and  those  born  in  his  house,  with  the  rulers  of  the  Medes,  and  princes 
of  the  Persians,  and  the  toparchs  of  India  and  Ethiopia,  and  the  generals  of  the 
ai'mies  of  his  hundred  and  twenty-seven  provinces  :  but  when  they  had  eaten  and 
drunk  to  satiety,  and  abundantly,  they  every  one  departed  to  go  to  bed  at  their 
own  houses :  and  Darius  the  king  went  to  bed,  but  after  he  had  rested  a  little  part 
of  the  night,  he  awakened,  and  not  being  able  to  sleep  any  more,  he  fell  into  con- 
versation  with  the  three  guards  of  his  body,  and  promised  that  to  him  who  should 
make  an  oration  about  points,  that  he  should  inquire  of,  such  as  should  be  most 
agreeable  to  truth,  and  the  dictates  of  wisdom,  he  would  grant  it  as  a  reward  of  his 
victory,  to  put  on  a  purple  garment,  and  to  drink  in  cups  of  gold,  and  to  sleep  upon 
gold,  and  to  have  a  chariot  with  bridles  of  gold,  and  a  head  tire  of  fine  linen,  and 
a  chain  of  gold  about  his  neck,  and  sit  next  to  himself,  on  account  of  his  wisdom  ; 
and,  says  he,  he  shall  be  called  my  cousin.  Now  when  he  had  promised  to  give 
them  these  gifts,  he  asked  the  first  of  them,  Whether  wine  was  not  the  strongest? 
The  second.  Whether  the  kings  were  not  such?  And  the  third,  Whetlier  women 
were  not  such  ?  Or  whether  truth  was  not  the  strongest  of  all?  When  he  had 
proposed  that  they  should  make  their  inquiries  about  these  problems,  he  went  to 
rest ;  but  in  the  morning  he  sent  for  his  great  men,  his  princes,  and  toparchs  of 
Persia  and  Media,  and  set  himself  down  in  the  place  where  he  used  to  give  audi- 
ence, and  bid  each  of  the  guards  of  his  body  to  declare  what  they  thought  proper 
concerning  the  proposed  questions,  in  the  hearing  of  them  all. 

3.  Accordingly,  the  first  of  them  began  to  speak  of  the  strength  of  wine,  and 
demonstrated  it  thus :  "  When,  said  he,  I  am  to  give  my  opinion  of  wine,  O  you 
men,  I  find  it  exceeds  every  thing  by  the  following  indications  :  it  deceives  the 
mind  of  those  that  drink  it,  and  reduces  that  of  the  king  to  the  same  state  with  that 
of  the  orphan,  and  he  who  stands  in  need  of  a  tutor,  and  erects  that  of  the  slave 
to  the  boldness  of  him  that  is  free,  and  that  of  the  needy  becomes  like  that  of  the 
rich  man,  for  it  changes  and  renews  the  souls  of  men  when  it  gets  into  them,  and 
it  quenches  the  sorrow  of  those  that  are  under  calamaties,  and  makes  men  forget 
the  debts  they  owe  to  others,  and  makes  them  think  themselves  to  be  of  all  men 
the  richest ;  it  makes  them  talk  of  no  small  things,  but  of  talents,  and  such  other 
things  as  become  wealthy  men  only;  nay  more,  it  makes  them  insensible  of  their 
commanders,  and  of  their  kings,  and  takes  away  the  remembrance  of  their  friends 
and  companions,  for  it  arms  men  even  against  those  that  are  dearest  to  them, 
and  makes  them  appear  the  greatest  strangers  to  them ;  and  when  they  are  be- 
come  sober,  and  they  have  slept  out  their  wine  in  the  night,  they  arise  without 
knowing  any  thing  they  have  done  in  tl»cir  cups.     I  take  these  for  signs  of  power, 

2.Z2 


364  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XI. 

and  by  them  discover  that  wine  is  the  strongest  and  most  insuperable  of  all  things. 

4.  As  soon  as  the  first  had  given  the  forementioned  demonstrations  of  the 
strength  of  wine,  he  left  off;  and  the  next  to  him  began  to  speak  about  the 
strength  of  a  king,  and  demonstrated  that  it  was  the  strongest  of  all,  and  more 
powerful  than  any  thing  else  that  appears  to  have  any  force  or  wisdom.  He  be- 
gan his  demonstration  after  the  following  manner,  and  said,  "  They  are  men  who 
govern  all  things,  they  force  the  earth  and  the  sea  to  become  profitable  to  them 
in  what  they  desire,  and  over  these  men  do  kings  rule,  and  over  them  they  have 
authority.  Now  those  who  rule  over  that  animal  which  is  of  all  the  strongest  and 
most  powerful  must  needs  deserve  to  be  esteemed  insuperable  in  power  and  force  ; 
for  example,  when  these  kings  command  their  subjects  to  make  wars,  and  under- 
go dangers,  they  are  hearkened  to,  and  when  they  send  them  against  their  ene. 
mies,  their  power  is  so  great  that  they  are  obeyed.  They  command  men  to  level 
mountains,  and  to  pull  down  walls  and  towers ;  nay,  when  they  are  commanded 
to  be  killed,  and  to  kill,  they  submit  to  it,  that  they  may  not  appear  to  transgress 
the  king's  commands  ;  and  when  they  have  conquered,  they  bring  what  they  have 
gained  in  the  war  to  the  king.  Those  also  who  are  not  soldiers,  but  cultivate  the 
ground,  and  plough  it,  and  when  after  they  have  endured  the  labour,  and  all  the 
inconveniences  of  such  works  of  husbandry,  they  have  reaped  and  gathered  in 
their  fruits,  they  bring  tributes  to  the  king.  And  whatsoever  it  is  which  the  king 
says  or  commands,  it  is  done  of  necessity,  and  that  without  any  delay,  while  he 
in  the  meantime  is  satiated  with  all  sorts  of  food  and  pleasures,  and  sleeps  in 
quiet.  He  is  guarded  by  such  as  watch,  and  such  as  are,  as  it  were,  fixed  down 
to  the  place  through  fear,  for  no  one  dares  leave  him,  even  when  he  is  asleep,  nor 
does  any  one  go  away  and  take  care  of  his  own  affairs,  but  he  esteems  this  one 
thing  the  only  work  of  necessity,  to  guard  the  king  ;  and  accordingly  to  this  he 
only  addicts  himself.  How  then  can  it  be  otherwise,  but  that  it  must  appear  that 
the  king  exceeds  all  in  strength,  while  so  great  a  multitude  obeys  his  injunc- 
tions  ?" 

5.  Now  when  this  man  had  held  his  peace,  the  third  of  them,  who  was  Zorobabel, 
began  to  instruct  them  about  women,  and  about  truth,  who  said  thus  :  "  Wine  is 
strong,  as  is  the  king  also,  whom  all  men  obey,  but  women  are  superior  to  them 
in  power,  for  it  is  a  woman  that  brought  the  king  into  the  world  ;  and  for  those 
that  plant  the  vines  and  make  the  wine,  they  are  women  who  bear  them,  and  bring 
them  up  ;  nor  indeed  is  there  any  thing  which  we  do  not  receive  from  them  ;  for 
these  women  weave  garments  for  us,  and  our  household  affairs  are  by  their  means 
taken  care  of  and  preserved  in  safety ;  nor  can  we  live  separate  from  women. 
And  when  we  have  gotten  a  great  deal  of  gold  and  silver,  and  any  other  thing 
that  is  of  great  value,  and  deserving  regard  ;  and  see  a  beautiful  woman,  we  leave 
all  these  things,  and  with  open  mouth  fix  our  ejes  upon  her  countenance,  and  are 
willing  to  forsake  what  we  have,  that  we  may  enjoy  her  beauty,  and  procure  it 
to  ourselves.  We  also  leave  father  and  mother,  and  the  earth  that  nourishes  us, 
and  frequently  forget  our  dearest  friends,  for  the  sake  of  women  ;  nay,  we  are  so 
hardy  as  to  lay  down  our  lives  with  them.  But  what  will  chiefly  make  you  take 
notice  of  the  strength  of  women,  is  this  that  follows;  do  not  we  take  pains  and 
endure  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  and  that  both  by  land  and  sea,  and  when  we  have 
procured  somewhat  as  the  fruit  of  our  labours,  do  not  we  bring  them  to  the  women, 
as  to  our  mistresses,  and  bestow  them  upon  them  ?  nay,  I  once  saw  the  king.  Mho 
is  lord  of  so  many  people,  smitten  on  the  face  by  Apame,  the  daughter  of  Rabsa- 
ses  Themasius,  his  concubine,  and  his  diadem  taken  away  from  him,  and  put  upon 
her  own  head,  while  he  bore  it  patiently ;  and  when  she  smiled  he  smiled,  and 
when  she  was  angry  he  was  sad ;  and  according  to  the  change  of  her  passions, 
he  flattered  his  wife,  and  drew  her  to  reconciliation  by  the  great  humiliation  of 
himself  to  her,  if  at  any  time  he  saw  her  displeased  at  him." 

6.  And  when  the  princes  and  rulers  looked  one  upon  another,  he  began  to 
speak  about  truth  :  and  he  said,  "  I  have   already  demonstrated  how  powerful 


C.  I«.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


365 


women  are  ;  but  both  these  women  themselves  and  the  king  himself  are  weaker 
than  truth  ;  for  although  the  earth  be  large,  and  the  heaven  liigli,  and  the  course 
of  the  sun  swift,  yet  are  all  these  moved  according  to  tl.ie  will  of  God,  who  is 
true  and  righteous,  for  which  cause  we  ought  also  to  esteem  truth  to  be  the  stron- 
gest  of  all  things,  and  that  what  is  righteous  is  of  no  force  against  it.  Moreover, 
all  things  else  that  have  any  strength  are  mortal  and  short  lived,  but  truth  is  a 
thing  that  is  immortal  and  eternal.  It  affords  us  not  indeed  such  a  beauty  as  will 
wither  away  by  time,  nor  such  riches  as  may  be  taken  away  by  fortime,  but  righ- 
teous  rules  and  laws.  It  distinguishes  them  from  injustice,  and  puts  what  is  un- 
righteous  to  rebuke."* 

7.  So  when  Zorobabel  had  left  of?"  his  discourse  about  truth,  and  the  multitude 
had  cried  aloud,  that  he  had  spoken  the  most  wisely,  and  that  it  was  truth  alone 
that  had  immutable  strength,  and  such  as  never  would  wax  old,  the  kinor  com- 
manded that  he  should  ask  for  somewhat  over  and  above  what  he  had  promised, 
for  that  he  would  give  it  him  because  of  his  wisdom,  and  that  prudence  wherein 
he  exceeded  the  rest;  and  thou  shalt  sit  with  me,  said  the  king,  and  shalt  be  cal- 
led my  cousin.  When  he  had  said  this,  Zorobabel  put  him  in  mind  of  the  vow  he 
had  made  in  case  he  should  ever  have  the  kingdom.  Now  this  vow  was,  "  to  re- 
build Jerusalem,  and  to  build  therein  the  temple  of  God,  as  also  to  restore  the  ves- 
sels which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  pillaged  and  carried  to  Babylon."  And  this, 
said  he,  is  that  request  which  thou  now  permittest  me  to  make,  on  account  that  I 
have  been  judged  to  be  wise  and  understanding. 

8.  So  the  king  was  pleased  with  what  he  had  said,  and  arose  and  kissed  him  , 
and  wrote  to  the  toparchs  and  governors,  and  enjoined  them  to  conduct  Zoroba- 
bel  and  those  that  were  going  with  him  to  build  the  temple.  He  also  sent  letters 
to  those  rulers  that  were  in  Syria  and  PhoBuicia  to  cut  down  and  carry  cedar  trees 
from  Lebanon  to  Jeri^alem,  and  to  assist  him  in  building  the  city,  lie  also 
wrote  to  them,  that  alf  the  captives  who  should  go  to  Judea  should  be  free,  and 
he  prohibited  his  deputies  and  governors  to  lay  any  king's  taxes  upon  the  Jews : 
he  also  permitted,  that  they  should  have  all  tliat  land  which  they  could  possess 
themselves  of  without  tribute.  He  also  enjoined  the  Idumeans  and  Samaritans, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  Celesyria,  to  restore  the  villages  wliich  they  had  taken  from 
the  Jews,  and  that,  besides  all  this,  fifty  talents  should  be  given  them  for  tlic 
building  of  the  temple.  He  also  permitted  them  to  offer  their  appointed  sacrifi. 
ces,  and  that  whatsoever  the  high  priest  and  the  priests  wanted,  and  those 
sacred  garments  wherein  they  used  to  worship  God,  should  be  made  at  his  own 
charges  ;  and  that  the  musical  instruments  which  the  Levites  used  in  singing 
hymns  to  God  sliould  be  given  them.  3Ioreover,  he  charged  them,  that  por- 
tions of  land  should  be  given  to  those  that  guarded  the  city  and  the  temple,  as  also 
a  determinate  sum  of  money  every  year  tor  their  maintenance  ;  and  witlial  he 
sent  the  vessels.  And  all  that  Cyrus  intended  to  do  before  him  relating  to  tlie 
I'estoration  of  Jerusalem,  Darius  also  ordained  should  be  done  accordingly. 

9.  Now  when  Zorobabel  had  obtained  these  grants  from  the  king,  he  went 
out  of  the  palace,  and  looking  up  to  heaven,  he  began  to  return  thanks  to  God, 

*  The  reader  is  to  note,  that  although  the  speeches  or  papers  of  these  three  of  tlie  king's  miarfis  are 
iniioh  the  same,  in  our  third  book  of  Esdras,  chap.  iii.  and  iv.  as  they  arc  here  in  Josephus.  yet  that  the 
introduction  of  tliem  is  entirely  different,  wiiile  in  our  Ksdras  tlie  whole  is  related  as  the  contrivance  of 
tlic  three  of  the  kinsi's  guards  themselves;  and  even  the  nii;;hiy  rewards  are  spoken  of  as  proposed  by 
themselves,  and  the  speeches  are  related  to  have  been  delivered  by  thenuielves  to  the  kini^  in  wriliim, 
while  all  is  contrary  in  Joseplius.  I  need  not  say  whoso  accoi.nt  is  tlie  most  probable,  the  matters  speak 
for  themselves  ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  Josephus's  history  is  here  to  be  very  much  preferred  before 
the  other.  Nor,  indeed,  does  it  seem  to  me  at  all  unlikely,  that  the  whole  was  a  contrivance  of  king  Da- 
rius'sown,  in  order  to  be  decently  and  inoffensively  put  in  mind  by  Zorobabel  of  fiilfilline;  his  old  vow  for 
the  rebuilding  of  Jerusalem  and  (he  temple,  and  llie  restoration  of  the  worship  of  iheONF.  TrtuK  Goo  there. 
Nor  does  the  full  meaning  of  Zorobabel,  when  he  cries  out,  3  Esd.  iv.  40,  "  Blessed  be  the  tJod  of  truth  ;" 
and  here,  "  God  is  true  and  rigliieous,"  or  even  of  all  the  people,  3  Esd.  iv.  41,  "  Great  is  truth,  and 
mighty  above  all  thins^s,"  seem  to  me  much  different  from  this,  "  There  is  but  One  True  God,"  the  God 
of  Israel.  To  which  doctrine,  such  as  Cyrus  and  Darius,  &,c.  the  Jews'  s'oat  patrons,  secni  not  to  have 
been  very  averse,  though  the  entire  idolatry  of  tlieir  kingdoms  made  them  gei.crally  conceal  it. 


3(35  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XI. 

for  the  wisdom  he  had  given  him,  and  the  victory  he  had  gained  thereby,  even 
in  tlie  presence  of  Darius  himself;  for,  said  he,  "I  had  not  been  thought  worthy 
of  these  advantages,  O  Lord,  unless  thou  hadst  been  favourable  to  me."  When, 
therefore,  he  had  returned  these  thanks  to  God  for  the  present  circumstances  he 
was  in,  and  prayed  to  him  to  afford  him  the  like  favour  for  the  time  to  come,  he 
came  to  Babylon,  and  brought  the  good  news  to  his  countrymen  of  what  grants  he 
had  procured  for  them  from  the  king,  who,  when  they  heard  the  same,  gave 
thanks  also  to  God  that  he  restored  the  land  of  their  forefathers  to  them  again  :  so 
they  betook  themselves  to  drinking  and  eating,  and  for  seven  days  they  continued 
feasting,  and  kept  a  festival  for  the  rebuilding  and  restoration  of  their  country  ; 
after  this  they  chose  themselves  rulers,  who  should  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  out  of  the 
tribes  of  their  forefathers,  with  their  wives  and  children,  and  cattle,  who  travelled 
to  Jerusalem  with  joy  and  pleasure,  under  the  conduct  of  those  whom  Darius 
sent  along  with  them,  and  making  a  noise  with  songs,  and  pipes,  and  cymbals. 
The  rest  of  the  Jewish  multitude  also  besides  accompanied  them  with  rejoicing. 

10.  And  thus  did  these  men  go,  a  certain  and  determinate  number  out  of  every 
family,  though  I  do  not  think  it  proper  to  recite  particularly  the  names  of  those 
families,  that  I  may  not  take  off  the  mind  of  my  readers  from  the  connexion  of  the 
historical  facts,  and  make  it  hard  for  them  to  follow  the  coherence  of  my  narra- 
tions ;  but  the  sum  of  those  that  v/ent  up,  above  the  age  of  twelve  years,  of 
the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  was  four  hundred  and  sixty-two  myriads  and 
eight  thousand,*  the  Levites  were  seventy-four  ;  the  number  of  the  women  and 
children,  mixed  together,  was  forty  thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty-two  ;  and 
besides  these,  there  were  singers  of  the  Levites  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight, 
and  porters  one  hundred  and  ten,  and  of  the  sacred  ministers  three  hundred  and 
ninety-two ;  there  were  also  others  besides  these,  who  said  they  were  of  the  Is- 
raelites,  but  were  not  able  to  show  their  genealogies,  six  hundred  and  sixty -two  : 
some  there  were  also  who  were  expelled  out  of  the  nunSber  and  hoiiour  of  the 
priests,  as  having  married  wives  whose  genealogies  they  could  not  produce,  nor 
were  they  found  in  the  genealogies  of  the  Leviies  and  priests:  they  were  about 
five  hundred  and  twenty-five  ;  the  multitude  also  of  servants  followed  those  that 
went  up  to  Jerusalem,  seven  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-seven  ;  the  sing- 
ing men  and  singing  women  were  tv.o  hundred  and  forty-five  ;  the  camels  were 
four  hundred  and  thirty-five  ;  the  beasts  used  to  the  yoke  were  five  thousand  five 
hundred  and  twenty-five  ;  and  the  governors  of  all  this  multitude  thus  numbered 
was  Zorobabel,  the  son  of  Salathiel,  of  the  posterity  of  David,  and  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah,  and  Jeshua,  the  son  of  Josedek  the  high  priest;  and  besides  these  there 
were  Mordecai  and  Serebeus,  who  were  distinguished  from  the  multitude,  and 
were  rulers,  who  also  contributed  a  hundred  povuid  of  gold,  and  five  thousand 
of  silver.  By  this  means,  therefore,  the  priests  and  the  Levites,  and  a  cer- 
tain  part  of  the  entire  people  of  the  Jews  that  were  in  Babylon,  came  and 
dwelt  in  Jerusalem,  but  the  rest  of  the  multitude  returned  everyone  to  their  own 
countries. 

*  This  strange  reading  in  Josephus's  present  copies,  of 4,000,000  instead  of  40,000,  is  one  of  the  gros- 
sn?t  errors  that  is  in  them,  and  ought  to  be  corrected  from  Ezra,  ii.  64  ;  1  Esd.  v.  40,  and  Neh.  vii.  66,  who 
all  a^ree  the  general  sum  was  about  42,360.  It  is  also  very  plain,  that  Josephns  thought  tliat  when  Es- 
dnis  afterwards  brought  up  another  company  out  of  Babylon  and  Persia,  in  the  days  of  Xerxes,  they  wero 
alM),  as  well  as  these,  out  of  the  two  tribes,  and  out  of  them  only,  and  were  in  all  no  more  tlian  a  seed,  and 
a  lemnant,  while  an  immense  iiwrnier  of  the  ten  tribes  never  returned,  but  as  he  believed,  continued  them 
beyond  the  Euphrates,  ch.  v.  ^2,3.  Of  which  nuiltitude  of  Jews  beyond  Euphrates  he  speaks  frequently 
elsewhere,  tliough  by  the  way,  he  never  makes  them  to  be  idolaters,  but  looks  on  them  still  as  observers 
of  the  laws  of  IVloses.  The  certain  p(irt  of  the  people  that  now  came  up  from  Babylon,  at  the  end  of 
this  charter,  imply  the  smallest  number  of  Jews  ti;at  now  came  up,  and  will  no  way  agree  with  the 
4,00l),000. 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


CHAP.  IV. 


367 


How  the  Temple  was  built,  while  the  Cutheans  endeavored  in  vain  to  obstruct  the 

Work. 

§  1.  Now  in  the  seventh  month,  after  they  were  departed  out  of  Babylon,  both 
Jeshua  the  high  priest,  and  Zorobabel  the  governor,  sent  messengers  every  where 
round  about,  and  gathered  those  that  were  in  the  country  together  to  Jerusalem 
universally,  who  came  very  gladly  thither.  He  then  built  the  altar  on  the  same 
place  it  had  formerly  been  built,  that  they  might  offer  the  appointed  sacrifices 
upon  it  to  God,  according  to  the  laws  of  Moses.  But  wliile  they  did  this,  they 
did  not  please  the  neighbouring  nations,  who  all  of  them  bare  an  ill  will  to  them. 
They  also  celebrated  the  feast  of  tabernacles  at  that  time,  as  the  legislator  liad 
ordained  concerning  it ;  and  after  they  offered  sacrifices,  and  what  were  called 
the  daily  sacrifices,  and  the  oblations  proper  for  the  Sabbaths,  and  for  all  the  iiolv 
festivals.  Those  also  that  had  made  vows  performed  them,  and  oflered  their  sa- 
crifices,  from  the  first  day  of  the  seventh  month.  They  also  be^an  to  build, the 
temple,  and  gave  a  great  deal  of  money  to  the  masons  and  to  the  carpenters,  and 
what  was  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  the  workmen.  The  Sidonians  also 
were  very  willing  and  ready  to  bring  the  cedar  trees  from  Libanus,  to  bi:;d  theni 
together,  and  to  make  a  united  float  of  them,  and  to  bring  them  to  the  port  of  Jop- 
pa  :  for  that  was  what  Cyrus  had  commanded  at  first,  and  what  was  now  done  at 
the  command  of  Darius. 

2.  In  the  second  year  of  their  coming  to  Jerusalem,  as  the  Jews  were  there  in 
the  second  month,  the  building  of  the  temple  went  on  apace  ;  and  when  they  had 
laid  its  fwmdations,  on  the  first  day  of  the  second  month  of  that  second  year,  they 
set,  as  overseers  of  the  work,  such  Levites  as  were  full  twenty  years  old,  and  Je- 
shua and  his  sons  and  brethren,  and  Cadmiel  the  brother  of  Judas,  the  son  of 
Aminadab,  with  his  sons  ;  and  the  temple,  by  the  great  diligence  of  those  that  had 
the  care  of  it,  was  finished  sooner  than  any  one  would  have  expected.  And  when 
the  temple  was  finished,  the  priests,  adorned  with  their  accustomed  garments, 
stood  with  their  trumpets,  while  the  Levites,  and  the  sons  of  Asaph,  stood  and 
sung  hymns  to  God,  according  as  David  first  of  all  appointed  them  to  bless  God. 
Now  the  priests  and  Levites,  and  the  elder  part  of  the  families,  recollecting  with 
themselves  how  much  greater  and  more  sumptuous  the  old  temple  had  been,  see. 
ing  that  now  made  how  much  inferior  it  was,  on  account  of  their  poverty,  to  that 
which  had  been  built  of  old,  considered  with  themselves  how  much  their  happy 
state  was  sunk  below  what  it  had  been  of  old,  as  well  as  their  temple.  Hereupon 
thev  were  disconsolate,  and  not  able  to  contain  their  grief,  and  proceeded  so  far 
as  to  lament  and  shed  tears  on  those  accounts;  but  the  people  in  general  were 
contented  with  their  present  condition,  and  because  they  were  allowed  to  buikl 
them  a  temple,  they  desired  no  more,  and  neither  regarded  nor  remembered,  nor 
indeed  at  all  tormented  themselves  Avith  the  comparison  of  that  and  the  former 
temple,  as  if  this  were  below  their  expectations  ;  but  the  wailing  of  the  old  men 
and  of  the  priests,  on  account  of  tiie  deficiency  of  this  temple,  in  tiicir  opinion, 
if  compared  with  that  which  had  been  demoHshed,  overcame  the  sounds  of  the 
trumpets,  and  the  rejoicing  of  the  people. 

3.  But  when  the  Samaritans,  who  were  still  enemies  to  the  tribes  of  Judah  and 
Benjamin,  heard  the  sound  of  the  trumpets,  they  came  running  together,  and  de- 
eircd  to  know  what  was  tlie  occasion  of  this  tumult ;  and  when  tliey  perceived  that 
it  was  from  the  Jews  who  had  been  carried  captive  to  Babylon,  and  were  rebuil- 
ding  their  temple,  they  came  to  Zorobabel  and  to  Jeshua,  and  to  the  heads  of  the 
families,  and  desired  that  they  would  give  them  leave  to  build  the  temple  with 
them,  and  to  be  partners  with  them  in  building  it ;  for  they  said,  "  We  worship 
their  God,  and  especially  pray  to  him,  and  are  desirous  of  their  reUgious  settle- 


3QJ5  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Xt. 

ment,  and  this  ever  since  Shalmanezar,  the  king  of  Assyria,  transplanted  us  out 
of  Cuthah  and  Media  to  this  place."  When  they  said  thus,  Zorobabel,  and  Je- 
shua  the  high  priest,  and  the  heads  of  the  families  of  the  Israelites,  replied  to 
them,  tliat  "  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  permit  them  to  be  their  partners,  whilst 
thev  [only]  had  been  appointed  to  build  that  temple  at  first  by  Cyrus,  and  now  by 
Darius,  although  it  was  indeed  lawful  for  them  to  come  and  worship  there  if  they 
pleased,  and  that  they  could  allow  them  nothing  but  that  in  common  with  then;t, 
which  was  common  to  them  with  all  other  men,  to  come  to  their  temple  and  wur- 
sliip  God  there." 

4.  When  the  Cutheans  heard  this,  for  the  Samaritans  have  that  appellation, 
they  had  indignation  at  it,  and  persuaded  the  nations  of  Syria  to  desire  of  the  go- 
vernors,  in  tlie  same  manner  as  they  had  done  formerly  in  the  days  of  Cyrus,  and 
again  in  the  days  of  Cambyses  afterwards,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  building  of  the  tem- 
ple, and  to  endeavour  to  delay  and  protract  the  Jews  in  their  zeal  about  it.  Now 
at  tliis  time  Sisinnes,  the  governor  of  Sj'ria  and  Phoenicia,  and  Sathrabuzanes, 
wiili  certam  others,  came  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  asked  the  rulers  of  the  Jews,  "  By 
w'.iose  grant  it  was  that  they  built  the  temple  in  this  manner,  since  it  was  more 
Hke  to  a  citadel  than  a  temple;  and  for  what  reason  it  was  that  they  bliilt  clois- 
ters and  walls,  and  those  strong  ones  too,  about  the  city  V  To  which  Zorobabel 
and  Jeshua  the  high  priest  replied,  "  Tliat  they  were  the  servants  of  God  Al- 
mighty ;  that  this  temple  was  built  for  him  by  a  king  of  theirs,  that  lived  in  great 
prosperity,  and  one  that  exceeded  all  men  in  virtue,  and  that  it  continued  a  long 
time,  but  that,  because  of  their  fathers'  impiety  towards  God,  Nebuchadnezzar, 
king  of  the  Babylonians  and  of  the  Chaldeans,  took  their  city  by  force,  and  de- 
stroyed it,  and  pillaged  the  temple,  and  burnt  it  down,  and  transplanted  the  people 
whom  he  had  made  captives,  and  removed  them  to  Babylon ;  that  Cyrus,  who, 
after  him,  was  king  of  Babylonia  and  Persia,  wrote  to  them  to  build  tlie  temple, 
and  committed  the  gifts  and  vessels,  and  whatsoever  Nebuchadnezzar  had  carried 
out  of  it,  to  Zorobabel  and  Mithridates  the  treasurer ;  and  gave  order  to  have  them 
carried  to  Jerusalem,  and  to  have  them  restored  to  their  own  temple,  when  it  was 
built;  for  he  had  sent  to  them  to  have  that  done  speedily,  and  commanded  Sana- 
bassar  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  to  take  care  of  the  building  of  the  temple,  who, 
upon  receiving  that  epistle  from  Cyrus,  came,  and  immediately  laid  its  founda- 
tions :  and  although  it  had  been  in  building  from  that  time  to  this,  it  hath  not  yet 
been  finished,  by  reason  of  the  malignity  of  our  enemies.  If,  therefore,  you  have 
a  mind,  and  think  it  proper,  write  this  account  to  Daiius,  that  when  he  hath  con- 
sulted the  records  of  the  kings,  he  may  find  that  we  have  told  you  nothing  that 
is  false  about  this  matter." 

5.  When  Zorobabel  and  the  high  priest  had  made  this  answer,  Sisinnes,  and 
those  that  were  with  him,  did  not  resolve  to  hinder  the  building,  until  thev  hid 
informed  king  Darius  of  all  this.  So  they  immediately  wrote  to  him  about  these 
affairs  ;  but  as  the  Jews  were  now  under  terror,  and  afraid  lest  the  king  should 
change  his  resolution  as  to  the  building  of  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  temple,  there 
were  two  prophets  at  the  time  among  them,  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  who  encou- 
raged them,  and  bid  them  be  of  good  cheer,  and  to  suspect  no  discouragement 
from  the  Persians,  for  that  God  foretold  this  to  them.  So,  in  dependance  on  those 
prophets,  they  app  ied  themselves  earnestly  to  building,  and  did  not  intermit  one 
day. 

6.  Now  Darius,  when  the  Samaritans  had  written  to  him,  and  in  their  epistle  had 
accused  the  Jev.s,  how  they  fortified  the  city,  and  built  the  temple  more  like  to  a 
citadel  than  to  a  temple,  and  said,  that  their  doings  were  not  expedient  for  the 
king's  afliiirs,  and  besides,  they  showed  the  epistle  of  Cambyses,  wherein  he 
forbade  them  to  build  the  temple  ;  and  when  Darius  thereby  understood  that  the 
restoration  of  Jerusalem  was  not  expedient  for  his  affairs,  and  when  he  had  read 
the  epistle  that  was  brought  him  from  Sisinnes  and  those  that  were  with  him,  he 
gave  order  that  what  concerned  these  matters  should  be  sought  for  among  the 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


369 


royal  records.  Whereupon  a  book  was  found  at  Ecbatana,  in  the  tower  that  was 
in  Media,  wherein  was  written  as  follows  :  "  Cyrus  the  king,  in  the  first  year  of 
his  reign,  commanded  tliat  the  temple  should  be  built  in  Jerusalem  ;  and  the  altar: 
in  height  threescore  cubits,  and  in  breadth  of  the  same,  with  three  edifices  of 
polished  stone,  and  one  edifice  of  stone  of  their  own  country ;  and  he  ordained 
that  the  expenses  of  it  should  be  paid  out  of  the  king's  revenue.  He  also  com- 
manded that  the  vessels,  which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  pillaged  [out  of  the  temple,] 
and  had  carried  to  Babylon,  should  be  restored  to  the  people  of  Jerusalem  ;  and 
that  the  care  of  these  things  should  belong  to  Sanabassar,  the  governor  and  pre- 
sident  of  Syria  and  Phoenicia,  and  to  his  associates,  that  they  may  not  meddle  with 
that  place,  but  may  permit  the  servants  of  God,  the  Jews  and  their  rulers,  to  build 
the  temple.  He  also  ordained  that  they  should  a.ssist  him  in  the  work,  and  that 
they  should  pay  to  the  Jews,  out  of  the  tribute  of  the  country  where  they  were 
governors,  on  account  of  the  sacrifices,  bulls  and  rams,  and  lambs,  and  kids  of 
the  goats,  and  fine  flour,  and  oil,  and  wine,  and  all  other  things  that  the  priests 
should  suggest  to  them  ;  and  that  they  should  pray  for  the  preservation  of  the  kinf^, 
and  of  the  Persians ;  and  that  for  such  as  transgressed  any  of  these  orders  thus 
sent  to  them,  he  commanded  that  they  should  be  caught,  and  hung  upon  a  cross, 
and  their  substance  confiscated  to  the  king's  use.  He  also  prayed  to  God  against 
them,  that  if  any  one  attempted  to  hinder  the  building  of  the  temple,  God  would 
strike  him  dead,  and  thereby  restrain  his  wickedness." 

7.  When  Darius  had  found  this  book  among  the  records  of  Cyrus,  he  wrote 
an  answer  to  Sisinnes  and  his  associates,  who.se  contents  were  these  :  "  King 
Darius  to  Sisinnes  the  governor,  and  to  Sathrabuzanes,  sendeth  greeting  :  Having 
found  a  copy  of  this  epistle  among  the  records  of  Cyrus,  I  have  sent  it  to  vou  ; 
and  I  will  that  all  things  be  done  as  is  therein  written.  Fare  ye  well."  So  when 
Sisinnes,  and  those  that  were  with  him,  understood  the  intention  of  the  kino-,  thev 
resolved  to  follow  his  directions  entirely  for  the  time  to  come.  So  they  forwarded 
the  sacred  works,  and  assisted  the  elders  of  the  Jews  and  the  princes  of  the  san- 
hedrim  :  and  the  structure  of  the  temple  was  with  great  diligence  brought  to  a 
conclusion,  by  the  prophecies  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  according  to  God's  com- 
mands, and  by  the  injunctions  of  Cyrus  and  Darius  the  king.  Now  the  temple 
was  built  in  seven  years'  time:  and  in  the  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of  Darius,  on 
the  twenty-third  day  of  the  twelfth  month,  Avhich  is  by  us  called  Adur,  but  by  the 
Macedonians  Dystrus,  the  priests  and  the  Levites,  and  the  other  multitude  of  the 
Israelites,  ofTered  sacrifices,  as  the  renovation  of  their  former  prosperity  after  their 
captivity,  and  because  they  had  now  the  temple  rebuilt,  a  hundred  bulls,  two  hun- 
dred rams,  four  hundred  lambs,  and  twelve  kids  of  the  goats,  according  to  the 
number  of  their  tribes  (for  so  many  are  the  tribes  of  the  Israelites,)  and  this  last 
for  the  sins  of  every  tribe.  The  priests  also  and  the  Levites  set  the  porters  at 
every  gate,  according  to  the  laws  of  Moses.  The  Jews  also  built  the  cloisters  of 
the  inner  temple,  that  were  round  about  the  temple  itself. 

8.  And  as  tlie  feast  of  unleavened  bread  was  at  iiand,  in  the  first  months,  which, 
according  to  the  Macedonians,  is  called  Xanlhicns :  but  according  to  us  Nisan, 
all  the  people  ran  together  out  of  the  village  to  the  city,  and  celebrated  the  festi- 
val,  having  purified  themselves,  with  their  wives  and  children,  according  to  the 
law  of  their  country;  and  they  offered  the  sacrifice  which  was  called  the  Pas- 
sover, on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  same  month,  and  feasted  seven  days,  and  spared 
for  no  cost,  but  offered  whole  burnt-offerings  to  God,  and  performed  sacrifices  of 
thanksgiving,  because  God  had  led  them  again  to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  to 
the  laws  thereto  belonging,  and  had  rendered  the  mind  of  the  king  of  Persia  fa- 
vourable to  them.  So  these  men  offered  the  largest  sacrifices  on  these  accounts, 
and  used  great  magnificence  in  the  worship  of  God,  and  dwelt  in  Jerusalem,  and 
made  use  of  a  form  of  government  that  was  aristocratical,  but  mi.\ed  with  an 
oligarchy,  for  the  high  priests  were  at  the  hoad  of  their  affairs,  nntil  the  posterity, 
of  the  Asamoneans  set  up  kingly  government;  tor  before  their  captivity,  and  the 

VOL.  I.  3  A 


370  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XI. 

dissolution  of  their  polity,  they  at  first  had  kingly  government  from  Saul  and 
David,  for  five  hundred  thirty-two  years,  six  months,  and  ten  days ;  but  before 
those  kings,  such  rulers  governed  them  as  were  called  Judges  and  Monarchs. 
Under  this  form  of  government  they  continued  for  more  than  five  hundred  years 
after  the  death  of  Moses,  and  of  Joshua  their  commander.  And  this  is  the  ac- 
count I  had  to  give  of  the  Jews  who  had  been  carried  into  captivity,  but  were 
delivered  from  it  in  the  times  of  Cyrus  and  Darius. 

9.*  But  the  Samaritans,  being  evil  and  enviously  disposed  to  the  Jews,  wrought 
them  many  mischiefs,  by  reliance  on  their  riches,  and  by  their  pretence  that  they 
were  allied  to  the  Persians,  on  account  that  thence  they  came  ;  and  whatsoever 
it  was  that  they  were  enjoined  to  pay  the  Jews  by  the  king's  order  out  of  their 
tributes,  for  the  sacrifices,  they  would  not  pay  it.  They  had  also  the  governors 
favourable  to  them,  and  assisting  them  for  that  purpose ;  nor  did  they  spare  to 
hurt  them,  either  by  themselves  or  by  others,  as  far  as  they  v/ere  able.  So  the 
Jews  determined  to  send  an  embassage  to  king  Darius,  in  favour  of  the  people  of 
Jerusalem,  and  in  order  to  accuse  the  Samaritans.  The  ambassadors  were  Zoro- 
babel,  and  four  others  of  the  rulers ;  and  as  soon  as  the  king  knew  from  the  am- 
bassadors the  accusations  and  complaints  they  brought  against  the  Samaritans,  he 
gave  them  an  epistle  to  be  carried  to  the  governors  and  council  of  Samaria.  The 
contents  of  which  epistle  were  these  :  "  King  Darius  to  Tanganas  and  Sambabas, 
the  governors  of  the  Samaritans,  to  Sadraces  and  Bobelo,  and  the  rest  of  their 
fellow  servants  that  are  in  Samaria :  Zorobabel,  Ananias,  and  Mordecai,  the  am- 
bassadors of  the  Jews,  complain  of  you,  that  you  obstruct  them  in  the  building 
of  the  temple,  and  do  not  supply  them  with  the  expenses  which  I  commanded  you 
to  do  for  the  offering  their  sacrifices.  My  will,  therefore,  is  this :  that,  upon  the 
reading  of  this  epistle,  you  supply  them  with  whatsoever  they  Avant  for  their  sa- 
crifices,  and  that  out  of  the  royal  treasury,  of  the  tributes  of  Samaria,  as  the  priest 
shall  desire,  that  they  may  not  leave  off  offering  their  daily  sacrifices,  nor  praying 
to  God  for  me  and  the  Persians."     And  these  were  the  contents  of  that  epistle. 


CHAP.  V. 


H(yw  Xerxes,  the  Son  of  Darius,  was  well  disposed  to  tlie  Jews :  as  aha  concerning 

Esdras  and  Nehemiah. 

&  1.  Upo?t  the  death  of  Darius,  Xerxes  his  son  took  the  kingdom,  who,  as  he 
inherited  his  father's  kingdom,  so  did  he  inherit  his  piety  towards  God,  and  honour 
of  him;  for  he  did  all  things  suitably  to  his  tather  relating  to  divine  worship,  and 
he  was  exceeding  friendly  to  the  Jews.  Now  about  this  time,  a  son  of  Jeshua, 
whose  name  was  Joacim,  was  the  high  priest.  Moreover,  there  was  now  in  Ba- 
bylon a  righteous  man,  and  one  that  enjoyed  a  great  reputation  among  the  mul- 
titude  :  he  was  the  principal  priest  of  the  people,  and  his  name  was  Esdras.  He 
was  very  skilful  in  the  laws  of  Moses,  and  was  well  acquainted  with  king  Xerxes. 
He  had  determined  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  to  take  with  him  some  of  those 
Jews  that  were  in  Babylon ;  and  he  desired  that  the  king  would  give  him  an 
epistle  to  the  governors  of  Syria,  by  which  they  might  know  who  he  was.  Ac. 
cordingly  the  king  wrote  the  following  epistle  to  those  governors  :  "Xerxes,  king 
of  kings,  to  Ezra  the  priest,  and  reader  of  the  divine  law,  greeting  :  I  think  it 
agreeable  to  that  love  which  I  bear  to  mankind,  to  permit  those  of  the  Jewish  na- 
tion who  are  so  disposed,  as  well  as  those  of  the  priests  and  Levites  that  are  in 
our  kingdom,  to  go  together  to  Jerusalem.  Accordingly  I  have  given  command 
for  that  purpose ;  and  let  every  one  that  hath  a  mind  to  go,  according  as  it  hath 
seemed  good  to  me  and  to  my  seven  counsellors ;  and  this  in  order  to  their  re- 

•  The  history  contained  in  this  section  is  entirely  wanting  in  all  our  copies,  both  of  Ezra  and  Esdras. 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  371 

view  of  the  affairs  of  Judea,  to  see  whether  they  be  agreeable  to  the  law  of  God. 
Let  them  also  take  with  them  those  presents  which  I  and  my  friends  have  vowed, 
with  all  that  silver  and  gold  which  is  found  in  tlie  country  of  the  Babylonians,  as 
dedicated  to  God ;  and  let  all  this  be  carried  to  Jerusalem,  to  God  for  sacrifices. 
Let  it  also  be  lawful  for  thee  and  thy  brethren,  to  make  as  many  vessels  of  silver 
and  gold  as  thou  pleasest.  Thou  shalt  also  dedicate  those  holy  vessels  which 
have  been  given  thee,  and  as  many  more  as  thou  hast  a  mind  to  make,  and  shalt 
take  the  expenses  out  of  tlie  king's  treasury.  I  have  moreover  written  to  the 
treasurers  of  Syria  and  Phoenicia,  that  they  take  care  of  those  affairs  that  Esdras 
the  priest,  and  reader  of  the  laws  of  God,  is  sent  about.  And  tliat  God  may  not 
be  at  all  angry  with  me,  or  with  my  children,  I  grant  all  that  is  necessary  for  sa- 
crifices  to  God,  according  to  the  law,  as  far  as  a  hundred  cori  of  wheat.  And  I 
enjoin  you  not  to  lay  any  treacherous  imposition,  or  any  tributes,  upon  their  priests 
or  Levites,  or  sacred  singers,  or  porters,  or  sacred  servants,  or  scribes  of  tlie 
temple.  And  do  thou,  O  Esdras,  appoint  judges  according  to  the  wisdom  [given 
thee]  of  God,  and  those  such  as  understand  the  law,  that  they  may  judge  in  all 
Syria  and  Phoenicia ;  and  do  thou  instruct  those  also  which  are  ignorant  of  it, 
that  if  any  one  of  thy  countrymen  transgress  the  law  of  God,  or  that  of  the  king, 
he  may  be  punished,  as  not  transgressing  it  out  of  ignorance,  but  as  one  tliat 
knows  it  indeed,  but  boldly  despises  and  contemns  it;  and  such  may  be  punished 
by  death,  or  by  paying  fines.     Farewell." 

2.  When  Esdras  had  received  this  epistle,  he  was  very  joyful,  and  began  to 
Avorship  God,  and  confessed  that  he  had  been  the  cause  of  the  king's  great  fa- 
vour to  him,  and  that  for  the  same  reason  he  gave  all  the  thanks  to  God.  So  he 
read  the  epistle  at  Babylon  to  those  Jews  that  were  there ;  but  he  kept  the  epistle 
itself,  and  sent  a  copy  of  it  to  all  those  of  his  own  nation  that  were  in  Media. 
And  when  these  Jews  had  understood  what  piety  the  king  had  towards  God,  and 
what  kindness  he  had  for  Esdras,  they  were  all  greatly  pleased ;  nay,  many  of 
them  took  their  effects  with  them,  and  came  to  Babylon,  as  very  desirous  of  going 
down  to  Jerusalem ;  but  then  the  entire  body  of  the  people  of  Israel  remained  in 
that  country,  wherefore  there  are  but  two  tribes  in  Asia  and  Europe  subject  to 
the  Romans,  while  the  ten  tribes  are  beyond  Euphrates  till  now,  and  are  an  im- 
mense  multitude,  and  not  to  be  estimated  by  numbers.  Now  there  came  a  great 
number  of  priests,  and  Levites,  and  porters,  and  sacred  singers,  and  sacred  ser- 
vants, to  Esdras.  So  he  gathered  those  that  were  in  the  captivity  together  beyond 
Euphrates,  and  stayed  there  three  days,  and  ordained  a  fast  for  them,  that  they 
might  make  their  prayers  to  God  for  their  preservation,  that  they  might  suffer  no 
misfortunes  by  the  way,  either  from  their  enemies  or  from  any  other  ill  accident ; 
for  Esdras  had  said  beforehand,  that  he  had  told  the  king  how  God  would  preserve 
them,  and  so  he  had  not  thought  fit  to  request  that  he  would  send  horsemen  to 
conduct  them.  So  when  they  had  finished  their  prayers,  they  removed  from  Eu- 
phrates,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  the  first  month  of  the  seventh  year  of  the  reign  of 
Xerxes,  and  they  came  to  Jerusalem  on  the  fifth  month  of  the  same  year.  Now 
Esdras  presented  the  sacred  money  to  tlie  treasurers,  who  were  of  the  family  of 
tJie  priests  ;  of  silver  six  hundred  and  fifty  talents,  vessels  of  silver  one  hundred 
talents,  vessels  of  gold  twenty  talents,  vessels  of  brass,  that  were  more  precious 
than  gold,*  twelve  talents  by  weight ;  for  these  ])rescnts  had  been  made  by  the 
king  and  his  counsellors,  and  by  all  the  Israelites  that  stayed  at  Babylon.  So 
when  Esdras  had  delivered  these  things  to  the  priests,  he  gave  to  God,  as  the  ap. 
pointed  sacrifices  of  whole  burnt  ofleiings,  twelve  bulls,  on  account  of  the  com. 
mon  preservation  of  the  people,  ninety  rams,  seventy-two  lamb.s,  and  twelve  kids 
of  the  goats,  for  the  remission  of  sins.  He  also  delivered  the  king's  epistle  to 
the  king's  officers,  and  to  the  governors  of  Celesyria  and  Phoenicia  ;  and  as  they 

*  Dr.  Hudson  takes  notice  liere,  tliat  this  kind  of  brass  or  copper,  or  ratiier  ini.\ture  of  gold  and  Iirass 
or  copper,  was  called  aurkhalcum,  and  that  this  was  of  old  esteemed  the  most  precious  of  all  ineials 

3  A2 


372  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XL 

were  under  the  necessity  of  doing  what  was  enjoined  by  him,  they  honoured  our 
nation,  and  were  assistant  to  them  in  all  their  necessities. 

3.  Now  these  things  were  truly  done  under  the  conduct  of  Esdras,  and  he  suc- 
ceeded in  them,  because  God  esteemed  him  worthy  of  the  success  of  his  conduct, 
on  account  of  his  goodness  and  righteousness  :  but  some  time  afterward  there 
came  some  persons  to  him,  and  they  brought  an  accusation  against  certain  of 
tlie  multitude,  and  of  the  priests  and  Levites,  who  had  transgressed  their  settle, 
nient,  and  dissolved  the  laws  of  their  country,  by  marrying  strange  wives,  and  had 
brought  the  family  of  the  priests  into  confusion.  These  persons  desired  him  to 
support  the  laws,  lest  God  should  take  up  a  general  anger  against  them  all,  and 
reduce  them  to  a  calamitous  condition  again.  Hereupon  he  rent  his  garment 
immediately,  out  of  grief,  and  pulled  ofli'the  hair  of  his  head  and  beard,  and  cast 
himself  upon  the  ground,  because  this  crime  had  reached  the  principal  men  among 
the  people,  and  considering  that  if  he  should  enjoin  them  to  cast  out  their  wives, 
and  the  children  they  had  by  them,  he  should  not  be  hearkened  to,  he  continued 
lying  upon  the  ground.  However,  all  the  better  sort  came  running  to  him,  who 
also  themselves  wept,  and  partook  of  the  grief  he  was  under  for  what  had  been 
done.  So  Esdras  rose  up  from  the  ground,  and  stretched  out  his  hands  towards 
heaven,  and  said,  that  "  he  was  ashamed  to  look  towards  it,  because  of  the  sins 
which  the  people  had  committed,  while  they  had  cast  out  of  tb.eir  memories  what 
their  fathers  had  undergone  on  account  of  their  wickedness  ;  and  he  besought 
God,  who  had  saved  a  seed  and  a  remnant  out  of  the  calamity  and  captivity  they 
had  been  in,  and  had  restored  them  again  to  Jerusalem,  and  to  their  own  land, 
and  had  obliged  the  kings  of  Persia  to  have  compassion  on  them,  that  he  would 
also  forgive  them  their  sins  they  had  now  committed,  which,  though  they  deser- 
ved death,  yet  it  was  agreeable  to  the  mercy  of  God  to  remit  even  to  these  the 
punishment  due  to  them." 

4.  After  Esdras  had  said  this,  he  left  off  praying  ;  and  when  all  those  that  came 
to  him  with  their  wives  and  children  were  under  lamentation,  one  whose  name 
was  Jechonias,  a  principal  man  in  Jerusalem,  came  to  him  and  said,  that  they 
had  sinned  in  marrying  strange  wives  ;  and  he  persuaded  him  to  adjure  them  all 
to  cast  those  wives  out,  and  the  children  born  of  them,  and  that  those  should  be 
punished  who  would  not  obey  the  law.  So  Esdras  hearkened  to  this  advice,  and 
made  the  heads  of  the  priests  and  of  the  Levites,  and  of  the  Israelites,  swear  that 
they  would  put  away  those  wives  and  children,  according  to  the  advice  of  Jecho- 
nias. And  when  he  had  received  their  oaths,  he  went  in  haste  out  of  the  temple, 
into  the  chamber  of  Johanan,  the  son  Eliasib,  and  as  he  had  hitherto  tasted  no- 
thing  at  all  for  grief,  so  he  abode  there  that  day.  And  when  proclamation  was 
made,  that  all  those  of  the  captivity  should  gather  themselves  together  to  Jerusa- 
lem, and  that  those  that  did  not  meet  there  in  two  or  three  days  should  be  ba- 
nished from  'he  multitude,  and  that  their  substance  should  be  appropriated  to  the 
uses  of  the  temple,  according  to  the  sentence  of  the  elders,  those  that  were  of  the 
tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin  came  together  in  three  days,  viz.  on  the  twentieth 
day  of  the  ninth  month,  which,  according  to  the  Hebrews,  is  called  Tebeth,  and 
according  to  the  Macedonians,  Apelleus.  Now,  as  they  were  sitting  in  the  up- 
per  room  of  the  temple,  where  the  elders  also  were  present,  but  were  uneasy  be- 
cause of  the  cold,  Esdras  stood  up,  and  accused  them,  and  told  them  they  had 
sinned  in  marrying  wives  that  were  not  of  their  own  nation  ;  but  that  now  they 
would  do  a  thing  both  pleasing  to  God  and  advantageous  to  themselves,  if  they 
would  put  those  wives  away.  Accordingly,  they  all  cried  out,  that  "  they  would  do 
so.  That,  however,  the  multitude  was  great,  and  that  the  season  of  the  year  was 
winter,  and  that  this  work  would  require  more  than  one  or  two  days.  Let  their 
rulers,  therefore  [said  they,]  and  those  that  have  married  strange  wives,  come 
hither  at  proper  time,  while  the  elders  of  every  place,  that  are  in  common  to  es. 
timate  the  number  of  those  that  have  thus  married,  are  to  be  there  abo.    Accor- 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  373 

dingly  this  was  resolved  on  by  them  ;  and  they  began  the  inquiry  after  those  that 
had  married  strange  wives  on  the  first  day  ofthe  tenth  montli,  and  continued  the 
inquiry  to  the  first  day  of  the  next  month,  and  Ibuud  a  great  many  of  tiie  pciste- 
rity  of  Jeshua  the  high  priest,  and  of  the  priests  and  Lcvites,  and  Israehtes,  who 
had  a  greater  regard  to  the  observation  of  tlie  law  than  to  their  natural  affection, 
and  immediately  cast  out  their  wives,  and  the  children  which  were  born  of  them.* 
And  in  order  to  appease  God,  they  offered  sacrifices,  and  slew  rams,  as  oblations 
to  him  ;  but  it  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  necessary  to  set  down  the  names  of 
these  men.  So  when  Esdras  had  reformed  this  sin  about  the  marriages  of  the 
forementioned  persons,  he  reduced  that  practice  to  purity,  so  that  it  continued  in 
that  state  for  the  time  to  come. 

5.  Now  when  they  kept  the  feast  of  tabernaclest  in  the  seventh  month, 
and  almost  all  the  people  were  come  together  to  it,  they  went  up  to  the  open  part 
of  tbe  temple,  to  the  gate  which  looked  eastward,  and  desired  of  Esdras  that  the 
laws  of  Moses  might  be  read  to  them.  Accordingly  he  stood  in  the  midst  of  the 
multitude  and  read  them ;  and  this  he  did  from  morning  to  noon.  Now  by  hear- 
ing the  laws  read  to  them,  they  were  instructed  to  be  righteous  .men  for  the  pre- 
sent and  for  the  future  ;  but  as  for  their  past  oftences  they  were  displeased  at 
themselves,  and  proceeded  to  shed  tears  on  their  account,  as  considering  whh 
themselves,  that  if  they  had  kept  the  law,  they  had  endured  none  of  these  mise- 
ries which  they  had  experienced.  But  when  Esdras  saw  them  in  this  disposition, 
he  bade  them  go  home,  and  not  weep,  for  that  it  was  a  festival,  and  that  they 
ought  not  to  weep  thereon,  for  that  it  was  not  lawful  so  to  do.lj:  He  exhorted  them 
rather  to  proceed  immediately  to  feasting,  and  to  do  what  was  suitable  to  a  feast, 
and  what  was  agreeable  to  a  day  of  joy,  but  to  let  their  repentance  and  sorrow 
for  their  former  sins  be  a  security  and  a  guard  to  them,  that  they  fell  no  more 
into  the  like  oftences.  So  upon  Esdras'  exhortation  they  began  to  feast ;  and 
when  they  had  so  done  for  eight  days  in  their  tabernacles,  they  departed  to  their 
own  homes,  singing  hymns  to  God,  and  I'eturning  thanks  to  Esdras,  for  his  refor- 
mation of  what  corruptions  had  been  introduced  into  their  settlement.  So  it  came 
to  pass,  that  after  he  had  obtained  this  reputation  among  the  people,  he  died  an 
old  man,  and  was  buried  in  a  magnificent  manner  at  Jerusalem.  About  the  same 
time  it  happened  also,  that  Joacim  the  high  priest  died  ;  and  his  son  of  Eliasib 
succeeded  in  the  high  priesthood. 

G.  Now  there  was  one  of  those  Jews  that  had  been  carried  captive,  who  was 
cupbearer  to  king  Xerxes;  his  name  was  Nehemiah.  As  this  man  was  walking 
before  Susa,  tlie  metropolis  of  the  Persians,  he  heard  some  strangers  that  were 
entering  the  city  after  a  long  journey,  speaking  to  one  another  in  the  Hebrew 
tongue ;  so  he  went  to  them,  and  asked  them  whence  they  came.  And  when 
their  answer  was,  that  they  came  from  Judca,  he  began  to  enquire  of  them  again 
in  what  .state  the  multitude  was,  and  in  what  condition  Jerusalem  was.  And  wiien 
they  replied  that  they  were  in  a  bad  state,  for  that  their  walls  were  thrown  down 
to  the  ground,  and  that  the  neighbouring  nations  did  a  great  deal  of  mischief  to 
the  Jews,  while  in  the  day  time  they  overran  the  country  and  pillaged  it,  and  in 
the  night  did  them  mischief,  inasmuch  that  not  a  few  were  led  away  captive  out 

*  This  procedure  of  Esdras,  and  of  the  best  part  of  the  Jewish  nation,  after  their  return  from  the  Ba- 
bylonish captivity,  of  reducing  the  Jewish  inarriacjes,  once  for  all,  to  the  strictness  of  the  law  of  Moses, 
without  any  regard  to  tiie  [greatness  of  tliose  wiio  had  broken  it,  and  without  regard  to  that  natural  atfcc- 
tion  ov  compassion  for  tlieir  heathen  wives  and  their  cliildren  I)y  thcui,  which  made  it  so  hard  for  Esdras 
to  correct  it,  deserves  greatly  to  be  observed  and  imitated  in  all  aflempis  for  reformation  ainon;;  Chris- 
tians, the  contrary  conduct  having  ever  been  the  bane  of  true  religion,  l)oth  among  Jews  and  Christians, 
while  political  views,  or  human  jiassions,  or  prudential  motives,  are  suffered  to  take  place  instead  of  the 
divine  laws,  as  so  the  blessing  of  (Jod  is  forfeited,  and  the  church  still  suffered  to  continue  corrupt  from 
one  generation  to  another.     Sec  chap.  viii.  sect.  2. 

t  This  .Jewish  feast  of  tabernacles  was  imitated  in  several  heathen  solemnities,  as  Ppanheim  here  ob- 
serves and  proves.  He  also  further  observes  presently,  what  great  regard  many  heathens  had  to  the  mo- 
numents of  their  forefathers,  as  Nehemiah  had  heie,  sect.  6. 

{  This  rule  of  Esdras,  not  to  fast  on  a  festival  day,  is  quoted  in  the  .\postoIica!  Constitutions,  B  v.  as 
obtaining  among  Christians  also. 


374  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XI. 

of  Jerusalem  itself,  and  that  the  roads  were  in  the  day  time  found  full  of  dead 
men*.  Hereupon  Nehemiah  shed  tears,  out  of  commiseration  of  the  calamities 
of  his  countrymen  ;  and  looking  up  to  heaven,  he  said,  "  How  long,  O  Lord,  wilt 
thou  overlook  our  nation,  while  it  suffers  so  great  miseries,  and  while  we  are 
made  the  prey  and  the  spoil  of  all  men  ?"  And  while  he  stayed  at  the  gate,  and 
lamented  thus,  one  told  him  that  the  king  was  going  to  sit  down  to  supper ;  so  he 
made  haste,  and  went  as  he  was,  without  washing  himself,  to  minister  to  the  king 
in  his  office  of  cupbearer.  But  as  the  king  was  very  pleasant  after  supper,  and 
more  cheerful  than  usual,  he  cast  his  eyes  on  Nehemiah,  and  seeing  him  look 
sad,  he  asked  him  why  he  was  sad.  Whereupon  he  prayed  to  God  to  give  him 
favour,  and  afford  him  the  power  of  persuading  by  his  words,  and  said,  "  How 
can  I,  O  king,  appear  otherwise  than  thus,  and  not  be  in  trouble,  while  I  hear 
that  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  the  city  where  are  the  sepulchres  of  my  fathers,  are 
thrown  down  to  the  ground,  and  that  its  gates  are  consumed  by  fire  ;  but  do  thou 
grant  me  the  favour  to  go  and  build  its  wall,  and  to  finish  the  building  of  the  tern- 
p!e."  Accordingly  the  king  gave  him  a  signal,  that  he  freely  granted  him  what 
he  asked,  and  told  him  that  he  should  carry  an  epistle  to  the  governors,  that  they 
might  pay  him  due  honour,  and  afford  him  whatsoever  assistance  he  wanted,  and 
as  he  pleased.  "  Leave  off  thy  sorrow,  then  (said  the  king),  and  be  cheerful  in 
the  pert'ormance  of  thy  office  hereafter."  So  Nehemiah  worshiped  God,  and 
gave  the  king  thanks  for  his  promise,  and  cleared  up  his  sad  and  cloudy  counte- 
nance, by  the  pleasure  he  had  from  the  king's  promises.  Accordingly,  the  king 
called  for  him  the  next  day,  and  gave  him  an  epistle  to  be  carried  to  Adeus,  the 
governor  of  Syria,  and  Phoenicia,  and  Samai'ia ;  wherein  he  sent  to  him  to  pay 
due  honour  to  Nehemiah,  and  to  supply  him  with  what  he  wanted  for  his  building. 

7.  Now  when  he  was  come  to  Babylon,  and  had  taken  with  him  many  of  his 
countrymen,  who  voluntarily  followed  him,  he  came  to  Jerusalem  in  the  twenty 
and  fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  Xerxes.  And  when  he  had  shown  the  epistles  to 
Godjf  he  gave  them  to  Adeus,  and  to  the  other  governors.  He  also  called  toge- 
ther all  the  people  to  Jerusalem,  and  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  temple,  and  made 
the  following  speech  to  them :  "  You  know,  O  Jews,  that  God  hath  kept  our  fa- 
thers Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  mind  continually ;  and  for  the  sake  of 
their  righteousness  hath  not  left  ofi'  the  care  of  you :  indeed  he  hath  assisted  me 
m  gaining  this  authority  of  the  king  to  raise  up  our  wall  and  finish  what  is  want- 
ing of  the  temple.  I  desire  you,  therefore,  who  well  know  the  ill  will  our  neigh- 
bouring nations  bear  to  us,  and  that  when  they  once  are  made  sensible  that  we 
are  in  earnest  about  building,  they  will  come  upon  us,  and  contrive  many  ways 
of  obstructing  our  works,  that  you  will,  in  the  first  place,  put  your  trust  in  God, 
as  in  him  that  will  assist  us  against  their  hatred,  and  to  intermit  building  neither 
night  nor  day,  but  to  use  all  diligence,  and  to  hasten  on  the  work,  now  we  have 
this  especial  opportunity  for  it."  When  he  had  said  this,  he  gave  order  that  the 
rulers  should  measure  the  wall,  and  part  the  work  of  it  among  the  people,  accord- 
ing to  their  villages  and  cities,  as  every  one's  ability  should  require.  And  when 
he  had  added  this  promise,  that  he  himself,  with  his  servants,  would  assist  them, 
he  dissolved  the  assembly.  So  the  Jews  prepared  for  the  work  :  that  is  the  name 
they  are  called  by  from  the  day  that  they  came  up  from  Babylon,  which  is  taken 
from  the  tribe  of  Judah,  which  came  first  to  these  places;  and  thence  both  they 
and  the  country  gained  tliat  appellation. 

8.  But  noM',  wlien  the  An^.monites,  and  Moabites,  and  Samaritans,  and  all  that 

*  This  miserable  condition  of  the  Jews,  and  their  capital,  must  have  been  after  the  death  of  Esdras, 
their  former  governor,  and  beibre  Nehemiah  came  with  his  commission  to  build  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 
Nor  is  that  at  all  disagreeable  to  these  histories  in  Josephus,  since  Esdras  came  on  the  7th,  and  Nehemiah 
not  till  the  25th  of  Xer.xes,  at  the  interval  of  18  years.* 

f  This  showing  king  Xerxes'  epistles  to  God,  or  laying  them  open  before  God,  in  the  temple,  is  very 
likcMJie  laying  open  the  epistles  of  Sennacherib  before  him  also  byHezekiah,2  Kings,xix.  14;  Isa.  xxxvii, 
14  ;  although  this  last  was  for  a  memorial  to  put  iiim  in  mind  of  ilie  enemies,  in  order  to  move  that  divine 
compassion,  and  the  present  as  a  token  of  gratitude  for  mercies  already  received,  as  Havercamp  well  ob- 
serves on  this  )>lacc. 


C.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  375 

inhabited  Celesyria,  heard  that  the  building  went  on  apace,  they  took  it  heiniously, 
and  proceeded  to  lay  snares  for  them,  and  to  hinder  their  intentions.  'J'liey  also 
slew  many  of  the  Jews,  and  sought  how  they  might  destroy  Neheniiah  himself, 
by  hiring  some  of  the  foreigners  to  kill  him.  They  also  put  the  Jews  in  fear,  and 
disturbed  them,  and  spread  abroad  rumours,  as  if  many  nations  were  ready  to 
make  an  expedition  against  them,  by  which  means  they  were  harassed,  and  had 
almost  left  off  the  building.  But  none  of  these  things  could  deter  Nehemiah  from 
being  diligent  about  the  work  :  he  only  set  a  number  of  men  about  him  as  a 
guard  to  his  body,  and  so  unweariedly  persevered  therein,  and  was  insensible  of 
any  trouble,  out  of  his  desire  to  perfect  this  work.  And  thus  did  he  attentively, 
and  with  great  forecast,  take  care  of  his  own  safety,  not  that  he  feared  death, 
but  out  of  this  persuasion,  that  if  he  were  dead,  the  walls  for  his  citiz-ens  would 
never  be  raised.  He  also  gave  orders  that  the  builders  should  keep  their  ranks, 
and  have  their  armour  on  while  they  were  building.  Accordingly  the  mason  had 
his  sword  on,  as  well  as  he  that  brought  the  materials  for  building.  He  also  ap- 
pointed  that  their  shields  should  lie  very  near  them  ;  and  he  placed  trumpeters  at 
every  tive  hundred  feet,  and  charged  them,  that  if  their  enemies  appeared  they 
should  give  notice  of  it  to  the  people,  that  they  might  fight  in  their  armour,  and 
their  enemies  might  not  fall  upon  them  naked.  He  also  went  about  the  compass 
of  the  city  by  night,  being  never  discouraged,  neither  about  the  work  itself,  nor 
about  his  own  diet  and  sleep  ;  for  he  made  no  use  of  those  things  for  his  pleasure, 
but  out  of  necessity.  And  this  trouble  he  underwent  for  two  years  and  four 
months*;  for  in  so  long  a  time  was  the  wall  built,  in  the  twenty-ejghth  year  of 
the  reign  of  Xerxes,  in  the  ninth  month.  Now  when  the  walls  were  finished, 
Nehemiah  and  the  multitude  oflered  sacrifices  to  God  for  the  building  of  them, 
and  they  continued  in  feasting  eight  days.  However,  when  the  nations  which 
dwelt  in  Syria  heard  that  the  building  of  the  wall  was  finished,  they  had  indigna- 
tion at  it.  But  when  Nehemiah  saw  that  the  city  was  thin  of  people,  he  exhort- 
ed the  priests  and  the  Levites  that  they  would  leave  the  country,  and  remove 
themselves  to  the  city,  and  there  continue ;  and  he  built  them  houses  at  his  own 
expenses  ;  and  he  commanded  that  part  of  the  people  which  were  employed  in 
cultivating  the  land  to  bring  the  tithes  of  their  fruits  to  Jerusalem,  that  the 
priests  and  the  Levites,  having  whereof  they  might  live  perpetually,  might  not 
iCave  the  divine  worship ;  who  willingly  hearkened  to  the  constitutions  of  Nehe- 
miah, by  which  means  the  city  Jerusalem  came  to  be  fuller  of  people  than  it  was 
before.  So  when  Nehemiah  had  done  many  other  excellent  things,  and  things 
worthy  of  commendation,  in  a  glorious  manner,  he  came  to  a  great  age,  and  then 
died.  He  was  a  man  of  a  good  and  righteous  disposition,  and  very  ambhious  to 
make  his  own  nation  happy ;  and  he  hath  left  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  as  an  eternal 
monument  for  himself.    Now  this  was  done  in  the  days  of  Xerxes. 


CHAP.  VI. 

Concerning  Esther,-\  and  Mordecai  and  Ilaman  ;  and   hou\   in  the  reign  of 
Artaxerxes,  the  whole  Nation  of  the  Jews  was  in  danger  of  perishing. 

§  1.  After  the  death  of  Xerxes,  the  kingdom  came  to  be  transferred  to  his  son 
Cyrus,  whom  the  Greeks  called  Artaxerxes.     "When  this  man  had  obtained  the 

*  It  may  not  be  very  improper  to  remark  here,  with  what  an  unusual  accuracy  Jo?ephiis  determines 
these  years  of  Xerxes,  in  wliich  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  were  built,  viz  tiiat  Nehemiaii  came  with  his 
commission  in  the 25th  of  Xerxes;  that  the  walls  wore  two  years  four  months  in  building  ;  and  that  they 
were  finished  on  the  28th  of  Xerxes,  sect.  7,  3.  It  may  also  be  remarked  farther,  that  Joscphus  hardly 
ever  mentions  more  than  one  infallible  astronomical  character,  I  mean  an  echpsr  of  the  moon,  and  this 
a  little  before  the  death  of  Herod  the  Great,  Antiq.  15.  xvii.  ch.  vi.  sect.  4.  Now  on  these  twochronolop- 
cal  characters  in  a  great  measure  depend  some  of  the  most  important  points  belonging  to  Chnstianit)', 
viz  the  explication  of  Daniel's  70  weeks,  and  the  duration  of  our  .Sa%iour's  ministry,  and  the  tune  of  his 
death,  in  correspondence  to  those  70  weeks.  See  tiie  Supplemen:  to  the  Lit.  Accomp.  of  Proph.  p.  72. 

t  Since  some  sceptical  persons  are  willing  to  discard  this  book  of  Esther  as  no  true  history;  and  even 


370  ANTIQUITfES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XI. 

government  over  the  Persians,  the  whole  nation  of  the  Jews,  with  their  wives  and 
cliildren,  were  in  clanger  of  perishing  ;  the  occasion  whereof  we  shall  declare  in 
a  little  time  ;  for  it  is  proper,  in  the  tirst  place,  to  explain  somewhat  relating  to 
this  king,  and  how  he  came  to  many  a  Jewish  wite,  who  was  herself  of  the  royal 
family  also ;  and  who  is  related  to  have  saved  our  nation  ;  for  when  Artaxerxes 
had  taken  the  kingdom,  and  had  set  governors  over  the  hundred  and -twenty-seven 
pro^  hices,  from  India  even  unto  Ethiopia,  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  he  made 
a  costly  feast  for  his  friends,  and  for  the  nations  of  Persia,  and  for  their  gover- 
nors, such  a  one  as  was  proper  for  a  king  to  make,  when  he  had  a  mind  to  make 
a  public  demonstration  of  his  riches,  and  this  for  a  hundred  and  four-score  days  ; 
after  which  he  made  a  feast  for  other  nations,  and  for  their  ambassadors,  at  Shu- 
shan,  for  seven  days.  Now  this  feast  was  ordered  after  the  manner  following  : 
He  caused  a  tent  to  be  pitched,  which  was  supported  by  pillars  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver, with  curtains  of  linen  and  purple  spread  over  them,  that  it  might  afford  room 
ibr  many  ten  thousands  to  sit  down.  The  cups  with  which  the  waiters  ministered 
were  of  gold,  and  adorned  with  precious  stones,  for  pleasure  and  for  sight.  He 
also  gave  order  to  the  servants  that  they  should  not  force  them  to  drink,  by  bring- 
ing them  wine  continually,  as  is  the  practice  of  the  Persians,  but  to  permit  every 
one  of  the  guests  to  enjoy  himself  according  to  his  own  inclination.  Moreover,  he 
sent  messengers  through  the  country,  and  gave  order,  that  the}'  should  have  a 
remission  of  their  labours,  and  should  keep  a  festival  many  days,  on  account  of 
his  kingdom.  In  like  manner  did  Vashti  the  queen  gather  her  guests  together, 
and  made  them  a  feast  in  the  palace.  Now  the  king  was  desirous  to  show  her, 
who  exceeded  all  other  women  in  beauty,  to  those  that  feasted  with  him,  and  sent 
some  to  command  her  to  come  to  his  feast.  But  she,  out  of  regard  to  the  laws  of  the 
Persians,  which  forbid  the  wives  to  be  seen  by  strangers,  did  not  go  to  the  king  ;+ 
and  though  he  oftentimes  sent  the  eunuchs  to  her,  she  did  nevertheless  stay  away, 
and  refused  to  come,  till  the  king  was  so  much  irritated  that  he  brake  up  the  en- 
tertainment, and  rose  up,  and  called  for  those  seven  who  had  the  interpretation 
of  the  laws  committed  to  them,  and  accused  his  wife,  and  said  that  he  had  been 
affronted  by  her,  because  that  when  she  was  frequently  called  by  him  to  his  feast, 
she  did  not  obey  him  once.  He  therefore  gave  order  that  they  should  inform  him 
what  could  be  done  by  the  law  against  her.  So  one  of  them,  whose  name  was 
Memiican,  said  that  "  this  affront  was  offered  not  to  him  alone,  but  to  all  the  Per- 
sians, who  were  in  danger  of  leading  their  lives  very  ill  with  their  wives,  if  they 
must  be  thus  despised  by  them  ;  for  that  none  of  tiieir  wives  would  have  any  re- 
verence for  their  husbands,  if  they  had  such  an  example  of  arrogance  in  the  queen. 

our  learned  and  judicinus  Dr.  Wall,  in  his  late  posthumous  critical  notes  upon  all  the  other  He- 
hrew  l)ooks  of  the  Old  Testament,  gives  us  none  upon  the  Canticles  or  upon  Esther,  and  seems  thereby 
to  give  up  tliis  book,  as  well  as  he  gives  up  the  Canticles,  as  indefensible ;  i  shall  venture  to  say,  that  ai- 
inost  all  liie  objections  a£;ainst  tiiisbook  of  Esther  are  gone  at  once,  if,  as  we  certainly  ought  to  do,  and  as 
Dean  I'lideaux  has  justly  done,  we  place  this  history  under  Artaxerxes  Longimanus,  as  do  both  the  Sep- 
tuagint  interpreters  and  Josepluis.  '  The  learned  Dr.  Lee,  in  his  posthumous  dissertation  on  the  second 
boolc  of  Esdras,  page  2.5,  also  says  tliat  "  the  truth  of  this  histo.ty  is  demonstrated  by  the  feast  of  Puriin, 
kept  up  from  that  time  to  this  very  day,  and  this  surprising  providential  revolution  in  favour  of  a  captive 
people,  therel>y  constantly  commemorated,  standeth  even  upon  a  fu-pier  basis  than  that  there  ever  was 
such  a  man  as  king  Alexander  [the  Great]  in  the  world,  of  whose  reign  there  is  no  such  abiding  monument 
ai  this  day  to  be  found  anywheiC.  Nor  will  they,  1  dare  say,  who  quarrel  at  this,  or  any  other  of  the  sa- 
cred histories,  find  it  a  very  easy  matter  to  reconcile  the  different  accounts  which  were  given  by  histori- 
ans of  the  aflairs  of  this  king,  or  toconfirm  any  one  fact  of  his  whatever,  with  the  same  evidence  which 
is  iiere  given  for  ihe  principal  fict  in  the  sacred  book,  or  even  so  much  as  to  prove  the  existence  of  such 
a  person,  of  whom  so  great  things  are  related,  but  upon  granting  this  book  of  Esther,  or  sixth  of  Esdras 
(as  it  is  placed  in  some  of  the  most  ancient  copies  of  the  vulgate),  to  be  a  most  true  and  certain  history," 

*  If  the  Chaldee  paraphrase  be  in  the  right  that  Artaxerses  intended  to  show  Vashti  to  his  guests  na- 
ked, it  is  no  wonder  at  all  that  she  would  not  submit  to  such  an  indignity  ;  init  still,  if  it  were  not  so  gross 
as  that, yet  might  it,  in  the  king's  cups,  be  done  in  ^  way  so  indecent,  as  the  Persian  laws  would  not  then 
Iicar  more  than  the  common  laws  of  modesty.  And  that  the  king  had  some  such  design  seems  not  im- 
jirohable,  for  otiierwise  the  prinripal  of  these  royal  guests  could  be  no  strangers  to  the  queen,  norunappri 
sedofher  beauty,  so  far  as  decency  admitted.  Hoxvever,  since  Providence  was  uow  paving  the  way  for  the 
introduction  of  a  Jewess  into  tlie  king's  affections,  in  order  to  bring  about  one  of  the  most  wonderful  de- 
iverances  which  the  .Jewish  or  anv  nation  ever  had,  we  need  not  be  farther  solicitous  about  the  motives 
l«y  winch  the  king  was  induced  lo  divorce  A'asliti  and  marry  Esther. 


C.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  377 

towards  thee,  who  rulest  over  all."  Accordingly  he  exhorted  him  to  punish  her, 
wlio  had  been  guilty  of  so  great  an  affront  to  him,  after  a  severe  manner ;  and 
when  he  had  so  done,  to  publish  to  the  nations  what  had  been  decreed  about  the 
queen.  So  the  resolution  was,  to  put  Vashti  away,  and  to  give  her  dignity  to 
another. 

2.  But  the  king,  having  been  fond  of  her,  did  not  well  bear  a  separation,  and 
yet  by  the  law  he  could  not  admit  of  a  reconciliation,  so  he  was  under  trouble,  as 
not  having  it  in  his  power  to  do  what  he  desired  to  do.     But  when  his  friends 
saw  him  so  uneasy,  they  advised  him  to  cast  the  memory  of  his  wife,  and  his  love 
for  her,  out  of  his  mind,  but  to  send  abroad  over  all  the  habitable  eartii,  and  to 
search  out  for  comely  virgins,  and  to  take  her  whom  he  should  like  best  for  his 
wife,  because  his  passion  for  his  former  wife  would  be  quenched  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  another,  and  the  kindncFS  he  had  for  Vasliti  would  be  withdrawn  from  her, 
and  be  placed  on  ber  that  was  with  him.     Accordingly  he  was  persuaded  to  fol- 
low this  advice,  and  gave  order  to  certain  persons  to  choose  out  of  the  virgins  that 
were  in  his  kingdom  those  that  Avere  esteemed  the  most  comely.     So  when   a 
great  number  of  these  virgins  were  gathered  together,  there  was  found  a  damsel 
in  Babylon,  both  whose  parents  were  dead,  and  she  was  brought  up  with  her  un- 
cle  Mordecai,  for  that  was  her  uncle's  name.     This  uncle  was  of  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin,  and  was  one  of  the  principal  persons  among  the  Jews.    Now  it  proved 
that  this  damsel,  whose  name  was  Esther,  was  the  most  beautiful  of  all  the  rest, 
and  that  the  grace  of  her  countenance  drew  the  eyes  of  the  spectators  principally 
upon  her  ;  so  she  was  committed  to  one  of  the  eunuchs  to  take  care  of  her  ;  and 
she  was  very  exactly  provided  with  sweet  odours,  in  great  plenty,  and  with  costly 
ointments,  such  as  her  body  required  to  be  anointed  withal  ;  and  this  was  used 
for  six  months  by  the  virgins,  who  were  in  number  four  hundred.     And  when  the 
eunuch  thought  the  virgins  had  been  sufficiently  purified,  in  the  forementioned 
time,  and  were  now  fit  to  go  to  the  king's  bed,  he  sent  one  to  be  Avith  the  king 
every  day.     So  when  he  had  accompanied  with  her,  he  sent  her.  back  to  the  eu- 
nuch ;  and  when  Esther  had  come  to  him,  he  was  pleased  with  her,  and  fell  in 
love  with  the  damsel,  and  married  her,  and  made  her  his  lawful  wife,  and  kept  a 
wedding  feast  for  her  on  the  twelith  month  of  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign,  w  hich 
was  called  Adar.     He  also    sent  angari,  as  they  are  called,  or  messengers,  unto 
every  nation,  and  gave  orders  that  they  should  keep  a  feast  for  his  marriage, 
while  he  himself  treated  the  Persians  and  the  Modes,  and  the  principal  men  of 
the  nations  for  a  whole  month,  on  account  of  this  his  marriage.     Accordingly 
Esther  came  to  his  royal  palace,  and  he  set  a  diadem  upon  her  head  :  and  thus 
was  Esther  married,  without  making  known  to  the  king  what  nation  she  was  de- 
rived from.     Her  uncle  also  removed  irom  Bobvlon  to  Shushan,  and  dwelt  there, 
being  every  day  about  the  palace,  and  inquiring  how  the  damsel  did,  for  he  loved 
her  as  though  she  had  been  his  own  daughter. 

3.  Now  the  king  had  made  a  law,  that  none  of  his  own  people  should  approach 
him  unless  he  were  called,  when  he  sat  upon  his  throne;*  and  men  with  axes  in 
their  hands  stood  round  about  his  throne,  in  order  to  punish  such  as  approached 
to  him  without  being  called.  However  the  king  sat  with  a  golden  sceptre  in  his 
hand,  which  he  held  out  when  he  had  a  mind  to  save  any  one  of  those  that  ap- 
proached to  him  without  being  called  ;  and  he  who  touched  it  was  free  from  dan- 
ger.    But  of  this  matter  we  have  discoursed  sufficiently. 

4.  Some  time  after  this  [two  eunuchs]  Bigthan  and  Tcresh  plotted  against  the 
king  ;  and  Barnabazus,  the  servant  of  one  of  the  eunuchs,  being  by  birlh  a  Jew, 
was  acquainted  with  tljeir  conspiracy,  and  discovered  it  to  tbe  queen's  uncle  ; 
and  Mordecai,  by  the  means  of  Esther,  made  the  conspirators  kiwwn  to  the  king. 

*  Herodotus  savs,  that  this  law  [against  any  one's  coming  uncalled  to  the  kings  of  Persia  when  ihey 
wore  silting  on  their  thrones]  was  first  enacted  by  Deioccs  ]i.  e.  by  hiin  who  first  withdrew  the  Mede» 
finm  the  doininiou  of  tlie  Assyrians,  and  himself  first  reigned  over  liiem.]  Thus,  al?i),  s.iys  Spanheim, 
stood  guards,  with  tlieir  axes,  about  the  throne  of  Tenus,  orTenedus,  that  the  oflender  might  by  Uje»b» 
p'niished  immediately. 

VOL.  I.  3  B 


378  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XL 

This  troubled  the  king ;  but  he  discovered  the  truth,  and  hanged  the  eunuchs 
upon  a  cross,  while  at  that  time  he  gave  no  reward  to  Mordecai,  who  had  been 
the  occasion  of  his  preservation.  He  only  bid  the  scribes  to  set  dov.n  his  nan.e 
in  the  records,  and  bid  him  stay  in  the  palace,  as  an  intimate  friend  of  the  king's. 

5.  Now  there  was  one  Haman,  tlie  son  of  Amedalha,  by  birth  an  Amalt-kite,, 
that  used  to  go  in  to  the  king;  and  the  tbreigners  and  Persians  worshiped  hmi,  as 
Artaxerxes  had  commanded  that  such  honour  should  be  paid  to  him  ;  but  Moide- 
cai  was  so  wise,  and  so  observiaiit  of  his  own  country's  laws,  that  he  would  not 
worship*  the  man.  When  Haman  observed  this,  he  niquired  whence  he  came; 
and  when  he  understood  that  he  \viis  a  Jew,  he  had  indignation  at  him,  and  said 
within  himself,  that  "  whereas  the  Persians,  w  ho  were  free  men,  worshiped  him, 
this  man,  who  was  no  better  than^  slave,  does  not  vouchsafe  to  do  so."  And 
when  he  desired  to  punish  Mordecai,  he  thought  it  too  small  a  thing  to  request  of 
the  king  that  he  alone  might  be  punished ;  he  rather  determined  to  abolish  the 
whole  nation,  tor  he  was  naturally  an  enemy  to  the  Jews,  because  the  nation  of 
the  Amalekites,  of  which  he  was,  had  been  destroyed  by  ihem.  Accordingly  he 
came  to  the  king,  and  accused  them,  saying,  "  There  is  a  certain  wicked  nation, 
and  it  is  dispersed  over  all  the  habitable  earih  that  was  under  his  dominion  ;  a 
nation  separate  from  others,  unsociable,  neither  admitting  the  same  sort  of  divine 
worship  that  others  do,  nor  using  laws  like  to  the  laws  of  others  ;  at  enmity  with 
thy  people,  and  with  ail  men,  both  in  their  manners  and  practices.  JNcw  if  thou 
wilt  be  a  benefactor  to  thy  subjects,  thou  w  ilt  give  order  to  destroy  them  utterly, 
and  not  leave  the  least  remains  of  them,  nor  preserve  any  of  them,  either  for  slaves 
or  for  captives."  But  that  the  king  might  not  be  damnified  by  the  loss  of  the  tri- 
butes which  the  Jews  paid  him,  Haman  promised  to  give  him  out  of  his  own  es. 
tate  forty  thousand  talents  whensoever  he  pleased  ;  and  he  said  he  would  pay  this 
money  very  willingly,  that  the  kingdom  might  be  iieed  frcm  such  a  misfortune. 

6.  When  Haman  had  made  this  petition,  ihe  king  both  forgave  him  the  money 
and  granted  him  the  men,  to  do  what  he  would  with  them.  So  Haman,  having 
gained  what  he  desired,  sent  out  immediately  a  decree,  as  frcm  the  king,  to  all 
nations,  the  contents  whereof  were  these:  "Artaxerxes,  the  great  king,  to  the 
rulers  of  the  hundred  and  twenty-seven  provinces,  from  India  to  Ethiopia,  sends 
this  v/riting  :  V/hereas  I  have  governed  many  nations,  and  obtained  the  dominion 
of  all  the  habitable  earth,  according  to  my  desire,  and  have  not  been  obliged  to 
do  any  thing  that  is  insole  nt  or  cruel  to  my  subjects  by  such  my  pow  er,  but  have 
showed  myself  mild  and  gentle,  by  taking  care  of  their  peace  and  good  order,  and 
have  sought  how  they  might  enjoy  those  blessings  for  all  time  to  come:  And 
whereas  I  have  been  kii.dly  informed  by  Haman,  who,  on  account  of  his  pru- 
dence and  justice,  is  the  first  in  my  esteem  and  in  dignity,  and  only  second  to 
myself,  for  his  fidelity  and  consta't  good  will  to  me,  thai  there  is  an  ill-natured 
nation  intermixed  «ith  all  mankind,  that  is  averse  to  our  laws,  and  not  subject  to  , 
kings,  aiid  of  a  different  conduct  of  life  from  others,  that  hateth  monarchy,  and  of 

a  disposition  that  is  pernicious  to  our  affairs,  I  give  order  that  all  these  men,  of 
whom  Haman,  our  second  father,  hath  informed  us,  be  destroyed,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  and  that  none  of  them  be  spared,  and  that  none  prefer  pity  to 
them  before  obedience  to  this  decree.  And  this  I  w  ill  to  be  executed  on  the 
fourteenth  day  of  the  twelfth  month  of  this  present  year,  that  so,  when  all  that 
have  enmity  to  us  are  destroyed,  and  this  in  one  day,  we  may  be  allowed  to  lead 
tlie  rest  of  our  lives  in  peace  hereafter."  Now  when  this  decree  was  brought  to 
the  cities  and  to  the  country,  all  were  ready  for  the  destruction  and  entire  abo- 
lishment  of  the  Jews  against  the  day  before  mentioned  ;  and  they  were  very 

*  Whether  this  adoration  required  of  Mordecai  to  Haman  were  by  him  deemed  too  like  the  adoration 
due  only  10  Gor),  as  Josepiius  seems  here  to  liiiiili,  as  well  as  the  Septiiagim  interpreiers  also,  by  their 
tiaiislaiion  of  F  st.  xiii  12,  13,  14;  or  whether  he  (hoiij:ht  he  ought  to  |vay  no  jort  of  adoiaiioii  to  an 
Aiiielekite,  whicli  nation  had  been  such  great  sinners  as  to  have  l)een  universally  (!e\oted  to<lesiriiction  j 
by  God  himself,  Exod.  xvii.  14, 15,  IG  ;  2  Sam.  xv.  18  ;  oi  whether  both  causes  concurred,  cannot  now, 
I  doubt,  be  entirely  determined. 


C.  VL  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  379 

hasty  about  it  at  Shnshan  in  particular.  Accordingly  the  king  and  Haman  spent 
Iheir  time  in  feasting  together  with  good  cheer  and  wine,  but  tJie  city  was  in 
disorder. 

7.  Now  when  Mordecai  was  informed  of  wiiat  was  done,  he  rent  his  clothes, 
and  put  on  sackcloth,  and  sprinkled  ashes  upon  his  head,  and  went  about  tlic  citv 
crying  out,  that  "  a  nation  that  had  been  injurious  to  no  man  was  to  be  destroy. 
€d."  And  he  went  orj  saying  thus  as  far  as  the  king's  palace,  and  there  he 
stood,  for  it  was  not  lawful  for  him  to  go  into  it  in  that  habit.  Tiie  same  thing 
was  done  by  all  the  Jews  that  were  in  the  several  cities  wherein  this  decree  was 
publislied,  with  lamentation  and  mourning,  on  account  of  the  calamities  dcnoun- 
•ced  against  them.  But  as  soon  as  certain  persons  had  told  the  queen  that  jMor- 
rdecai  stood  before  the  court  in  a  mourning-habit,  she  was  disturbed  at  this  report 
and  sent  out  such  as  should  change  his  garments  ;  but  when  he  could  not  be  in- 
duced to  put  otiMiis  sackcloth,  because  the  sad  occasion  that  forced  him  to  j>ut  it 
on  was  not  yet  ceased,  she  called  the  eunuch  Acratheus,  for  he  was  then  pre- 
sent, and  sent  him  to  Mordecai,  in  order  to  know  of  him  what  sad  accident  had 
befallen  him,  for  he  was  in  mourning,  and  would  not  put  oli'the  habit  he  had  put 
on  at  her  desire.  Then  did  Mordecai  intbrm  the  eunuch  of  the  occasion  of  his 
mourning,  and  of  the  decree  which  was  sent  by  the  king  into  all  the  cijuntrv,  and 
of  the  promise  of  money  whereby  Haman  bought  the  destruction  of  their  nation. 
He  also  gave  him  a  copy  of  what  was  proclaimed  at  Shushan,  to  be  carried  to  Es- 
ther  ;  and  he  charged  her  to  petition  the  king  about  this  matter,  and  not  think  it  a 
dishonourable  thing  in  her  to  put  on  an  humble  habit  for  the  safety  of  her  nation, 
wherein  she  might  deprecate  the  ruin  of  the  Jews,  who  were  in  danger  of  it;  for 
that  Haman,  whose  dignity  was  only  inferior  to  that  of  the  king's,  had  accused 
the  Jews,  and  had  irritated  the  king  against  them.  When  she  was  informed  of 
this,  she  sent  to  Mordecai  again,  and  told  him  that  she  was  not  called  by  the  king, 
and  that  he  who  goes  in  to  him  without  being  called  is  to  be  slain,  unless  when 
he  is  willing  to  save  any  one,  he  holds  out  his  golden  sceptre  to  him  ;  but  that  to 
whomsoever  he  does  so,  although  he  go  in  without  being  called,  that  person  is  so 
far  from  being  slain,  that  he  obtains  a  pardon,  and  is  enlircly  preserved.  Now 
when  the  eunuch  carried  this  message  from  Esther  to  Mordecai,  he  bade  him  also 
tell  her  that  she  must  not  only  provide  lor  her  own  pres-ervation,  but  for  the  com. 
mon  preservation  of  her  nation  ;  for  that  if  she  now  neglected  this  opportunity, 
there  would  certainly  arise  help  to  them  from  God  some  other  way,  but  that  she 
and  her  father's  house  would  be  destroyed  by  those  whom  she  now  despised. 
But  Esther  sent  the  very  same  eunuch  back  to  Mordecai  [to  desire  him,]  to  go  to 
Shushan,  and  to  gather  the  Jews  that  were  there  together  to  a  congregaiion,  and 
to  fast  and  to  abstain  from  all  sorts  of  food  on  her  account,  and  to  [let  him  know 
that]  she  with  her  maidens  would  do  the  same ;  and  then  she  promised  that  she 
would  go  to  the  king,  and  though  it  were  against  the  law,  and  that  if  she  must  die 
for  it,  she  would  not  refuse  it. 

8.  x'Vccordingly  Mordecai  did  as  Esther  had  enjoined  him,  and  made  the  people 
fast:  and  he  besought  God,  together  with  them,  "not  to  overlook  his  nation,  par- 
ticiilarly  at  this  time,  when  it  was  going  to  be  destroyed,  but  that,  as  he  had  olten 
before  provided  for  them,  and  forgiven  when  they  had  sinned,  so  he  would  now 
deliver  them' from  that  destruction  which  was  denounced  against  them;  for  al- 
though  it  was  not  all  the  nation  that  offended,  yet  must  they  so  ingloriously  be 
slain  ;  and  that  he  was  himself  tlie  occasion  of  the  wrath  of  Haman,  because, 
said  he,  I  did  not  worship  him,  nor  could  I  endure  to  pay  that  honour  to  him 
which  I  used  to  pay  to  thee,  O  Lord  ;  for  upon  that  his  auger  hath  he  contrived 
this  present  mischief  against  those  that  have  not  transgressed  thy  laws."  The 
same  supplications  did  the  multitude  put  up  ;  and  entreated  that  (jod  would  pro- 
^vide  for  tiieir  deliverance,  a;id  free  the  Israelites  that  were  in  all  the  earth  from 
this  calamity  which  was  now  coming  upon  them,  for  they  had  if  before  their  eyes, 
and  expected  its  coming.  Accordingly  Esther  made  supplication  to  God  after 
3  B2 


380  •  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XL 

the  manner  of  her  country,  by  casting  herself  down  upon  the  earth,  and  putting 
on  her  mourning  garments,  and  bidding  farewell  to  meat  and  drink,  and  all  deli- 
cacics,  for  three  days'  time ;  and  she  entreated  God  to  have  mercy  upon  her,  and 
to  make  her  words  appear  persuasive  to  the  king,  and  render  her  countenance 
more  beautiful  than  it  was  before,  that  both  by  her  words  and  beauty  she  might 
succeed,  for  the  averting  of  the  king's  anger,  in  case  he  were  at  all  irritated 
against  her,  and  for  the  consolation  of  those  of  her  own  country,  now  they  were 
in  the  utmost  danger  of  perishing;  as  also  that  he  would  excite  a  hatred  in  the 
king  against  the  enemies  of  the  Jews,  and  those  that  had  contrived  their  future 
destruction,  if  they  proved  to  be  contemned  by  him. 

9.  When  Esther  had  used  this  supplication  for  three  days,  she  put  off  those 
garments,  and  changed  her  habit,  and  adorned  herself  as  became  a  queen,  and 
took  two  of  her  handmaids  with  her,  the  one  of  which  supported  her,  as  she  gently 
leaned  upon  her,  and  the  other  followed  aftei',  and  lifted  up  her  large  train  (which 
swept  along  the  ground)  with  the  extremities  of  her  fingers.  And  thus  she  came 
to  the  king,  having  a  blushing  redness  in  her  countenance,  with  a  pleasant  agree- 
ableness  in  her  behaviour ;  yet  did  she  go  in  to  him  with  fear,  and  as  soon  as  she 
was  come  over  against  him,  as  he  was  sitting  on  his  throne,  in  Ids  royal  apparel, 
which  was  a  garment  interwoven  with  gold  and  precious  stones,  which  made  him 
seem  to  her  more  terrible,  especially  when  he  looked  at  her  somewhat  severely, 
and  with  a  countenance  on  fire  with  anger,  her  joints  failed  her  immediately,  out 
of  the  dread  she  was  in,  and  she  fell  down  sideways  in  a  swoon  :  but  the  king 
changed  his  mind,  Avhich  happened,  as  I  suppose,  by  the  will  of  God,  and  was 
concerned  for  his  wife,  lest  her  fear  should  bring  some  very  evil  thing  upon  her, 
and  he  leaped  from  his  throne,  and  took  her  in  his  arms,  and  recovered  her  by 
embracing  her,  and  speaking  comfortably  to  her,  and  exhorting  her  to  be  of  good 
cheer,  and  not  to  suspect  any  thing  that  was  sad  on  account  of  her  coming  to 
him  without  being  called,  because  that  law  was  made  for  subjects,  but  that  she, 
M  ho  was  a  queen,  as  well  as  he  a  king,  might  be  entirely  secure  ;  and  as  he  said 
this,  he  put  the  sceptre  into  her  hand,  and  laid  his  rod  upon  her  neck,  on  account 
of  the  law,  and  so  freed  her  from  her  fear.  After  she  had  recovered  herself  by 
these  encouragements,  she  said,  "My  lord,  it  is  not  easy  for  me,  on  the  sudden,  to 
say  what  hath  happened,  for  as  soon  as  I  saw  thee  to  be  great,  and  comely,  and 
terrible,  my  spirit  departed  from  me,  and  I  had  no  soul  left  in  me."  And  while  it 
was  with  difficulty,  and  in  a  low  voice,  that  she  could  say  thus  much,  the  king  was 
in  great  agony  and  disorder,  and  encouraged  Esther  to  be  of  good  cheer,  and  to 
expect  better  fortune,  since  he  was  ready,  if  occasion  should  require  it,  to  graiit 
to  her  the  half  of  his  kingdom.  Accordingly  Esther  desired  that  he  and  his 
friend  Haman  would  come  to  her  to  a  banquet,  for  she  said  she  had  prepared  a 
supper  for  him.  He  consented  to  it ;  and  when  they  were  there,  as  they  were 
drinking,  he  bid  Esther  to  "let  him  know  what  she  desired,  for  that  she  should 
not  be  disappointed,  though  she  should  desire  the  half  of  his  kingdom."  But 
she  put  off  the  discovery  of  her  petition  till  next  day,  if  he  would  come  again, 
together  with  Haman,  to  her  banquet. 

10.  Now  when  the  king  had  promised  so  to  do,  Haman  went  away  very  glad, 
because  he  alone  had  the  honour  of  supping  with  the  king  at  Esther's  banquet,  and 
because  no  one  else  partook  of  the  same  honour  with  the  king  but  himself;  yet 
when  he  saw  Mordecai  in  the  court,  he  was  very  much  displeased,  for  he  paid 
him  no  manner  of  respect  when  he  saw  him.  So  he  went  home,  and  called  for 
his  wife  Zeresh,  and  his  friends,  and  when  they  were  come,  he  show-cd  them  what 
honour  he  enjoyed,  not  only  from  the  king,  but  from  the  queen  also,  for  as  he 
alone  had  that  day  supped  with  her,  together  with  the  king,  so  -was  he  also  in- 
vited again  for  the  next  day;  yet,  said  he,  am  I  not  pleased  to  see  Mordecai  the 
Jew  in  the  court.  Hereupon  his  wife  Zeresh  advised  him  to  give  order  that  a 
gallows  should  be  made  fifty  cubits  high,  and  that  in  the  morning  he  should  ask 
it  of  the  king  that  Mordecai  might  be  hanged  thereon.     So  he  commanded  her 


C.  VI  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


381 


advice,  and  gave  order  to  his  servants  to  prepare  the  gallows,  and  to  place  it  in 
the  court,  for  the  punishment  of  Mordecai  thereon,  which  was  accordingly  pre- 
pared.  But  God  laughed  to  scorn  the  wicked  expectations  of  Haman,  and  as  he 
knew  what  the  event  would  be,  he  was  deliglited  at  it ;  for  that  night  he  took  away 
the  king's  sleep,  and  as  the  king  was  not  willing  to  lose  the  time  of  his  laying 
awake,  but  to  spend  it  in  something  that  might  be  of  advantaf^e  to  his  kinf^dom, 
he  commanded  the  scribe  to  bring  him  the  chronicles  of  the  former  kino-s,  and 
the  records  of  his  own  actions ;  and  when  he  had  brought  them,  and  was  readin<T 
them,  one  was  found  to  have  received  a  country  on  account  of  his  excellent  ma- 
nagement on  a  certain  occasion,  and  the  name  of  the  country  was  set  down  ; 
another  was  found  to  have  had  a  present  made  him  on  account  of  his  fidelity ; 
then  the  scribe  came  to  Bigthan  and  Teresh,  the  eunuchs  that  had  made  a  con- 
spiracy  against  the  king,  w^hich  Mordecai  had  discovered  ;  and  when  tiie  scribe 
said  no  more  but  that,  and  was  going  on  to  another  history,  the  king  stopped  him, 
and  inquired  "  Whether  it  was  not  added  that  Mordecai  had  a  reward  criven  him?" 
and  when  he  said  there  was  no  such  addition,  he  bid  him  leave  ofl",  and  he  in- 
quired  of  those  that  were  appointed  for  that  purpose,  what  hour  of  the  night  it 
was  ;  and  when  he  was  informed  that  it  was  already  day,  he  gave  order,  that  if 
they  found  any  one  of  his  friends  already  come,  and  standing  before  the  court, 
they  should  tell  him.  Now  it  happened  that  Haman  was  found  there,  for  he  was 
come  sooner  than  ordinary  to  petition  the  king  to  have  Mordecai  put  to  death : 
and  when  the  servants  said  that  Haman  was  before  the  court,  he  bid  them  call  him 
in  ;  and  when  he  was  come  in,  he  said,  "  Because  I  know  that  thou  art  my  only 
fast  friend,  I  desire  thee  to  give  me  advice,  how  I  may  honour  one  that  I  greatly 
love,  and  that  after  a  manner  suitable  to  my  magnilicence."  Now  Haman  rea- 
soned  with  himself,  that  what  opinion  he  should  give  it,  would  be  for  himself, 
since  it  was  he  alone  who  was  beloved  by  the  king ;  so  he  gave  him  that  advice 
which  he  thought  of  all  others  the  best ;  for  he  said,  "  If  thou  wouldst  truly  honour 
a  man  whom  thou  sayest  thou  dost  love,  give  order  that  he  may  ride  on  horseback, 
with  the,  same  garment  which  thou  wearest,  and  with  a  gold  chain  about  his  neck, 
and  let  one  of  thy  intimate  friends  go  before  him,  and  proclaim  through  the  whole 
city,  that  whosoever  the  king  honoureth  obtaineth  this  mark  of  his  honour."  This 
was  the  advice  which  Haman  gave,  out  of  a  supposal  that  such  reward  would 
come  to  himself.  Hereupon  the  king  was  pleased  with  the  advice,  and  said,  *'  Go 
thou,  therefore,  for  thou  hast  the  horse,  the  garment,  and  the  chain,  ask  for  Mor- 
decai  the  Jew,  and  give  him  those  things,  and  go  before  his  horse  and  proclaim 
accordingly;  for,  said  he,  thou  art  my  intimate  friend,  and  hast  given  me  good 
advice ;  be  thou,  then,  the  minister  of  what  thou  hast  advised  me  to  do.  This 
shall  be  his  reward  from  us,  for  preserving  my  life."  When  he  heard  this  or- 
der, which  was  entirely  unexpected,  he  was  confounded  in  his  mind,  and  knew 
not  what  to  do.  However,  he  went  out  and  led  the  horse,  and  took  the  jturple 
garment,  and  the  golden  chain  for  the  neck,  and  finding  Mordecai  before  the 
court,  clothed  in  sackcloth,  he  bade  him  put  that  garment  off,  and  put  the  purple 
garment  on.  But  Mordecai,  not  knowing  the  truth  of  the  matter,  but  thinking 
that  it  was  done  in  mockery,  said,  "O  thou  wretch,  the  vilest  of  all  mankind,  dost 
thou  thus  laugh  at  our  calamities  V  But  when  he  was  satisfied  that  the  king  be- 
stowed this  honor  upon  hrni,  for  the  deliverance  he  had  procured  him,  when  he 
convicted  the  eunuchs  who  had  conspired  against  him,  he  put  on  that  purple  gar. 
ment  which  the  king  always  wore,  and  put  the  chain  about  his  neck,  and  got  on 
horseback,  and  went  round  the  city,  while  Haman  went  before,  and  proclaimed, 
"This  shall  be  the  reward  which  the  king  will  bestow  on  every  one  w  horn  he  loves, 
and  esteems  worthy  of  honour."  And  when  they  had  gone  round  the  city,  Mor- 
decai went  in  to  the  king,  but  Haman  went  home,  out  of  shame,  and  informed 
his  wife  and  friends  with  what  had  happened,  and  this  with  tears,  who  said, 
that  "he  would  never  be  able  to  be  revenged  on  Mordecai,  for  that  God  was 
with  him." 


gg2  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Xt 

11.  Now,  while  these  men  were  thus  talking  one  to  another,  Esther's  eunuchs 
hastened  Hainan  away  to  come  to  supper;  but  one  of  the  eunuchs,  named  Sa- 
buchadas,  saw  the  gallows  that  was  fixed  in  Haman's  house,  and  inquired  of  one 
of  his  servants  for  what  purpose  they  had  prepared  it.  So  he  knew  that  it  was 
for  the  queen's  uncle,  because  Haman  was  about  to  petition  the  king  that  he 
mi'rht  be  punislied  ;  but  at  present  he  held  his  peace.  Now  when  the  king,  with 
Haman,  was  at  the  banquet,  he  desired  the  queen  to  tell  iiim  what  gift  slie  de- 
sired  to  obtain,  and  assured  her  that  she  should  have  whatsoever  she  had  a  mind 
to.  She  then  lamented  the  danger  her  people  were  in;  and  said,  that  "  she  and 
her  nation  were  given  up  to  be  destroyed,  and  that  she,  on  that  account,  made 
this  her  petition  ;  that  she  would  not  have  troubled  him  if  he  had  only  given  or- 
der that  they  should  be  sold  into  bitter  servitude,  for  such  a  misfortune  would 
not  have  been  intolerable  ;  but  she  desired  that  they  might  be  delivered  from 
such  a  destruction."  And  when  the  king  inquired  of  her  who  was  the  author  of 
this  misery  to  them,  she  then  openly  accused  Haman,  and  convicted  him,  that 
he  had  been  the  wicked  instrument  of  this,  and  had  formed  this  plot  against  them. 
When  the  king  was  hereupon  in  disorder,  and  was  gone  hastily  out  of  the  ban- 
quet into  the  gardens,  Haman  began  to  intercede  with  Esther,  and  to  beseech  her 
to  forgive  him,  as  to  what  he  had  offended,  for  he  perceived  that  he  was  in  a  ve- 
ry bad  case.  And  as  he  had  fallen  upon  the  queen's  bed,  and  was  making  sup- 
plication  to  her,  the  king  came  in,  and  being  still  more  provoked  at  what  he  saw, 
"  O  thou  wretch  (said  he,)  thou  vilest  of  all  mankind,  dost  thou  aim  to  force  my 
wife?"  And  when  Haman  was  astonished  at  this,  and  not  able  to  speak  one  word 
more,  Sabuchadas  the  eunuch  came  in,  and  accused  Haman,  and  said,  •'  He 
found  a  gallows  at  his  house,  prepared  for  Mordecai,  for  that  his  servant  told  him 
so  much,  upon  his  inquiry,  when  he  was  sent  to  him  to  call  him  to  supper."  He 
said  farther,  that  "the  gallows  was  fifty  cubits  high."  Which  when  the  king 
heard,  he  determined  that  Haman  should  be  punished  after  no  other  manner  than 
that  which  had  been  devised  by  him  against  Mordecai :  so  he  gave  order  imme- 
diately that  he  should  be  hung  upon  those  gallows,  and  be  put  to  death  after  that 
manner.  And  from  hence  I  cannot  forbear  to  admire  God,  and  to  learn  hence 
his  wisdom  and  his  justice,  not  only  in  punishing  the  wickedness  of  Haman,  but 
in  so  disposing  it  that  he  should  undergo  the  very  same  punishment  which  he  had 
contrived  for  another  ;  as,  also,  because  thereby  he  teaches  others  this  lesson, 
that  what  mischiefs  any  one  prepares  against  another,  he,  without  knowing  of  it, 
first  contrives  it  against  himself. 

12.  Wherefore  Haman,  who  had  immoderately  abused  the  honour  he  had  from 
the  king,  was  destroyed  after  this  manner,  and  the  king  granted  his  estate  to  the 
queen.  He  also  called  for  Mordecai  (for  Esther  had  intbrmed  him  that  she  was 
akin  to  him,)  and  gave  that  ring  to  Mordecai  which  he  had  before  given  to  Ha- 
man. The  queen  also  gave  Hainan's  estate  to  Mordecai  ;  and  prayed  the  king 
to  deliver  the  nation  of  the  Jews  from  the  fear  of  death,  and  showed  him  what 
had  been  written  over  all  the  country  by  Haman  the  son  of  Ammedatha  ;  for  that 
if  her  country  were  destroyed,  and  her  countrymen  were  to  perish,  she  could 
not  bear  to  live  herself  any  longer.  So  the  king  promised  her,  that  he  would  not 
do  any  thing  that  should  be  disagreeable  to  her,  nor  con/radict  what  she  desired, 
but  he  bid  her  write  what  she  pleased  about  the  Jews,  in  the  king's  name,  and 
seal  it  with  his  seal,  and  send  it  to  all  his  kingdom,  for  that  those  who  read  epis- 
ties  whose  authority  is  secured  by  having  the  king's  seal  to  them,  would  in  no 
way  contradict  what  was  written  therein.  So  he  commanded  the  king's  scribes 
to  be  sent  for,  and  to  write  to  the  nations  on  the  Jews'  behalf,  and  to  his  lieute- 
nants and  governors,  that  were  over  his  hundred  and  twenty-seven  provinces, 
from  India  to  Ethiopia.     Now  the  contents  of  this  epistle  were   these  :*  "  The 

*  The  true  reason  whv  kiiiJ  Artaxerxes  dltl  not  lipve  properly  revoke  his  former  barliaroiis  decree  for 
the  universal  shiiigliter  of  the  Jews,  hut  only  empowered  and  encouraged  the  Jews  to  fio;ht  for  their  lives, 
Bnd  to  kill  their  enemies  ifthey  attempted  their  destruction,  seems  to  have  been  that  old  law  of  the  Medea 


C.  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEV/S.  333 

great  king  Artaxerxes  to  our  rulers,  and  those  that  are  our  faithful  subjects,  sen- 
deth,  greeting  :  many  men  there  are,  wiio,  on  account  of  the  greatness  ofilie  be- 
netils  bestowed  on  tlieni,  and  because  of  the  honour  which  tliey  have  obtained 
from  the  wonderful  kind  treatment  of  those  that  bestowed  it,  are  not  only  injuri- 
ous to  their  inleriors,  but  do  not  scruple  to  do  evil  to  those  that  have  been  liieir 
benefactors,  as  if  they  would  take  away  gratitude  trom  among  men,  and  by  their 
insolent  abuse  of  such  benefits  as  they  never  expected,  they  turn  the  abundance 
they  have  against  those  that  are  the  authors  of  if,  and  sUj)pose  thev  shall  he  con- 
ceded fruin  God  in  that  case,  and  avoid  that  vengeance  which  comes  from  him. 
Some  of  these  men,  when  they  have  had  tlie  management  of  affairs  connnuted 
to  them  by  their  friends,  and  bearing  private  malice  of  their  own  against  some 
)tliers,  by  deceiving  those  that  have  the  power,  persuade  them  to  be  an^ry  at  such 
as  have  done  them  no  harm,  till  they  are  in  danger  of  perishing,  and  this  bv  lav- 
ing  accusations  and  calumnies.  Nor  is  this  state  of  things  to  be  discovered  by 
ancient  examples,  or  such  as  we  have  learned  by  report  only,  but  by  some  ex- 
amjjles  of  such  impudent  attempts  under  our  own  eyes  ;  so  that  it  is  not  lit  to  at- 
tend any  longer  to  calumnies  and  accusations,  nor  to  the  persuasions  of  others, 
but  to  deterinine  what  any  one  knows  of  himself  to  have  been  really  done,  and  to 
Danish  what  jus'.ly  deserves  it,  and  to  grant  such  favours  to  such  as  are  innocent. 
This  hath  been  the  case  of  llaman  the  son  of  Ammedatha,  by  birth  an  Amale- 
kite,  and  alien  from  the  blood  of  the  Persians,  who,  \<'heiYi  he  was  hospitably  en- 
teriained  by  us,  and  partook,  of  that  kindness  which  we  hear  to  all  men,  to  so 
great  a  degree  as  to  be  called  my  father,  and  to  be  all  along  worsiiiped,  and  to 
have  honour  paid  him  by  all  in  the  second  rank  after  the  royal  honour  due  to  our- 
selves, he  couidnot  bear  his  good  fortune,  nor  govern  the  magnitude  of  his  pros- 
periiy  with  sound  reason  ;  nay,  he  made  a  conspiracy  against  me  and  my  life, 
who  gave  him  his  authority,  by  endeavouring  to  take  awav  Mordecai,  my  bene- 
factor and  mv  saviour,  and  bv  basely  and  treacherously  requiring  to  have  Esther, 
the  partner  of  mv  life,  and  of  mv  dominion,  brought  to  destruction,  for  he  contri- 
ved bv  this  means  to  deprive  me  of  mv  faithful  friends,  and  transfer  the  govern- 
ment to  others.*  But  since  I  perceived  that  these  Jews,  that  were  by  this  per- 
nicious fellow  devoted  to  destruction,  were  not  wicked  men,  but  conducted  their 
lives  at'ser  the  best  manner,  and  were  men  dedicated  to  the  worshi])  of  that  God 
who  hath  preserved  the  kingdom  to  me  and  my  ancestors,  I  do  not  only  free  them 
from  the  punishment  which  the  former  epistle,  which  was  sent  by  Hainan,  order- 
ed to  be  inflicted  on  them,  to  which  if  you  refuse  obedience,  you  shall  do  well, 
but  I  will  that  they  have  all  honour  paid  them.  Accordingly  I  have  hanged  up 
the  man  that  contrived  such  things  against  them,  with  his  family,  before  the  gates 
of  Sluishan,  that  punishment  being  sent  upon  him  by  God,  who  seeth  all  things. 
And  I  give  vou  in  charge,  that  you  publicly  propose  a  copy  of  this  epistle  through 
all  my  kingdom  :  that  the  Jews  may  be  permitted  peaceably  to  use  their  own 
laws;  and  that  you  assist  them  ;  that  at  the  same  season  whereto  their  miserable 
estate  did  belong,  they  may  del'end  themselves  the  very  same  day  from  unjust 
..(jlciice,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  twelfth  month,  which  is  Adar,  for  God 
hatli  made  that  day  a  day  of  salvation  instead  of  a  day  of  destruction  to  them  : 
and  may  it  be  a  good  day  to  those  that  wish  us  well,  and   a  memorial  of  the  pu- 

anr)  "ers'ans,  nnt  vet  laid  as'ulp,  tliat  whatever  riecree  was  si^neH  liotti  hv  theKitii  aivl  Ins  lords  rnul! 
not  he  chained.  Uul  re  •^n\w<\nnA\'erd\>\^.  Dan  vi  7  8  9  12,  15,17;  Ksth.  i  19,  and  viii  8.  .And  "a- 
man  bavin;  eivj;ro-sed  tlie  rnval  favour  ini-lii  perliap<  have  hi  nself  signed  this  decree  tor  (he  Jews 
sla  J  'hf,.r   instead  of  tlie  ancient  lords,  and  so  iniirht  have  rendered  it  hv  ihelr  rides  Mrevoral>!e. 

*  ThesR  words  -ive  an  inti'^atlon  a'^  if  Anaxsrve^  siisni'cte.l  a  deeper  desi,-n  in  Ha. ..an  than  orpnlv 
apiiea  el  viz.  thai  knowin;  the  .lews  wonld  be  fa  difiil  to  liim.  and  thai  he  could  nevei  iransl.-r  the  cro'vn 
to  hisownfa.nilv  wlmwasan  A-jaiile.  P'-stli  iii  I  10,  or  of  tlie  posieritv  nl  A-ag  iheoM  k  n;of.he  A.ra- 
lekiles  1  Sa.n  xv.  8  31  33  while  thev  were  alive  and  spread  overall  his  do-nniions.  he  llierefore  en- 
Heavo.ired  to  destmv  them.  Nor  is  it  to  me  hnproha'de  that  those  7.1  801  of  the  Jews'  cne'nies  which 
were  soon  destroverl  hv  the  Jews,  on  ihe  permission  of  the  king  which  nn.-i  he  on  some  ^reai  .^casnn. 
were  Amalek  tes,  their  old  and  hereditarv  enemies.  Kxod.  xvii.  14.  V>,  and  that  the.ehv  w.s  f  .Ifilled  Ba- 
laam's prophecy,  "  Anialekwasthe  first  of  the  nations,  but  his  latter  end  shaU  be,  that  he  jjerikli  for  ever. 
Namb.  xxiv.  20. 


334  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XI. 

nishment  of  the  conspirators  against  us  !  And  I  will  that  you  take  notice,  that  eve- 
ry city  and  every  nation,  that  shall  disobey  any  thing  that  is  contained  in  this 
epistle,  shall  be  destroyed  by  fire  and  sword.  However,  let  this  epistle  be  pub- 
lished through  all  the  country  that  is  under  our  obedience,  and  let  all  the  Jews, 
by  all  means,  be  ready  against  the  day  beforementioned,  that  they  may  avenge 
themselves  upon  their  enemies," 

13.  Accordingly  the  horsemen  who  carried  the  epistles  proceeded  on  the  ways 
which  they  were  to  go  with  speed  :  but  as  for  Mordecai,  as  soon  as  he  had  as- 
sumed the  royal  garment  and  the  crown  of  gold,  and  had  put  the  chain  about  his 
neck,  he  went  forth  in  a  public  procession  ;  and  when  the  Jews  who  were  at 
Sluishan  saw  him  in  so  great  honour  with  the  king,  they  thought  his  good  fortune 
was  common  to  themselves  also,  and  a  joy  and  a  beam  of  salvation  encompassed 
the  Jews,  both  those  that  were  in  the  cities  and  those  that  were  in  the  countries, 
upon  the  publication  of  the  king's  letters,  insomuch  that  many  even  of  the  other 
nations  circumsised  their  foreskin  for  fear  of  the  Jews,  that  they  might  procure 
safety  to  themselves  thereby  ;  for  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  twelfth  month, 
which  according  to  the  Hebrews  is  called  Adar,  but  according  to  the  Macedoni- 
ans  Dvslrus,  those  that  carried  the  king's  epistle  gave  them  notice,  that  the  same  day 
wherein  their  danger  was  to  have  been,  on  that  very  day  should  they  destroy  their 
enemies.  But  now  the  rulers  of  the  provinces,  and  the  tyrants,  and  the  kings, 
and  the  scribes,  had  the  Jews  in  esteem,  for  the  fear  they  were  in  of  Mordecai 
forced  them  to  act  with  discretion.  Now  when  the  royal  decree  was  come  to  all 
the  country  that  was  subject  to  the  king,  it  fell  out  that  the  Jews  at  Shushan  slew 
five  hundred  of  their  enemies;  and  when  the  king  had  told  Esther  the  number  of 
those  that  were  slain  in  that  city,  but  did  not  well  know  what  had  been  done  in 
the  provinces,  he  asked  her 'whether  she  would  have  anything  farther  don« 
against  them,  for  that  it  should  be  done  accordingly.  Upon  which  she  desired  that 
the  Jews  might  be  permitted  to  treat  their  remaining  enemies  in  the  same  manner 
the  next  day  ;  as  also  that  they  might  hang  the  ten  sons  of  Haman  upon  the  gal- 
lows. So  the  king  permitted  the  Jews  so  to  do,  as  desirous  not  to  contradict  Es- 
ther. So  they  gathered  themselve  together  again  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the 
month  Dystrus,  and  slew  about  three  hundred  of  their  enemies,  but  touched 
nothing  of  what  riches  they  had.  Now  there  were  slain  by  the  Jews  that  were 
in  the  country,  and  in  the  other  cities,  seventy-five  thousand  of  their  enemies, 
and  these  were  slain  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  month,  and  the  next  day  they 
kept  as  a  festival.  In  like  manner  the  Jews  that  were  in  Shushan  gathered  them- 
selves together  and  feasted  on  the  fourteenth  day,  and  that  which  followed  it ; 
whence  it  is,  that  even  now  all  the  Jews  that  are  in  the  habitable  earth  keep  these 
days  festival,  and  send  portions  to  one  another.  Mordecai  also  wrote  to  the  Jews 
that  lived  in  the  kingdom  of  Artaxerxesto  observe  these  days,  and  celebrate  them  as 
festivals,  and  to  deliver  them  down  to  their  posterity,  that  this  festival  might  con- 
tinue for  all  time  to  come,  and  that  it  might  never  be  buried  in  oblivion  ;  for  since 
they  were  about  to  be  destroyed  on  these  days  by  Haman,  they  would  do  a  right 
thing,  upon  escaping  the  danger  in  them,  and  on  them  inflicting  punishments  on 
their  enemies,  to  observe  those  days,  and  give  thanks  to  God  on  them  ;  for  which 
cause  the  Jews  still  keep  the  forementioned  days,  and  call  them  days  of  Phurim 
[or  Puriin.*]  And  Mordecai  became  a  great  and  illustrious  person  with  the  king, 
and  assisted  him  in  the  government  of  the  people.  He  also  lived  with  the  queen  ; 
so  that  the  affairs  of  the  Jews  were,  by  their  means,  better  than  they  could  ever 
have  hoped  for.  And  this  was  the  state  of  the  Jews  under  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes.f 

*  Take  here  part  of  Reland's  note  on  the  disputed  passage  :  "  In  Josephus's  copies  these  Hebrew 
words,  days  of  Pia-im,  01  Lots,ns  in  tiie  Circek  copies  of  Esther,  chap.  ix.  26,28 — 32,  is  read  days  of  Pu- 
rim,  or  days  of  Protection,  but  ought  to  be  read  days  of  Piirim,  as  in  the  Hebrew  ;  than  which  emenda- 
dation,  says  he,  notliing  is  more  certain."  And  had  we  any  assurance  that  Josephus's  copy  mentioned 
the  casting  of  lots,  as  our  other  copies  do,  Esth.  iii.  7,  I  should  fully  agree  with  Reland,  but  as  it  now 
stands,  it  seems  to  me  by  no  nieans  certain. 

•f  As  to  this  whole  book  of  Esther  in  tne  present  Hebrew  copy,  it  is  so  very  imperfect,  in  a  case  where 


C.  VII.  ANTIQUITICS  OK  THE  JEWS. 


CHAP.  VII. 


385 


IliiW  John  slew  his  Broihe?-  Jesus  in  the   Tc/nple  :  and  how  Bagoses  ojfcrcd  many 
Injuries  to  the  Jews  ;  and  what  iSanballat  did. 

§  1.  WiiExEliashib  the  high  priest  was  dead,  his  son  Judas  succeeded  in  the  hio-h 
priesthood  :  and  when  he  was  dead,  his  son  John  took  that  dignity  ;  on  whose  ac- 
count it  was  also  that  Bagoses,  the  general  of  another  Artaxer.xes's*  army,  polluted 
the  temple,  and  imposed  tributes  on  the  Jews,  that  out  of  the  public  stock,  bclore 
they  ctrered  the  daily  sacriliccs,  they  should  pay  I'or  every  lamb  iilty  shekels. 
Now  Jesus  was  the  brother  of  John,  and  was  a  friend  of  Bagoses,  who  had  pro- 
mised  to  procure  him  the  high  priesthood  ;  in  confidence  of  whose  support,  Jesus 
quarreled  with  John  in  the  temple,  and  so  provoked  his  brother,  that  in  his  aufrer 
his  brother  slew  him.  Now  it  was  a  horrible  thing  for  John,  when  he  was  \\\<r\\ 
priest,  to  perpetrate  so  great  a  crime,  and  so  much  the  more  horrible,  that  the°c 
never  was  so  cruel  and  impious  a  thing  done,  neither  by  the  Greeks  nor  barba- 
rians.  However,  God  did  not  neglect  its  punishment,  but  the  people  were  on  that 
very  account  enslaved,  and  the  temple  was  polluted  by  the  Persians.  Now  when 
Bagoses,  the  general  of  Artaxerxes's  army,  knew  that  John  the  high  priest  of  tho 
Jews,  had  slain  his  own  brother  Jesus  in  the  temple,  he  came  upon  the  Jews  im- 
mediately, and  began  to  say  in  anger  to  them,  "  Have  you  had  the  impudence  to 
perpetrate  a  murder  in  your  temple  ?"  And  as  he  was  aiming  to  go  into  the  tem- 
ple, they  forbade  him  so  to  do ;  but  he  said  to  them,  "  Am  not  1  purer  than  he 
that  was  slain  in  the  temple  ?"  And  when  he  had  said  these  words,  he  went  into 
the  temple.  Accordingly  Bagoses  made  use  of  this  pretence,  and  punished  the 
Jews  seven  years  for  the  murder  of  Jesus. 

2.  Now  when  John  had  departed  this  life,  his  son  Jaddua  succeeded  in  the  lii<'!i 
priesthood.  He  had  a  brother,  whose  name  was  Mannssch.  Now  there  was  one 
SanhaUat,  who  was  sent  by  Darius,  the  last  king  [of  Persia,]  into  Samaria.  He 
was  a  Cuthean  by  birth  ;  of  which  stock  were  the  Samaritans  also.  This  man 
knew  that  the  city  Jerusalem  was  a  famous  city,  and  that  their  kings  had  given 
a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  the  Assyrians,  and  the  people  of  Celesyria  ;  so  that  he 
willingly  gave  his  daughter,  whose  name  was  Nicaso,  in  marriage  to  IManasseh, 
as  thinking  this  alliance  by  marriage  would  be  a  pledge  and  security  that  the  na- 
tion of  the  Jews  should  continue  their  good  will  to  hiin. 

the  providence  of  God  was  so  very  remarkable,  and  the  Scptiia^int  and  Joseplius  have  so  much  of  reli- 
gion, tliat  it  has  not  so  much  as  the  name  of  (Jod  once  in  it;  and  it  is  hard  to  say  who  made  that  npiiomu 
which  tiio  Masorites  liave  given  us  for  the  genuine  book  itself;  no  reliijious  Jews  could  well  he  authors  of 
it,  whose  education  oi/liged  them  to  have  a  constant  regard  to  Cod,  aiul  whatsoever  related  to  his  worship; 
nor  do  we  know  that  there  ever  was  soimperfect  acopy  of  it  iiilhe  world  till  after  the  days  of  iJarchocah, 
in  the  second  century. 

*  Concerning  this  oMcj-  Artaxerxes,  called  .TliVicmon,  and  the  Persian  aflliction  and  captivity  of  the  Jews 
under  him,  occasioned  by  the  murder  of  the  high  priest's  lirother  in  the  holy  liouse  itself,  see  Auiheni. 
Kec.  at  large,  page  4'.).  And  if  any  wonder  why  Josephus  wholly  omits  the  rest  of  the  kings  of  I'ersia  af- 
ter Arlaxcrxes  iMnenion,  till  he  came  to  tiieir  last  king  Darius,  who  was  con(juered  bv  Alexander  ilie 
(ireat,  I  shall  give  them  V-ossius's  and  Dr.  Hudson's  answer,  though  in  my  own  words,  viz.  that  Jo^ipiiiis 
(lid  not  do  ill  in  omitting  those  kings  of  Persia  with  whom  the  Jews  had  no  concern,  because  he  was  gi- 
ving the  history  o(  the  Jews,  and  not  of  the  Persians  [which  is  sufficient  reason  also  why  he  entirely  omit- 
ted the  history  and  the  hook  of  Job,  as  not  particularly  relating  to  that  nation.]  He  justly  therefore 
returns  to  the  Jewi.-h  afliirs  after  the  death  of  Longiinanus,  without  any  mention  of  Uarius  Jl.  Injure  Ar- 
taxerxes  Mncinon,  or  of  Ochiis,  or  Aragos,  as  the  canon  of  Ptolemy  names  them,  nfler  him.  Nor  had  he 
probably  nieritioned  this  ulhcr  Artaxerxes,  unless  Bagoses,  one  of  the  governors  and  cominandcrs  under 
hi. I',  had  occasioned  the  uolkitioii  of  the  Jewish  leniplo,  and  had  greatly  distiebsed  the  Jews  upon  that 
iioUution. 


VOL.  I.  3  C 


380  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XI. 


CHAP.  VIII. 

Concerning  Sanhallat  and  .ManasseJi,  and  the  Temple  wliicli  they  built  in  Blount 

Gerizzim:  as  also  how  Alexander  made  his  Entry  into  the  City  Jerusalem; 

and  what  Benefit  he  bestowed  on  the  Jews. 

§  1.  About  this  time  it  was  that  Philip,  king  of  Macedon,  was  treacherously  as- 
saulted and  slain  at  Egese  by  Pausanias,  the  son  of  Cerastes,  who  was  derived 
from  the  family  of  Orestee,  and  his  son  Alexander  succeeded  him  in  the  kingdom; 
who,  passing  over  the  Hellespont,  overcame  the  generals  of  Darius's  army  in  a 
battle  fought  at  Granicum.  So  he  marched  over  Lydia,  and  subdued  Ionia,  and 
overran  Caria,  and  fell  upon  the  places  of  Pamphylia,  as  has  been  related 
elsewhere. 

2.  But  the  elders  of  Jerusalem  being  very  uneasy  that  the  brother  of  Jaddua 
the  high  priest,  though  married  to  a  foreigner,  should  be  a  partner  with  him  in  the 
high  priesthood,  quarrelled  with  him  ;  for  they  esteemed  this  man's  marriage  a 
step  to  such  as  should  be  desirous  of  ti-ansgressing  about  the  marriage  of  [strange] 
wives,  and  that  this  would  be  the  beginning  of  a  mutual  society  with  foreigners, 
although  the  offence  of  some  about  marriages,  and  their  having  married  wives  that 
were  not  of  their  own  country,  had  been  an  occasion  of  their  former  captivity, 
and  of  the  miseries  they  then  underwent;  so  they  commanded  Manasseh  to  di- 
vorce  his  wife,  or  not  to  approach  the  altar,  the  high  priest  himself  joining  with 
the  people  in  their  indignation  against  his  brother,  and  driving  him  away  from  the 
altar.  Whereupon  Manasseh  came  to  his  father-in-law,  Sanballat,  and  told  him, 
that  "although  he  loved  his  daughter  Nicaso,  yet  was  he  not  willing  to  be  deprived 
of  his  sacerdotal  dignity  on  her  account,  which  was  the  principal  dignity  in  their 
nation,  and  always  continued  in  the  same  family."  And  when  Sanballat  pro 
raised  him  not  only  to  preserve  to  him  the  honour  of  his  priesthood,  but  to  procure 
for  him  the  power  and  dignity  of  a  high  priest,  and  would  make  him  governor  oi 
all  the  places  he  himself  now  ruled,  if  he  would  keep  his  daughter  for  his  wife. 
He  also  told  him  farther,  that  he  would  build  him  a  temple  like  to  that  at  Jeru- 
salem, upon  mount  Gerizzim,  which  is  the  highest  of  all  the  mountains  that  are 
in  Samaria,  and  he  promised  that  he  would  do  this  with  the  approbation  of  Darius 
the  king.  Manasseli  was  elevated  with  these  promises,  and  stayed  with  Sanbal- 
lat,  upon  a  supposal  that  he  should  gain  a  high  priesthood,  as  bestowed  on  him 
by  Darius,  for  it  happened  that  Sanballat  v/as  then  in  years.  But  there  was  now 
a  great  disturbance  among  f  lie  people  of  Jerusalem,  because  many  of  those  priests 
and  Levitcs  were  entangled  in  such  matches  ;  for  they  all  revolted  to  Manasseh, 
and  Sanballat  afforded  them  money,  and  divided  among  them  land  for  tillage,  and 
habitations  also,  and  all  this  in  order  every  way  to  gratify  his  son-in-law. 

3.  About  this  time  it  was  that  Darius  heard  how  Alexander  had  passed  over  the 
Hellespont,  and  had  beaten  his  lieutenants  in  the  battle  at  Granicum,  and  was 
proceeding  farther;  whereupon  he  gathered  together  an  army  of  horse  and  foot, 
and  determined  that  he  would  meet  the  3Iacedonians  before  they  should  assault 
and  conquer  all  Asia.  So  he  passed  over  the  river  Euphrates,  and  came  over 
Taurus,  the  Cilician  mountain ;  and  at  Isis  of  Cilicia  he  waited  for  the  enemy, 
as  ready  there  to  give  him  battle.  Upon  which  Sanballat  was  glad  that  Darius 
was  come  down;  and  told  Manasseh  that  he  would  fri;idenly  perform  his  pro- 
misi-'s  to  him,  and  this  as  soon  a^  ever  Darius  should  come  back,  after  he  had 
beaten  his  enemies;  for  not  he  only,  but  all  those  that  were  in  Asia  also,  were 
persuaded  that  the  Macedonians  would  not  so  much  as  come  to  a  battle  with  the 
Persians,  on  account  of  their  multitude.  But  the  event  proved  otherwise  than  thev 
expected,  for  the  king  joined  battle  with  the  Rlacedonians,  and  was  beaten,  and 
lost  a  great  part  of  his  army.  His  mother  also,  and  his  wife  and  children,  were 
taken  captives,  and  he  fled  into  Persia.     So  Alexander  came  into  Syria,  and  took 


C.  Vlir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  397 

Damascus;  and  when   he  had  obtained  Sidon,  lie  hcslego  •,  ..hen  he  sent 

an  epistle  to  the  Jewish  high  ])riest,  "To  send  him  some  auxiiafirtS,  and  to  supply 
his  army  with  provisions ;  and  that  what  presents  he  formerly  sent  to  Darius  he 
Avould  now  send  to  him,  and  ciioose  the  friendship  of  the  Macedonians,  and  that 
he  should  never  repent  of  so  doing."  But  the  high  priest  answered  the  messen- 
gers, that  "he  had  given  his  oath  to  Darius  not  to  hear  arms  against  him;  and 
he  said,  that  he  would  not  transgress  them  while  Darius  was  in  the  land  of  the 
living."  Upon  hearing  this  answer  Alexander  was  very  angry;  and  though  he 
determined  not  to  leave  Tyre,  which  was  just  ready  to  be  taken,  yet,  as  soon  as 
he  had  taken  it,  he  threatened  that  he  would  make  an  expedition  against  the 
Jewish  high  priest,  and  through  him  teach  all  men  to  whom  they  must  keep  their 
oaths.  So  when  he  had,  with  a  good  deal  of  pains  during  the  siege,  ^aken  Tyre, 
and  had  settled  its  afl'airs,  he  came  to  the  city  of  Gaza,  and  besieged  both  the 
city,  and  him  that  was  governor  of  the  garrison,  whose  name  was  Buhemeses. 

4.  But  Sauballat  thought  he  had  now  gotten  a  proper  opportunity  to  make  his 
attempt,  so  he  renounced  Darius,  and  taking  with  him  seven  thousand  of  his  own 
subjects,  he  came  to  Alexander ;  and  finding  him  beginning  the  siege  of  Tyre, 
he  said  to  him,  that  he  delivered  up  to  him  these  men,  who  came  out  of  places 
under  his  dominion,  and  did  gladly  accept  of  him  for  his  lord,  instead  of  Darius. 
So  when  Alexander  had  received  him  kindly,  Sanballat  thereupon  took  courage, 
and  spake  to  him  about  his  present  affair.  He  told  him,  that  "  he  had  a  son-in- 
law,  Manasseh,  who  was  brother  to  the  high  priest  Jaddua ;  and  that  there  were 
many  otliers  of  his  own  nation,  now  with  him,  that  were  desirous  to  have  a  temple 
in  the  places  subject  to  him :  that  it  would  be  for  the  king's  advantage  to  have  the 
strength  of  the  Jews  divided  into  tvv'o  parts,  lest  when  the  nation  is  of  one  mind, 
and  united,  upon  any  attempt  lor  innovation,  it  prove  troublesome  to  kings,  as  it 
had  formerly  proved  to  the  kings  of  Assyria."  Whereupon  Alexander  gave  San- 
ballat leave  so  to  do  ;  who  used  the  utmost  diligence,  and  built  the  temple,  and 
made  Manasseh  the  priest,  and  deemed  it  a  great  reward,  that  his  daughter's  chil- 
dren should  have  that  dignity;  but  when  seven  moriths  of  the  siege  ot  Tyre  were 
over,  and  the  two  months  of  the  siege  of  Gaza,  Sanballat  died.  Now  Alexander, 
when  he  had  taken  Gaza,  made  haste  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem  ;  and  Jaddua  the 
high  priest,  when  he  heard  that,  was  in  an  agony,  and  under  terror,  as  not  knowing 
how  he  should  meet  the  Macedonians,  since  the  king  was  displeased  at  his  fore- 
going disobedience.  He  therefore  ordained  that  the  people  should  make  suppli- 
cations, and  should  join  with  him  in  ofiering  sacrifices  to  God,  whom  he  besought 
to  protect  that  nation,  and  to  deliver  them  from  the  perils  that  were  coming  upon 
them:  Whereupon  God  warned  him  in  a  dream,  which  came  upon  him  after  he 
had  offered  sacrifice,  that  "he  should  take  courage,  and  adorn  the  city,  and  open 
the  gates ;  that  the  rest  should  appear  in  white  garments,  but  that  he  and  the  priests 
should  meet  the  king  in  the  habits  proper  to  their  order,  without  the  dread  of  any 
ill  consequences,  which  the  providence  of  God  would  prevent."  Upon  which, 
when  he  rose  from  his  sleep,  he  greatly  rejoiced,  and  declared  to  all  the  warning 
he  had  received  from  God.  According  to  which  dream  he  acted  entirely,  and  so 
waited  for  the  coming  of  the  kinjj. 

5.  And  when  he  understood  that  he  was  not  far  from  the  city,  he  went  out  m 
procession,  with  the  priests  and  the  multitude  of  the  citizens.  The  procession 
was  venerable,  and  the  manner  of  it  difierent  from  that  of  other  nations.  It 
reached  to  a  place  called  Sapha,  which  name,  translated  into  Greek,  signifies  a 
prospect,  for  )ou  have  thence  a  prospect  both  of  Jerusalem  and  of  the  temple ; 
and  when  the  PhcEnicians  and  the  Chaldeans  that  followed  him  thought  they 
should  have  liberty  to  plunder  the  cit}',  and  torment  the  high  priest  to  death,  which 
the  king's  displeasure  fairly  promised  them,  the  very  reverse  of  it  happened  ;  for 
Alexander,  when  he  saw  the  multitude  at  a  distance,  in  white  garments,  while  the 
priests  stood  clothed  whh  fine  linen,  and  the  high  priest  in  purple  and  scarlet 
clothing,  with  his  mitre  on  his  head,  having  the  golden  plate  whereon  the  name  of 

3  C  2  2:* 


388  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TIIE  JEWS.  B.  XI. 

Cod  was  eno-raved,  lie  approached  by  himself,  and  adored  that  name,  and  first 
saluted  the  high  priest.  Tiie  Jews  also  did  altogether,  with  one  voice,  salute 
Alexander,  and  encompass  him  about :  whereupon  the  kings  of  Syria  and  the  rest 
were  surprised  at  what  Alexander  had  done,  and  supj)osed  him  disordered  in  his 
mind.  However,  Parmenio  alone  went  up  to  him,  and  asked  him,  "  How  it  came 
to  pass,  that  when  all  others  adored  him,  he  should  adore  the  high  priest  of  the 
Jews?"  To  whom  he  replied,  "I  did  not  adore  him,  but  that  God  who  hath  ho- 
Doured  him  with  his  high  priesthood ;  for  I  saw  this  very  person  in  a  dream,  in 
this  very  habit,  when  I  was  at  Dios  in  I\Iacedonia,  who,  when  I  was  considering 
with  myself  how  I  might  obtain  the  dominion  of  Asia,  exhorted  me  to  make  no 
delay,  but  boldly  to  pass  over  the  sea  thither,  for  that  he  would  conduct  my  army, 
and  M'ould  give  me  the  dominion  over  the  Persians ;  whence  it  is,  that  having 
seen  no  other  in  that  habit,  and  now  seeing  this  person  in  it,  and  remembering 
that  vision,  and  the  exhortation  which  I  had  in  my  dream,  I  believe  that  I.  bring 
this  army  under  the  divine  conduct,  and  shall  therewith  conquer  Darius,  and  de- 
stroy the  power  of  the  Persians,  and  that  all  things  will  succeed  according  to  what 
is  in  my  own  mind."  And  when  he  had  said  this  to  Parmenio,  and  had  given  the 
high  priest  his  right  hand,  the  priests  ran  along  by  him,  and  he  came  into  the 
city  :  and  when  he  went  up  into  the  temple,  he  otiered  sacrifice  to  God,  according 
to  the  high  priest's  directions  ;  and  magnificently  treated  both  the  high  priest  and 
the  priests.  And  when  the  book  of  Daniel  was  showed  him,  wherein  Daniel  de- 
Glared  that  one  of  the  Greeks  should  destroy  the  empire  of  the  Persians,  he  sup- 
posed that  himself  was  the  person  intended:  and  as  he  was  then  glad,  he  dis- 
missed the  multitude  for  the  present,  but  the  next  day  he  called  them  to  him,  and 
bid  them  ask  what  favours  they  pleased  of  him;  whereupon  the  high  priest  de- 
sired that  they  might  enjoy  the  laws  of  their  forefathers,  and  might  pay  no  tribute 
on  the  seventh  year.  He  granted  all  they  desired.  And  when  they  entreated 
him  that  he  would  permit  the  Jews  in  Babylon  and  Media  to  enjoy  their  own 
laws  also,  he  willingly  promised  to  do  hereafter  what  they  desired.  And  when 
he  said  to  the  multitude,  that  if  any  of  them  would  list  themselves  in  his  army,  on 
this  condition,  that  they  should  continue  under  the  laws  of  their  forefathers,  and 
live  according  to  them,  he  was  willing  to  take  them  with  him,  many  were  ready 
to  accompany  him  in  his  wars. 

G.  So  when  Alexander  had  thus  settled  matters  at  Jerusalem,  he  led  his  army 
into  the  neighbouring  cities :  and  when  all  the  inhabitants  to  whom  he  came  re- 
ceived him  with  great  kindness,  the  Samaritans,  who  had  then  Shechem  for  their 
metropolis  (a  city  situate  at  mount  Gerizzim,  and  inhabited  by  apostates  of  the 
Jewish  nation,)  seeing  that  Alexander  had  so  greatly  honoured  the  Jews,  determi- 
ned to  profess  themselves  Jews,  for  such  is  the  disposition  of  the  Samaritans,  as 
we  have  already  elsewhere  declared,  that  when  ihe  Jews  are  in  adversity  they 
deny  that  they  are  of  kin  to  them,  and  then  they  confess  the  truth  ;  but  when 
they  perceive  that  some  good  fortune  hath  befallen  them,  they  immediately  pre- 
tend to  have  communion  with  them,  saying  that  they  belong  to  them,  and  derive 
their  genealogy  from  the  posterity  of  Joseph,  Ephraim,  and  Manasseh.  Accor- 
dingly they  made  their  address  to  the  king  with  splendour,  and  showed  great 
alacrity  in  meeting  him  at  a  little  distance  from  Jerusalem.  And  when  Alex- 
ander had  commanded  them,  the  Shechemites  approached  to  him,  taking  with 
them  the  troops  that  Sanballat  had  sent  him,  and  they  desired  that  he  would  come 
to  their  city,  and  do  honour  to  their  temple  also.  To  whom  he  promised,  that 
when  he  returned  he  would  come  to  them.  And  when  they  petitioned  that  he 
would  remit  the  tribute  of  the  seventh  year  to  them,  because  they  did  not  sow 
thereon,  he  asked  who  were  they  that  made  such  a  petition,  and  when  they  said 
that  they  were  Hebrews,  but  had  the  names  of  Sidonians  living  at  Shechem ; 
he  asked  them  again,  whether  they  were  Jews,  and  when  they  said  they  were 
not  Jews,  "  It  was  to  the  Jews  (said  he)  that  I  granted  that  privilege  ;  however, 
when  I  return,  and  am  thoroughly  informed  by  you  of  this  matter,  I  will  do 


C.  VIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  399 

what  I  shall  think  proper."  And  in  tliis  manner  lie  took  leave  of  the  She- 
chemitcs ;  but  ordered  that  the  troops  of  Sanballat  should  follow  him  into  Egypt, 
because  there  he  designed  to  give  them  lands,  which  he  did  a  httle  after  in  The- 
bas,  when  he  ordered  them  to  guard  that  country. 

7.  Now  when  Alexander  was  dead,  the  government  was  parted  among  his 
successors,  but  the  temple  upon  mount  Gerizzim  remained.  And  if  any  one 
were  accused  by  those  of  Jeru=!alem  of  having  eaten  things  common,  or  of  ha- 
ving broken  the  Sabbath,  or  of  any  other  crime  of  the  like  nature,  he  fled  away 
to  the  Shechemites,  and  said,  that  he  was  accused  unjustly.  About  this  time  it 
was  that  Jaddua  the  high  priest  died  ;  and  Onias  his  son  took  the  high  priesthood. 
This  was  the  state  of  the  aflairs  of  the  people  at  Jerusalem  at  this  time. 


390  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


BOOK  xn. 


CONTAINING  THE  INTERVAL  OF  A   HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY  YEARS 

FTiOM  THE  DEATH  OFALEXAJfDER  THE  GREAT,  TO  THE  DEATH  OF 

JUDA!S  MACCABEUS. 


CHAP.  I. 

How  Ptolemy,  tlie  Son   of  Lagiis,  took  Jerusalem  and  Jndea  ly  Deceit  and    Trea- 
chery, and  carried  many  of  the  Jews  thence,  and  •planted  them  in  Egypt. 

§  1.  Now  when  Alexander,  king  of  Macedon,  had  put  an  end  to  the  dominion  of 
the  Persians,  and  had  settled  the  affairs  in  Judea  after  the  forementioned  man- 
ner, he  ended  his  life.  And  as  his  government  fell  among  many,  Antigonus  ob- 
tained Asia,  Seleucus  Babylon  ;  and  of  the  other  nations  which  were  there,  Lysi- 
michus  governed  the  Hellespont,  and  Cassander  possessed  Macedonia ;  as  did 
Ptolemy  the  son  of  Lagus  seize  upon  Egppt.  And  while  these  princes  ambi- 
tiously strove  one  against  another,  every  one  for  his  own  principality,  it  came  to 
pass  that  there  were  continual  Vv  ars,  and  those  lasting  wars  too  ;  and  the  cities 
were  sufferers,  and  lost  a  great  many  of  their  inhabitants  in  these  times  ©fdistress, 
insomuch  that  all  Syria,  by  the  means  of  Ptolemy  the  son  of  Lagus,  underwent 
the  reverse  of  that  denomination  of  Saviour,  which  he  then  had.  He  also  seized 
upon  Jerusalem,  and  for  that  end  made  use  of  deceit  and  treachery;  for  as  he 
came  into  the  city  on  a  Sabbath  day,  as  if  he  would  offer  sacrifice,  he  without 
any  trouble  gained  the  city,  while  the  Jews  did  not  oppose  him,  for  they  did  not 
suspect  him  to  be  their  enem)^ ;  and  he  gained  it  thus,  because  they  were  free 
from  suspicion  of  him,  and  because  on  that  day  they  were  at  rest  and  quiet- 
ness ;  and  when  he  had  gained  it,  he  ruled  over  it  in  a  cruel  manner.  Nay, 
Agatharchides  of  Cnidus,  who  wrote  the  acts  of  Alexander's  successors,  reproa- 
ches  us  with  superstition,  as  if  we  by  it,  had  lost  our  liberty ;  where  he  says  thus  : 
"  There  is  a  nation  called  the  nation  of  the  Jews,  who  inhabit  a  city  strong  and 
great,  named  Jerusalem.  These  men  took  no  care,  but  let  it  come  into  the 
hand  of  Ptolemy,  as  not  willing  to  take  arms,  and  thereby  they  submitted  to  be 
under  a  hard  master,  by  reason  of  their  unseasonable  superstition."  This  is 
Avhat  Agatharchides  relates  of  our  nation.  But  when  Ptolemy  had  taken  a  great 
many  captives,  both  from  the  mountainous  parts  of  Judea,  and  from  the  places 
about  Jerusalem  and  Samaria,  and  the  places  near  mount  Gerizzim  he  led  them 
all  into  Egypt,*  and  settled  them  there.  And  as  he  knew  that  the  peopleof  Jeru- 
salem were  most  faithful  to  the  observation  of  oaths  and  covenants,"]"  and  this 
from  the  answer  they  made  to  Alexander,  when  he  sent  an  embassage  to  them, 

*  The  great  number  of  tlic?e  Jews  and  Samaritans  that  were  formerly  carried  intoEg^'pt  by  Alexan- 
der, and  now  by  Ptolemy  the  son  of  Lagus,  appear  afterwards  in  the  vast  multitude  who,  as  we  shall  see  pre- 
sently, were  soon  ransomed  by  I'hiladelphus,  and  by  hini  made  free,  before  he  sent  for  the  seventy-two 
interpreters  ;  in  the  many  garrisons,  and  other  soldiers  of  that  nation  in  Egypt ;  in  the  famous  settlement 
of  the  Jews,  and  the  number  of  their  synajTogues  at  xMexandria,  long  afterward;  and  in  the  vehement 
contention  between  the  Jews  and  Samaritans  under  Philometer,  about  the  place  appointed  for  public 
worship  in  the  law  of  Moses  ;  wiiether  at  the  Jewish  temple  at  Jerusalem,  or  at  the  Samaritan  temple  at 
Cierizzim  :  of  all  which  our  author  treats  here,-»fier.  And  as  to  the  Samaritans  carried  into  Egypt  under 
the  same  princes.  Scaliger  supposes,  tiiat  those  who  have  a  great  synagogue  at  Cairo,  as  also  those  whom 
the  Arabic  geographer  speaks  of,  as  having  seized  on  an  island  in  the  Red  Sea,  are  remains  of  them  at  this 
Tcry  flay,  as  the  notes  here  inform  us. 

f  Of  the  tacredness  of  oaths  among  the  Jews  in  the  Old  Testament,  see  Scripture  Politics,  p.  54, 55. 


C.  IL  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  ggj 

after  he  had  beaten  Darius  in  battle,  so  he  distributed  many  of  them  into  garri- 
sons  ;  and  at  Alexandria  gave  them  equal  privileges  of  citizens  with  the  Maccdo- 
nians  themselves  ;  and  required  of  them  to  takeiheir  oaths,  that  they  would  keep 
their  fidelity  to  the  posterity  of  those  who  committed  these  places  to  their  care. 
Nay,  there  were  not  a  few  other  Jews,  who,  of  their  own  accord,  went  into  Eo-ypt, 
as  invited  by  the  goodness  of  the  soil,  and  by  the  liberality  of  Ptolemy.  How- 
ever there  were  disorders  among  their  posterity,  with  relation  to  the  Samaritans, 
on  account  of  their  resolution  to  preserve  that  conduct  of  life  which  was  dehvered 
to  them  by  their  forefathers,  and  they  thereupon  contended  one  Avith  another : 
while  those  of  Jerusalem  said,  that  their  temple  was  holy,  and  resolved  to  send 
their  sacrifices  thither  ;  but  the  Samaritans  were  resolved  that  they  should  be 
sent  to  Mount  Gerizzim. 


CHAP.  H. 

How  Ptolemy  Philadd pirns  procured  the  Laws  of  the  Jews  to  he  translated  into  the 

Greek  Tongue  ;  and  set  man;/  Captives  free  ;   and  dedicated  many 

Gifts  to  God. 

§  1.  Whex  Alexander  had  reigned  twelve  years,  and  after  him  Ptolemy  Soter 
forty  years,  Philadelphus  then  took  the  kingdom  of  Egypt,  and  held  it  forty  years 
within  one.  He  procured  the  law  to  be  interpreted  ;*  and  set  free  those  that 
were  come  from  Jerusalem  into  Egypt,  and  were  in  slavery  there,  who  were  a 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand.  The  occasion  was  this  :  Demetrius  Phalerius, 
who  was  library-keeper  to  the  king,  was  now  endeavouring,  if  it  were  possible, 
to  gather  together  all  the  books  that  were  in  the  habitable  earth,  and  buying  what- 
soever was  any  where  valuable,  or  agreeable  to  the  king's  inclination  (who  was 
very  earnestly  set  upon  collecting  of  books  ;)  to  which  inclination  of  his  Deme- 
trius was  zealously  subservient.  And  when  once  Ptolem}-  asked  him.  How  many 
ten  thousand  of  books  he  had  collected  ;  he  replied,  that  he  had  already  about 
twenty  times  ten  thousand,  but  that  in  a  little  time  he  should  have  fii'ty  times  ten 
thousand.  But  he  said  he  had  been  informed,  that  there  were  many  books  of  law 
among  the  Jews,  worthy  of  inquiring  after,  and  worthy  of  the  king's  library,  but 
which  being  written  in  characters  and  in  a  dialect  of  their  own,  will  cause  no  small 
pains  in  getting  them  translated  into  the  Greek  tongue  :  that  the  character  in  which 
they  are  written  seems  to  be  like  to  that  which  is  the  proper  character  of  the  Sy- 
rians, and  that  its  sound,  when  pronounced,  is  like  theirs  also  :  and  ti)at  tliis  sound 
appears  to  be  peculiar  to  themselves.  Wherefore  he  said  that  nothing  hindered 
why  they  might  not  get  those  books  to  be  ti'tinslatcd  also,  for  while  nothing  is 
wanting  that  is  necessary  for  that  purpose,  we  may  have  their  books  also  in  this 
library.  So  the  king  thought  that  Demetrius  was  very  zealous  to  procure  him 
abundance  of  books,  and  that  ho  suggested  what  was  exceeding  proper  for  him 
to  do  and  therefore  he  wrote  to  the  Jewish  high  priest,  that  he  should  act  accor- 
dingly. 

2.  Now  there  w'as  one  Aristeus,  who  was  among  the  king's  most  intimate 
friends,  and  on  account  of  his  modesty  very  acceptable  to  him.  This  Aristeus 
resolved  frequently,  and  that  before  now,  to  petition  the  king,  that  he  would  set 
all  the  captive  Jews  in  his  kingdom  free  ;  and  he  thought  this  a  convenient  op- 
portunity  for  making  that  petition.  So  he  discoursed  in  the  first  place  with  the 
captains  of  the  king's  guards,  Sosibius  of  Tarentun),  and  Andreas  ;  and  persua- 
oed  them  to  assist  him  in  what  he  was  going  to  intercede  with  the  king  for.  Ac- 
cordingly  Aristeus  embraced  the  same  ophiion  with  those  that  have  been  before 

»  Of  the  translation  of  the  other  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  by  seventh'  Eq^i-ptian  Jews,  in  the  reigns  of 
Ptolemy  the  son  ofLa^us,  and  I'hiladclphits  ;  as  also  the  translation  of  the  Pentateuch  hy  seventy-two 
Jerusalem  Jews,  in  the  seventh  year  of  Philadelphus  at  Alexandria,  as  piven  us  an  account  of  by  Aris- 
teus, and  thence  hy  Philo  and  Josephus,  with  a  vindication  of  Arisleus's  history, — sco  tlie  Appendix  to 
Lit.  Accomp.  ofProph.  at  large,  p.  117 — 152. 


392  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Xn.    . 

mentioned  ;  and  went  to  the  king,  and  made  the  following  speech  to  him :  "  It  is 
not  fit  for  us,  O  king,  to  overlook  things  hastily,  or  to  deceive  ourselves,  but  to 
lay  the  truth  open  ;  for  since  we  have  determined  not  only  to  get  the  laws  of  the 
Jews  transcribed,  but  interpreted  also  for  th}^  satisfaction,  by  what  means  can  we 
do  this,  while  so  many  of  the  Jews  are  now  slaves  in  thy  kingdom  ?  Do  thou  then 
what  will  be  agreeable  to  thy  magnanimity,  and  to  thy  good  nature  :  free  them 
from  the  miserable  condition  they  are  in,  because  that  God  who  supporteth  thy 
kingdom  was  the  author  of  their  laws,  as  I  have  learned  by  particular  inquiry  ; 
for  both  these  people,  and  we  also,  worship  the  same  God,  the  framer  of  all  things. 
We  call  him,  and  that  truly,  by  the  name  [of  Z^va,  or  life,  or  Jupiter,]  because 
he  breathes  life  into  all  men.  Wherefore  do  thou  restore  these  men  to  their  own 
country,  and  this  do  to  the  honour  of  God,  because  these  men  pay  a  peculiarly 
excellent  worship  to  him.  And  know  this  farther,  that  though  I  be  not  of  kin  to 
them  by  birth,  nor  one  of  the  same  country  with  them,  yet  do  I  desire  these  fa- 
vours to  be  done  them,  since  all  men  are  the  workmanship  of  God  ;  and  I  am  sen- 
sible that  he  is  well  pleased  with  those  that  do  good.  I  do  therefore  put  up  this 
petition  to  thee,  to  do  good  to  them." 

3.  When  Aristeus  was  saying  thus,  the  king  looked  upon  him  with  a  cheerful 
and  joyful  countenance,  and  said,  "  How  many  ten  thousands  dost  thou  suppose 
there  are  of  such  as  want  to  be  made  free  ?"  To  which  Andreas  replied,  as  he 
stood  by,  and  said,  "A  few  more  than  ten  times  ten  thousand."  The  king  made 
answer,  "  And  is  this  a  small  gift  that  thou  askest,  Aristeus  ?"  But  Sosibius, 
and  the  rest  that  stood  by,  said.  That  "  he  ought  to  otfer  such  a  thank-offering 
as  was  worthy  of  his  greatness  of  soul,  to  that  God  who  had  given  him  his  king- 
dom." With  this  answer  he  was  much  pleased;  and  gave  order,  that  when  they 
paid  the  soldiers  their  wages,  they  should  lay  down  [a  *  hundred  and]  twenty 
drachmae  for  every  one  of  the  slaves.  And  he  promised  to  publish  a  magnificent 
decree,  about  what  they  required,  which  should  confirm  what  Aristeus  had  pro- 
posed, and  especially  what  God  willed  should  be  done  ;  wheijeby  he  said,  he 
would  not  only  set  those  free  who  had  been  led  away  captive  by  his  father  and 
his  army,  but  those  who  were  in  his  kingdom  before,  and  those  also,  if  any  such 
there  were,  who  had  been  brought  away  since.  And  when  they  said,  that  their 
redemption-money  would  amount  to  about  four  hundred  talents,  he  granted  it. 
A  copy  of  which  decree  I  have  determined  to  preserve,  that  the  magnanimity  of 
this  king  may  be  made  known.  Its  contents  were  as  follows  :  "  Let  all  those 
who  were  soldiers  under  our  father,  and  who,  when  they  overran  Sjria  and  Phoe- 
nicia, and  laid  waste  Judea,  took  the  Jews  captives  and  made  them  slaves,  and 
brought  them  into  our  cities,  and  into  this  country,  and  then  sold  them ;  as  also 
all  those  that  were  in  my  kingdom  before  them,  and  if  there  be  any  that  have 
been  lately  brought  thither,  be  made  free  by  those  that  possess  them  ;  and  let 
them  accept  of  [a  hundred  and]  twenty  drachmte  lor  every  slave.  And  let  the 
soldiers  receive  this  redemption-money  with  their  pay;  but  the  rest  out  of  the 
king's  treasury:  for  I  suppose  that  they  were  made  captives  without  our  father's 
consent,  and  against  equity  :  and  that  their  country  was  harassed  by  the  insolence 
of  the  soldiers,  and  that,  by  removing  them  into  Egypt,  the  soldiers  have  made 
a  great  profit  by  them.  Oat  of  regard,  therefore  to  justice,  and  out  of  pity  to 
those  that  have  been  tyrannized  over,  contrary  to  equity,  I  enjoin  those  that  have 
such  Jews  in  their  service  to  set  them  at  liberty,  upon  the  receipt  of  the  beiore- 

*  Although  this  number  one  hundred  and  twenty  drachma;  [of  Alexandria,  or  sixty  Jewish  shekels]  he. 
here  three  times  repeated,  and  tliat  in  all  Josepliiis's  copies,  Greek  and  Latin,  yet  since  all  the  copies  of 
Aristeus,  whence  Josephus  took  li is  relation,  have  this  sum  several  times,  and  still  as  no  more  than 
twenty  drachma;,  or  ten  Jewish  shekels;  and  since  tiiesuin  of  iho  talents,  to  beset  down  presently,  which 
is  little  above  four  hundred  and  sixty,  for  somewhat  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  slaves,  and  is  nearly 
the  same  in  Josephus  and  Aristeus,  does  better  agree  to  twenty  than  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  drachma;; 
and  since  the  value  ofa  slave  of  old  was.  at  tlie  utmost,  but  tliirty  shekels,  or  sixty  drachma;,  see  Exod. 
xxi.  32,  while  in  the  present  circumstances  of  the  Jewish  slaves,  and  tliosc  so  very  numerous,  riiiladcl- 
jihus  would  rather  redeem  them  at  a  cheaper  tliun  at  a  dearer  rale,  ihcrc  is  great  reason  to  prefer  here 
Aristeus's  copies  before  Joscplius's. 


t,   U.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


303 


mentioned  sum :  and  that  no  one  use  any  deceit  about  (hem,  but  obey  «hat  is 
here  commanded.  And  I  will  that  they  give  in  their  names  witiiin  three  davs 
after  the  publication  of  this  edict,  to  such  as  arc  appointed  to  execute  the  same, 
and  to  produce  the  slaves  before  them  also,  (or  I  think  it  ^s  ill  be  for  (he  advan- 
tage of  my  affairs  :  and  let  every  one  that  will  inlbim  against  those  that  do  not 
obey  this  decree  ;  and  I  will  that  their  estates  be  confiscated  into  the  Jun'r's 
treasury."  When  this  decree  was  read  to  the  king,  it  at  first  contained  the  rest 
that  is  here  inserted,  and  omitted  only  those  Jews  that  had  formerly  been  brouo-ht, 
and  those  brought  afterwards,  which  had  not  been  distinctly  mentioned  :  so  he; 
added  these  clauses  out  of  his  humanity,  and  with  great  generosity.  He  also 
gave  order,  that  the  payment,  which  was  likely  to  be  done  in  a  hurry,  shouUl  be 
divided  among  the  king's  ministers,  and  among  the  oflicers  of  his  treasury.  When 
this  was  over,  what  the  king  had  decreed  was  quickly  brought  to  a  conclusion  ; 
and  this  in  no  more  than  seven  days  time,  the  number  of  the  talents  paid  for  tho 
captives  being  above  four  hundred  and  sixty,  and  this  because  their  masters  re- 
quired the  [hundred  and]  twenty  drachma3  for  the  children  also,  the  king  bavin"- 
in  efiect  commanded  that  these  should  be  paid  for,  when  he  said  in  his  decree, 
that  they  should  receive  the  forementioned  sum  for  every  slave. 

4.  Now  when  this  had  been  done  alter  so  magnificent  a  manner,  according  to 
the  king's  inclinations,  he  gave  order  to  Demetrius  to  give  him  in  writing  his  sen- 
timents concerning  the  transcribing  of  the  Jewish  books;  for  no  ])art  of  the  ad- 
ministration is  done  rashly  by  these  kings,  but  all  things  are  managed  with  great 
circumspection.  On  which  account  I  have  subjoined  a  copy  of  these  epistles,  and 
set  down  the  multitude  of  the  vessels  sent  as  gifts  [to  Jerusalem,]  and  the  con- 
struction of  every  one,  that  the  exactness  of  the  artificer's  workmanship,  as  it  ap- 
peared to  those  that  saw  them,  and  which  workman  made  every  vessel,  may  be 
made  manifest,  and  this  on  account  of  the  excellency  of  the  vessels  themselves. 
Now  the  copy  of  the  epistle  was  to  this  purpose  :"  "  Demetrius  to  ti>c  great  king. 
When  thou,  O  king,  gavest  me  a  charge  concerning  the  collection  of  books  that 
were  wanting  to  fill  your  library,  and  concerning  the  care  that  ought  to  be  taken 
about  such  as  are  imperfect,  I  have  used  the  utmost  diligence  about  those  matters. 
And  I  let  you  know,  that  we  want  the  books  of  the  Jewish  legislali(jn,  with  some 
others;  for  they  are  written  in  the  Hebrew  characters,  and  being  in  the  languag<; 
of  that  nation,  arc  to  us  unknown.  It  hath  also  happened  to  them,  that  they  have 
been  transcribed  more  carelessly  than  they  ought  to  have  been,  because  thev 
have  not  had  hitherto  royal  care  taken  about  them.  Now  it  is  necessary  that  thou 
shouldst  have  accurate  copies  of  them.  And  indeed  this  legislation  is  full  of  hid- 
den wisdom,  and  entirely  blameless,  as  being  the  legislation  of  God  ;  for  which 
cause  it  is,  as  Hecateus  of  Abdcra  says,  that  the  poets  and  historians  make  no 
mention  of  it,  nor  of  those  men  who  lead  their  lives  according  to  it,  since  it  is  a 
holy  law,  and  ought  not  to  be  published  by  protlme  mouths.  If  then  it  j)lease  thee, 
O  king,  thou  mayeyt  write  to  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  to  send  six  of  tho  ciders 
out  of  every  tribe,  and  those  such  as  are  most  skiltid  in  tlu;  laws,  that  by  tiieir 
means  we  may  learn  the  clear  and  agreeing  sens6  of  these  books  ;  and  may  ol)- 
tain  an  accurate  interpret.ation  of  their  contents,  and  so  may  have  such  a  collection 
of  these  as  may  be  suitable  to  thy  desire." 

5.  When  this  epistle  was  sent  to  the  king,  he  conmianded  that  an  epistle  should 
bo  drawn  up  for  Eleazer,  tlic  .Jewish  high  priest,  concerning  tluse  matters  ;  and 
that  they  should  inform  him  of  the  rel(;ase  of  the  Jews  that  had  l)een  in  slavery 
among  them.  He  also  sent  fitly  talents  of  gold  for  the  making  of  large  basins, 
and  vials,  and  cups,  and  an  immense  quantity  of  precious  stones.  He  also  gavci 
order  to  those  who  had  the  custody  of  the  chests  that  contained  these  stones,  to 
give  the  artificers  leave  to  choose  out  what  sorts  of"  them  they  ph-ased.  He  withal 
appointed,  that  a  htrndrcd  talents  in  money  should  be  sent  to  the  temple  for  sa- 
crificcs,  and  for  other  uses.  Now  1  will  give;  yon  ii  description  of  these  vessels, 
and  the  manner  of  their  couotruction,  but  not  till  lUicr  I  liuve  set  down  a  copy  of 

VOL.  I.  ;;  L» 


394  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIL 

the  epistle  which  was  written  to  Eleazar  the  high  priest,  who  had  obtained  that 
dignity  on  the  occasion  following  :  When  Onias  the  high  priest  was  dead,  his  son 
Simon  became  his  successor.  He  was  called  Simon  the  Just,*  because  of  both 
his  piety  towards  God,  and  his  kind  disposition  to  those  of  his  own  nation.  When 
he  was  dead,  and  had  letl  a  young  son,  who  was  called  Onias,  Simon's  brother 
Eleazar,  of  whom  we  are  speaking,  took  the  high  priesthood ;  and  he  it  was  to 
whom  Ptolemy  wrote,  and  that  in  the  manner  following:  "  King  Ptolemy  to  Ele- 
azar the  high  priest,  sendeth  greeting  :  There  were  many  Jews  who  now  dwell 
in  my  kingdom,  whom  the  Persians,  when  they  were  in  power,  carried  captives. 
These  were  honoured  by  my  father;  some  ofv.hom  he  placed  in  the  army, 
and  gave  them  greater  pay  than  ordinary ;  to  others  of  them,  when  they  came 
with  him  into  Egypt,  he  committed  his  garrisons,  and  the  guarding  of  them,  that 
they  might  be  a  terror  to  the  Egyptians.  And  when  I  had  taken  the  government, 
I  treated  all  men  with  humanity,  and  especially  those  that  are  thy  fellow-citizens, 
of  whom  I  have  set  free  above  a  hundred  thousand  that  were  slaves,  and  paid  the 
price  of  their  redemption  to  their  masters  out  of  my  own  revenues  ;  and  those  that 
xire  of  a  fit  age  I  have  admhted  into  the  number  of  my  soldiers.  And  for  such  as 
are  capable  of  being  faithful  to  me,  and  proper  for  my  court,  I  have  put  them  in 
such  a  post,  as  thinking  this  [kindness  done  to  them]  to  be  a  very  great  and  an 
acceptable  gift,  which  I  devote  to  God  for  his  providence  over  me.  And  as  I  am 
desirous  to  do  what  will  be  grateful  to  these,  and  to  all  the  other  Jews  in  the  ha- 
bitable  earth,  I  have  determined  to  procure  an  interpretation  of  }our  law,  and  to 
have  it  translated  out  of  the  Hebrew  into  Greek,  and  to  be  deposited  in  my  libra- 
ry. Thou  wilt  therefore  do  well  to  choose  out  and  send  to  me  men  of  a  good 
character,  who  are  now  elders  in  age,  and  six  in  number  out  of  every  tribe. 
These,  by  their  age,  must  be  skilful  in  the  laws,  and  of  abilities  to  make  an  ac- 
curate interpretation  of  them  ;  and  when  this  shall  be  finished,  I  shall  think  that 
I  have  done  a  work  glorious  to  myself.  And  I  have  sent  to  thee  Andreas,  the 
captain  of  my  guard,  and  Aristeus,  men  whom  I  have  in  very  great  esteem ;  by 
whom  I  have  sent  those  first  fruits  which  I  have  dedicated  to  the  temple,  and  to 
the  sacrifices,  and  to  other  uses,  to  the  value  of  a  hundred  talents.  And  if  thou 
wilt  send  to  us  to  let  us  know  what  thou  wouldest  have  farther,  thou  wilt  do  a 
thing  acceptable  to  me." 

6.  When  this  epistle  of  the  king's  was  brought  to  Eleazar,  he  wrote  an  answer 
»o  it  with  all  the  respect  possible  :  "  Eleazar  the  high  priest  to  king  Ptolemy, 
sendeth  greeting  :  If  thou  and  thy  queen  Arsinoef ,  and  thy  children  be  well,  we 
are  entirely  satisfied.  When  we  received  thy  epistle,  we  greatly  rejoiced  at 
thy  intentions;  and  when  the  multitude  were  gathered  together,  we  read  it  to 
them,  and  thereby  made  them  sensible  of  the  piety  thou  hast  towards  God.  We 
also  showed  them  the  twenty  vials  of  gold,  and  thirty  of  silver,  and  the  five  largo 
basins,  and  the  table  for  the  shew-bread,  as  also  the  hundred  talents  for  the  sa- 
crifices, and  for  making  Avhat  shall  be  needful  in  the  tenij-le.  Winch  things 
Andreas  and  Aristeus,  those  racst  honoured  friends  of  thine,  have  brought  us  ; 
and  truly  they  are  persons  of  an  excellent  character,  and  of  great  learning,  and 
worthy  of  thy  virtue.  Know  then  that  we  will  gratify  thee  in  what  is  for  thy  ad- 
vantage, though  we  do  v.hat  v/e  used  not  to  do  before  ;  for  we  ought  to  make  a 
return  for  the  numerous  acts  of  kindness  which  thou  hast  done  to  our  countrymen. 
We  immediately,  therefore,  ofiered  sacrifices  for  thee  and  thy  sister,  with  thy 
children  and  friends  ;  and  the  multitude  made  prayers,  that  thy  affairs  may  be  to 
thy  mind,  and  that  thy  kingdom  may  be  preserved  in  peace,  and  that  the  transla- 

*  We  have  a  veiygicat  encomium  of  this  Simon  the  Jvst,  the  son  of  Onias  I.  in  the  fiftieth  chapter  of 
F.cclcsiasticus,  ihrouj^h  tl'.e  whole  cliapter.  Nor  is  it  improper  to  consult  that  chapter  itf  elf  upon  this  oc- 
casion. 

t  When  we  have  here  and  presmily  mention  made  of  r)iiladcl[)lnis's  Queen  and  sister  A rsinoe,  we  are 
to  remcniher,  with  Spanhcini,  that  ,\rsinoc  was  lx)ih  liis  sister  and  liis  wife,  according  to  the  old  custom 
of  Persia,  and  of  Eiiypt  at  this  very  time  ;  nay,  of  tlic  Assyrians  long  afterward.  SeeAntiq.  B.  xx.  ch.  ii. 
sect.  1,  wlicnce  we  Iium",  upon  the  coins  of  riiiladclphus,  this  known  inscription,  the  divine  brother  and 
sisUr. 


C.  II.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  395 

tion  of  our  law  may  come  to  the  conclusion  thou  desirest,  and  be  for  thy  advan. 
tage.  We  have  also  chosen  six  elders  out  of  every  tribe,  whom  we  have  sent 
and  the  law  with  them.  It  will  be  thy  part,  out  of  thy  piety  and  justice,  to  send 
back  the  law,  when  it  hath  been  translated,  and  to  return  those  to  us  that  bring 
it  in  safety.     Farewell." 

7.  This  was  the  reply  which  the  high  priest  made.  But  it  does  not  seem  to 
me  to  be  necessary  to  set  down  the  names  of  the  seventy  [two]  elders  who  were 
sent  by  Eleazar,  and  carried  the  law,  wliich  yet  were  subjoined  at  the  end  of  the 
epistle.  However,  I  thought  it  not  improper  to  give  an  account  of  those  very  va- 
Kiable  and  artificially  contrived  vessels  which  the  king  sent  to  God,  that  all  may 
see  how  great  a  regard  tlie  king  had  for  God  ;  for  the  king  allowed  a  vast  deal 
of  expenses  for  these  vessels,  and  came  often  to  tlie  workmen,  and  viewed  their 
works,  and  suffered  nothing  of  carelessness  or  negligence  to  be  any  damarre  to 
their  operations.  And  I  will  relate  how  rich  they  were  as  well  as  1  am  able,  al- 
though  perhaps  the  nature  of  this  history  may  not  require  such  a  description,  but 
I  imagine  I  shall  thereby  recommend  the  elegant  taste  and  magnanimity  of  this 
king  to  those  that  read  this  history. 

8.  And  first  I  will  describe  what  belongs  to  the  table.     It  was  indeed  in  the 
king's  mind  to  make  this  table  vastly  large  in  its  dimensions ;  but  then  he  gave 
order  that  they  shoiild  learn  what  was  the  magnitude  of  the  table  which  was  al- 
ready  at  Jerusalem,  and  how  large  it  was,  and  whether  there  was  a  ])ossibility  of 
making  one  larger  than  it.     And  when  he  was  informed   how  large  that  was 
which  was  already  there,  and  that  nothing  hindered  but  a  larger  might  be  made, 
he  said,  that  "  he  was  willing  to  have  one  made  that  should  be  five  times  as  lar^e 
as  the  present  table,  but  his  fear  was,  that  it  might  be  then  useless  in  their  sacred 
ministrations,  by  its  too  great  largeness  ;  for  he  desired  that  the  gifts  he  presented 
them  should  not  only  be  there  for  show,  but  should  be  useful  also  in  their  sacred 
ministrations."     According  to  which  reasoning,  that  the  former  table  was  made 
of  so  moderate  a  size  for  use,  and  not  for  want  of  gold,  he  resolved  that  he  would 
not  exceed  the  former  table  in  largeness,  but  would  make  it  exceed  it  in  the  va- 
riety and  elegancy  of  its  materials.     And  as  he  was  sagacious  in  observing  the 
nature  of  all  things,  and  in  having  a  just  notion  of  what  was  new  and  surprising, 
and  where  there  wore  no  sculptures  he  would  invent  such  as  were  proper,  by  his 
own  skill,  and  would  show  them  to  the  workmen,  he  commanded  that  such  sculp, 
tures  should  now  be  made,  and  that  those  which  were  delineated  should  be  most 
accurately  formed,  by  a  constant  regard  to  their  delineation. 

9.  When,  therefore,  the  workmen  had  undertaken  to  make  the  table,  they 
framed  it  in  length  two  cubits  [and  a  hall",]  in  breadth  one  cubit,  and  in  height 
one  cubit  and  a  half;  and  the  entire  structure  of  the  work  was  of  gold.  They 
withal  made  a  crown  of  a  hand-breadth  njund  it,  with  wave-work  wreathed  about 
it,  and  with  an  engraving  imitating  a  cord,  and  was  admirably  turned  on  its  three 
parts  ;  for  as  they  were  of  a  triangular  figure,  every  angle  had  the  same  disposi. 
lion  of  its  sculptures,  that  when  you  turned  them  about,  the  very  same  form  of 
them  was  turned  about  without  any  variation.  Now  that  part  of  the  crown  work 
that  was  enclosed  under  the  table  had  its  sculptures  very  beautiful,  but  that  part 
which  went  round  on  the  outside  was  more  elaborately  adorned  with  most  beau- 
tiful  ornaments,  because  it  was  exposed  to  sight,  and  to  the  view  of  the  spectators  ; 
for  wliich  reason  it  was  that  botii  those  sides  which  were  extant  above  the  rest 
were  acute,  and  none  of  the  angles,  wliich  we  Itcforn  told  you  were  three,  ap- 
peared less  than  another,  when  the  table  was  turned  about.  Now  into  the  cord 
work  thus  turned  were  precious  stones  inserted,  in  rows  parallel  one  to  the  other, 
enclosed  in  golden  buttons,  which  had  ouches  in  them  ;  but  the  parts  which  were 
on  the  side  of  the  crown,  and  were  exposed  to  the  sight,  were  adorned  with  a 
row  of  oval  figures  obliquely  placed,  of  the  most  excellent  sort  of  precious  stones, 
which  imitated  rods  laid  close,  and  encompassed  the  table  round  about.  But  un- 
der these  oval  figures,  thus  engraven,  the  workmen  had  put  a  crown  all  round  it, 
31)2 


2IQQ  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  .  B.  XU. 

where  the  nature  of  all  sorts  of  fruits  was  represented,  insomuch  that  the  hunches 
of  grapes  hung  up.     And   when  they  had  made  the  stones  to  represent  all  the 
kinds  of  fruit  before-mentioned,  and  that  each  in  its  proper  colour,  they  made 
them  fast  Mith  gold  round  the   whole  table.     The   like  disposition  of  the  ovul 
ii<Turcs,  and  of  the  engraved  rods,  was  framed  under  the  crown,  that  the  table 
mio-ht  on  each  side  show  the  same  appearance  of  variety  and  elegancy  of  its  or- 
naments, so  that  neither  the  position  of  the  wave  work  nor  of  the  crown  miglit 
he  difl'erent,  although  the  table  were  turned  on  the  other  side,  but  that  the  pros- 
pect of  the  same  artihcial  contrivances  might  be  extended  as  far  as  the  feet ;  lor 
there  was  made  a  plate  of  gold  four  fingers  broad,  through  the  entire  breadth  of 
the  table,  into  which  they  inserted  the  feet,  and  then  fastened  them  to  the  table 
by  buttons  and  buttonholes,  at  the  place  where  the  crown  was  situate,  that  so,  on 
what  side  soever  of  the  table  one  should  stand,  it  might  exhibit  the  very  same 
view  of  the  exquisite  workmanship,  and  of  the  vast  expenses  bestowed  upon  it ; 
hut  upon  the  table,  itself  they  engraved  a  meander,  inserting  into  it  very  valuable 
stones  in  the  middle,  like  stars  of  various  colours,  the  carbuncle  and  the  emerald, 
each  of  which  sent  out  agreeable  rays  of  light  to  the  spectators,  with  such  stones 
of  other  sorts  also  as  were  most  curious,  and  best  esteemed,  as  being  most  pre- 
cious in  their  kind.     Hard  by  this  meander  a  texture  of  network  ran  round  it, 
the  middle   of  which  appeared  like  a  rhombus,  into  which  were  inserted  rock 
crystal  and  amber,  which,  by  the  great  resemblance   of  the  appearance  they 
made,  gave  wonderful  ligiit  to  (hose  that  saw  them.     The  chapiters  of  the  feet 
imitated  the  first  budding  of  lilies,  while  their  leaves  were  bent,  and  laid  under 
the  table,  but  so  that  the  chives  were  seen  standing  upright  within  them.     Their 
bases  were  made  of  a  carbuncle  ;  and  the  place  at  the  bottom,  which  rested  on 
that  carbuncle,  was  one  palm  deep,  and  eight  fingers  in  breadth.    Now  they  had 
engraven  upon  it  with  a  very  fine  tool,  and  with  a  great  deal  of  pains,  a  branch  of 
ivy,  and  tendrils  of  the  vine,  sending  forth  clusters  of  grapes,  that  you  would  guess 
they  were  nowise  difierent  from  real  tendrils;  for  they  were  so  veiythin,  and  so 
tar  extended  at  their  extremities,  that  they  were  moved  with  the  wind,  and  made 
one  believe  that  they  were  the  product  of  nature,  and  not  the  representation  of 
art.     They  also  made  the  entire  workmanship  of  the  table  appear  to  be  threefold, 
while  the  joints  of  the  several  parts  were  so  united  together  as  to  be  invisible,  and 
the  places  were  they  joined  could  not  he  distinguished.     Now  the  thickness  of 
the  table  was  not  less  than  half  a  cubit.     So  that  this  gift,  by  the  king's  great 
generosity,  by  the  great  value  of  the  materials,   and  the  variety  of  its  esquisile 
structure,  and  the  artificer's  skill  in  imitating  nature  with  graving  tools,  was  at 
length  brought  to  perfection,  while  the  king  was  very  desirous  that  though  in 
largeness  it  were  not  to  be  different  from  that  which  was  already  dedicated  to 
Cod,  yet  that  in  exquisite  workmanship,  and  the  novelty  of  the  contrivances,  ami 
the  splendour  of  its  construction,  it  should  far  exceed  it,  and  be  more  illustrious 
than  that  was. 

10.  Now  of  the  cisterns  of  gold  there  were  two,  whose  sculpture  was  of  scale 
v.ork,  from  its  basis  to  its  belt-like  circle,  with  various  sorts  of  stones  inchased 
in  the  spiral  circles.  Next  to  which  there  was  upon  it  a  meander  of  a  cubit  in 
height  ;  it  was  composed  of  stones  of  all  sorts  of  colours.  And  next  to  this  was 
the  rod  work  engraven;  and  next  to  that  was  a  rhombus  in  a  texture  of  net  work, 
drawn  out  to  the  brim  of  the  basin,  while  small  shields,  made  of  stones,  beautiful 
in  their  kind,  and  of  four  fingers'  depth,  filled  up  the  middle  parts.  About  the 
top  of  the  basin  were  wreathed  the  leaves  of  lilies,  and  of  the  convolvulus,  and 
the  tendrils  of  vines,  in  a  circular  manner.  And  this  was  the  construction  of  the 
two  cisterns  of  gold,  each  containing  two  firkins.  But  those  which  were  of  silver 
were  much  morci  bright  and  splendid  than  lookins-jxlasses,  and  vou  might  in  them 
see  the  images  that  fell  upon  them  more  plainly  than  in  the  other.  The  king  also 
ordered  thirty  vials  ;  those  of  v.hich  the  parts  that  were  of  gold,  and  filled  up 
with  precious  stones,  m  ere  shadowed  over  with  the  leaves  of  ivy  and  of  vines,  artifi- 


C,  IT.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  397 

cially  engraven.  And  these  were  the  vessels  that  were  after  an  extraordinary 
manner  brought  to  this  perfection,  partly  by  the  skill  of  the  workmen,  who  were 
admirable  in  such  fine  work,  but  much  more  by  tlie  diligence  and  generosity  of  the 
king,  who  not  only  supplied  the  urtiiicers  abundantly,  and  with  great  generosity, 
with  what  they  wanted,  but  he  forbade  public  audiences  lor  the  time,  and  came 
and  stood  by  the  workmen,  and  saw  the  whole  operation.  And  this  was  the  causo 
wiiy  the  workmen  were  so  accurate  in  their  perlc>rmances,  because  they  had  re» 
gard  to  the  king,  and  to-  his  great  concern  about  tiie  vessels,  and  so  the  more  in- 
defatigably  kept  close  to  their  woi'k. 

11.  And  these  were  what  gifts  were  sent  by  Ptolemy  to  Jerusalem,  and  dedi- 
cated to  God  there.  But  when  Eleazar  the  higli  priest  liad  devoted  tliem  to  God, 
and  had  paid  due  respect  to  those  that  brought  them,  and  had  given  them  presents 
to  be  carried  to  the  king,  he  dismissed  them.  And  when  they  were  come  to 
Alexandria,  and  Ptolemy  heard  that  they  were  come,  and  that  the  seventy  elders 
were  come  also,  he  presently  sent  for  Andreas  and  Aristeus,  his  ambassadors,  who 
came  to  him,  and  delivered  him  the  epistle  which  tliey  brought  him  from  the  high 
priest,  and  made  answer  to  all  the  questions  he  put  to  them  by  word  of  mouth. 
He  then  made  haste  to  meet  the  elders  that  came  from  Jerusalem  tor  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  laws ;  and  he  gave  command  that  every  body,  who  came  on  oc- 
casions, should  be  sent  away,  whicli  was  a  thing  surprising,  and  what  he  did  not 
use  to  do  ;  for  those  that  were  drawn  thither  upon  such  occasions  used  to  come 
to  him  on  the  lifih  day,  but  ambassador's  at  the  month's  end.  But  when  he  had 
sent  those  away,  he  waited  for  these  that  were  sent  by  Eleazar :  but  as  the  old 
men  came  in  with  the  presents  which  the  high  priest  had  given  them  to  bring  to 
the  king,  and  with  the  membranes,  upon  which  they  had  their  laws  written  in* 
golden  letters,  he  put  questions  to  them  concerning  those  books;  and  when  they 
had  taken  off  the  covers  wherein  they  were  wrapt  up,  they  showed  him  the  mem- 
branes. So  the  king  stood  admiring  the  thinness  of  those  membranes,  and  the 
exactness  of  the  junctures,  which  could  not  be  perceived  (so  exactly  were  they 
connected  one  with  another;)  and  this  he  did  for  a  considerable  time.  He  then 
said,  that  he  returned  them  thanks  for  coming  to  him,  and  still, greater  thanks  to 
him  that  sent  them  ;  and,  above  all,  to  that  God  whose  laws  they  appeared  to  be. 
Then  did  the  eldei's,  and  those  that  were  present  with  them,  cry  out  with  one 
voice,  and  wished  all  hap[)iness  to  the  king.  Upon  which  he  fell  into  tears,  by 
the  violence  of  the  pleasure  he  had,  it  being  natural  to  men  to  aftbrd  the  same 
indications  in  great  joy  that  they  do  under  sorrows.  And  when  he  had  bid  them 
deliver  the  books  to  those  that  were  appointed  to  receive  them,  he  saluted  the 
men,  and  said,  that  it  was  but  just  to  discourse,  in  the  first  place,  of  the  errand 
they  were  sent  about,  and  then  to  address  himself  to  themselves.  He  promised, 
however,  that  he  would  make  this  day  on  which  they  came  to  him  remarkable 
and  eminent  every  year  through  the  whole  course  of  his  life  ;  for  their  coming 
to  him,  and  the  victory  which  he  gained  over  Antigonusby  sea,  proved  to  be  on 
the  very  same  day.  He  also  gave  orders  that  they  should  sup  with  him  ;  and 
gave  it  in  charge  that  they  should  have  excellent  lodgings  provided  for  them  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  city. 

12.  Now  he  that  was  appointed  to  take  care  of  the  reception  of  strangers,  Nica- 
nor  by  name,  called  for  Dorotheus,  whose  duty  it  was  to  make  provision  for  them, 
and  bid  him  pre[)are  for  every  one  of  them  what  should  be  requisite  for  their  diet 
and  way  of  living  :  Which  tiling  was  ordered  by  the  king  after  this  manner. — 
He  took  care  that  those  (hat  belonged  to  every  city,  which  did  not  use  the  same 
way  of  livmg,  that  all  tilings  should  be  prepared  for  them  according  to  the  custom 
of  those  that  came  to  him,  that,  being  feasted  according  to  the  usiial  method  of 
their  own  way  of  living,  they  might  be  tlie  better  pleased,  and  might  not  be  uneasy 
at  any  thing  done  to  them,  from  which  they  were  naturally  averse.     And  this 

*  Tlie  Taliniulists  say,  tliat  it  is  nnt  lawful  to  write  the  Uw  in  leucrs  of  gold  contrary  to  this  certain 
gild  very  ancient  example.     See  lludbon'saiid  Keland's  notes  here. 


39Q  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS,  B.  XIL 

was  now  done  In  the  case  of  these  men  by  Dorotheus,  who  was  put  into  this  of. 
fice  because  of  his  great  skill  in  such  matters  belonging  to  common  life  :  for  he 
took  care  of  all  such  matters  as  concerned  the  reception  of  strangers,  and  ap- 
pointed them  double  seats  for  them  to  sit  on,  according  as  the  king  had  com- 
manded him  to  do  :  for  he  had  commanded  that  half  of  their  seats  should  be  set 
at  his  hand,  and  the  other  half  behind  his  table,  and  took  care  that  no  respect 
should  be  omitted  tiiat  could  be  shown  them.  And  when  they  were  thus  set 
down,  he  bid  Dorotheus  to  minister  to  all  those  that  were  come  to  him  from  Judea 
after  the  manner  they  used  to  be  ministered  to  :  for  which  cause  he  sent  away 
their  sacred  heralds,  and  those  that  slew  the  sacrifices,  and  the  rest  that  used  to 
say  grace  ;  but  called  to  one  of  those  that  were  come  to  him,  whose  name  was 
Eleazar,  who  was  a  priest,  and  desired  him  to  say  grace,*  who  then  stood  in  the 
midst  of  them,  and  prayed, — "  That  all  prosperity  might  attend  the  king,  and  those 
that  were  his  subjects."  Upon  which  an  acclamation  was  made  by  the  whole 
company  with  joy  and  a  great  noise  ;  and  when  that  was  over,  they  fell  to  eating 
their  supper,  and  to  the  enjoyment  of  what  was  set  before  them.  And  at  a  little 
interval  afterward,  when  the  king  thought  a  sufRcient  time  had  been  interposed, 
he  began  to  talk  philosophically  to  them,  and  he  asked  every  one  of  them  a  phi- 
losophical question,!  and  such  a  one  as  might  give  light  in  those  inquiries  :  and 
when  they  had  explained  all  the  problems  that  had  been  proposed  by  the  king, 
about  every  point,  he  was  well  pleased  with  their  answers.  This  took  up  the 
twelve  days  in  which  they  were  treated  :  and  he  that  pleases  may  learn  the  par- 
ticular  questions  in  that  book  of  Aristeus's,  which  he  wrote  on  this  very  occasion. 
13.  And  while  not  the  king  only,  but  the  philosopher  Menedemus  also,  ad- 
mired them,  and  said,  that  "  all  things  were  governed  by  providence ;  and  that  it 
was  probable  that  thence  it  was  that  such  force  or  beauty  was  discovered  in  these 
men's  words,"  they  then  left  off  asking  any  more  such  questions.  But  the  king 
said,  that  he  had  gained  very  great  advantages  by  their  coming;  for  that  he  had 
received  this  profit  from  them,  that  he  had  learned  how  he  ought  to  rule  his  sub- 
jects. And  he  gave  order,  that  they  should  have  every  one  three  talents  given 
them ;  and  that  those  who  were  to  conduct  them  to  their  lodging  should  do  it. 
Accordingly,  when  three  days  were  over,  Demetrius  took  them,  and  went  over  the 
causeway  seven  furlongs  long  ;  it  was  a  bank  in  the  sea  to  an  island.  And  when 
they  had  gone  over  the  bridge,  he  proceeded  to  the  northern  parts,  and  showed 
them  where  they  should  meet,  which  was  in  a  house  that  was  built  near  the  shore, 
and  was  a  quiet  place,  and  fit  for  their  discoursing  together  about  their  work. 
When  he  had  brought  them  thither,  he  entreated  them  (now  they  had  all  things 
about  them  which  they  wanted  for  the  interpretation  of  their  law,)  that  they  would 
suffer  nothing  to  interrupt  them  in  their  work.  Accordingly,  they  made  an  ac- 
curate interpretation,  with  great  zeal  and  great  pains;  and  this  they  continued  to 
do  till  the  ninth  hour  of  the  day  ;  after  which  time  they  relaxed  and  took  care  of 
their  body,  while  their  food  was  provided  for  them  in  great  plenty;  besides,  Do- 
rotheus, at  the  king's  command,  brought  them  a  great  deal  of  what  was  provided 
for  the  king  himself.  But  in  the  morning,  they  came  to  the  court  and  saluted 
Ptolemy,  and  then  went  away  to  their  former  place,  where,  when  they  had  washed 
their  hands,  and  purified  themselves,!  they  betook  themselves  to  the  interpreta- 

*  This  is  the  most  ancient  example  I  have  met  with,  of  a  grace,  or  short  prayer,  or  thanksgiving,  be- 
fore meat;  which,  as  it  used  to  be  said  by  a  heathen  priest,  was  now  said  by  Eleazar,  a  Jewish  priest, 
who  was  one  of  these  sevent)--two  interpreters.  Tiie  next  example  I  have  met  with  is  that  of  tlie  Essenes, 
of  the  A\'ar,  B.  ii.  ch.  viii.  sect.  5,  both  before  an(i  after  it ;  those  of  our  Saviour  before  it,  iMarkviii.  6; 
John  vi.  11,  23,  and  St.  I\tul,  Acts,  xxvii.  S.");  and  a  form  of  such  a  grace  or  prayer  for  Christians,  at  the 
end  of  the  fifth  book  of  tiie  Apostolic  Constitutions,  wliich  seems  to  have  been  intended  for  both  times, 
both  befoie  and  after  meat. 

+  Tliey  were  rather  political  questions  and  answers,  tending  to  the  good  and  religious  government  of 
mankind. 

}  This  purification  of  the  interpreters,  by  washing  in  the  sea,  before  they  prayed  to  God,  every  morii- 
jti^,  and  bofoic  they  set  aljoiit  traiislalinL^,  may  i)c  compared  with  the  like  practice  of  IVter  the  apostle, 
in  the  recognitions  of  CIcniciit,  B.  iv.  cli.  iii.  and  B.  v.  ch.  xxxvi.  and  with  tlie  places  of  tlie  Proseu- 
cli<c,  or  of  prayer,  which  were  sometimes  built  near  the  sea  or  rivers  also.  Of  which  matter,  see  Antitj.  B. 
xiv.  cli.  X.  sect.  2;>,  and  Acts,  xvi.  1:J,  16. 


V.    II.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS,  399 

tion  of  the  laws.  Now  when  the  law  was  transcribed,  and  the  labour  of  in- 
terpretation was  over,  which  came  to  its  conclusion  in  seventy -two  days,  Deme- 
trius gathered  all  the  Jews  together  to  the  place  where  tlie  laws  were  translated, 
and  where  the  interpreters  were,  and  read  tliem  over.  The  multitude  did  also  ap- 
prove  of  those  elders  that  were  the  interpreters  of  the  law.  They  withal  com- 
mended  Demetrius  for  his  proposal,  as  the  inventor  of  what  was  greatly  for  their 
happiness  ;  and  they  desired,  that  he  would  give  leave  to  their  rulers  also  to  read 
the  law.  Moreover,  they  all,  both  the  priest,  and  the  ancienlcstof  the  elders,  and 
the  principal  men  of  their  common-wealth,  made  it  their  rcfiiiest,  that  since  the 
interpretation  was  happily  finished,  it  might  continue  in  the  state  it  now  was,  and 
might  not  be  altered.  And  when  they  all  commended  that  determination  of  theirs, 
they  enjoined,  that  if  any  one  observed  either  any  thing  superfluous,  or  any  thing 
omitted,  that  he  would  take  a  view  of  it  again,  and  have  it  laid  before  tliem,  and 
corrected  ;  which  was  a  wise  action  of  theirs,  that  when  the  thing  was  judged  to 
have  been  well  done,  it  might  continue  for  ever. 

14.  So  the  king  rejoiced  when  he  saw  that  his  design  of  this  nature  was  brought 
to  perfection,  to  so  great  advantage  :  and  he  was  chieHy  delighted  with  hearing- 
the  laws  read  to  him  ;  and  was  astonished  at  the  deep  meaning  and  wisdom  of  the 
legislator.  And  he  began  to  discourse  with  Demetrius,  "  How  it  came  to  pass, 
that  when  this  legislation  was  so  wonderful,  no  one,  either  of  the  poets  or  of  the 
historians,  had  made  mention  of  it."  Demetrius  made  answer,  that  "no  one 
durst  be  so  bold  as  to  touch  upon  the  description  of  these  lavv>%  because  they  were 
divine  and  venerable  ;  and  because  some  that  had  attempted  -t  were  afllicted  by 
God."  He  also  told  him,  that  "  Theopompus  was  desirous  of  writing  somewhat 
about  them,  but  was  thereupon  disturbed  in  his  mind  for  above  thirty  days  time  ; 
and  upon  some  intermission  of  his  distemper,  he  appeased  God  [by  prayer]  as 
suspecting  that  his  madness  proceeded  from  that  cause."  Nay,  mdeed,  he  farther 
saw  a  dream,  that  his  distemper  befell  him  while  lie  indulged  loo  great  a  curio- 
sity about  divine  matters,  and  was  desirous  of  publishing  tliem  among  common 
men;  but  when  he  left  off  that  attempt,  he  recovered  his  understanding  again. 
Moreover,  he  informed  him  of  Theodectes,  the  tragic  poet,  concerning  whom  it 
was  reported,  that  when  in  a  certain  dramatic  representation  he  was  desirous  to 
make  mention  of  things  that  were  contained  in  the  sacred  books,  he  was  afllicted 
with  a  darkness  in  his  eyes  ;  and  that  upon  his  being  conscious  of  the  occasion 
of  his  distemper,  and  appeasing  God  [by  prayer]  he  was  freed  from  that  aflliction. 

15.  And  when  the  king  had  received  these  books  from  Demetrius,  as  we  have 
eaid  already,  he  adored  them:  and  gave  order  that  great  care  should  be  taken  of 
them,  that  they  miglit  remain  uncorruptcd.  He  also  desired  that  the  interpreters 
would  come  often  to  him  out  of  Judea,  and  that  both  on  account  of  the  respects 
that  he  would  pay  them,  and  on  account  of  the  presents  he  would  make  them  : 
for  he  said, — "  It  was  now  but  just  to  send  them  away,  although  if,  of  their  own 
accord,  they  would  come  to  him  hereafter,  th.ey  should  obtain  all  that  their  own 
wisdom  might  justly  require,  and  what  his  generosity  was  able  to  give  them."  So 
he  then  sent  them  away,  and  gave  to  everyone  of^  them  three  garments  of  the 
best  sort,  and  two  talents  of  gold,  and  a  cup  of  the  value  of  one  talent,  and  the 
furnituro  of  the  room  wherein  they  were  feasted.  And  these  were  the  tilings  lie 
presented  to  them.  But  by  them  he  sent  to  Eleazar  the  high  priest  ton  beds, 
with  feet  of  silver,  and  the  furniture  to  tliem  belonging,  and  a  cup  of  the  value  of 
thirty  talents;  and  besides  tliese,  ten  garments,  and  purple,  and  a  very  beautiful 
crown,  and  a  hundred  pieces  of  the  finest  woven  linen;  as  also  vials  and  dishes, 
and  vessels  for  pouring,  and  two  golden  cisterns,  to  be  dedicated  to  God.  He 
also  desired  him,  by  an  epistle,  that  he  would  give  these  interpreters  leave,  if  any 
of  them  were  desirous  of  coming  to  him,  because  he  iiighly  valued  a  conversation 
with  men  of  such  learning,  and  should  be  very  willing  to  lay  out  his  wealth  upon 
sucli  men.  And  this  was  \,liat  came  to  the  Jews,  and  was  much  to  their  glory 
and  honour,  from  Ptolemy  Philadclphus. 


^00  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIL 


CHAP.  III. 

How  the  Kings  of  Asia  honoured  the  Nation  of  the  Jews,  and  made  them  Citizens: 
of  those  Cities  which  they  built. 

&  1.  The  Jews  also  obtained  honours  from  the  kings  of  Asia,  when  they  be- 
came their  auxiUaries ;  for  Seleucus  Nicator  made  them  citizens  in  those  cities 
which  he  built  in  Asia,  and  in  the  Lower  Syria,  and  in  the  metropolis  itself,  An- 
tioch ;  and  gave  them  privileges  equal  to  those  of  the  Macedonians  and  Greeks, 
who  were  the  inhabitants,  insomuch  that  these  privileges  continue  to  this  very 
day  :  an  argument  for  which  you  have  in  this,  that  whereas  the  Jews  do  not  make 
use  of  oil*  prepared  by  foreigners,  they  receive  a  certain  sum  of  money  from  the 
proper  officers  belonging  to  their  exercises  as  the  value  would  have  deprived  thera 
of;  in  the  last  war,  Mucianus,  who  was  then  president  of  Syria,  preserved  it  to 
them.  And  when  the  people  of  Alexandria  and  of  Antioch  did  after  that,  at  the 
time  that  Vespasian  and  Titus  his  son  governed  the  habitable  earth,  pray  that 
these  privileges  of  citizens  might  be  taken  away,  they  did  not  obtain  their  re- 
quest.  In  which  behaviour  any  one  may  discern  the  equityf  and  generosity  of 
the  Romans,  especially  of  Vespasian  and  Titus,  who  although  they  had  been  at 
a  great  deal  of  pains  in  the  war  against  the  Jews,  and  were  exasperated  against 
them,  because  they  did  not  deliver  up  their  weapons  to  them,  but  continued  the 
war  to  the  very  last,  yet  did  not  they  take  away  any  of  their  forementioned  pri- 
vileges  belonging  to  them  as  citizens,  but  restrained  their  anger ;  and  overcame 
the  prayers  of  the  Alexandrians  and  Antiochians,  who  were  a  very  powerful 
people,  insomuch  that  they  did  not  yield  to  them,  neitlier  out  of  their  favour  to 
these  people,  nor  out  of  their  old  grudge  at  those  whose  wicked  opposition  they 
had  subdued  in  the  war  :  nor  would  they  alter  any  of  the  ancient  favours  granted 
to  the  Jews,  but  said,  that  those  who  had  borne  arms  against  them,  and  fought 
them,  had  suffered  punishment  already,  and  that  it  was  not  just  to  deprive  those 
that  had  not  offended  of  the  privileges  they  enjoyed. 

-  2.  We  also  know  that  Marcus  Agrippa  was  of  the  like  disposition  towards  the 
Jews  :  for  when  the  people  of  Ionia  were  very  angry  at  them,  and  besought 
Agrippa,  that  they,  and  they  only,  might  have  those  privileges  of  citizens  which 
Antiochus,  the  grandson  of  Seleucus  (who  by  the  Greeks  was  called  the  God,)  had 
bestowed  on  them  ;  and  desired,  that  if  the  Jews  were  to  be  joint  partakers  with 
them,  they  might  be  obhged  to  worship  the  gods  they  themselves  worshiped ;  but 
■when  these  matters  were  brought  to  the  trial,  the  Jev.'s  prevailed,  and  obtained 
leave  to  make  use  of  their  own  cu:itoms,  and  this  under  the  patronage  of  Nicolaus 
of  Damascus  ;  for  Agrippa  gave  sentence,  that  he  could  not  innovate.  And  if 
any  one  had  a  mind  to  know  this  matter  accurately,  let  him  peruse  the  hundred 
and  twenty-third  and  hundred  and  twenty-fourth  book  of  the  history  of  this  Ni- 
colaus. Now,  as  to  this  determination  of  Agrippa,  it  is  not  so  much  to  be  ad- 
mired, for  at  that  time  our  nation  had  not  made  war  against  the  Romans.  But 
one  may  well  be  astonished  at  the  generosity  of  Vespasian  and  Titus,  that  after 
so  great  wars  and  contests  which  they  had  from  us,  they  should  use  such  mode- 

*  The  use  of  oil  was  much  greater,  and  the  dnnatives  of  it  imioh  more  valuable  in  Judea  and  tlia 
neighbouring  countries  than  it  is  amongst  iis.  It  was  also  in  the  days  of  Josephus  thought  unlawful  for 
Jews  to  make  use  of  any  oil  that  was  prepared  by  lieather.s,  perhaps  on  account  of  some  superstitions  in- 
termixed with  its  preparation  by  those  heathens.  V/hen  therefore  the  heathens  were  to  make  them  a  do- 
native of  oil, they  paid  them  money  instcadof  it.  See  Of  tlie  War,  b.  ii.  ch.  xxi.  sect.  2;  the  Life  of  Jo- 
sephus, sect.  13;  and  Hudson's  note  on  the  place  before  us. 

t  Tliis,  and  the  like  great  and  just  ciiaractcrs  of  the  justice  and  equity  and  generosity  of  the  old  Ro- 
mans, both  to  the  Jews  and  other  conciuered  nations,  affords  us  a  very  good  reason  why  Almighty  God, 
tipon  the  rejection  of  the  Jews  for  tiicir  wickechiess,  ciiose  them  for  his  people,  and  first  established  Chris- 
tianity in  tiiat  empire.  Of  which  matter  see  JoiCpiius  here,  sect.  2;  as  also  Antiq.  b.  xiv.  ch.  x.  sect 
21,  2J ;  b.  xvi.  ch.  ii.  sect.  4 


<..  III.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  Ji:VVS.  4Q1 

lation.     Bui  I  will  now  returii  to  that  part  of  my  hititoiy  whence  I   made  tho 
present  digression. 

'S.  Now  it  happened  tliat,  in  tlie  reign  oi"  Antiochus  the  Great,  who  ruled  over 
all  Asia,  the  Jews,  as  well  as  the  inliabiUints  of  Celesyria,  suOercd  grcaily,  and 
their  land  was  sorely  harassed  ;  for  while  he  was  at  war  wiih  Ptolemy  I*hilopater, 
and  with  his  son,  who  was  ealled  Eplphancs,  it  fell  out  that  these  nations  were 
equally  sufferers,  both  when  he  was  beaten  and  when  he  beat  the  others  :  so  that 
they  were  very  like  to  a  ship  in  a  storm,  Avhich  is  tossed  by  the  waves  on  both 
sides ;  and  just  thus  were  they  in  their  situation  in  the  middle,  "between  Antiochus's 
prosperity  and  its  change  to  adversity.  IJut  at  length,  when  Antiochus  had  beaten 
Ptolemy,  he  seized  upon  Judca  ;  and  when  Philopater  was  dead,  his  son  sent  out 
a  great  army  under  Scopas,  the  general  of  his  forces,  against  the  inhabitants  of 
Celesyria,  who  took  many  of  their  cities,  and  in  particular  our  nation,  which,  when 
he  fell  upon  them,  went  over  to  him.  Yet  was  it  not  long  afterward  when  An- 
tiochus overcame  Scopas,  in  a  battle  fought  at  the  fountains  of  Jordan,  and  de- 
stroyed a  great  part  of  his  army.  But  allerward,  when  Antiochus  subdued  those 
cities  of  Celesyria  which  Scopas  had  gotten  into  his  possession,  and  Samaria  with 
them,  the  Jews,  of  their  own  accord,  went  over  to  him,  and  received  him  iulo  tlio 
city  [Jerusalem,]  and  gave  plentiful  provision  to  all  his  army,  and  to  his  elephants, 
and  readily  assisted  him  when  he  besieged  the  garrison  which  was  in  the  citadel 
of  Jerusalem.  Wherefore  Antiochus  thought  it  but  just  to  requite  the  Jews'  dili- 
gence  and  zeal  in  his  service :  so  he  wrote  to  the  generals  of  his  armies,  and  to 
his  friends,  and  gave  testimony  to  the  good  behaviour  of  the  Jews  towards  him, 
and  intormed  them  what  reward  he  had  resolved  to  bestow  on  them  for  that  their 
behaviour.  I  will  set  down  presently  the  epistles  themselves,  which  he  wrote  to 
the  generals  concerning  them,  but  v.ill  first  produce  the  testimony  of  Polvbius  of 
Megalopolis;  for  thus  does  he  speak,  in  the  sixteenth  book  of  his  history:  "Now 
Scopas,  the  general  of  Ptolemy's  army,  went  in  haste  to  the  sujjerior  parts  of  tho 
country,  and  in  the  winter  time  overthrew  the  nation  of  tlie  Jews.  He  also  sai(h 
in  th(;  same  book,  that  when  Scopas  was  conquered  by  Antiochus,  Aulioclms  re- 
ceived Batanea  and  Samaria,  and  Abila  and  Gadara ;  and  that,  a  while  after- 
wards, there  came  in  to  him  those  Jews  that  inhabited  near  that  temple  which  was 
called  Jerusalem ;  coricerning  which,  although  I  have  more  to  say,  and  parficu- 
larly  concerning  the  presence  of  God  about  that  temple,  yet  do  I  put  off  that 
history  till  another  opportunity."  This  it  is  which  Polybius  relates.  But  we  will 
return  to  the  series  of  the  history,  when  we  have  first  produced  the  epistles  of 
king  Antiochus: 

"KiivG  Antiochus  to  Ptolemy,  sendeth  greeting : 

"Since  the  Jew-s,  upon  our  first  entrance  on  their  country  demonstrated  their 
friendship  towards  us,  and  when  wc  came  to  their  city  [Jerusalem,]  received  us 
in  a  splendid  manner,  and  came  to  meet  us  with  their  senate,  and  gave  abundance 
of  provisions  to  ovir  soldiers,  and  to  the  elephants,  and  joined  with  us  in  ejecting 
the  garrison  of  the  Egyptians  that  were  in  the  citadel,  we  have  thought  lit  to  re- 
ward  them,  and  to  retrieve  the  condition  of  their  city,  which  hath  been  greatly 
depopulated  by  such  accidents  as  have  befallen  its  inhabitants,  and  to  bring  those 
that  liave  been  scattered  abroad  back  to  the  city.  And,  in  the  first  place,  we  have 
determined,  on  account  of  their  piety  towards  God,  to  bestow  on  tliem,  as  a  pen- 
sion, for  iheir  sacrifices  of  animals  that  arc  fit  for  sacrifice,  for  wine  and  oil,  and 
frankincense,  the  value  of  twenty  thousand  pieces  of  silver,  and  [six]  sacred  ar- 
tabraj  of  fine  flour,  with  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  sixty  medinmi  of  wheat, 
and  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  medimni  of  salt.  And  these  payments  I 
would  have  fully  paid  them,  as  I  have  sent  orders  to  you.  I  would  also  have  (he 
work  about  the  lem^de  finished,  and  tiie  cloisters,  and  if  there  be  any  thing  clso 
VOL.  i.        3  K 


402 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XII. 


that  ouffht  to  be  rebuilt.  And  for  the  materials  of  wood,  let  it  be  brought  them  out 
of  Judea  itself,  and  out  of  the  other  countries,  and  out  of  Libanus,  tax  free  ;  and 
the  same  I  would  have  observed  as  to  those  other  materials  which  will  be  neces. 
sarv  in  order  to  render  the  temple  more  glorious.  And  let  all  of  that  nation  live 
according  to  the  laws  of  their  own  country  :  and  let  the  senate  and  the  priests,  and 
the  scribes  of  the  temple,  and  the  sacred  singers,  be  discharged  from  poll-money 
and  the  crown  tax,  and  other  ta.xes  also.  And  that  the  city  may  the  sooner  recover 
its  inhabitants,  I  grant  a  discharge  from  taxes  for  three  years  to  its  present  inha- 
bitants, and  to  such  as  shall  come  to  it,  until  the  month  Hyperberetus.  We  also 
dischart^e  them  for  the  future  from  a  third  part  of  their  taxes,  that  the  losses  they 
have  sustained  may  be  repaired.  And  all  those  citizens  that  have  been  carried 
awav,  and  are  become  slaves,  we  grant  them  and  their  children  their  freedom,  and 
give' order  that  their  substance  be  restored  to  them." 

4.  And  these  v/ere  the  contents  of  this  epistle.  He  also  published  a  decree 
through  all  his  kingdom,  in  honour  of  the  temple,  which  contained  what  follows : 
*'  It  shall  be  lawful  for  no  foreigner  to  come  within  the  limits  of  the  temple  round 
about,  which  thing  is  forbidden  also  to  the  Jews,  unless  to  those  who,  according 
to  their  own  custom,  have  purified  themselves.  Nor  let  any  flesh  of  horses,  or 
of  mules,  or  of  asses,  be  brought  into  the  city,  whether  they  be  wild  or  tame ;  nor 
that  of  leopards,  or  foxes,  or  hares;  and,  in  general,  that  of  any  animal  which  is 
forbidden  for  the  Jews  to  eat.  Nor  let  their  skins  be  brought  into  it ;  nor  let  any 
such  animal  be  bred  up  in  the  city.  Let  them  only  be  permitted  to  use  the  sacri- 
fices  derived  from  their  forefathers,  with  which  they  have  been  obliged  to  m.ake 
acceptable  atonements  to  God.  And  he  that  transgresseth  any  of  these  orders, 
let  him  pay  to  the  priest  three  thousand  drachmae  of  silver."  Moreover,  this  An- 
tiochus  bare  testimony  to  our  piety  and  fidelity,  in  an  epistle  of  his,  written  when 
lie  w^as  informed  of  a  sedition  in  Phrygia  and  Lydia,  at  which  time  he  was  in  the 
superior  provinces,  wherein  he  commanded  Zeuxis,  the  general  of  his  forces,  and 
his  most  intimate  friend,  to  send  some  of  our  nation  out  of  Babylon  into  Phrygia. 
The  epistle  was  this  : 

"King  Ant.tociius  to  Zeuxis  his  Father,  sendeth  greeting: 

"If  vou  are  in  health,  it  is  well.     I  also  am  in  health.     Having  been  informed 
that  a  sedition  is  arisen  in  Lydia  and  Phrygia,  I  thought  that  matter  required  great 
care:  and  upon  advising  with  my  friends  what  was  fit  to  be  done,  it  hath  been 
thought  proper  to  remove  two  thousand  families  of  Jews,  with  their  eflects,  out 
of  Mesopotamia  and  Babylon,  unto  the  castles  and  places  that  lie  most  con- 
venient ;  for  I  am  persuaded  that  they  will  be  well  disposed  guardians  of  our 
possessions,  because  of  their  piety  towards  God,  and  because  I  know  that  my 
predecessors  have  borne  witness  to  them,  that  they  are  faithful,  and,  with  alacrity, 
do  what  they  are  desired  to  do.     I  will,  therefore,  though  it  be  a  laborious  work, 
that  thou  remove  these  Jews,  under  a  promise  that  they  shall  be  permitted  to  use 
their  own  laws.     And  when  thou  shalt  have  brought  them  to  the  places  foremen- 
tioned,  thou  shalt  give  every  one  of  their  famiUes  a  place  for  building  their  houses, 
and  a  portion  of  land  for  their  husbandry,  and  for  the  plantation  of  their  vines ; 
and  thou  shalt  discharge  them  from  i)aying  taxes  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth  for  ten 
years  ;  and  let  them  have  a  pvo[)er  quantity  of  wheat  for  the  maintenance  of 
their  servants,  until  they  receive  bread  corn  out  of  the  earth  ;  also  let  a  sufficient 
share  be  given  to  such  as  minister  to  them  in  the  necessaries  of  life,  that,  by  en- 
joying the  eflects  of  our  humanity,  they  may  show  themselves  the  more  willing 
and  ready  about  our  allairs.     Take  care  likewise  of  that  nation,  as  far  as  thou 
art  able,  that  they  may  not  have  any  disturbance  given  them  by  any  one."     Now 
these  testimonials  which  I  have  produced  are  sutlicient  to  declare  the  friendship 
that  Antiochus  the  Great  bare  to  the  Jews. 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JK'VS.  403 


CHAP.  IV. 

How  Antioclius  made  a  League  with  Ptolemy ;  and  how  On'ias  provoled  Ptolemy 

Euergeles  to  Anger ;  and  how  Joseph  brought  all  Things  right  again,  and 

entered  into  Friendship  with  him  ;  and  what  other  Things  -were 

done  by  Joseph,  and  his  Son  Ilyrcanus. 

§  1.  After  this  Antioclius  made  a  friendship  and  a  league  vith  Ptolemy,  fi^hd 
gave  him  his  daughter  Cleopatra  to  wife,  and  yielded  up  to  him  Cclesyria,  and 
Samaria,  and  Judea,  and  Phoenicia,  by  way  of  dowry.  And  upon  the  division  of 
the  taxes  between  the  two  kings,  all  the  principal  men  farmed  the  taxes  of  their 
several  countries,  and  collecting  the  sum  that  was  settled  for  them,  paid  the  same 
to  the  [two]  kings.  Now  at  this  time  the  Samaritans  were  in  a  nourishing  con- 
dition,  and  much  distressed  the  Jews,  cutting  off' parts  of  their  land,  and  carrying 
off  slaves.  This  happened  when  Onias  was  high  priest ;  for  after  Eleazar's  death, 
bis  uncle  Manasseh  took  the  priesthood,  and  after  he  had  ended  his  life,  Onias  re- 
ceived that  dignity.  He  was  the  son  of  Simon,  who  was  called  the  Just,  which 
Simon  was  the  brother  of  Eleazar,  as  I  said  before.  This  Onias  was  one  of  a 
little  soul,  and  a  great  lover  of  money;  and  for  that  reason,  because  he  did  not 
pay  that  tax  of  twenty  talents  of  silver  which  his  torcfathers  paid  to  these  kings 
out  of  their  own  estates,  he  provoked  king  Ptolemy  Euergetes  to  anger,  who  was 
the  father  of  Philopater.  This  Euergetes  sent  an  ambassador  to  Jerusalem,  and 
complained  that  Onias  did  not  pay  his  taxes,  and  threatened  that,  if  he  did  not  re., 
ceive  them,  he  would  seize  upon  their  land,  and  send  soldiers  to  live  upon  it. 
When  the  Jews  heard  this  message  of  the  king's,  they  were  confounded  :  but  so 
sordidly  covetous  was  Onias,  that  nothing  of  this  nature  made  him  ashamed. 

2.  There  w^as  now  one  Joseph,  young  in  age,  but  of  great  reputation  among 
the  peo])le  of  Jerusalem,  for  gravity,  prudence,  and  justice.  His  father's  name 
was  Tobias ;  and  his  mother  was  the  sister  of  Onias  tlie  high  priest,  who  informed 
himof  thecomingof  the  ambassador;  for  he  was  then  sojourning  at  a  village  named 
Phicol,*  were  he  was  born.  Hereupon  he  came  to  the  city  [Jerusalem,]  and  re- 
proved  Onias  for  not  taking  care  of  the  preservation  of  his  countrymen,  but  bring- 
ing the  nation  into  dangers,  by  not  paying  this  money;  for  which  preservation  of 
them  he  told  him  he  had  received  the  authority  over  them,  and  had  been  made 
high  [)riest:  but  that,  in  case  he  was  so  great  a  lover  of  money  as  to  endure  to 
see  his  country  in  danger  on  that  account,  and  his  countrymen  sutler  the  greatest 
damages,  he  advised  him  to  go  to  tiic  king,  and  petition  him  to  remit  either  the 
whole  or  a  part  of  the  sum  demanded,  (hiias's  answer  was  this.  That  he  did 
not  care  for  his  authority,  and  that  lie  was  ready,  if  tiie  thing  were  practicable, 
to  lay  down  his  high  priesthood  ;  and  that  he  would  not  go  to  the  king,  because 
he  troubled  not  himself  at  all  about  such  matters.  Joseph  then  asked  liim  if  he 
would  not  give  him  leave  to  go  ambassador  on  behalf  of  the  nation.  He  replied, 
That  he  would  give  him  leave.  Upon  which  Josepli  went  up  into  the  temple,  and 
called  the  multitude  together  to  a  congregation,  and  exhorted  them  not  to  be  dis- 
turbed or  affrighted,  because  of  his  uncle  Onias's  carelessness,  but  desired  them 
to  be  at  rest,  and  not  terrify  themselves  witli  fear  about  it;  for  he  promised  them 
that  he  would  be  their  ambassador  to  the  king,  and  pers\iade  him  that  they  had 
done  him  no  wrong.  And  when  the  multitude  heard  this,  they  returned  tiianks 
to  Joseph.  So  he  went  down  from  the  temple,  and  treated  Ptolemy's  aml)assador 
in  a  hospitable  manner.  He  also  presented  him  witli  rich  gills,  and  feasted  him 
magnificently  for  many  days,  and  then  sent  him  to  the  king  before  him,  and  told 
him  that  he  would  soon  follow  him;  for  he  was  now  more  willing  to  go  to  the  king 

*  The  name  of  this  pl.ice,  Phicol,  is  the  very  same  with  that  of  tiic  cliiof  captain  of  A'jimelecli's  host, 
in  the  days  of  Abiaharn,  Cien.  xxi.  22,  and  niisht  possihly  l)e  ilie  [ilacc  of  that  I'liicol's  nativity  or  nbode  ; 
for  it  seems  to  liave  been  in  the  south  part  of  I'alcstine,  as  that  was. 
3  E  2 


404  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIL 

W  the  encouragement  of  the  ambassador,  who  earnestly  persuaded  him  to  come 
'into  Eiiypt,  and  promised  him  that  he  would  take  care  that  he  should  obtain  every 
thinf^  that  lie  desired  of  Ptolemy,  for  he  was  liighly  pleased  with  his  frank  and 
liberal  temper,  and  with  tlie  gravity  of  his  deportment. 

3.  When  Ptolemy's  ambassador  was  come  into  Egypt,  he  told  the  king  of  the 
thoughtless  temper  of  Onias,' aiid  informed  him  of  the  goodness  of  the  disposition 
of  Joseph,  and  tliat  he  was  coming  to  him,  to  excuse  the  multitude,  as  not  having 
done  ijim  any  harm,  for  that  he  was  their  patron.    In  short,  he  was  so  very  large 

^jii.his  encomiums  upon  the  young  man,  that  he  disposed  both  the  king  and  his 
'  wite  Cleopatra  to  have  a  kindness  for  him  before  he  came.  So  Joseph  sent  to 
his- friends  in  Samaria,  and  borrov/ed  money  of  them,  and  got  ready  what  was 
necessary  for  his  journey,  garments  and  cups,  and  beasts  tor  burden,  which 
amounted  to  about  twenty  thousand  drachmse,  and  went  to  Alexandria.  Now  it 
happened  that  at  this  time  all  the  principal  men  and  rulers  went  up  out  of  the  cities 
of  Syria  and  Phoenicia,  to  bid  for  their  taxes  ;  for  every  year  the  king  sold  them 
to  the  men  of  the  greatest  power  in  every  city.  So  these  men  saw  Joseph  jour- 
neying on  the  way,  and  laughed  at  him  lor  his  poverty  and  meanness.  But  when 
lie  came  to  Alexandiia,  and  heard  that  king  Ptolemy  v.as  at  Memphis,  he  went 
up  thither  to  meet  with  him,  which  happened  as  the  king  was  in  his  chariot,  with 
his  wife,  and  with  his  friend  Alhenion,  who  was  the  ver}^  person  who  had  been 
ambassador  at  Jerusalem,  and  had  been  entertained  by  Joseph.  As  soon,  there- 
fore, as  Athenion  saw  him,  he  presently  made  him  linown  to  the  king,  how  good 
and  generous  a  j'oung  man  he  was.  So  Ptolemy  saluted  him  first,  and  desired 
him  to  come  up  into  his  chariot ;  and  as  Joseph  sat  there,  he  began  to  complain 
of  the  management  of  Onias.  To  which  he  answered,  "Forgive  him,  on  ac- 
count of  his  age,  for  thou  canst  not  certainly  be  unacquainted  with  this,  that  old 
men  and  infants  liave  their  minds  exactly  alike  ;  but  thou  shalt  have  from  us, 
who  are  3^oung  men,  every  thing  thou  desirest,  and  shalt  have  no  cause  to  com- 
plain," With  this  good  humour  and  pleasantry  of  the  young  man  the  king  was  so 
delighted,  that  he  began  already,  as  though  he  had  long  experience  of  him,  to 
have  a  still  greater  affection  for  him,  insomuch  that  he  bade  him  take  his  diet  in 
the  king's  palace,  and  be  a  guest  at  his  own  table  every  day.  But  when  the  king 
was  come  to  Alexandria,  the  principal  men  of  Syria  saw  him  sitting  with  the  king, 
and  were  much  offended  at  it. 

4.  And  when  the  day  came  on  which  the  king  was  to  let  the  taxes  of  the  cities 
to  farm,  and  those  that  were  the  principal  men  of  dignity  in  their  several  countries 
were  to  bid  for  them,  the  sum  of  the  taxes  together  of  Celesyria  and  Phoenicia, 
and  Judea,  with  Samaria  [as  they  were  bidden  for,]  came  to  eight  thousand 
talents.  Hereupon  Joseph  accused  the  bidders,  as  having  agreed  together  to  es- 
timate the  value  of  the  taxes  at  too  low  a  rate ;  and  he  promised  that  he  would  him- 
self give  twice  as  much  for  them;  but  for  those  who  did  not  pav,  he  would  send 
tiie  king  home  their  whole  substance  :  for  this  privilege  was  sold  together  with 
the  taxes  themselves.  The  king  was  pleased  to  hear  that  offer;  and  because  it 
augmented  his  revenues,  he  said  he  would  conffrm  the  sale  of  the  taxes  to  liim. 
But  then  he  asked  him  this  question,  Whether  he  had  any  sureties  that  would  be 
bound  for  the  payment  of  tlic  money?  He  answered  very  pleasantly,  I  will  give 
such  security,  and  those  of  persons  good  and  responsible,  and  which  you  shall 
have  no  reason  to  distrust.  And  when  he  bid  him  name  them,  who  they  were, 
he  replied,  "I  give  thee  no  other  persons,  O  king,  for  my  sureties,  than  myself, 
and  this  my  wife ;  and  you  shall  be  security  for  both  parties."  So  Ptolemy  laugiied 
at  the  proposal,  and  granted  him  the  farming  of  the  taxes  without  any  sureties. 
This  procedure  was  a  sore  grief  to  those  that  came  from  the  cities  into  Egypt, 
who  were  utterly  disappointed  ;  and  they  returned  every  one  to  their  own  coun- 
try with  shame. 

5,  But  Joseph  took  with  him  tv.o  thousand  foot  soldiers  from  tlie  king;  for 
he  desired  he  mifjlit  have  some  assistance,  in  order  to  force  such  as  were  re- 


C,  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  405 

fractory  in  the  cities  to  pay.     And  borrowing  of  the  king's  friends  at  Alexandria 
five  hundred  talents,  he  made  haste  back  into  Syria.     And  when  he  was  at  As- 
kelon,  and  demanded  the  taxes  of  the  people  of  Askelon,  they  refused  to  pay  any 
thing,  tind  allronted  liim  also  :  upon  wJiich  he  seized  upon  about  twenty  of  the 
principal  men,  and  slew  them,  and  gathered  what  they  had  together,  and  sent  it 
all  to  the  king  ;  and  informed  him  what  he  had  done.     Ptolemy  admired  at  the 
prudent  conduct  of  the  man, '  and  commended   him  for  what  he  had  done  ;  and 
gave  him  leave  to  do  as  lie  pleased.  Wlien  tiic  Syrians  hoard  of  tliis,  they  were 
astonished ;  and  having  before  them  a  sad  example  in  the  men  of  Askelon  that  were 
slain,  they  opened  their  gates,  and  wilhiigly  admitted  Joseph,  and  paid  their  taxes. 
And  when  the  inhabitants  of  Scythopolis  attempted  to  alfront  him,  and  would  not 
pay  him  those  taxes  which  they  ibrmerl}^  used  to  pay,  without  disputhig  about 
them,  he  slew  also  the  principal  men  of  that  city,  and  sent  their  eliects  to  the 
king.    l]y  this  means  he  gatliercd  great  wealth  together,  and  made  vast  gains  by 
this  farming  of  the  taxes  :  and  he  made  use  of  what  estate  he  liad  thus  gotten, 
in  order  to  support  his  authority,  as  thinking  it  a  piece  of  pnidence  to  keep  what 
had  been  the  occasion  and  Ibundation  of  his  present  good  fortune  ;  and  this  he 
did  by  the  assistance  of  what  he  was  already  possessed  of,  for  he  privately  sent 
many  presents  to  the  king,  and  to  Cleopatra,  and  to  their  friends,  and  to  all  that 
were  powerful  about  the  court,  and  thereby  purchased  their  good  will  to  himself. 
6.  This  good  fortune  he  enjoyed  for  twenty-two  years ;  and  was  become  the 
father  of  seven  sons,  by  one  wife  :    he  had  also  another  son,  whose  name  was 
Hyrcanus,  by  his  brother  Solymius's  daughter,  wliom  he  married  on  the  follow- 
ing occasion  :  He  once  cam.e  to  Alexandria  with  his  brother,  who  had  along  with 
him  a  daughter  already  marriageable,  in  order  to  give  her  in  wedlock  to  some  of 
the  Jews  of  chief  dignity  there.     He  then  supped  a\  ith  the  king,  and  falling  in 
love  with  an  actress  that  was  of  great  beauty,  and  came  into  the  room  where 
they  feasted,  he  told  his  brother  of  it,  and  entreated  him,  because  a  Jew  is  for- 
bidden by  their  law  to  come  near  to  a  foreigner,  to  conceal  his  olfence,  and  to  be 
kind  and  subservient  to  him,  and  to  give  him  an  opportunity  of  fulfdliug  his  de- 
sires.   Upon  which  his  brother  willingly  entertained  the  proposal  of  serving  him, 
and  adorned  his  own  daugliter,  and  brought  her  to  him  by  night,  and  put  lier  into 
his  bed.     And  Joseph,  being  disordered  in  drink,  knew  not  who  she  was,  and  so 
lay  with  his  brother's  daughter  ;  and  this  did  he  many  times,  and  loved  her  ex- 
ceedingly ;  and  said  to  his  brother,  that  he  loved  this  actress  so  well  that  he 
should  run  the  hazard  of  his  life  [if  ho  must  part  with  her,]  and  yet,  probably  the 
king  would  not  give  him  leave  [to  take  her  with  him.]     But  his  brother  bid  him 
be  in  no  concern  about  the  matter,  and  told  him  he  might  enjoy  her  whom  he 
loved  without  any  danger,  and  might  have  her  tor  his  wile  ;  and  opened  the  truth 
of  the  matter  to  him,  and  assured  him  that  he  chose  rather  to  have  his  own  daugh- 
ter abused,  than  to  overlook  him,  and  see  him  come  to  [public]  disgrace.     So 
Joseph  commended  him  for  this  his  brotherly  love,  and  married  his  daughter,  and 
by  her  begat  a  son,  whose  name  was  Hyrcanus,  as  we  said  before.      And  when 
this  his  youngest  son  sliowed,  at  thirteen  years  old,  a  mind  that  was  both  coura- 
geous and  Avisc,  and  was  greatly  envied  by  his  brethren,  as  being  of  a  genius 
much  above  them,  and  such  a  one  as  they  might  well  envy,  Joseph  had  once  a 
mind  to  know  which  of  his  sons  had  the  best  disposition  to  virtue  ;  and  when  he 
sent  them  severally  to  those  that  had  then  the  best  jreputation  for  instructing 
youth,  the  rest  of  his  cliildren,  by  reason  of  their  sloth  and  unwillingness  to  take 
pains,  returned  to  him  ibolish  and  unlearned.    After  them  he  ser.t  out  the  young. 
est,  Hyrcanus,  and  gave  him  three  hundred  yoke  of  oxen,  and  bid  him  go  two 
days'  journey  into  the  wilderness,  and  sow  the  land  there,  and  yet  kept  back  pri- 
vately the  yokes  of  the  oxen  that  coupled  them  together.    When  Hyrcanus  camo 
to  the  place,  and  Ibund  he  had  no  yokes  with  them,  he  contemned  the  drivers  of 
the  oxen,  who  advised  him  to  send  home  to  his  father,  to  bring  thrm  some  yokes  ; 
but  he  thinking  that  he  ought  not  to  lose  his  time,  while  they  should  be  sent  to 


406  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XH. 

Win"  him  the  yokes,  he  invented  a  kind  of  stratagem,  and  what  suited  an  age 
elder  than  his  own ;  for  he  slew  ten  yoke  of  the  oxen,  and  distributed  their  flesh 
amon(^  the  labourers,  and  cut  their  hidos  into  several  pieces,  and  made  him 
yokes,  and  yoked  the  oxen  together  with  them ;  by  which  means  he  sowed  as 
"much  land  as  his  father  had  appointed  him  to  sow,  and  returned  to  him.  And 
when  he  was  come  back,  his  lather  was  mightily  pleased  with  his  sagacity,  and 
commended  the  sharpness  of  his  understanding,  and  his  boldness  in  what  he  did  ; 
and  he  still  loved  him  the  more,  as  if  he  were  his  only  genuine  son,  while  his 
brethren  were  much  troubled  at  it. 

7.  But  when  one  told  him  that  Ptolemy  had  a  son  just  born,  and  that  all  the 
principal  men  of  Syria,  and  the  other  countries  subject  to  him,  were  to  keep  a 
I'estival,  on  account  of  the  child's  birth  day,  and  went  away  in  haste  with  great 
retinues  to  Alexandria,  he  M'as  himself  indeed  hindered  from  going  by  old  age,  but 
he  made  trial  of  his  sons,  whether  any  of  them  would  be  willing  to  go  to  the  king. 
And  when  the  elder  sons  excused  themselves  from  going,  and  said,  they  were  not 
courtiers  good  enough  for  such  conversation,  and  advised  him  to  send  their  bro- 
ther Hyrcanus,  he  gladly  hearkened  to  that  advice ;  and  called  Hyrcanus,  and 
asked  him  whether  he  would  go  to  the  king,  and  whether  it  was  agreeable  to  him 
to  go  or  not  ?  And  upon  his  promise  that  he  would  go,  and  his  saying  that  he 
should  not  want  much  money  for  his  journey,  because  he  would  live  moderately  ; 
and  that  ten  thousand  drachmae  would  be  sufficient,  he  was  pleased  with  his  son's 
prudence.  After  a  httle  while  the  son  advised  his  father  not  to  send  his  presents 
to  the  king  from  thence,  but  to  give  him  a  letter  to  his  steward  at  Alexandria, 
that  he  might  furnish  him  with  money  for  purchasing  what  should  be  mosl  excel- 
lent and  most  precious.  So  he,  thinking  that  the  expense  often  talents  would  be 
enough  for  presents  to  be  made  to  the  king,  and  commending  his  son,  as  giving 
him  good  advice,  wrote  to  Arion  his  steAvard,  that  managed  all  his  money  mat- 
ters  at  Alexandria  ;  which  money  was  not  less  than  three  thousand  talents  on  his 
account,  for  Joseph  sent  the  money  he  received  in  Syria  to  Alexandria,  and  when 
the  day  appointed  for  the  payment  of  the  taxes  to  the  king  came,  he  wrote  to 
Arion  to  pay  them.  So  when  the  son  had  asked  his  father  for  a  letter  to  this 
steward,  and  had  received  it,  he  made  haste  to  Alexandria.  And  when  he  was 
gone,  his  brethren  wrote  to  all  the  king's  friends,  that  they  should  destroy  him. 

8.  But  when  he  was  come  to  Alexandria,  he  delivered  his  letter  to  Arion,  who 
asked  him  how  many  talents  he  would  have  ?  (hoping  he  would  ask  for  no  more 
than  ten,  or  a  little  more.)  He  said  he  wanted  a  thousand  talents.  At  which  the 
steward  was  angry,  and  rebuked  him,  as  one  that  intended  to  live  extravagantly  ; 
and  he  let  him  know  how  his  father  had  gathered  together  his  estate  by  pains- 
taking, and  resisting  his  inclinations,  and  wished  him  to  imitate  the  example  of 
his  father  :  he  assured  him  withal,  that  he  .would  give  him  but  ten  talents,  and 
that  for  a  present  to  the  king  also.  The  son  was  irritated  at  this,  and  threw  Arion 
into  prison.  But  when  Arion's  wife  had  informed  Cleopatra  of  this,  with  her  en- 
treaty  that  she  would  rebuke  the  child  for  what  he  had  done  (for  Arion  was  in 
jjrcat  esteem  with  her,)  Cleopatra  informed  the  king  of  it.  And  Ptolemy  sent  for 
Hyrcanus,  and  told  him,  that  "  he  wondered,  when  he  was  sent  to  him  by  his 
father,  that  he  had  not  yet  come  into  his  presence,  but  had  laid  the  steward  in 
prison."  And  he  gave  order,  therefore,  that  he  should  come  to  him,  and  give  an 
account  of  the  reason  of  what  he  had  done.  And  they  report,  that  the  answer 
he  made  to  the  king's  messenger  was  this,  that  "  there  was  alaAv  of  his  that  for- 
hade  a  child  that  was  born  to  taste  of  the  sacrifice  before  he  had  been  at  the  tern- 
pie,  and  sacrificed  to  God.  According  to  which  way  of  reasoning,  he  did  not 
himself  come  to  him,  in  expectation  of  the  present  he  was  to  make  to  him,  as  to 
one  who  had  been  his  father's  benefactor  ;  and  that  he  had  punished  the  slave 
for  disobeying  his  commands,  for  that  it  mattered  not  whether  a  master  was  little 
or  great :  so  that  unless  we  punish  such  as  these,  thou  thyself  maycst  also  expect 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  4Q7 

to  be  despised  by  thy  subjects."    Upon  hearing  this  his  answer,  he  fell  a  laugh- 
iiig,  and  wondered  at  the  great  soul  of  the  child. 

9.  When  Arion  was  apprized  that  this  v/as  the  king's  disposition,  and  that  ho 
had  no  way  to  help  himself,  he  gave  the  child  a  thousand  talents,  and  was  let  out 
of  prison.  So  after  three  days  were  over,  Ilyrcanus  came  and  saluted  the  kino- 
and  queen.  Tliey  saw  him  witli  pleasure,  and  feasted  him  in  an  ohlio-ino  manner, 
out  of  the  respect  they  bare  to  his  father.  So  he  came  to  tlie  merchants  privately, 
and  bought  a  hundred  boys,  that  had  learning,  and  were  in  the  flower  of  their  ages, 
each  at  a  talent  a  piece  ;  as  also  he  bought  a  hundred  maidens,  each  at  the  same 
price  as  the  other.  And  when  he  was  invited  to  feast  with  the  king  among  tiie 
principal  men  of  the  country,  he  sat  down  the  lowest  of  them  all,  because  he  was 
little  regarded,  as  a  child  in  age  still;  and  this  by  those  who  placed  every  one  ac- 
cording to  his  dignity.  Now  wlien  all  those  that  sat  with  him  had  laid  the  bones 
of  the  several  parts  in  a  heap  before  Ilyrcanus  (for  they  had  themselves  taken 
away  the  flesh  belonging  to  them,)  till  the  table  where  he  sat  was  filled  full  with 
them  :  Trypho,  who  was  the  king's  jester,  and  was  appointed  for  jokes  and  laugh- 
ter  at  festivals,  was  now  asked  by  the  guests  that  sat  at  the  table  [to  expose  him 
to  laughter.]  So  he  stood  by  the  king,  and  said,  "Dost  thou  not  see,  my  lord,  the 
bones  that  lie  by  Hyrcanus'.'  By  this  similitude  thou  mayest  conjecture  that  his 
father  made  all  Syria  as  bare  as  he  hatli  made  these  bones."  And  the  king,  laugh- 
ing at  what  Trypho  said,  and  asking  of  Hyrcanus,  "How  he  came  to  have  so  many 
bones  before  himl"  he  replied,  "Very  riglitfuUy,  my  lord  ;  for  they  are  dogs  that 
eat  the  flesh  and  the  bones  together,  as  tlicse  thy  guests  have  done  (looking  in  the 
meantime  at  those  guests,)  for  there  is  nothing  belbre  them ;  but  they  are  men 
that  eat  the  flesh  and  cast  away  the  bones,  as  I,  who  also  am  a  man,  have  now 
done."  Upon  which  the  king  admired  at  his  answer,  which  was  so  wisely  made  ; 
and  bade  them  all  make  an  acclamation,  as  a  mark  of  their  approbation  of  hia 
jest,  which  was  truly  a  facetious  one.  On  the  next  day,  Hyrcanus  went  to  every 
one  of  the  king's  friends,  and  of  the  men  powerful  at  court,  and  saluted  them,  but 
still  inquired  of  the  servants  what  presents  they  Avould  make  the  king  on  iiis  son's 
birth-day  ?  and  when  some  said  that  they  would  give  twelve  talents,  and  tliat  others 
of  greater  dignity  would  every  one  give  according  to  the  quantity  of  their  riches, 
he  pretended  to  every  one  of  them  to  be  grieved  that  he  was  not  able  to  bring  so 
large  a  present,  for  that  he  had  no  more  than  Ave  talents.  And  when  the  servants 
heard  what  he  said,  they  told  their  masters;  and  they  rejoiced  in  the  prospect  that 
Joseph  would  be  disapproved,  and  would  make  the  king  angry,  by  the  snuxUness 
of  his  present.  When  the  day  came,  the  others,  even  those  that  brought  the 
most,  oflered  the  king  not  above  twenty  talents;  but  Hyrcanus  gave  to  everyone 
of  the  hundred  boys  and  hundred  maidens  that  he  had  bought  a  talent  a  \nccG,  for 
them  to  carry,  and  introduced  them,  the  boys  to  the  king,  and  the  maidens  to 
Cleopatra;  every  body  wondering  at  the  unexpected  richness  of  the  presents, 
even  the  king  and  queen  themselves.  He  also  presented  those  that  attended 
about  the  king  with  gifts,  to  the  value  of  a  great  number  of  talents,  that  he  might 
escape  the  danger  he  was  in  from  them ;  for  to  these  it  was  that  Hyrcauus's 
brethren  had  written  to  destroy  him.  Now  Ptolemy  admired  at  the  young  man's 
magnanimity,  and  commanded  liim  to  ask  what  gift  he  ])leased.  But  he  desired 
nothing  else  to  be  done  for  him  ijy  the  king  than  to  write  to  his  father  and  brethren 
about  him.  So  when  the  king  had  paid  him  very  great  respects,  and  had  given 
him  very  large  gifts,  and  had  written  to  his  fatlier  and  his  brethren,  and  all  liis 
commanders  and  oflicers,  about  him,  he  sent  him  away.  But  when  his  brethren 
heard  that  Hyrcanus  had  received  such  favours  from  the  king,  and  was  returning 
home  with  great  honour,  they  went  out  to  meet  him,  and  to  destroy  him,  and  that 
with  the  privity  of  their  father;  lor  lie  was  angry  at  him  for  the  [large]  sum  of 
money  that  he  bestowed  for  presents,  and  so  hud  no  concern  for  his  preservation. 
However,  .lo-seph  concealed  the  anger  hi;  had  at  his  son,  out  of  fear  of  the  king. 
And  when  Hyrcauus's  brethren  cuine  to  li^ht  him,  lie  slew  many  others  of  those 


4QQ  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIL 

that  were  with  them,  as  also  two  of  his  brethren  themselves  ;  but  the  rest  of  them 
escaped  to  Jerusalem  to  their  father.  But  when  Hyrcanus  came  to  the  city,  where 
nobod)''  would  receive  him,  he  was  afraid  for  himself,  and  retired  beyond  the  river 
Jordan,  and  there  abode,  but  obliging  the  barbarians  to  pay  their  taxes. 

10.  At  this  time  Seleucus,  who  was  called  *S'o/cr,  reigned  over  Asia,  being  the 
son  of  Antiochus  the  Great.  And  [now]  Hyrcanus's  father  Joseph  died.  He  was 
a  good  man,  and  of  great  magnanimity,  and  brought  the  Jews  out  of  a  state  of 
poverty  and  meanness,  to  one  that  was  more  splendid.  He  retained  the  farm  of 
the  taxes  of  Syria,  and  Phoenicia,  and  Samaria,  twenty-two  years.  His  uncle 
also,  Onias,  died  [about  this  time,]  and  left  the  high  priesthood  to  his  son  Simon. 
And  when  he  was  dead,  Onias  his  son  succeeded  him  in  that  dignity.  To  him  it 
was  that  Areus,  king  of  the  Lacedemonians,  sent  an  embassage,  with  an  epistle, 
the  copy  whereof  here  follows  : 

"  AKEtTs,  king  of  the  Lacedemonians,  to  Onias,  sendeih  greeting  : 

"  We  have  met  with  a  certain  writing,  whereby  we  have  discovered  that  both 
the  Jews  and  the  Lacedemonians  are  of  one  stock,  and  are  derived  from  the 
kindred  of  Abraham.*  It  is  but  just,  thereibre,  that  you,  who  are  our  brethren, 
should  send  to  us  about  any  of  your  concerns  as  you  please.  We  will  also  do  the 
same  thing,  and  esteem  jour  concerns  as  our  own,  and  will  look  upon  our  con- 
cerns as  in  common  with  yours.  Demotoles,  who  brings  you  this  letter,  will  bring 
your  answer  back  to  us.  Tliis  letter  is  four-square  :  and  the  seal  is  an  eagle,  with 
a  dragon  in  his  claws." 

11.  And  these  were  the  contents  of  the  epistle  which  was  sent  from  the  king 
of  the  Lacedemonians.  But  upon  the  death  of  Joseph,  the  people  grew  seditious 
on  account  of  his  sons:  for  whereas  the  elders  made  war  against  Hyrcanus,  M'ho 
was  the  youngest  of  Joseph's  sons,  the  multitude  was  divided,  but  the  greater  part 
joined  with  the  elders  in  this  war,  as  did  Simon  the  high  priest,  by  reason  he  was 
of  kin  to  them.  However,  Hyrcanus  determined  not  to  return  to  Jerusalem  any 
rriore,  but  seated  himself  beyond  Jordan,  and  was  at  perpetual  war  with  the  Ara- 
bians, and  slew  many  of  them,  and  took  many  of  them  captives.  He  also  erected 
a  strong  castle,  and  built  it  entirely  of  v.hite  stone,  to  the  very  roof;  and  had 
animals  of  a  prodigious  magnitude  engraven  upon  it.  He  also  drew  around  it  a 
great  and  deep  canal  of  Avater.  He  also  made  caves  of  many  furlongs  in  length, 
by  hollowing  a  rock  that  was  over  against  him  ;  and  then  he  made  large  rooms  in 
it,  some  for  toasting,  and  some  for  sleeping  and  living  in.  He-introduced  also  a 
vast  quantity  of  waters,  which  ran  along  it,  and  which  were  very  delightful  and 
ornamental  in  the  court.  But  still  he  made  the  entrances  at  the  mouth  of  the 
caves  so  narrow,  that  no  more  than  one  person  could  enter  by  them  at  once  :  and 
the  reason  why  he  built  them  after  that  manner  was  a  good  one  :  it  was  for  his 
own  preservation,  lest  he  should  be  besieged  by  his  brethren,  and  nan  the  hazard 
of  being  caught  by  them.  Moreover,  he  built  courts  of  greater  magnitude  than 
ordinary,  whicli  he  adorned  with  vastly  large  gardens.  And  when  he  had  brought 
the  place  to  this  state,  he  named  it  Tyre.  This  place  is  between  Arabia  and 
Judca,  beyond  Jordan,  not  far  from  the  country  of  Hcshbon.  And  he  ruled  over 
those  parts  for  seven  years,  even  all  the  time  that  Seleucus  was  king  of  Syria. 

*  Whence  it  comes  that  these  Lacedemonians  rleclare  themselves  hero  to  beof  kin  to  the  Jews,  as  de- 
rived from  the  same  ancestor,  Abmhnni,  1  cannot  tell,  unless,  as  Giotius  supposes,  tliey  were  derived 
from  the  Dores,  thatcame  of  tlic  I'clasgi.  Tiiese  are  b}''  Herodotus  called  barbarians,  and  perhaps  were 
derived  from  the  Syrians  and  Arabians,  the  posterity  of  Abraham  hvKeturah. — See  Antiq.  B.  xvi.  eh. 
s.  sect.  22  ;  and  of  the  War,  B.  i.  ch.  xxvi.  sect.  1 ;  and  Grot,  on  1  Maccab.  xii.  7.  We  may  farther  ob- 
serve, from  the  recognitions  of  Clement,  that  Eliezcr  of  Damascus,  the  servant  of  Abraham,  Gen.  xv.  2, 
and  xxiv.  was  of  old  bv'  some  taken  for  his  .son.  b"o  that  if  the  Lacedemonians  were  sprung  from  him, 
they  might  think  themselves  to  beof  tlie  posterity  of  Abraham,  as  well  as  the  Jews,  who  were  sprung  from 
Isaac.  And  perhaps  this  Eliezerof  Damascus  is  kiat  very  Damascus  whom  Trogus  Pompeius,  as  abridged 
by  Justin,  makes  tiic  founder  of  the  Jewish  nation  itscK,  though  he  afterwards  blunders,  and  makes  Aze- 
his,  Adores,  Abraham,  and  Israel,  kins;s  of  Judea,  and  successors  to  this  Damascus.  It  may  not  be  irn- 
proper  to  observe  farther,  that  Moses  Chorcuensis,  in  his  history  of  the  Armenians,  informs  us,  that  the 
oalioD  of  the  Parthiiins  was  also  derived  from  Abraham  by  Keiurah  and  her  children. 


Cv  V.  ANTIQUITIES  0~F  THE  JEWS.  409 

But  when  he  was  dead,  his  brother  Antiochtis,  who  was  called  Epijjhanes,  took 
the  kingdom.  Ptolemy  also,  the  kiiin;  of  Egypt,  died,  who  was  besides  called 
Epiphanc^.  He  left  two  sons,  and  both  5'oung  in  age  ;  the  elder  of  which  was 
called  Philometer,  and  the  younger  Phijscon.  As  for  ilyrcanus,  when  he  saw 
that  Antiochus  had  a  great  army,  and  feared  lest  he  should  be  caught  by  him,  and 
brought  to  punishment  for  what  he  had  done  to  the  Arabians,  he  ended  his  life,  and 
slew  himself  with  his  own  hand ;  while  Antiochus  seized  upon  all  his  substance. 


CHAP.  V.  ' 

How,  upon  the  Quarrels  of  the  Jews  one  against  another  about  the  High  Prie-slJiood, 

Antiochus  made  an  Expedition  against  Jerusalem ;  took  the  City  and  pillaged  the 

Temple,  and  distressed  the  Jews  :  as  also,  ]iow  many  of  tlie  Jews  forsook  the 

Laws  of  their  Country;  and  how  the  Samaritaius  followed,  the  Customs 

of  the  GreekSy  and  named  their  Temple  at  Mount  Gerizzim,  tJie 

Temple  of  Jupiter  Hellenius. 

§  1.  About  this  time,  upon  the  death  of  Onias  the  high  priest,  they  gave  the 
high  priesthood  to  Jesus's  brother ;  for  that  son  which  Onias  left  [or  Onias  IV.] 
was  yet  but  an  infant :  and,  in  its  proper  place,  we  will  inform  the  reader  of  all 
the  circumstances  that  befell  this  child.  But  this  Jesus,  who  was  the  brother  of 
Onias,  was  deprived  of  the  high  priesthood  by  the  king,  who  was  angry  with  him, 
and  gave  it  to  his  younger  brother,  whose  name  also  was  Onias,  for  Simon  had 
these  three  sons,  to  each  of  which  the  priesthood  came,  as  we  have  already  informed 
the  reader.*  This  Jesus  changed  his  name  to  Jason,  but  Onias  was  called  MenC' 
laus.  Now  as  the  former  high  priest  Jesus  raised  a  sedition  against  IMenelaus, 
who  was  ordained  after  him,  the  multitude  were  divided  between  them  both.  And 
the  sons  of  Tobias  took  the  part  of  Menelaus,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  people 
assisted  Jason  ;  and  by  that  means  Menelaus  and  the  sons  of  Tobias  were  dis- 
tressed, and  retired  to  Antiochus,  and  informed  him,  that  they  were  desirous  to 
leave  the  laws  of  their  country,  and  the  Jewish  way  of  living  according  to  them, 
and  to  follow  the  king's  laws,  and  the  Grecian  way  of  living:  wherefore  they  de- 
sired his  permission  to  build  them  a  Gymnasiumf  at  Jerusalem.  And  when  he 
had  given  them  leave,  they  also  hid  the  circumcision  of  their  genitals,  that  even 
when  they  were  naked,  they  might  appear  to  be  Greeks.  Accordingly  they  left 
off  all  the  customs  that  belonged  to  their  own  country,  and  imitated  the  practices 
of  the  other  nations. 

2.  Now  Antiochus,  upon  the  agreeable  situation  of  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom, 
resolved  to  make  an  expedition  against  Egypt,  both  because  he  had  a  desire  to 
gain  it,  and  because  he  contemned  the  son  of  Ptolemy,  as  now  wenk,and  not  yet 
of  abilities  to  manage  affairs  of  such  consequence  ;  so  he  came  with  great  forces 
to  Pelusium,  and  circumvented  Ptolemy  Philometer  by  treachery,  and  seized  upon 
Egypt.     He  then  came  to  the  places  about  Memphis ;  and  when  he  had  taken 

*  We  have  hitherto  had  but  a  few  of  those  many  citations  where  Josephus  says,  that  he  had  elsewhere 
formerly  treated  of  many  things,  of  which  yet  his  present  books  have  not  a  syllable.  Our  coninientators 
liHve  hitherto  bern  able  to  give  no  tolerable  account  of  these  citations,  which  are  far  too  numerous,  and 
that  usually  in  all  his  copies,  both  Greek  and  Latin,  to  be  supposed  later  interpolations,  which  is  almost 
all  that  has  hitherto  been  said  upon  this  occasion.  What  I  have  to  say  farther  is  this,  that  we  liave  but 
very  few  of  these  references  before,  and  very  many  in  and  a/Vc>- the  history  of  Antiochus  Kpi|ihancs;  and 
that  Josephus's  first  work,  the  Hebrew  or  (^'haklce,  as  welfas  the  Greek  history  of  the  Jewish  War,  lonj 
since  lost,  began  with  that  very  history,  so  that  the  references  are  most  probably  made  to  that  edition  of 
the  seven  books  of  the  war.  Sec  several  other  examples,  besides  tiiose  in  the  two  sections  before  us,  in 
Antiq.  B.  xiii  ch.  ii.  sect.  1,  4  :  and  ch.  iv.  sect.  6,  8;  ch.  v.  sect.  6,  11;  ch.  viii.  sect.  4;  and  ch.  xiii. 
sect.  4,  5  ;  and  Antiq.  B.  xviii.  chap.  ii.  sect.  5. 

t  This  word  Gymnasium  properly  denotes  a  place  where  the  exercises  were  performed  nakeif,  which, 
because  it  would  naturally  distinguish  circumcised  Jews  from  uncircumcised  f  Jentiles,  these  Jewish 
apostates  endeavomed  to  appear  uncircumcised,  by  means  of  a  chirurgical  operation,  hinted  at  by  SL 
Taul,  2  Cor.  vii.  IB  ;  and  described  by  Celsus,  B.  vii.  ch.  xxv.  as  Dr.  Hudson  here  hilorins  us. 

VOL.  I  3  F 


410  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XH. 

them,  he  made  haste  to  Alexandria,  in  hopes  of  taking  it  by  siege,  and  of  subdu- 
ing Ptolemy,  who  reigned  there.  But  he  was  driven  not  only  from  Alexandria, 
but  out  of  all  Egypt,  by  the  declaration  of  the  Rom.ins,  who  charged  him  to  let 
that  country  alone  ;  according  as  I  have  elsewhere  formerly  declared.  I  will  now 
give  a  particular  account  of  what  concerns  tiiis  king,  how  he  subdued  Judea  and 
the  temple  ;  for  in  my  former  work  I  mentioned  those  things  very  briefly,  and 
have  now  therefore  thought  it  necessary  to  go  over  that  history  again,  and  that 
■with  great  accuracy. 

3.  *  King  Antiochus  returning  out  of  Egvpt  for  fear  of  the  Romans,  made  an 
expedition  against  the  city  Jerusalem  ;  anci  when  he  was  there,  in  the  hundred 
fort}^  and  third  year  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Seleucidae,  he  took  the  city  without 
lighting,  those. of  his  own  pai'ty  opening  the  gates  to  him.  And  when  he  had  got- 
ten possession  of  Jerusalem,  he  slew  many  of  the  opposite  party  ;  and  when  he 
had  plundered  it  of  a  great  deal  of  money,  he  returned  to  Antioch. 

4.  Now  it  came  to  pass,  after  two  years  in  the  hundred  forty  and  fifth  year,  on 
the  twenty-fifth  day  of  that  month  which  is  by  us  called  Chasleu,  and  by  the  Ma- 
cedonians Apelleus,  in  the  hundred  and  fifty-third  olympiad,  that  the  king  came 
up  to  Jerusalem,  and  pretending  peace,  he  got  possession  of  the  city  by  treach- 
ery ;  at  which  time  he  spared  not  so  much  as  those  that  admitted  him  into  it,  on 
account  of  the  riches  that  lay  in  the  temple  ;  but,  led  by  his  covetous  inclination 
(for  he  saw  there  was  in  it  a  great  deal  of  gold,  and  many  ornaments  that  had  been 
dedicated  *o  it  of  very  great  value,)  and  in  order  to  plunder  its  wealth,  he  ventured 
to  break  the  league  he  had  made.  So  he  left  the  temple  bare  ;  and  took  away 
the  golden  candlesticks  ;  and  the  golden  altar  [of  incense,]  and  table  [of  shew- 
bread,]  and  the  altar  [of  burnt-offering  ;]  and  did  not  abstain  from  even  the  vails, 
which  were  made  of  fine  linen  and  scarlet.  He  also  emptied  it  of  its  secret 
treasures,  and  left  nothing  at  all  remaining  ;  and  by  this  means  cast  the  Jews  into 
great  lamentation,  for  he  forbade  them  to  offer  those  daily  sacrifices  which  they 
used  to  offer  to  God,  according  to  the  law.  And  when  he  had  pillaged  the  whole 
city,  some  of  the  inhabitants  he  slew,  and  some  he  cai'ried  captive,  together  with 
their  wives  and  children,  so  that  the  multitude  of  those  captives  that  were  taken 
alive  amounted  to  about  ten  thousand.  He  also  burnt  down  the  finest  buildings  ; 
and  when  he  had  overthrown  the  city  walls,  he  built  a  citadel  f  in  tlie  lower  part 
of  the  city,  for  the  place  was  high,  and  overlooked  the  temple,  on  which  account 
he  fortified  it  with  high  walls  and  towers,  and  put  into  it  a  garrison  of  Macedo- 
nians. However,  in  that  citadel  dwelt  the  impious  and  wicked  part  of  the  [Jew- 
ish] multitude,  from  whom  it  proved  that  the  citizens  suffered  many  and  sore  ca- 
lamities. And  when  the  king  had  built  an  idol  altar  upon  God's  altar,  he  slew 
swine  upon  it,  and  so  offered  a  sacrifice  neither  according  to  the  law,  nor  the 
Jewish  religious  worship  in  that  country.  He  also  compelled  them  to  forsake  the 
worship  which  they  paid  their  own  God,  and  to  adore  those  whom  he  took  to  be 
gods  ;  and  made  them  build  temples,  and  raise  idol  altars  in  every  city  and  vil- 
lage, and  offer  swine  upon  them  every  day.  He  also  commanded  them  not  to 
circumcise  their  sons,  and  threatened  to  punish  any  that  should  be  found  to  have 
transgressed  his  injunction.  He  also  appointed  overseers,  who  should  compel 
them  to  do  what  he  commanded.     And  indeed  many  Jews  there  were  who  com- 

*  Hereabouts  Josepluis  liegins  to  follow  the  first  book  of  tlie  Maccabees,  a  most  excellent  and  most 
auilientic  history ;  and  accorciingly  it  is  here,  with  great  litlelity  and  exactness,  abridged  by  him :  be- 
tween whose  present  copies  there  seems  to  be  fewer  variations  than  in  any  other  sacred  Hebrew  book 
of  the  Old  Testament  v\hatsoever  (for  this  hook  also  was  orijjinally  written  in  Hebrew,)  which  is  very 
natmal,  because  it  was  written  so  much  nearer  to  tiie  times  of  Josephus  than  the  rest  were. 

t  This  Citadel,  of  which  we  have  such  frequent  mention  in  the  following  history,  botli  in  the  Macca- 
bees and  Josephus,  seems  to  have  been  a  castle  built  upon  a  hill,  lower  than  Mount  Zion,  though  upon 
its  skirts,  and  iiigher  than  Mount  Moriah,  but  between  them  both  ;  which  hill  the  enemies  of  the  Jews 
now  {;ot  jjossession  of,  and  built  on  it  this  citadel,  and  fortified  it,  till  a  good  while  afterwards  the  Jews  re- 
gained it,  demolished  it,  and  leveled  the  liill  itself  with  the  common  ground,  that  their  enemies  might  no 
more  recover  it,  and  miglit  thence  overlook  the  temple  itself,  and  do  tiieni  sychiiiiscliief  as  the;  had  long 
undergone  from  it,  Antiq.  B.  xiii.  ch.  vi.  sect.  6. 


C.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  411 

plied  with  the  king's  commands,  either  voluntarily,  or  out  of  fear  of  the  penalty 
that  was  denounced  :  but  the  best  men,  and  those  of  tlie  nol)le.st  souls,  did  not 
regard  him,  but  did  pay  a  greater  resi)ect  to  tlie  customs  of  their  country,  than 
concern  as  to  the  punishment  wliich  lie  threatened  to  tlie  disol)edient  ;  on  wliich 
account  they  every  day  underwent  great  miseries  and  bitter  torments,  for  they 
were  whipped  with  rods,  and  their  bodies  were  torn  to  pieces,  and  were  crucified, 
while  they  were  still  alive  and  breathed.  They  also  strangled  those  women  and 
their  sons  whom  they  had  circumcised,  as  the  king  had  appointed,  hanging  their 
sons  about  their  necks  as  they  were  upon  tlie  crosses.  And  if  tliere  were  any 
sacred  book  of  the  law  found,  it  was  destroyed,  and  those  with  whom  they  were 
found  miserably  perished  also. 

5.  When  the  Samaritans  saw  the  Jews  under  these  sufferings,  they  no  longer 
confessed  that  they  were  of  their  kindred,  nor  that  the  temple  on  Mount  Geriz- 
zim  belonged  to  Almighty  God.  This  was  according  to  their  nature,  as  we 
have  already  shown.  And  they  now  said,  that  they  were  a  colony  of  Modes  and 
Persians  ;  and  indeed  they  were  a  colony  of  theirs.  So  they  sent  ambassadors 
to  Antiochus,  and  an  epistle  ;  whose  contents  are  these  :  "  To  king  Antiochus 
the  god,  Epiphanes,  a  memorial  irom  the  Sidonians,  who  live  at  Shechem.  Our 
forefathers,  upon  certain  frequent  plagues,  and  as  following  a  certain  ancient  su- 
perstition, had  a  custom  of  observing  that  day  which  by  the  Jews  is  called  the 
Sabbath.*  And  when  they  had  erected  a  temple  at  the  mountain  called  Gerizzim, 
though  without  a  name,  they  offered  upon  it  the  proper  sacrifices.  Now,  upon 
(he  just  treatment  of  these  wicked  Jews,  those  that  manage  their  affairs  supposing 
that  we  were  of  kin  to  them,  and  practised  as  they  do,  make  us  liable  to  the  same 
accusations,  although  we  be  originally  Sidonians,  as  is  evident  from  the  public 
records.  We  therefore  beseech  thee,  our  benefactor  and  saviour,  to  give  order 
to  Apollonius,  the  governor  of  this  part  of  the  countiy,  and  to  Nicanor,  the  pro- 
curator of  thy  affairs,  to  give  us  no  disturbance,  nor  to  lay  to  our  charge  what 
the  Jews  are  accused  for,  since  we  are  aliens  from  their  nation,  and  from  their 
customs ;  but  let  our  temple,  Avhich  at  present  hath  no  name  at  all,  be  named 
The  Temple  of  Jupiter  HeUen'ms.  If  this  were  once  done,  we  should  be  no  longer 
disturbed,  but  should  be  more  intent  on  our  own  occupation  with  quietness,  and 
so  bring  in  a  greater  revenue  to  thee."  So  when  the  Samaritans  had  petitioned 
for  this,  the  king  sent  them  back  the  following  answer,  in  an  epistle  :  "King 
Antiochus  to  Nicanor.  The  Sidonians,  who  live  at  Shechem,  have  sent  me  the 
memorial  inclosed.  When  therefore  we  were  advishig  with  our  friends  about 
it,  the  messengers  sent  by  them  represented  to  us,  that  they  are  no  way  concerned 
with  accusations  which  belong  to  the  Jews,  but  choose  to  live  after  the  customs 
of  the  Greeks.  Accordingly  we  declare  them  free  from  such  accusations,  and 
order  that,  agreeable  to  their  petition,  their  temple  be  named.  The  Temple  of 
Jupiter  Hellenius."  He  also  sent  the  like  epistle  to  Apollonius,  the  governor  of 
that  part  of  the  country,  in  the  forty-sixth  year,  and  the  cigliteenth  day  of  the 
month  Hecatombeon. 


CHAP.  VI. 

How,  upon  Antiocltus's  Prohihilion  to  the  J(  ws  to  male  vse  of  the  Lares  of  their 

Country,  Mattalhias,  the  Son  of  Asamonnts,  alone  despised  the  King,  and 

overcame  the  Generals  of  Anliochvs^s  Army:  as  also  concerning  the  death 

of  Mattalhias  and  the  Succession  of  Judas. 

§  1.  Now  at  this  time  there  was  one  whose  name  was  Mattathias,  who  dwelt 

*  This  allegation  of  the  Samaritans  is  remarkable,  that  tlioiish  they  were  not  Jews,  yet  did  they,  from 
ancient  times,  observe  the  Sabbath  day,  and  as  tliey  elsewhere  pretend,  the  Sabbatic  year  also.    Antiq. 
B.  xii.  ch.  vii.  sect.  6. 
3F2 


412  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XII. 

at  Modla,  the  son  of  John,  the  son  of  Simeon,  the  son  of  Asamoneus,  a 
priest  of  the  order  of  Joarib,  and  a  citizen  of  Jerusalem.  He  had  five  sons: 
John,  who  was  called  Gaddis ;  and  Simon,  who  was  called  Matthes ;  and  Judas, 
who  was  called  Maccabeus  ;*  and  Elcazar,  who  is  called  Auran ;  and  Jonathan, 
who  was  called  Apphiis.  Now  this  Mattathias  lamented  to  his  children  the  sad 
state  of  their  affairs,  and  the  ravage  made  in  the  city,  and  the  plundering  of  the 
temple,  and  the  calamities  the  multitude  were  under;  and  he  told  ,them  that  it 
was  better  for  them  to  die  for  the  laws  of  their  country,  than  to  live  so  inglori- 
ously  as  they  then  did. 

2.  But  when  those  that  were  appointed  by  the  king  were  come  to  Modin,  that 
they  might  compel  the  Jews  to  do  what  they  were  commanded,  and  to  enjoin 
those  that  were  there  to  offer  sacrifice  as  the  king  had  commanded,  they  desired 
that  Mattathias,  a  person  of  the  greatest  character  among  them,  both  on  other  ac- 
counts, and  particularly  on  account  of  such  a  numerous  and  so  deserving  a  family 
of  children,  would  begin  the  sacrifice,  because  his  fellow-citizens  \tould  follow 
his  example,  and  because  such  a  procedure  would  make  him  honoured  by  the 
king.  But  Mattathias  said,  "  he  would  not  do  it ;  and  that  if  all  the  other  nations 
would  obey  the  commands  of  Antiochus,  either  out  of  fear,  or  to  please  him,  yet 
would  not  he  nor  his  sons  leave  the  religious  worship  of  their  country."  But  as 
soon  as  he  had  ended  his  speech,  there  came  one  of  the  Jews  into  the  midst  of 
them,  and  sacrificed  as  Antiochus  had  commanded.  At  which  Mattathias  had 
great  indignation,  and  ran  upon  him  violently,  with  his  sons,  who  had  swords 
with  them,  and  slew  both  the  man  himself  that  sacrificed,  and  Apelles  the  king's 
general,  w  ho  compelled  them  to  sacrifice,  with  a  few  of  his  soldiers.  He  also 
overthrew  the  idol  altar,  and  cried  out,  "  If,  said  he,  any  one  be  zealous  for  the 
laws  of  his  country,  and  for  the  worship  of  God,  let  him  follow  me."  And  when 
he  had  said  this,  he  made  haste  into  the  desert,  with  his  sons,  and  he  left  all  his 
substance  in  the  village.  Many  others  did  the  same  also,  and  fled  with  their 
children  and  w'ives  into  the  desert,  and  dwelt  in  caves.  But  when  the  king's 
generals  heard  this,  they  took  all  the  forces  they  then  had  in  the  citadel  at  Jeru- 
salem, and  pursued  the  Jews  into  the  desert;  and  when  they  had  overtaken  them, 
they  in  the  first  place  endeavoured  to  persuade  them  to  repent,  and  to  choose 
what  was  most  for  their  advantage,  and  not  put  them  to  the  necessity  of  using 
them  according  to  the  law  of  war.  But  when  they  would  not  comply  with  their 
persuasions,  but  continued  to  be  of  a  different  mind,  they  fought  against  them  on 
the  Sabbath-day,  and  they  burnt  them  as  they  were  in  the  caves  without  resis- 
tance, and  without  so  much  as  stopping  up  the  entrances  of  the  caves.  And  they 
avoided  to  defend  themselves  on  that  day,  because  they  were  not  willing  to  break 
in  upon  the  honour  they  owed  the  Sabbath,  even  in  such  distresses ;  for  our  law 
requires  that  we  rest  upon  that  day.  There  were  about  a  thousand,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  who  were  smothered  and  died  in  these  caves ;  but  many  of 
those  that  escaped  joined  themselves  to  Mattathias,  and  appointed  him  to  be  their 
ruler,  who  taught  them  to  fight,  even  on  the  Sabbath-day ;  and  told  them  that 
"  unless  they  would  do  so,  they  would  become  their  own  enemies,  by  observing 
the  law  [so  rigorously,]  while  their  adversaries  would  still  assault  them  on  this 
day,  and  they  would  not  then  defend  themselves,  and  that  nothing  could  then 
hinder  but  they  must  all  perish  without  fighting."  This  speech  persuaded  them. 
And  this  rule  continues  among  us  to  this  da}^  that  if  there  be  a  necessity,  we 
may  fight  on  Sabbath  days.  So  Mattathias  got  a  great  army  about  him,  and  over- 
threw  their  idol  altars,  and  slew  those  that  broke  the  laws,  even  all  that  he  could 
get  under  his  power,  for  many  of  them  were  dispersed  among  the  nations  round 

*  That  this  appellation  o[J\[ixccabee  was  not  first  of  all  given  to  Judas  Maccabeus,  nor  was  derived 
from  any  initial  letters  of  the  Hebrew  words  on  his  banner,  J\[i  Kamokn  Be  Elim,  Jehovah  ?  Who  is  like 
vntothee  among  the  gods,  O  Jehovah?  Exod.  xv.  11.  as  the  modern  Rabbins  vainly  pretenfi,  seeAuthent. 
Rec..  part  i.  p.  20"),  2U6.  Only  we  may  note  by  the  way,  that  tiie  original  name  of  these  Maccabees,  and 
their  posterity,  was  .'isamoyiiajis ;  which  was  derived  from  Asamoneus  the  great-grandfather  of  Matla- 
Uiiaa,  as  Joiicphus  here  informs  us. 


C.  VII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  413 

about  them  for  feai'  of  him.  He  also  commanded,  that  those  boys  which  wcro 
not  yet  circumcised  should  be  circumcised  now ;  and  he  drove  those  away  tliat 
were  appointed  to  hinder  such  their  circumcision. 

3.  So  when  he  had  ruled  one  year,  and  was  fallen  into  a  distemper,  he  called 
for  his  sons,   and  set  them  round  about  him,  and  said,  "  O  my  sons,  I  am  going 
the  way  of  all  the  earth,  and  I  recommend  to  you  my  resolution,  and  beseech 
you  not  to  be  negligent  in  keeping  it,  but  to  be  mindi'ul  of  tl»e  desires  of  him  who 
begat  you,  and  brought  you   up,  and  (o  preserve  tlu3  customs  of  your  country, 
and  to  recover  your  ancient  form   of  government,  which  is  in  danger  of  being 
overturned,   and  not  to  be  carried  away  with  those,   that  cither  by  their  own  in- 
clination  or  out  of  necessity  betray  it,  but  to  become  such  sons  as  are  worthy  of 
me  ;  to  be  above  all  force  and  necessity,  and  so  to  dispose  your  souls,  as  to  be 
ready,  when  it  shall  be  necessary,  to  die  for  your  laws,  as  sensible  of  this  by  just 
reasoning,  that  if  God  see  that  you  are  so  disposed  he  will  not  overlook  you, 
but  will  have  a  great  value  for  your  virtue,  and  will  restore  to  you  again  what 
you  have  lost,  and  will  return  to  you  that  freedom  in  which  you  shall  live  quietly, 
and  enjoy  your  own  customs.     Your  bodies  are  mortal  and  subject  to  fate,  but 
they  receive  a  sort  of  immoilality  by  the  remembrance  of  what  actions  they  have 
done.  And  I  would  have  you  so  in  love  with  this  immortality,  that  you  may  pur- 
sue after  glory,  and  that,  when  you  have  undergone  the  greatest  dithculties,  you 
may  not  scruple,  for  such  things,  to  lose  your  lives.     1  exhort  you,  especially, 
to  agree  one  with  another;  and  in  what  excellence  any  one  of  you  exceeds  ano- 
ther, to  yield  to  him  so  far,  and  by  that  means  to  reap  the  advantage  of  every 
one's  own  virtues.     Do  you  then  esteem  Simon  as  your  father,  because  he  is  a 
man  of  extraordinary  prudence,  and  be  governed  by  him  in  what  counsels  he 
gives  you.    Take  Maccabeus  for  the  general  of  your  army,  because  of  his  cou- 
rage  and  strength,  for  he  will  avenge  your  nation,  and  will  bring  vengeance  on 
your  enemies.   Admit  among  you  the  righteous  and  religious,  and  augment  their 
power." 

4.  When  Mattathias  had  thus  discoursed  to  his  sons,  and  had  prayed  to  God 
to  be  their  assistant,  and  to  recover  to  the  people  their  tbrmer  constitution,  ho 
died  a  little  afterward,  and  was  buried  at  Modin  ;  all  the  people  making  great 
lamentation  for  him.  Whereupon  his  son  Judas  took  upon  him  the  administra- 
tion of  public  affairs,  in  the  hundred  forty  and  sixth  year;  and  thus,  by  the  ready 
assistance  of  his  brethren,  and  of  others,  Judas  cast  their  enemies  out  of  the 
country,  and  put  those  of  their  own  country  to  death  who  had  transgressed  its 
laws,  and  purified  the  land  of  all  the  pollutions  that  were  in  it.  . 


CHAP.  VH. 

How  Judas  Qvertlirew  the  Forces  of  Apolloniits  and  Scron,  and  lillcd  the  Generals 

of  their  Armies  themselves  ;  and  how,  lohen  a  little  while  afterwards  Lysias 

and  Georgias  were  beaten,  he  went  up  to  Jerusalem  and  purijicd  the  Temple. 

§  1.  When  Apollonius,  the  general  of  the  Samaritan  forces,  heard  this,  he  took 
his  army,  and  made  haste  to  go  against  Judas ;  who  met  him,  and  joined  battle 
with  him,  and  beat  him,  and  slew  many  of  his  men,  among  tiicm  A])ollonius  him. 
self,  their  general,  whose  sword  being  that  which  he  happened  (hen  to  wear,  he 
seized  upon,  and  kept  for  himself;  but  he  wounded  more  than  he  slew,  and  took 
a  great  deal  of  prey  from  the  enemies'  camp,  and  went  his  way.  But  when  Se- 
ron,  who  was  general  of  the  army  of  Celesyria,  heard  (hat  many  had  joined 
themselves  to  Judas,  and  that  he  had  about  him  an  army  suthcient  for  fighting, 
and  for  making  war,  he  determined  to  make  an  expedition  a.^ainst  him,  as  think- 
ing it  became  him  to  endeavour  to  punish  those  that  transgressed  the  king's  in. 


414  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XH. 

junctions.  He  then  got  together  an  army,  as  large  as  he  was  able,  and  joined 
to  it  the  runagade  and  wicked  Jews,  and  came  against  Judas.  He  came  as  far 
as  Betlihoron,  a  village  of  Judea,  and  there  pitched  his  camp  ;  upon  which  Judas 
met  him  ;  and  when  he  intended  to  give  him  battle,  he  saw  that  his  soldiers  were 
backward  to  fight,  because  their  number  was  small,  and  because  they  wanted 
food,  for  they  were  fasting ;  he  encouraged  them,  and  said  to  them,  that  "  vie- 
lory  and  conquest  of  enemies  are  not  derived  from  the  multitude  in  armies,  but 
in  the  exercise  of  piety  towards  God,  and  that  they  had  the  plainest  instances  in 
their  forefathers,  who,  by  their  righteousness,  and  exerting  themselves  on  behalf 
of  their  own  laws  and  their  own  children,  had  frequently  conquered  many  ten  thou- 
sands  ;  for  innocence  is  the  strongest  army."  By  this  speech  he  induced  his  men 
to  contemn  the  multitude  of  the  enemy,  and  to  fall  upon  Seron.  And  upon  join- 
ing battle  with  him,  he  beat  the  Syrians ;  and  when  their  general  fell  among  the 
rest,  they  all  ran  away  with  speed,  as  thinking  that  to  be  their  best  way  of  es- 
caping.  So  he  pursued  them  unto  the  plain,  and  slew  about  eight  hundred  of  the 
enemy,  but  the  rest  escaped  to  the  region  which  lay  near  to  the  sea. 

2.  When  king  Antiochus  heard  of  these  things,  he  was  very  angry  at  what 
had  happened  ;  so  he  got  together  all  his  own  army,  with  many  mercenaries 
whom  he  had  hired  from  the  islands,  and  took  them  with  him,  and  prepared  to 
break  into  Judea  about  the  beginning  of  the  spring.  But  when,  upon  his  mus- 
tering his  soldiers,  he  perceived  that  his  treasures  were  deficient,  and  there  was 
a  want  of  money  in  them,  for  all  the  taxes  were  not  paid,  by  reason  of  the  sedi- 
tions there  had  been  among  the  nations,  he  having  been  so  magnanimou's  and  so 
liberal  that  what  he  had  was  not  sufficient  for  him,  he  therefore  resolved  first  to 
go  into  Persia,  and  collect  the  taxes  of  that  country.  Hereupon  he  left  one 
whose  name  was  Lysias,  who  was  in  great  repute  with  him,  governor  of  the 
kingdom,  as  far  as  the  bounds  of  Egypt,  and  of  the  Lower  Asia,  and  reaching 
from  the  river  Euphrates,  and  committed  to  him  a  certain  part  of  his  forces,  and 
of  his  elephants,  and  charged  him  to  bring  up  his  son  Antiochus' with  all  possible 
care,  until  he  came  back ;  and  that  he  should  conquer  Judea,  and  take  its  inha- 
bitants for  slaves,  and  utterly  destroy  Jerusalem,  and  abolish  the  whole  nation. 
And  when  king  Antiochus  had  given  these  things  in  charge  to  Lysias,  he  went 
into  Persia  ;  and  in  the  hundred  and  forty-seventh  year  he  passed  over  Euphrates, 
and  went  up  to  the  superior  provinces. 

3.  Upon  this  Lysias  chose  Ptolemy,  the  son  of  Dorymenes,  and  Nicanor,  and 
Gorgias,  very  potent  men  among  the  king's  friends,  and  delivered  to  them  forty 
thousand  foot  soldiers,  and  seven  thousand  horsemen,  and  sent  them  against  Ju- 
dea, who  came  as  far  as  the  city  Emmaus,  and  pitched  their  camp  in  the  plain 
country.  There  came  also  to  them  auxiliaries  out  of  Syria,  and  the  country 
round  about,  as  also  many  of  the  runagade  Jews.  And  besides  these  came  some 
merchants  to  buy  those  that  should  be  carried  captives  (having  bonds  with  them 
to  bind  those  that  should  be  made  prisoners),  with  that  silver  and  gold  which 
they  were  to  pay  for  their  price.  And  when  Judas  saw  their  camp,  and  how  nu- 
merous their  enemies  were,  he  persuaded  his  own  soldiers  to  be  of  good  courage, 
and  exhorted  them  to  place  their  hopes  of  victory  in  God,  and  to  make  supplica- 
tion to  him,  according  to  the  custom  of  their  country,  clothed  in  sackcloth  ;  and 
to  show  what  was  their  usual  habit  of  supplication  in  the  greatest  dangers,  and 
thereby  to  prevail  with  God  to  grant  you  the  victory  over  your  enemies.  So  he 
set  them  in  their  ancient  order  of  battle  used  by  their  forefathers,  under  their 
captains  of  thousands,  and  other  officers  ;  and  dismissed  such  as  were  newly 
married,  as  well  as  those  that  had  newly  gained  possessions,  that  they  might  not 
fight  in  a  cowardly  manner,  out  of  an  inordinate  love  of  life,  in  order  to  enjoy 
those  blessings.  When  he  had  thus  disposed  his  soldiers,  he  encouraged  thera 
to  fight  by  the  following  speech,  which  he  made  to  them  :  "  O  my  fellow-soldiers, 
no  other  time  remains  more  opportune  than  the  ]  resent  for  courage  and  con- 
tempt of  dangers ;  for  if  you  now  fight  manfully,  you  may  recover  your  liberty, 


C.  TIL  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


415 


which,  as  it  is  a  thing  of  itself  agreeable  to  all  men,  so  it  proves  to  be  to  us  much 
more  desirable,  by  its  affording  us  the  liberty  of  \vorshipin<f  God.  Since  there- 
fore, you  are  in  such  circumstances  at  present,  that  you  must  either  recover 
that  liberty,  and  so  regain  a  happy  and  blessed  way  of  living,  which  is  that  ac- 
cording to  our  laws  and  the  customs  of  our  country,  or  to  submit  to  the  most  op- 
probrious sufferings :  nor  will  any  seed  of  your  nation  remain  if  you  be  beat  in 
this  battle.  Fight,  therefore,  manfully;  and  suppose  that  you  must  die  thoutrh 
you  do  not  fight.  But  believe,  that  besides  such  glorious  rewards  as  those  of  the 
liberty  of  your  country,  of  your  laws,  of  your  religion,  you  shall  then  obtain 
everlasting  glory.  Prepare  yourselves,  therefore,  and  put  yourselves  into  such 
an  agreeable  posture  that  you  may  be  ready  to  fight  with  the  enemy  as  soon  as 
it  is  day  to-morrow  morning." 

4.  And  this  was  the  speech  which  Judas  made  to  encourage  them.  But  when 
the  enemy  sent  Gorgias,  with  five  thousand  foot  and  one  thousand  horse,  that 
he  might  fall  upon  Judas  by  night,  and  had  for  that  purpose  certam  of  the  rim- 
agade  Jews  as  guides,  the  son  of  Mattathias  perceived  it,  and  resolved  to  fall 
upon  those  enemies  that  were  in  their  camp,  now  their  forces  were  divided. 
When  they  had  therefore  supped  in  good  time,  and  had  left  many  fires  in  their 
camp,  he  marched  all  niglit  to  those  enemies  that  were  at  Einmaus  ;  so  that  when 
Gorgias  found  no  enemy  in  their  camp,  but  suspected  that  they  were  retired, 
and  had  hidden  themselves  among  the  mountains,  he  resolved  to  go  and  seek 
them  wheresoever  they  were.  But  about  break  of  day,  Judas  appeared  to  those 
enemies  that  were  atEmmaus,  with  only  three  thousand  men,  and  those  illarmed, 
by  reason  of  their  poverty  ;  and  when  he  saw  the  enemy  very  well  and  skilfully 
fortified  in  their  camp,  he  encouraged  the  Jews,  and  told  them  that  "  they  ought 
to  fight,  though  it  were  with  their  naked  bodies,  for  that  God  had  sometimes  of 
old  given  such  men  strength,  and  that  against  such  as  were  more  in  number,  and 
were  armed  also,  out  of  regard  to  their  great  courage."  So  he  commanded  the 
trumpeters  to  sound  for  the  battle  :  and  by  thus  falling  upon  their  enemies  when 
they  did  not  expect  it,  and  thereby  astonishing  and  disturbing  their  minds,  he 
slew  many  of  those  that  resisted  him,  and  went  on  pursuing  the  rest  as  far  as 
Gadara,  and  the  plains  of  Idumea,  and  Ashdod,  and  Jamnia  ;  and  of  these  there 
fell  about  three  thousand.  Yet  did  Judas  exhort  his  soldiers  not  to  be  too  desi- 
rous of  the  spoils,  lor  that  still  they  must  have  a  contest  and  a  battle  with  Gorgias 
and  the  forces  that  were  with  him  ;  but  that  when  they  had  once  overcome  them, 
then  they  might  securely  plunder  the  camp,  because  they  were  the  only  enemies 
remaining,  and  they  expected  no  others.  And  just  as  he  was  speaking  to  his 
soldiers,  Gorgias's  men  looked  down  into  that  army  which  they  left  in  their  camp, 
and  saw  that  it  was  overthrown,  and  the  camp  burnt,  for  the  smoke  that  arose 
from  it  showed  tliem,  even  when  they  were  a  great  way  off,  what  had  happened. 
When,  therefore,  those  that  were  with  Gorgias  understood  that  things  were  in 
this  posture,  and  perceived  that  those  that  were  with  Judas  were  ready  to  fight 
them,  they  also  were  affrighted  and  put  to  flight ;  but  then  Judas,  as  though  he 
had  already  beaten  Gorgias's  soldiers,  without  fighting,  returned  and  sei/.ed  on 
the  spoils.  He  took  a  great  quantity  of  gold  and  silver,  and  purple,  and  blue, 
and  then  returned  home  with  joy,  and  singing  hymns  to  God  for  their  good  suc- 
cess ;  for  this  victory  greatly  contributed  to  the  recovery  of  their  liberty. 

5.  Hereupon  Lysias  was  confounded  at  the  defeat  of  the  army  which  he  had 
sent,  and  the  next  year  he  got  together  sixty  thousand  chosen  men.  He  also 
took  five  thousand  horsemen,  and  fell  upon  Judea  ;  and  he  went  up  to  the  hill 
country  at  Bethsur,  a  village  of  Judea,  and  pitched  his  camp  there,  where  Judas 
met  him  with  ten  thousand  men  ;  and  when  he  saw  the  great  number  of  his  ene- 
mies, he  prayed  to  God  that  he  would  assist  him,  and  joined  battle  with  the  first 
•of  the  enemy  that  appeared,  and  beat  them,  and  slew  about  itivc  thousand  of 
them,  and  thereby  became  terrible  to  the  rest  of  them.     Nay,  indeed,  Lysiaa 


416  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Xll. 

observing  the  great  spirit  of  the  Jews,  how  they  were  prepared  to  die  rather  than 
lose  their  Hbeity,  and  being  afraid  of  their  desperate  way  of  figliting,  as  if  it 
were  real  strength,  he  took  the  rest  of  the  army  back  with  him,  and  returned  to 
Antioch,  where  he  listed  foreigners  into  the  service,  and  prepared  to  fall  upon 
Judea  with  a  greater  army. 

6.  When,  therefore,  the  generals  of  Antiochus's  armies  had  been  beaten  so 
often,  Judas  assembled  the  people  together,  and  told  them,  that  "  after  these 
many  victories  which  God  had  given  them,  they  ought  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem, 
and  purify  the  temple,  and  offer  the  appointed  sacrifice."  But  as  soon  as  he, 
with  the  whole  multitude,  was  come  to  Jerusalem,  and  found  the  temple  deserted, 
and  its  gates  burnt  down,  and  plants  growing  in  the  temple  of  their  own  accord, 
on  account  of  its  desertion,  he  and  those  that  were  with  him  began  to  lament, 
and  were  quite  confounded  at  the  sight  of  the  temple  :  so  he  chose  out  some  of 
his  soldiers,  and  gave  them  order  to  fight  against  those  guards  that  were  in  the 
citadel,  until  he  should  have  purified  the  temple.  When,  therefore,  he  had  care- 
fully purged  it,  and  had  brought  in  new  vessels,  the  candlestick,  the  table  [of 
shew-bread,]  and  the  altar  [of  incense,]  which  were  made  of  gold,  he  hung  up 
the  vails  at  the  gates,  and  added  doors  to  them.  He  also  took  down  the  altar 
[of  burnt-offering,]  and  built  a  new  one  of  stones  that  he  gathered  together,  and 
not  of  such  as  were  hewn  with  iron  tools.  So  on  the  five-and-twentieth  day  of 
the  month  Casleu,  which  the  Macedonians  call  Apelleus,  they  lighted  the  lamps 
that  were  on  the  candlestick,  and  offered  incense  upon  the  altar  [of  incense,] 
and  laid  the  loaves  upon  the  table  [of  shew-bread,]  and  oflTered  burnt-offerings, 
upon  the  new  altar  [of  burnt-offering.]  Now  it  so  fell  out,  that  these  things  were 
done  on  the  very  same  day  on  which  their  divine  worship  had  fallen  off,  and  was 
reduced  to  a  profane  and  common  use,  after  three  years'  time  ;  for  so  it  was, 
that  the  temple  was  made  desolate  by  Antiochus,  and  so  continued  for  three 
years.  This  desolation  happened  to  the  temple  in  the  hundred  and  forty-fifth 
5ear,  on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  the  month  Apelleus,  and  on  the  hundred  and  fifly- 
third  olympiad  ;  but  it  was  dedicated  anew,  on  the  same  day,  the  twenty-fifth  of 
the  month  Apelleus,  in  the  hundred  and  forty-eighth  year,  and  on  the  hundred 
and  fifty-fourth  olympiad.  And  this  desolation  came  to  pass  according  to  the 
prophecy  of  Daniel,  which  was  given  four  hundred  and  eight  years  before  ;  for 
he  declared  that  the  Macedonians  would  dissolve  that  worship  [for  some  time.] 

7.  Now  Judas  celebrated  the  festival  of  the  restoration  of  the  sacrifices  at  the 
temple  for  eight  days ;  and  omitted  no  sort  of  pleasures  thereon,  but  he  feasted 
them  upon  very  rich  and  splendid  sacrifices  ;  and  he  honoured  God,  and  delighted 
them  by  hymns  and  psalms.  Nay,  they  were  so  very  glad  at  the  revival  of  their 
customs,  when,  after  a  long  time  of  intermission,  they  unexpectedly  had  regained 
the  freedom  of  their  worship,  that  they  made  it  a  law  for  their  posterity,  that  they 
should  keep  a  festival  on  account  of  the  restoration  of  their  temple  worship  for 
eight  days.  And  from  that  time  to  this  we  celebrate  this  festival,  and  call  it 
Lights.  I  suppose  the  reason  was  because  this  liberty  beyond  our  hopes  appeared 
to  us,  and  that  thence  was  the  name  given  to  that  festival.  Judas  also  rebuilt  the 
walls  round  about  the  city,  and  reared  towers  of  great  height  against  the  incursions 
of  enemies,  and  set  guards  therein.  He  also  fortified  the  city  Bethsura,  that  it 
might  serve  as  a  citadel  against  any  distresses  that  might  come  from  our  enemies. 


C.  Vm.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  4IY 

CHAP.  VIII. 

How  Judas  subdued  the  Nations  round  about ;  and  hoio  Simon  beat  the  People  of 

Tyre  and  Ptolemais;  and  how  Judas  overcame  Timoiheus,  and  forced  him  to 

fly  away,  and  did  many  other  Things  after  Joseph  and  Azarias  had 

been  beaten. 

§  1.  When  these  things  were  over,  the  nations  round  about  the  Jews  were  very- 
uneasy  at  the  revival  of  their  power,  and  rose  up  together,  and  destroyed  nianv  of 
them,  as  gaining  advantage  over  them  by  laying  snares  for  them,  and  making  se- 
cret conspiracies  against  them.  Judas  made  perpetual  expeditions  af^ainst  tliese 
men,  and  endeavoured  to  restrain  them  from  those  incursions,  and  to  prevent  the 
mischiefs  they  did  to  the  Jews.  So  he  fell  upon  the  Idumcans,  the  posterity  of 
Esau,  at  Acrabattene,  and  slew  a  great  many  of  them,  and  took  their  spoils,  lie 
also  shut  up  the  sons  of  Bean,  that  laid  wait  for  the  Jews  ;  and  he  sat  down  about 
them,  and  besieged  them,  and  burnt  their  towers,  and  destroyed  the  men  [that  were 
in  them.]  After  this  he  went  thence  in  haste  against  the  Ammonites,  who  had  a 
great  and  a  numerous  army,  of  which  Timotheus  was  the  commander.  And  when 
he  had  subdued  them,  he  seized  on  the  city  Jazer,  and  took  their  wives  and  their 
children  captives,  and  burned  the  city,  and  then  returned  into  Judea.  But  when 
the  neighbouring  nations  understood  that  he  was  returned,  they  got  together  in 
great  numbers,  in  the  land  of  Gilead,  and  came  against  those  Jews  that  were  at 
their  borders,  who  then  fled  to  the  garrison  of  Dathema,  and  sent  to  Judas  to  in- 
form him  that  Timotheus  was  endeavouring  to  take  the  place  whither  they  were 
fled.  And  as  these  epistles  were  reading,  there  came  other  messengers  out  of 
Oalilee,  who  informed  him  that  the  inhabitants  of  Ptolemais,  and  of  Tyre  and  Si- 
don,  and  strangers  of  Gahlee,  were  gotten  together. 

2.  Accordingly  Judas,  upon  considering  what  was  fit  to  be  done,  with  relation 
to  the  necessity  both  these  cases  required,  gave  order  that  Simon  his  brother 
should  take  three  thousand  chosen  men,  and  go  to  the  assistance  of  the  Jews  in 
Galilee,  while  he  and  another  of  his  brothers,  Jonathan,  made  haste  into  the  land 
of  Gilead,  with  eight  thousand  soldiers.  And  he  left  Joseph,  the  son  of  ^acha- 
rias,  and  Azarias,  to  be  over  the  rest  of  the  forces ;  and  charged  them  to  keep 
Judea  very  carefully,  and  to  fight  no  battles  with  any  person  whomsoever  until 
his  return.  Accordingly  Simon  went  into  Galilee,  and  fought  the  enemy,  and  put 
the.m  to  flight,  and  pursued  them  to  the  very  gates  of  Ptolemais,  and  alew  about 
three  thousand  of  them ;  and  took  the  spoils  of  those  that  were  slain,  and  those 
Jews  whom  they  had  made  captives,  with  their  baggage  ;  and  then  returned  home. 

3.  Now  as  for  Judas  Maccabeus,  and  his  brother  Jonathan,  they  passed  over  the 
river  Jordan  ;  and  when  they  had  gone  three  days'  journey,  they  lighted  upon  the 
Nabateans,  who  came  to  meet  them  peaceably,  and  who  told  them  how  the  allairs 
of  those  in  the  land  of  Gilead  stood  :  and  how  many  of  them  were  in  distress,  and 
driven  into  garrisons,  and  into  the  cities  of  Gallilee ;  and  exhorted  them  to  mak"! 
haste  to  go  against  the  foreigners,  and  to  endeavour  to  save  his  own  countr\ men 
out  of  their  hands.  To  this  exhortation  Judas  hearkened,  and  returned  into  the 
wilderness  ;  and  in  the  first  place  fell  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Bosor,  and  took 
the  city,  and  beat  the  inhabitants,  and  destroyed  all  the  males,  and  all  that  were 
able  to  fight,  and  burned  the  city.  Nor  did  he  stop  even  when  night  came  on, 
but  he  journeyed  in  it  to  the  garrison  where  the  Jews  happened  then  to  be  shut 
up,  and  where  Timotheus  lay  round  the  place  with  his  army;  and  Judas  came 
upon  the  city  in  the  morning ;  and  when  he  found  that  the  enemy  were  making 
an  assault  upon  the  walls,  and  that  some  of  them  brought  ladders,  on  which  they 
might  get  upon  those  walls,  and  that  others  brought  engines  [to  batter  them,]  he 
bid  the  trumpeter  to  sound  his  trumpet,  and  he  rncounigcd  his  soldiers  cheerfully 
to  iinikM-go  dangers  for  the  sake  of  their  brethren  and  kindred  ;  he  also  parted 

VOL  :.  3G 


418  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XII. 

his  army  into  three  bodies,  and  fell  upon  the  backs  of  their  enemies.  But  when 
Timotheus's  men  perceived  that  it  was  Maccabeus  that  was  upon  them,  of  both 
whose  courage  and  good  success  in  war  they  had  formerly  had  sufficient  expe- 
rience, they  were  put  to  flight ;  but  Judas  followed  them  with  his  army,  and  slew 
about  eiffht  thousand  of  them.  He  then  turned  aside  to  a  city  of  the  foreigners 
called  Malle,  and  took  it,  and  slew  all  the  males,  and  burnt  the  city  itself.  He 
then  removed  from  thence,  and  overthrew  Caspeom  and  Bosoi',  and  many  other 
cities  of  the  land  of  Gilead. 

4.  But  not  long  after  this  Timotheus  prepared  a  great  army,  and  took  many 
others  as  auxiliaries,  and  induced  some  of  the  Arabians,  by  the  promise  of  re- 
wards, to  go  with  him  in  this  expedition,  and  came  with  his  army  beyond  the  brook, 
over  against  the  city  Raphon  ;  and  he  encouraged  his  soldiers,  if  it  came  to 
a  battle  with  the  Jews,  to  fight  courageously,  and  to  hinder  their  passing  over 
the  brook ;  for  he  said  to  them  beforehand,  that  "  if  they  come  over  it  we  shall 
be  beaten."  And  when  Judas  heard  that  Timotheus  prepared  himself  to  fight, 
he  took  all  his  own  army,  and  went  in  haste  against  Timotheus  his  enemy  ;  and 
when  he  had  passed  over  the  brook,  he  fell  upon  his  enemies,  and  some  of  them 
met  him,  whom  he  slew,  and  others  of  them  he  so  terrified  that  he  compelled  them 
to  throw  down  their  arms,  and  fly  ;  and  some  of  these  escaped,  but  some  of  them 
fled  to  what  was  called  the  temple  of  Carnaim,  and  hoped  thereby  to  preserve 
themselves  ;  but  Judas  took  the  city,  and  slew  them,  and  burned  the  temple,  and 
so  used  several  ways  of  destroying  his  enemies. 

5.  When  he  had  done  this,  he  gathered  the  Jews  together,  with  their  children 
and  wives,  and  the  substance  that  belonged  to  them,  and  was  going  to  bring  them 
back  into  Judea.  But  as  soon  as  he  was  come  to  a  certain  city,  whose  name  was 
EpJiron,  that  lay  upon  the  road  (and  as  it  was  not  possible  for  him  to  go  any  other 
way,  so  he  was  not  willing  to  go  back  again,)  he  then  sent  to  the  inhabitants,  and 
desired  that  they  would  open  their  gates  and  permit  them  to  go  on  their  way 
through  the  city,  for  they  had  stopped  up  the  gates  with  stones,  and  cut  off  their 
passage  through  it.  And  when  the  inhabitants  of  Ephron  would  not  agree  to  this 
proposal,  he  encouraged  those  that  were  with  him,  and  encompassed  the  city 
round,  and  besieged  it,  and  lying  round  it  by  day  and  by  night,  took  the  city,  and 
slew  every  male  it,  and  burnt  it  all  down,  and  so  obtained  a  way  through  it ;  and 
the  multitude  of  those  that  were  slain  was  so  great  that  they  went  over  the  dead 
bodies.  So  they  came  over  Jordan,  and  arrived  at  the  great  plain,  over  against 
which  is  situate  the  city  Bethshan,  which  is  called  by  the  Greeks  Scyihopolis.* 
And  going  away  hastily  from  thence,  they  came  into  Judea,  singing  psalms  and 
hymns  as  they  went,  and  indulging  such  tokens  of  mirth  as  are  usual  in  triumphs 
upon  victory.  They  also  ofiered  thank-offerings,  both  for  their  good  success 
and  for  the  preservation  of  their  army,  for  not  one  of  the  Jews  was  slain  in  these 
battlesf. 

6.  But  as  to  Joseph,  the  son  of  Zecharlas,  and  Azarius,  whom  Judas  left  ge- 
nerals [of  the  rest  of  the  forces,]  at  the  same  time  when  Simon  was  in  Galilee, 
lighting  against  the  people  of  Ptolemais,  and  Judas  himself  and  his  brother  Jona- 
than were  in  the  land  of  Gilead,  did  these  men  also  effect  the  glory  of  being  cou- 
rageous generals  in  war,  in  order  whereto  they  took  the  army  that  was  under 
their  command,  and  came  to  Jamnia.  There  Gorgias,  the  general  of  the  forces 
of  Jamnia,  met  them  ;  and  upon  joining  battle  with  him,  they  lost  two  thousand 
of  their  army,  and  fled  away,  and  were  pursued  to  the  very  borders  of  Judea.:}: 

*  The  reason  vvlij'  Bethshan  was  called  SryihnpoUs  is  well  known  from  Herodotus,  B.  i.  p.  105,  and 
Syncellus,  p.  214,  that  the  Scythians,  when  they  overran  Asia,  in  the  days  of  Josiah,  seized  on  this  city, 
and  kept  it  as  lon^  as  they  conlinujed  in  Asia,  from  which  time  it  retained  the  name  of  Scylhopolis,  or 
the  city  of  the  Scyt/iiitns. 

t  This  most  providential  preservation  of  all  the  religious  Jews  in  this  expedition,  which  was  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  God,  is  observable  often  among  God's  people,  the  Jews ;  and  somewhat  very  like  it  in 
the  changes  of  the  four  monarchies,  which  were  also  providential.  SeePrideaux,  at  the  year's  331,333, 
and  334. 

I  Here  is  another  great  instance  of  Providence,  that  when,  even  at  the  very  time  that  Simon  and  Ju- 


'  CIX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEW*  419 

And  this  misfortune  befell  them  by  their  disobedience  to  what  injunctions  Judaa 
had  given  them,  "  Not  to  fight  with  any  one  before  liis  return."  For,  besides 
the  rest  of  Judas's  sagacious  counsels,  one  may  well  wonder  at  this  concerning 
the  misfortune  that  befell  the  forces  commanded  by  Joseph  and  Azarias,  which 
he  understood  would  happen,  if  they  broke  any  of  tlie  injunctions  he  had  given 
them.  But  Judas  and  his  brethren  did  not  leave  ofl"  fighting  with  the  Idumeans,. 
but  pressed  upon  them  on  all  sides,  and  took  from  them  the  city  of  Hebron,  and 
demohshed  all  its  fortifications,  and  set  its  towers  on  fire  and  burnt  the  country 
of  the  foreigners,  and  the  city  Marissa.  They  came  also  to  Aslidod,  and  took  it, 
and  laid  it  waste,  and  took  away  a  great  deal  of  the  spoils  and  prey  that  were  in 
U,  and  returned  to  Judea. 


CHAP.  IX. 

Concerning  tlie  Death  of  Aniiochvs  Epiplianes.     How  Antiochns  Eupafor  fougJii 

against  Judas,  and  besieged  him  in  the  Temple,  and  afterwards  made  Peace 

with  Mm,  and  departed.     Of  Alcimus  and  Onias. 

§  1.  Aboxjt  this  time  it  was  that  king  Antiochus,  as  he  was  going  over  the  upper 
countries,  heard  that  there  was  a  very  rich  city  in  Persia,  called  FJymais,  and 
therein  a  very  rich  temple  of  Diana,  and  that  it  was  fullof  all  sortsof  donations  dedi- 
cated to  it ;  as  also  weapons  and  breastplates,  which,  upon  inquiry,  he  found  had  been 
left  there  by  Alexander,  the  son  of  Philip,  king  of  Macedonia.  And  being  incited 
by  these  motives,  he  went  in  haste  to  Elymais,  and  assaulted  it  and  besieged  it. 
But  as  those  that  were  in  it  were  not  terrified  at  his  assault,  nor  at  his  siege,  but 
opposed  him  very  courageously,  he  was  beaten  off  his  hopes;  for  they  drove  him 
away  from  the  city,  and  went  out  and  pursued  after  him,  insomuch  that  he  fled 
away  as  far  as  Babylon,  and  lost  a  great  many  of  his  army.  And  when  he  was 
grieving  for  this  disappointment,  some  persons  told  him  of  the  defeat  of  his  com- 
manders whom  he  had  left  behind  him  to  fight  against  Judea,  and  what  strength 
the  Jews  had  already  gotten.  When  this  concern  about  these  affairs  was  added 
to  the  former,  he  was  confounded,  and  by  the  anxiety  he  was  in  fell  into  a  dis- 
temper, which  as  it  lasted  a  great  while,  and  as  his  pains  increased  upon  him,  so 
he  at  length  perceived  he  should  die  in  a  little  time  :  so  he  called  his  friends  to 
him,  and  told  them  that  his  distemper  was  severe  upon  him,  and  confessed  withal 
that  his  calamity  was  sent  upon  him  for  the  miseries  he  had  brought  upon  the 
Jewish  nation,  while  he  plundered  their  temple  and  contemned  their  God  ;  and 
when  he  had  said  this,  he  gave  up  tiie  ghost.  Whence  one  may  wonder  at  PoU'- 
bius  of  Megalopolis,  who,  though  otherwise  a  good  man,  yet  saith,  that  "Antio- 
chus died  because  he  had  a  purpose  to  plunder  the  temple  of  Diana  in  Persia  ;" 
for  the  purposing  to  do  a  thing,  but  not  actually  doing  it,  is  not  worthy  of  punish, 
ment.*  But  if  Polybius  could  think  that  Antiochus  thus  lost  his  lilc  on  tiuit  ac- 
count, it  is  much  more  probable  that  this  king  died  on  account  of  his  sacrilegious 
plundering  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  But  we  will  not  contend  about  tliis  matter, 
with  those  who  may  think  that  the  cause  assigned  by  this  Polybius  of  Megalopo- 
lis  is  nearer  the  truth  than  that  assigned  by  us. 

das  and  Jonathan  were  so  miraculously  pros prvcd,  and  blesFpd,  in  the  just  drfi^nne  of  Ihoir  laws  and  re- 
ligion, these  other  generals  of  the  Jews,  who  went  to  fii;ht  for  himotji,  in  a  vainnlorious  way,  and  with- 
out any  commission  from  God,  or  the  family  he  had  raised  up  to  deliver  them,  were  miserably  disap- 
pointed and  defeated.     See  1  Maccab.  v.  Gl,  G2. 

»  Since  St.  Paul,  a  Pharisee,  confesses,  that  he  had  not  k)wwn.  concvpiscence,  or  desires,  to  be  sinful, 
had  not  the  tenth  coinnianduipiit  said,  Thou  s/mlt  not  conl,  Rom.  vii.  7,  the  case  seems  to  liave  been 
much  the  same  with  our  Josephus,  who  was  of  the  same  sect,  tliat  lie  had  imi  a  deep  sense  of  the  great- 
ness of  any  sins  that  proceeded  no  farther  than  tiin  intention.  I  lowevi-r,  since  .losejihns  speaks  here  pro 
perly  of  the  punishment  of  death,  which  is  not  inflicted  by  any  law  either  of  God  or  man  for  the  bare  in- 
tention, his  words  need  not  be  strained  to  mean,  that  sins  intended,  but  not  executed,  were  ito  sins  a( 
all. 

302 


420  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  E.  Xll. 

2.  However,  Antiochus,  before  he  died,  called  for  Philip,  who  was  one  of  his 
companions,  and  made  him  the  guardian  of  his  kingdom ;  and  gave  him  his  dia- 
dem, and  his  garment,  and  his  ring,  and  charged  him  to  caiTy  them,  and  deliver 
them  to  his  son  Antiochus  ;  and  desired  him  to  take  care  of  his  education,  and 
to  preserve  the  kingdom  for  him.*  This  Antiochus  died  in  the  hundred  and 
forty-ninth  year.  But  it  was  Lysias  that  declared  his  death  to  the  multitude,  and 
appointed  his  son  Antiochus  to  be  king  (of  whom  at  present  he  had  the  care,) 
and  called  him  Ewpalor. 

3.  At  that  time  it  was  that  the  garrison  in  the  citadel  at  Jerusalem,  with  the 
Jewish  runagades,  did  a  great  deal  of  harm  to  the  Jews ;  for  the  soldiers  that 
were  in  that  garrison  rushed  out  upon  the  sudden,  and  destroyed  such  as  were 
going  up  to  tlie  temple  in  order  to  offer  their  sacrifices  ;  for  this  citadel  adjoined 
to  and  overlooked  the  temple.  When  these  misfortunes  had  often  happened  to 
them,  Judas  resolved  to  destroy  that  garrison ;  whereupon  he  got  all  the  people 
together,  and  vigorously  besieged  those  that  were  in  the  citadel.  This  was  in  the 
hundred  and  fil'tieth  year  of  the  dominion  of  the  Seleucidse.  So  he  made  engines 
of  war,  and  erected  bulwarks,  and  very  zealously  pressed  on  to  take  the  citadel : 
but  there  were  not  a  few  of  the  runagades  who  were  in  the  place,  that  went  out 
by  night  into  the  country,  and  got  some  other  wicked  men  like  themselves,  and 
went  to  Antiochus  the  king,  and  desired  of  him  that  "he  would  not  suffer  them 
to  be  Keglected,  under  the  great  hardships  that  lay  upon  them  from  those  of  their 
own  nation,  and  this  because  their  sufferings  were  occasioned  on  his  father's  ac- 
count, while  they  left  the  rehgious  worship  of  their  fathers,  and  preferred  that 
which  he  had  commanded  them  to  follow  :  that  there  was  danger  lest  the  citadel 
and  those  appointed  to  garrison  it  by  the  king,  should  be  taken  by  Judas  and  those 
that  were  with  him,  unless  he  would  send  them  succours."  When  Antiochus, 
who  was  but  a  child,  heard  this,  he  was  angry,  and  sent  for  his  captains,  and  his 
friends,  and  gave  order  that  they  should  get  an  army  of  mercenaries  together, 
with  such  men  also  of  his  own  kingdom  as  were  of  an  age  fit  for  war.  Accord- 
ingly an  army  was  collected  of  about  a  hundred  thousand  footmen,  and  twenty 
thousand  horsemen,  and  thirty-two  elephants. 

4.  So  the  king  took  this  army,  and  marched  hastily  out  of  Antioch,  with  Lysias, 
who  had  the  command  of  the  whole,  and  came  to  Idumea,  and  thence  went  up  to 
the  city  Bethsura,  a  city  that  was  strong,  and  not  to  be  taken  without  great  diffi- 
culty :  he  set  about  this  city,  and  besieged  it.  And  while  the  inhabitants  of 
Bethsura  courageously  opposed  him,  and  sallied  out  upon  him,  and  burnt  the  en- 
gines of  war,  a  great  deal  of  time  was  spent  in  the  siege.  But  when  Judas  heard 
of  the  king's  coming,  he  raised  the  siege  of  the  citadel,  and  met  the  king,  and 
pitched  his  camp  in  certain  straits,  at  a  place  called  Bethzachariah,  at  the  distance 
of  seventy  furlongs  from  the  enemy  ;  but  the  king  soon  drew  his  forces  from  Beth- 
sura, and  brought  them  to  those  straits.  And  as  soon  as  it  was  day  he  put  his  men 
in  battle-array,  and  made  his  elephants  follow  one  another  through  the  narrow 
passes,  because  they  could  not  be  set  sideways  one  by  another.  Now  round  about 
every  elephant  there  were  a  thousand  footmen,  and  five  hundred  horsemen.  The 
elephants  also  had  high  towers  [upon  their  backs,]  and  archers  [in  them.]  And 
he  also  made  the  rest  of  his  army  to  go  up  the  mountains,  and  put  his  friends  be- 
fore the  rest ;  and  gave  orders  for  the  army  to  shout  aloud,  and  so  he  attacked  the 
enemy.  He  also  exposed  to  sight  their  golden  and  brazen  shields,  so  that  a  glo- 
rious splendour  was  sent  from  them ;  and  when  they  shouted,  the  mountains 
echoed  again.  When  Judas  saw  this,  he  was  not  terrified,  but  received  the 
enemy  with  great  courage,  and  slev/  about  six  hundred  of  the  first  ranks.  But 
when  his  brother  Elcazar,  whom  they  called  Auran,  saw  the  tallest  of  all  the  ele- 
phants,  armed  with  royal  breast-plates,  and  supposed  that  the  king  was  upon  him, 
he  attacked  him  with  great  quickness  and  bravery.     He  also  slew  many  of  those 

•  No  wonder  tliat  Joseplnis  here  desciibes  Antiochus  Eupator  as  3'Oiing,  and  wanting  tuition,  when 
he  cajue  to  ilic  ciown,  since  Appiau  informs  us,  Syriac,  p.  177,  thai  he  was  then  but  ni)ie  years  old. 


C.  IX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


421 


that  were  about  the  elephant,  and  scattered  the  rest,  and  then  went  under  tho 
belly  of  the  elephant,  and  smote  him,  and  slew  him:  so  the  elephant  fell  upon 
Eleazar,  and  by  his  weiglit  crushed  him  to  death.  And  thus  did  tliis  man  como 
to  his  end,  when  he  had  tinst  courageously  destroyed  many  of  ids  enemies. 

5.  But  Judas,  seeing  the  strength  of  the  enemy,  retired  to  Jerusalem,  and  pre- 
pared to  endure  a  siege.  As  for  Antiochus,  he  sent  part  of  his  armv  to  Bethsura 
to  besiege  it,  and  with  the  rest  of  his  army  he  came  against  Jerusalem;  but  the 
inhabitants  of  Bethsura  were  terrified  at  his  strength,  and  seeing  that  their  pro- 
visions grew  scarce,  they  delivered  themselves  up  on  the  security  of  oaths,  that 
they  should  sutler  no  hard  treatment  from  tlie  king.  And  when  Antiochus  had  thus 
taken  the  city,  he  did  them  no  otlier  harm  than  sending  them  out  naked.  He  also 
placed  a  garrison  of  his  own  in  the  city.  But  as  tor  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  he 
lay  at  its  siege  a  long  time,  while  they  within  bravely  defended  it ;  for  what  en- 
gines  soever  the  king  sent  against  them,  they  set  other  engines  again  to  oppose 
them.  But  then  their  provisions  failed  them  ;  what  fruits  of  the  ground  they  had 
laid  up  were  spent,  and  the  land,  not  being  ploughed  that  year,  continued  un- 
sowed,  because  it  was  the  seventh  year,  on  which  by  our  laws  we  are  obliged  to 
let  it  lie  uncuUivated.  And,  withal,  so  many  of  the  besieged  ran  away  for  want 
of  necessaries,  that  but  a  few  only  were  left  in  the  temple. 

6.  And  these  happened  to  be  the  circumstances  of  such  as  were  besieged  in 
the  temple.  But  then,  because  Lysias  the  general  of  the  army,  and  Antiochus 
the  king,  were  informed  that  Philip  was  coming  upon  them  out  of  Persia,  and  was 
endeavouring  to  get  the  management  of  public  allairs  to  himself,  they  came  into 
these  sentiments,  to  leave  the  siege,  and  to  make  haste  to  go  against  Phihp;  yet 
did  they  resolve  not  to  let  this  be  known  to  the  soldiers  or  to  the  officers :  but  the 
king  commanded  Lysias  to  speak  openly  to  the  soldiers  and  the  officers,  without 
saying  a  word  about  the  business  of  Philip  ;  and  to  intimate  to  them,  that  the  siege 
would  be  very  long,  that  the  place  was  very  strong,  that  they  were  already  in 
want  of  provisions,  that  many  affairs  of  the  kingdom  wanted  regulation,  and  that 
it  was  much  better  to  make  a  league  with  the  besieged,  and  to  become  friends  to 
their  whole  nation,  by  permitting  them  to  observe  the  laws  of  their  fathers, 
while  they  broke  out  into  this  war  only  because  they  were  deprived  of  them,  and 
so  to  depart  home.  When  Lysias  had  discoursed  thus  to  them,  both  the  army 
and  the  officers  were  pleased  with  this  resolution. 

7.  Accordingly  the  king  sent  to  Judas,  and  to  those  that  were  besieged  with 
him,  and  promised  to  give  them  peace,  and  to  permit  them  to  make  use  of,  and 
live  according  to,  the  laws  of  their  fathers.  And  they  gladly  received  his  pro- 
posals :  and  when  they  had  gained  security  upon  oath  for  their  performance,  they 
went  out  of  the  temple.  But  when  Antiochus  came  into  it,  and  saw  how  strong 
the  place  was,  he  broke  his  oaths,  and  ordered  his  army  that  was  there  to  pluck 
down  the  walls  to  the  ground  ;  and  when  he  had  so  done,  he  returned  to  Antioch  : 
he  also  carried  with  him  Onias  tiic  high  priest,  who  was  also  called  Mcndaus;  for 
Lysias  advised  the  king  to  slay  Menelaus,  if  he  would  have  the  Jews  be  quiet,  and 
cause  him  no  farther  disturbance,  for  that  this  man  was  the  origin  of  all  the  mis. 
chief  the  Jews  had  done  them,  by  persuading  his  father  to  compel  the  Jews  to 
leave  the  religion  of  their  fathers.  So  the  king  sent  3Ienelaus  to  Berea,  a 
city  of  Syria,  and  there  had  him  put  to  death,  when  he  had  been  higii  priest  ten 
years.  lie  had  been  a  wicked  and  an  impious  man ;  and,  in  order  to  get  tho 
government  to  himself,  had  compelled  his  nation  to  transgress  their  own  laws. 
After  the  death  of  Menelaus,  Alcimus,  who  was  also  called  Jr;r//7iH.v,  was  made  high 
priest.  But  when  king  Antiochus  found  that  Philip  had  already  possessed  him- 
self of  the  government,  he  made  war  against  him,  and  subdued  him,  and  took 
him,  and  slew  him.  Now,  as  to  Onias,  the  son  of  the  high  priest,  who,  as  wo 
before  informed  you,  was  left  a  child  when  his  father  died,  when  he  saw  that  the 
king  had  slain  his  uncle  Menelaus,  and  given  the  high  priesthood  to  Alcimus,  who 
was  not  of  the  high  priest  stock,  but  as  induced  by  Lysius  to  translate  that  dignity 


^2  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.XIL'; 

from  this  family  to  another  house,  he  fled  to  Ptolemy,  king  of  Egypt;  and  when 
he  found  he  was  in  great  esteem  with  him,  and  with  his  wife  Cleopatra,  he  desired 
and  obtained  a  place  in  the  Nomas  of  Heliopolis,  wherein  he  built  a  temple  like 
to  that  of  Jerusalem,  of  which,  therefore,  we  shall  hereafter  give  an  account,  in 
a  place  more  proper  for  it. 


CHAP.  X. 

Hmo  Bacchides,  the  General  of  Demetrius^ s  Army,  made  an  Expedition  against 

Judea,  and  retvrned  without  Success ;  and  how  Nicanor  was  sent  a  little  Time 

afterward  against  Judas,  and  perished,  together  with  his  Army :  as  also 

concerning  the  Death  of  Alcimus,  and  the  Succession  of  Judas. 

§  1.  About  the  same  time,  Demetrius,  the  son  of  Seleucus,  fled  away  from  Rome, 
and  took  Tripoli,  a  city  of  Syria,  and  set  the  diadem  on  his  own  head.  He  also 
gathered  certain  mercenary  soldiers  together,  and  entered  into  his  kingdom,  and 
was  joyfully  received  by  all  who  delivered  themselves  up  to  him.  And  when 
they  had  taken  Antiochus  the  king,  and  Lysias,  they  brought  them  to  him  alive  ; 
both  which  were  immediately  put  to  death  by  the  command  of  Demetrius,  when 
Antiochus  had  reigned  two  years,  as  we  have  already  elsewhere  related.  But 
there  were  now  many  of  the  wicked  Jewish  runagades  that  came  together  to  him, 
and  with  them  Alcimus  the  high  priest,  who  accused  the  whole  nation,  and  par. 
tlcularly  Judas  and  his  brethren  ;  and  said  that  "  they  had  slain  all  his  friends, 
and  that  those  in  his  kingdom  that  were  of  his  party,  and  waited  for  his  return, 
were  by  them  put  to  death  ;  that  these  men  had  ejected  them  out  of  their  own 
country,  and  caused  them  to  be  sojourners  in  a  foreign  land ;  and  they  desired 
that  he  would  send  some  one  of  his  own  friends,  and  know  from  him  what  mis- 
chief  Judas's  partj^  had  done." 

2.  At  this  Demetrius  was  very  angry,  and  sent  Bacchides,  a  friend  of  Antio- 
chus Epiphanes,  a  good  man,*  and  one  that  had  been  entrusted  with  all  Mesopo. 
tamia,  and  gave  him  an  army,  and  committed  Alcimus  the  high  priest  to  his  care, 
and  gave  him  charge  to  slay  Judas,  and  those  that  were  with  him.  So  Bacchides 
made  haste,  and  went  out  of  Antioch  with  his  army;  and  when  he  was  come  into 
Judea,  he  sent  to  Judas  and  his  brethren,  to  discourse  with  them  about  a  league 
of  friendship  and  peace,  for  he  had  a  mind  to  take  him  by  treachery  ;  but  Judas 
did  not  give  credit  to  him,  for  he  saw  that  he  came  with  so  great  an  army  as  men 
do  not  bring  when  they  come  to  make  peace,  but  to  make  war.  However,  some 
of  the  people  acquiesced  in  what  Bacchides  caused  to  be  proclaimed  ;  and  sup. 
posing  they  should  undergo  no  considerable  harm  from  Alcimus,  who  was  their 
countrymen,  they  went  over  to  them ;  and  when  they  had  received  oaths  from  both 
of  them,  that  neither  they  themselves  nor  those  of  the  same  sentiments  should 
come  to  any  harm,  they  entrusted  themselves  with  them.  But  Bacchides  troubled 
not  himself  about  the  oaths  he  had  taken,  and  slew  threescore  of  them,  although 
by  not  keeping  his  faith  with  those  that  first  went  over,  he  deterred  all  the  rest, 
who  had  intentions  to  go  over  to  him,  from  doing  it.  But  as  he  was  gone  out  of 
Jerusalem,  and  was  at  the  village  called  Bethzetho,  he  sent  out,  and  caught  many 
of  the  deserters,  and  some  of  the  people  also,  and  slew  them  all :  and  enjoined 
all  that  lived  in  the  country  to  submit  to  Alcimus.  So  he  left  him  there,  with 
some  part  of  the  army,  that  he  might  have  wherewith  to  keep  the  country  in 
obedience,  and  returned  to  Antioch,  to  king  Demetrius. 

3.  But  Alcimus  was  desirous  to  have  the  dominion  more  firmly  assured  to  him  : 
and  understanding,  that  if  he  could  bring  it  about  that  the  multitude  should  be  his 

»  It  is  no  way  probable  that  Josephus  would  call  Bacchides,  that  bitter  and  bloodyenemj'of  the  Jews,  aa 
our  present  copies  have  it,  a  man  good,  ov  kind  and  gentle.  What  the  author  of  the  first  book  of  Maccabees, 
whom  Josephus  here  follows,  instead  of  that  character,  says  of  him  is,  that  he  was  agreai  man  in  tht 
kingdom,  imd/uiihful  to  the  king ;  which  was  very  probably  Josephus's  meaning  also. 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  423 

friends,  he  should  govern  with  greater  security,  ho  spake  kind  words  to  them  all, 
and  discoursed  to  each  of  them  after  an  agreeable  and  i)leasa[it  manner,  by  wliich 
means  he  quickly  had  a  great  body  of  men  and  an  army  about  him,  althougli  the 
greater  part  of  them  were  of  the  wicked  and  the  deserters.  With  these,  whom 
he  used  as  his  servants  and  soldiers,  he  went  all  over  the  country,  and  slew  all 
that  he  could  find  of  Judas's  party-.  But  when  Judas  saw  tliat  Alcimus  was  already 
become  great,  and  had  destroyed  many  of  the  good  and  holy  men  of  tlie  country, 
he  also  went  all  over  the  country,  and  destroyed  those  that  were  of  the  other's 
party.  But  when  Alcimus  saw  that  he  was  not  able  to  oppose  Judas,  nor  was 
equal  to  him  in  strength,  he  resolved  to  apply  himself  to  king  Demetrius  for  his 
assistance:  so  he  came  to  Antioch,  and  irritated  him  against  Judas,  and  accused 
him,  alleging  that  he  had  undergone  a  great  many  miseries  by  his  means,  and 
that  he  would  do  more  mischief  unless  he  were  prevented,  and  brought  to  punish- 
ment,  which  must  be  done  by  sending  a  powerful  force  against  him. 

4.  So  Demetrius,  being  already  of  opinion  that  it  would  be  a  thing  pernicious 
to  his  own  affairs  to  overlook  Judas,  now  he  was  becoming  so  great,  sent  against 
him  Nicanor,  the  most  kind  and  the  most  faithful  of  all  his  friends  ;  for  he  it  was 
who  fled  away  with  him  from  the  city  of  Rome.  lie  also  gave  him  as  many  forces 
as  he  thought  sufficient  for  him  to  conquer  Judas  withal,  and  bid  him  not  to  spare 
the  nation  at  all.  When  Nicanor  was  come  to  Jerusalem,  he  did  not  resolve  to 
fight  Judas  immediately,  but  judged  it  better  to  get  him  into  his  power  by  trea- 
chery ;  so  he  sent  him  a  message  of  peace,  and  said,  "  there  was  no  manner  of 
necessity  for  them  to  fight  and  hazard  themselves  ;  and  that  he  would  give  him 
his  oath  that  he  would  do  him  no  harm,  for  that  he  only  came  with  some  friends 
in  order  to  let  him  know  what  king  Demetrius's  intentions  were,  and  what  opinion 
he  had  of  their  nation."  When  Nicanor  had  delivered  this  message,  Judas  and 
his  brethren  complied  with  him,  and  suspecting  no  deceit,  they  gave  him  assu- 
rances of  friendship,  and  received  Nicanor  and  his  army  ;  but  while  he  was  sa- 
luting  Judas,  and  they  were  talking  together,  he  gave  a  certain  signal  to  his  own 
soldiers,  upon  which  they  were  to  seize  upon  Judas  ;  but  he  perceived  the 
treachery,  and  ran  back  to  his  own  soldiers,  and  fled  away  withihem.  So  upon 
this  discovery  of  his  purpose,  and  of  the  snares  laid  for  Judas,  Nicanor  deter- 
mined to  make  open  war  with  him,  and  gathered  his  army  together,  and  prepared 
for  fighting  him  ;  and  upon  joining  battle  with  him  at  a  certain  village  called 
Capharsalama,  he  beat  Judas,*  and  forced  him  to  fly  to  that  citadel  which  was 
at  Jerusalem. 

5.  And  when  Nicanor  came  down  from  the  citadel  into  the  temple,  some  of  the 
priests  and  elders  met  him,  and  saluted  him,  and  showed  him  the  sacrifices  which 
they  said  they  offered  to  God  for  the  king  ;  upon  which  he  blasphemed,  and 
threatened  them,  that  unless  the  people  would  deliver  up  Judas  to  him,  upon  his 
return  he  would  pull  down  their  temple.  And  when  he  had  thus  threatened  them, 
he  departed  from  Jerusalem.  But  the  priests  fell  into  tears  out  of  grief  at  what 
he  had  said,  and  besought  God  to  deliver  them  from  their  enemies.  But  now  for 
Nicanor,  when  he  was  gone  out  of  Jerusalem,  and  was  at  a  certain  village  called 
Bethoron,  he  there  pitched  his  camp,  another  army  out  of  Syria  having  joined 
him.  And  Judas  pitched  his  camp  at  Adasa,  another  village,  which  was  thirty 
furlongs  distant  from  Bethoron,  having  no  more  than  one  thousand  soldi(;rs.  And 
when  he  had  encouraged  them  not  to  be  dismayed  at  the  multitude  ot  their  ene- 
mies, nor  to  regard  how  many  they  were  against  whom  they  were  going  to  fight, 
but  to  consider  who   they  themselves  were,  and  for  what  great  rewards  they 

*  Jopcphus's  copies  must  have  been  rorriipted  when  they  here  Rive  victory  to  Nicanor,  contrary  to  the 
words  following;,  which  imply  that  he  who  was  beaten  fled  into  the  cilnJtl,  wiiich  for  certain  Iwlonged  to 
the  city  of  David,  or  to  Mount  Zion,  and  was  in  the  possession  of  iVicanor's  garrison,  and  not  of  Judas'*: 
as  alrioit  is  contrary  to  ilie  express  wordsofJosepluis's  original  author,  1  Mactab.  vii.  32,  who  says,  ljc*t 
XVicauoir  lost  about  500U  men,  and  Hed  to  tiie  city  of  David. 


424  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XII. 

hazarded  themselves,  and  to  attack  the  enemy  courageously,  he  led  them  out  to 
fiffht,  and,  joining  battle  with  Nicanor,  which  proved  to  be  a  severe  one,  he  over- 
came the  enemy,  and  slew  many  of  them  ;  and  at  last  Nicanor  himself,  as  he 
was  fighting  gloriously,  fell.  Upon  whose  fall  the  army  did  not  stay,  but  when 
they  had  lost  their  general  they  were  put  to  flight,  and  threw  down  their  arms  : 
Judas  also  pursued  them  and  slew  them,  and  gave  notice,  by  the  sound  of  the 
trumpets,  to  tlie  neighbouring  villages,  that  he  had  conquered  the  enemy;  which 
when  the  inhabitants  heard,  they  put  on  their  armour  hastily,  and  met  their  ene- 
mies in  the  face  as  they  were  running  away,  and  slew  them,  insomuch  that  not 
one  of  them  escaped  out  of  this  battle,  and  were  in  number  nine  thousand.  This 
victory  happened  to  fall  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  that  month  which  by  the  Jews 
is  called  Adar,  and  by  the  Macedonians  Dystrus.;  and  the  Jews  thereon  celebrate 
this  victory  every  year,  and  esteem  it  as  a  festival  day.  After  which  the  Jewish 
nation  were,  for  a  while,  free  from  wars,  and  enjoyed  peace  ;  but  afterward  they 
returned  into  their  former  state  of  wars  and  hazards. 

6.  But  now  as  the  high  priest  Alcimus  was  resolving  to  pull  down  the  wall  of 
the  sanctuary,  which  had  been  there  of  old  time,  and  had  been  built  by  the  holy 
prophets,  he  was  smitten  suddenly  by  God,  and  fell  down.  This  stroke  made 
him  fall  down  speechless  upon  the  ground  ;  and  undergoing  torments  for  many 
days,  he  at  length  died,*  when  he  had  been  high  priest  four  years.  And  when 
he  was  dead,  the  people  bestowed  the  high  priesthood  on  Judas  :  who  hearing 
of  the  power  of  the  Romans,  and  that  they  had  conquered  in  war  Galatia,  and 
Iberia,  and  Carthage,  and  Libya ;  and  that,  besides  these,  they  had  subdued 
Greece,  and  their  kings,  Perseus,  and  Philip,  and  Antiochus  the  Great  also,f 
he  resolved  to  enter  into  a  league  of  friendship  with  them.  He  therefore  sent 
to  Rome  some  of  his  friends,  Eupolemus  the  son  of  John,  and  Jason  the  son  of 
Eleazar,  and  by  them  desired  the  Romans  that  they  would  assist  them,  and  be 
their  friends,  and  would  write  to  Demetrius  tl)at  he  would  not  fight  against  the 
Jews.  So  the  senate  received  the  ambassadors  that  came  to  Rome  from  Judas, 
and  discoursed  with  them  about  the  errand  on  which  they  came,  and  then  granted 
them  a  league  of  assistance.  They  also  made  a  decree  concerning  it,  and  sent 
a  copy  of  it  into  Judea.  It  was  also  laid  up  in  the  capitol,  and  engraven  in  brass. 
The  decree  itself  was  this :  "  The  decree  of  the  senate  concerning  a  league  of 
assistance  and  friendsliip  with  the  nation  of  the  Jews.  It  shall  not  be  lawful  for 
any  that  are  subject  to  the  Romans  to  make  war  with  the  nation  of  the  Jews,  nor 
to  assist  those  that  do  so,  either  by  sending  them  corn,  or  ships,  or  money;  and 
if  any  attack  be  made  upon  the  Jews,  the  Romans  shall  assist  them,  as  far  as 
they  are  able  ;  and  again,  if  any  attack  be  made  upon  the  Romans,  the  Jews 
shall  assist  them.  And  if  the  Jews  have  a  mind  to  add  to,  or  to  take  away  any 
thing  from  this  league  of  assistance,  that  shall  be  done  with  the  common  coiisent 
of  the  Romans.  And  whatsoever  addition  shall  thus  he  made,  it  shall  be  of 
force.''  This  decree  was  written  by  Eupolemus  the  son  of  John,  and  by  Jason 
the  son  of  Eleazar,:}:  when  Judas  was  high  priest  of  the  nation,  and  Simon  his 
brother  was  general  of  the  army.  And  this  was  the  first  league  that  the  Romans 
made  with  the  Jews,  and  was  managed  after  this  manner. 

*  This  account  of  the 'miserable  death  of  Alcimus  or  Jacimiis,  the  wicked  high  priest  (the  first  that 
was  not  of  tiie  family  of  tlic  lii,i!,h  priests,  and  made  Ly  a  vile  iieatlien,  Lysias,)  before  tlie  death  of  Judas, 
ai\d  of  J udas's  succession  to  him  as  iiij;!)  priest,  both  here  and  at  tlie  conclusion  of  this  book,  directly 
cpntrat'icts  1  Maccab.  ix.  54 — 57,  which  places  his  deatii  after  the  death  of  Judas,  and  says  not  a  syl- 
lable of  the  high  priesthood  of  Judas. 

+  How  well  the  Roman  histories  a^ree  to  tiiis  account  of  the  conf|uests  and  powerful  condition  of  the 
Romans  at  this  time,  see  the  notes  in  Havercamp's  edition  ;  only,  that  the  number  of  senators  of  Rome 
was  then  just  320  is,  1  think,  only  known  from  1  Maccab.  viii.  15. 

I  This  subscription  is  wanting,  1  Maccab.  viii.  17,  29,  and  must  be  the  words  of  Josephus,  who,  by 
mistake,  ihougiit,  as  we  iiave  just  now  seen,  that  Judas  was  at  this  time  high  priest,  and  accordingly 
tlien  reckoned  his  brother  JonaUian  to  be  then  general  of  the  army,  which  yel  he  seems  not  to  have  been 
till  after  tlie  death  of  Judas, 


C.  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  Till:  JEWS.  435 


CllXW  XI. 

That  Bacchidcs  was  again  sent  out  against  Jmlas ;  and  how  Judas  fell  as  he  was 

couragcoudtj  Jighling. 

§  1.  But  when  Demetrius  was  informed  of  the  death  of  Nicanor,  and  of  the  de- 
struction of  the  army  that  was  with  him,  he  sent  Bacchides  again  with  an  army 
into  Judea,  who  marched  out  of  Antioch,  and  came  into  Judca,  and  pitched  his 
camp  at  Arbela,  a  city  of  Gahlee  ;  and  having  besieged  and  taken  those  tliat 
Avere  there  in  caves  (tor  many  of  tiie  people  had  fled  into  such  places,)  he  re- 
moved, and  made  all  the  haste  he  could  to  Jerusalem.  And  when  he  learned 
that  Judas  had  pitched  his  camp  at  a  certain  village  whose  name  was  Jjcthzetho, 
he  led  his  army  against  them  :  they  were  twenty  thousand  footmen,  and  two 
thousand  horsemen.  Now  Judas  had  no  more  soldiers  than  one  thousand.* 
When  these  saw  the  multitude  of  Bacchides's  men,  they  were  afraid,  and  left 
their  camp,  and  fled  all  away,  excepting  eight  hundred.  Now  when  Judas  was 
deserted  by  his  own  soldiers,  and  the  enehiy  pressed  upon  h.im,  and  gave  him  no 
time  to  gather  his  army  together,  he  was  disposed  to  light  with  Bacchides's  army, 
though  he  had  but  eight  hundred  men  with  him  ;  so  he  exhorted  these  men  to 
undergo  the  danger  courageously,  and  encouraged  them  to  attack  the  enemy. 
And  when  they  said  they  were  not  a  body  suflicient  to  light  so  great  an  army, 
and  advised  that  they  should  retire  now,  and  save  themselves,  and  that  when  he 
had  gathered  his  own  men  together,  then  he  should  fall  upon  the  enemy  after- 
wards,  his  answer  was  this  :  "  Let  not  the  sun  ever  see  such  a  thing  that  I 
should  show  my  back  to  the  enemy  ;  and  although  this  be  the  time  that  will  bring 
me  to  my  end,  and  I  must  die  in  this  battle,  I  will  rather  stand  to  it  courageously, 
and  bear  whatsoever  comes  upon  me,  than,  by  now  running  away,  bring  re- 
proach upon  my  former  great  actions,  or  tarnish  their  glory."  This  was  the 
speech  he  made  to  those  that  remained  with  him,  whereby  he  encouraged  them 
to  attack  the  enemy. 

2.  But  Bacchides  drew  his  army  out  of  their  camp,  and  put  them  in  array  for 
the  battle.  He  set  the  horsemen  on  both  the  wings,  and  the  light  soldiers  and 
the  archers  he  placed  before  the  whole  army,  but  he  was  himself  on  the  right 
wing.  And  when  he  had  thus  put  his  army  in  order  of  battle,  and  was  going  to 
join  battle  with  the  enemy,  he  commanded  tiie  trumpeter  to  give  a  signal  of  bat- 
tle, and  the  army  to  make  a  shout,  and  to  fall  on  the  enemy.  And  when  Judas 
had  done  the  same,  he  joined  battle  with  them  ;  and  as  both  sides  fought  valiantly, 
and  the  battle  continued  till  sunset,  Judas  saw  that  Bacchides  and  the  strongest 
part  of  the  army  were  in  the  right  wing,  and  thereupon  took  the  most  courageous 
men  with  him,  and  ran  upon  thiit  part  of  the  army,  and  fell  upon  those  that  wore 
there,  and  broke  their  ranks,  and  drove  them  into  the  middle,  and  I'orced  them 
to  run  away,  and  pursued  them  as  far  as  to  a  mountain  called  Az,a :  but  \\lien 
those  of  the  left  wing  saw  that  the  right  wing  was  put  U)  Miglit,  they  fncomj)assed 
Judas,  and  pursued  him,  and  came  behind  him,  and  took  him  into  llie  nndille  of 
their  army  ;  so  being  not  able  to  fly,  but  encompassed  round  about  w  ith  enemies, 
he  stood  still,  and  he  and  those  that  were  with  him  fought ;  and  when  he  hud 
slain  a  great  many  of  those  that  came  against  him,  he  at  last  was  liimsell 
woimded,  and  fell,  and  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  died  in  a  way  like  to  his  former 
famous  actions.  When  Judas  was  dead,  those  that  were  with  him  had  no  one 
whom  they  could  regard  [as  their  commander,]  but  when  they  saw  themselves 

*  That  tliis  copy  of  .rosephiis's.  as  he  wrote  it,  liad  hero  not  1000  but  3000,  with  1  Mnccah.  ix.  .';.  is 
vcrv  plain,  hecaiis'e,  though  the  main  part  ran  away  at  lirst,  even  in  .Josepiuis,  as  well  as  in  1  Maccab. 
ix.  B,  yet,  as  there,  so  here,  800  are  said  to  have  reuiaiiifd  with  Judas  ;  which  would  ho  absurd,  if  the 
whole  number  had  been  no  more  than  1000. 

VOL.  I.  3  M 


426  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Xlf. 

deprived  of  such  a  general,  they  fled.  But  Simon  and  Jonathan,  Judas's  bre- 
thren, received  his  dead  body  by  a  treaty  from  the  enemy,  and  carried  it  to  the 
village  Modin,  where  their  father  had  been  buried,  and  there  buried  him  ;  while 
the  multitude  lamented  him  many  days,  and  performed  the  usual  solemn  rites  of 
a  funeral  to  him.  And  this  was  the  end  that  Judas  came  to.  He  had  been  a  man 
of  valour  and  a  great  warrior,  and  mindful  of  the  commands  of  their  father  Mat- 
tathias  ;  and  had  undergone  all  difliculties,  both  in  doing  and  suffering,  for  the 
liberty  of  his  countrymen.  And  when  his  character  was  so  excellent  [while  he 
was  alive,]  he  left  behind  him  a  glorious  reputation  and  memorial,  by  gaining 
freedom  for  his  nation,  and  delivering  them  from  slavery  under  the  Macedonians. 
And  when  he  had  retained  the  high  priesthood  three  years,  he  died. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  .^^jr 


BOOK  XIII. 


CONTAINING  THE  INTERVAL  OP  EIGHTY-TWO  YEARS. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  JUDAS  MACCABEUS,  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  QUEEJT 

ALEXAJ^DER. 


CHAP.  I. 

How  Jonathan  took  the  Government  after  his  Brother  Judas  ;  and  how  he,  together 
with  his  Brother  Simon,  waged  War  against  Bacchides. 

§  1.  By  what  means  the  nation  of  the  Jews  recovered  their  freedom  when 
they  had  been  brought  into  slavery-  by  the  Macedonians,  and  what  struggles,  and 
how  great  battles  Judas  the  general  of  their  army  ran  through,  till  he  was  slain 
as  he  was  fighting  for  them,  hath  been  related  in  the  foregoing  book  ;  but  after  he 
was  dead,  all  the  wicked,  and  those  that  transgressed  the  laws  of  their  forefathers, 
sprang  up  again  in  Judea,  and  grew  upon  them,  and  distressed  them  on  every 
side.  A  famine  also  assisted  their  wickedness,  and  afflicted  the  country,  till  not 
a  few,  who  by  reason  of  their  want  of  necessaries,  and  because  they  were  not 
able  to  bear  up  against  the  miseries  that  both  the  famine  and  their  enemies 
brought  upon  them,  deserted  their  country,  and  went  to  the  Macedonians.  And 
now  Bacchides  gathered  those  Jews  together  who  had  apostatized  fi-om  the  ac- 
customed way  of  living  of  their  forefathers,  and  chose  to  live  like  .their  neigh- 
bours,  and  committed  the  care  of  the  country  to  them ;  who  also  caught  the 
friends  of  Judas,  and  those  of  his  party,  and  delivered  them  up  to  Bacchides,  who 
when  he  had,  in  the  first  place,  tortured  and  tormented  them  at  his  pleasure,  he 
by  that  means  at  length  killed  them.  And  when  this  calamity  of  the  Jews  was 
become  so  great  as  they  had  never  had  experience  of  the  like  since  their  return 
out  of  Babylon,  those  that  remained  of  the  companions  of  Judas,  seeing  that  the 
nation  was  ready  to  be  destroyed  after  a  miserable  manner,  came  to  his  brother 
Jonathan,  and  desired  him  that  he  would  imitate  his  brother,  and  that  care  which 
he  took  of  his  countrymen,  for  whose  liberty  in  general  he  died  also ;  and  that  he 
would  not  permit  the  nation  to  be  without  a  governor,  especially  in  those  destruc- 
tive circumstances  wherein  it  now  was.  And  when  Jonathan  said  that  he  was 
ready  to  die  for  them,  and  was  indeed  esteemed  no  way  inferior  to  his  brother, 
he  was  appointed  to  be  the  general  of  the  Jewish  army. 

2.  When  Bacchides  heard  this,  and  was  afraid  that  Jonathan  might  be  very 
troublesome  to  the  king  and  the  Macedonians,  as  Judas  had  been  before  him,  he 
sought  how  he  might  slay  him  by  treachery ;  but  tliis  intention  of  his  was  not  un- 
known to  Jonathan,  nor  to  his  brother  Simon;  but  when  these  two  were  apprized 
of  it,  they  took  all  their  companions,  and  presently  lied  into  that  wilderness  which 
was  nearest  to  the  city  ;  and  when  tliey  were  come  to  the  lake  called  Asphar,  they 
abode  there.  But  when  Bacchides  was  sensible  tlnit  they  were  in  a  low  state, 
and  were  in  that  place,  he  hastened  to  fall  upon  them  with  all  his  forces,  and 
pitching  his  camp  beyond  Jordan,  he  recruited  his  army.  But  when  Jonathan 
knew  that  Bacchides  was  coming  upon  him,  he  sent  his  brother  John,  who  was 
also  called  Gaddis,  to  tlic  Nabatean  Arabs,  that  ho  might  lodgc^  his  baggago 
with  them  until  the  battle  with  Bacchides  should  be  o\er,  for  they  were  the  Jews' 
friends.  And  the  sons  of  Anibri  laid  an  ambush  lor  John,  from  the  city  iMudaba^ 
3H2 


428  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIII. 

and  seized  upon  him,  and  upon  those  that  were  with  him,  and  plundered  all  that 
thev  had  with  them;  they  also  slew  John,  and  all  his  companions.  However, 
thevwcre  sufficiently  punished  for  what  they  now  did  by  John's  brethren,  as  we 
shall  relate  presently. 

3.  But  when  Bacchides  knew  that  Jonathan  had  pitched  his  camp  among  the 
lakes  of  Jordan,  he  observed  when  their  sabbath-day  came,  and  then  assaulted 
him,  as  supposing  that  he  would  not  light  because  of  the  law  [for  resting  on  that 
day.]  But  he  exhorted  his  companions  [to  tight ;]  and  told  them  that  their  hves 
were  at  stake,  since  they  were  encompassed  by  the  river  and  by  their  enemies, 
and  had  no  way  to  escape ;  for  that  their  enemies  pressed  upon  them  before"'  and 
the  river  was  behind  them.  So,  after  he  had  prayed  to  God  to  give  them  the  vie- 
tory,  he  joined  battle  with  the  enemy,  of  whom  he  overthrew  many;  and  as  he 
saw  Bacchides  coming  up  boldly  to  him,  he  stretched  out  his  right  hand  to  smite 
him,  but  the  other  foreseeing  and  avoiding  the  stroke,  Jonathan,  with  his  com- 
panions,  leaped  into  the  river,  and  swam  over  it,  and  by  that  means  escaped  be- 
yond Jordan,  while  the  enemy  did  not  pass  over  that  river ;  but  Bacchides  re- 
turned presently  to  the  citadel  at  Jerusalem,  having  lost  about  two  thousand  of 
his  army.  He  also  fortified  many  cities  of  Judea,  Avhose  walls  had  been  demo- 
lished, Jericho,  and  Emmaus,  and  Bethoron,  and  Bethel,  and  Timna,  and  Pha- 
ratho,  and  Tecoa,  and  Gazara.  and  built  towers  in  every  one  of  these  cities,  and 
encompassed  them  with  strong  walls,  that  were  very  large  also,  and  put  garrisons 
into  them,  that  they  might  issue  out  of  them,  and  do  mischief  to  the  Jews.  He 
also  fortified  the  citadel  at  Jerusalem  more  than  all  the  rest.  Moreover  he  took 
the  sons  of  the  principal  Jews  as  pledges,  and  shut  them  up  in  the  citadel,  and  in 
that  manner  guarded  it. 

4.  About  the  same  time,  one  came  to  Jonathan,  and  to  his  brother  Simon,  and 
told  them,  that  the  sons  of  Anibri  were  celebrating  a  marriage,  and  bringing  the 
bride  from  the  city  Gabatha,  who  was  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  illustrious  men 
among  the  Arabians,  and  that  the  damsel  was  to  be  conducted  with  pomp  and 
splendour,  and  much  riches.  So  Jonathan  and  Simon  thinking  this  appeared  to 
be  the  fittest  time  for  them  to  avenge  the  death  of  their  brother,  and  that  they 
had  forces  sufficient  for  receiving  satisfaction  from  them  for  his  death,  they  made 
haste  to  Medaba,  and  lay  in  wait  among  the  nioxmtains  for  the  coming  of  their 
enemies;  and  as  soon  as  they  saw  them  conducting  the  virgin,  and  her  bride- 
groom, and  such  a  great  company  of  their  friends  with  them  as  was  to  be  ex- 
pected at  this  wedding,  they  sallied  out  of  their  ambush,  and  slew  them  all,  and 
took  their  ornaments,  and  all  the  prey  that  then  followed  them  ;  and  so  returned, 
and  received  this  satisfaction  for  their  brother  John  from  the  sons  of  Ambri;  for 
as  well  those  sons  themselves,  as  their  friends,  and  wives,  and  children,  that  fol- 
lowed them,  perished,  being  in  number  about  four  hundred. 

5.  However,  Simon  and  Jonathan  returned  to  the  lakes  of  the  river,  and  abode 
there.  But  Bacchides,  when  he  had  secured  all  Judea,  with  his  garrisons,  re- 
turned  to  the  king ;  and  then  it  was  that  the  affairs  of  Judea  were  quiet  for  two 
years.  But  when  the  deserters  and  the  wicked  saw  that  Jonathan  and  those  that 
were  with  him  lived  in  the  country  very  quietly,  by  reason  of  the  peace,  they 
sent  to  king  Demetrius,  and  excited  him  to  send  Bacchides  to  seize  upon  Jona- 
than, which  they  said  was  to  be  done  without  any  trouble,  and  in  one  night's 
time  ;  and  that  if  they  fell  upon  them  before  they  were  aware,  they  might  slay 
them  all.  So  the  king  sent  Bacchides,  who,  v>hcn  he  was  come  into  Judea, 
wrote  to  all  his  friends,  both  Jews  and  auxiliaries,  that  they  should  seize  upon 
Jonathan,  and  bring  him  to  him ;  and  when,  upon  all  their  endeavours,  they  were 
not  able  to  seize  upon  Jonathan,  for  he  was  sensible  of  the  snares  they  laid  for 
him,  and  very  carefully  guarded  against  them^  Bacchides  was  angry  at  these  de- 
serters,  as  having  imposed  upon  him  and  upon  the  king,  and  slew  fifty  of  their 
leaders;  whcreu])on  Jonailum,  with  his  brotber,  and  those  that  were  with  him, 
retired  to  Bethagla,  a  viHago  li;;;t  lav  in  the  wilderness,  out  of  his  fear  of  Bacchi- 


a  II.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  42f> 

des.  He  also  built  towers  in  it,  and  cncompassod  it  wilh  wall?,  and  took  care 
that  it  should  be  safely  guarded.  Upon  tlie  hoarinji  of  which,  liacchides  led  his 
own  army  along  with  him,  and,  besides,  took  his  Jewisii  auxiharios,  and  came 
against  Jonathan,  and  made  an  assault  upon  his  Ibrtifications,  and  besieged  him 
many  days;  but  Jonathan  did  not  abate  of  his  courage  at  tlic  zeal  Hacchides 
showed  in  the  siege,  but  courageously  opposed  him;  and  while  he  left  his  brother 
Simon  in  the  city,  to  fight  with  Bacchides,  he  went  privately  out  himself  into  the 
country,  and  got  a  great  body  of  men  together  of  his  own  party,  and  fell  upon 
Bacchides's  camp  in  the  night  time,  and  destroyed  a  great  many  of  them.  His 
brother  Simon  knew  also  of  this  his  falling  upon  them,  because  he  perceived  that 
the  enemies  were  slain  by  him  ;  so  he  sallied  out  upon  them,  and  burnt  tlie  engines 
which  tlie  Macedonians  used,  and  made  a  great  slaughter  of  them.  And  when 
Bacchides  saw  himself  encompassed  Mith  enemies,  and  some  of  them  before  and 
some  behind  him,  he  fell  into  despair  and  trouble  of  mind,  as  confounded  at  the 
unexpected  ill  success  of  this  siege.  However,  he  vented  his  displeasure  at  these 
misfortunes  upon  those  deserters  who  sent  for  him  from  the  king,  as  having  de- 
luded him.  So  he  had  a  mind  to  finish  this  siege  after  a  decent  manner,  if  it 
were  possible  for  him  so  to  do,  and  then  to  return  home. 

6.  When  Jonathan  understood  these  his  intentions,  he  sent  ambassadors  to 
him,  about  a  league  of  friendsliip  and  mutual  assistance,  and  that  they  might 
restore  those  they  had  taken  captive  on  both  sides.  So  Bacchides  thought  this  a 
pretty  decent  way  of  retiring  home,  and  made  a  league  of  friendship  with  Jona- 
than, when  they  sware  that  they  would  not  any  more  make  war  one  against 
another.  Accordingly  he  restored  the  captives,  and  took  his  own  men  with  him, 
and  returned  to  the  king  to  Antioch ;  and  after  this  his  departure,  he  never 
came  into  Judea  again.  Then  did  Jonathan  take  the  oppoi-tunity  of  this  quiet 
state  of  things,  and  went  and  lived  in  the  city  Michmash ;  and  there  governed 
the  multitude,  and  punished  the  wicked  and  ungodly,  and  by  that  means  purged 
the  nation  of  them. 


CHAP.  H. 

Hovi  Alexander  [7?a?rt,]  in  his  War  with  Demetrius,  granted  Jonathan  many  Advan- 
tages, and  appointed  him  to  he  High  Priest,  and  -persvadvd  him  to  assist  him, 
although  Demetrius  promised  him  greater  Advantages  on  the  other  Side. 
Concerning  the  Death  of  Demetrius. 

§  1.  Now  in  the  hundred  and  sixtieth  year,  it  fell  out  that  Alexander,  the  son  of 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,*  came  up  into  Syria,  and  took  Ptolemais,  the  soldiers  with- 
in having  betrayed  it  to  him,  for  they  were  at  enmity  with  Demetrius,  on  account 
of  his  insolence  and  difficidty  of  access  ;  for  he  shut  himself  up  in  a  palace  of  his 
that  had  four  towers,  which  he  had  built  himself,  not  far  from  Antioch,  and  ad- 
mitted nobody.  He  was  withal  slothful  and  negligent  about  tiie  public  affairs, 
whereby  the  hatred  of  his  subjects  was  the  more  kindled  against  him,  as  we  have 
elsewhere  already  related.     When,  therefore,  Demetrius  heard  that  Alexander 

*  This  Aloxandcr  Bala,  who  certainly  pretenrlcd  to  be  the  son  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  and  was  ow- 
ned for  such  by  the  Jews  and  Romans,  and  many  others,  and  yet  is  hy  several  historians  deemed  to  he 
counterfeit,  and  of  no  lamily  at  all,  is,  however,  hy  Josephus  believed  to  have  been  the  real  son  of  tiiat 
Antiochus,  and  by  him  always  spoken  of  accordingly.  And  truly,  since  the  ori!;hial  contemporary  and 
autlientic  autlior  of  the  first  book  of  Maccabees,  x.  1,  calls  him  by  his  father's  name  Kpiphanes,  and 
says  he  was  the  son  of  Antiochus,  I  suppose  the  other  writers,  who  arc  all  much  later,  are  not  to  bo 
followed  against  such  evidence,  thougli  perhaps  Epiphanes  niishl  Irave  him  by  a  woman  of  no  (ami  y. 
The  kint;  of  F^vpt  also,  Philomctor,  soon  i^ave  him  his  daugliter  in  inarriace,  which  lie  woidd  hardly 
liavc  done  had  he  believed  him  to  be  a  counterfeit,  and  of  so  very  mean  a  birth,  as  the  latter  histonau« 
pretend. 


,  430  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XUI. 

was  in  Ptolemais,  he  took  his  ■whole  army,  and  led  it  against  him  :  he  also  sent 
ambassadors  to  Jonathan,  about  a  league  of  mutual  assistance  and  friendship,  for 
he  resolved  to  be  beforehand  with  Alexander,  lest  the  other  should  treat  with  him 
first,  and  gain  assistance  from  him  :  and  this  he  did  out  of  the  fear  he  had,  lest 
Jonathan  should  remember  how  ill  Demetrius  had  formerly  treated  him,  and 
shoidd  join  with  him  in  this  war  against  him.  He  therefore  gave  orders  that  Jo- 
nathan should  be  allowed  to  raise  an  army,  and  should  get  armour  made,  and 
should  receive  back  those  hostages  of  the  Jevvish  nation  whom  Bacchides  had 
shut  up  in  the  citadel  of  Jerusalem.  When  this  good  fortune  had  befallen  Jona- 
than, by  the  concession  of  Demetrius,  he  came  to  Jerusalem,  and  read  the  king's 
letter  in  the  audience  of  the  people,  and  of  those  that  kept  the  citadel.  When 
these  were  read,  these  wicli^ed  men  and  deserters,  who  were  in  the  citadel,  were 
greatly  afraid,  upon  the  king's  permission  to  Jonathan  to  raise  an  army,  and  to 
receive  back  the  hostages  :  so  he  delivered  every  one  of  them  to  his  own  parents. 
And  thus  did  Jonathan  make  his  abode  at  Jerusalem,  renewing  the  city  to  a  bet- 
ter state,  and  reforming  the  buildings  as  he  pleased ;  for  he  gave  orders  that  the 
walls  of  the  city  should  be  rebifilt  with  square  stones,  that  it  might  be  more  se- 
cure from  their  enemies.  And  when  those  that  kept  the  garrisons  that  were  in 
Judea  saw  this,  they  all  left  them,  and  fled  to  Antioch,  excepting  those  that  were 
in  the  city  Bcthsura,  and  those  that  were  in  the  citadel  of  Jerusalem,  for  the 
greater  part  of  these  was  of  tiic  wicked  Jews  and  deserters,  and  on  that  account 
these  did  not  deliver  up  their  garrisons. 

2.  When  Alexander  knew  what  promises  Demetrius  had  made  Jonathan,  and 
withal  knew  his  courage,  and  v.liat  great  things  he  had  done  when  he  fought  the 
Macedonians,  and  besides,  M'hat  hardships  he  had  undergone  by  the  means  of 
Demetrius,  and  of  Bacchides,  the  general  of  Demetrius's  army,  he  told  his 
friends,  that  "  he  could  not  at  present  find  any  one  else  that  might  aflbi'd  him 
better  assistance  than  Jonathan,  who  was  both  courageous  against  his-  enemies 
and  had  a  particiUar  hatred  against  Demetrius,  as  having  both  suffered  many 
hard  things  from  him,  and  acted  many  hard  things  against  him.  If,  therefore, 
they  were  of  opinion  that  they  should  make  him  their  friend  against  Demetrius, 
it  was  more  for  their  advantage  to  invite  him  to  assist  him  now  than  at  another 
time."  It  being  therefore  determined  by  him  and  his  friends  to  send  to  Jonathan, 
he  wrote  to  him  this  epistle  :  "  King  Alexander  to  his  brother  Jonathan  sendeth 
greeting  :  "We  have  long  ago  heard  of  thy  courage  and  th)'  fidelity,  and  for  that 
reason  have  sent  to  thee,  to  make  with  thee  a  league  of  friendship  and  mutual 
assistance.  We  therefore  do  ordain  thee  this  day  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews, 
and  that  thou  beest  called  my  friend.  I  have  also  sent  thee,  as  presents,  a  pur- 
ple robe  and  a  golden  crown,  and  desire  that  now  thou  art  by  us  honoured,  thou 
wilt  in  like  manner  lespect  us  also." 

3.  When  Jonathan  had  received  this  letter,  he  put  on  the  pontificial  robe  at 
liic  time  of  the  feast  of  tabernacles",  four  years  after  the  death  of  his  brother  Ju- 
das,*  for  at  that  time  no  high  piiost  had  been  made.  So  he  raised  great  forces, 
and  had  abundance  of  armour  got  read)^  Tills  greatly  grieved  Demetrius  when 
he  heard  of  it,  and  made  him  blame  himself  for  his  slowness,  that  he  had  not 
prevented  Alexander,  and  got  the  good  v,iil  of  Jonathan,  but  had  given  him  time 
so  to  do.  Ilov.-evcr,  he  also  liimsclf  wrote  a  letter  to  Jonathan,  and  to  the  peo- 
ple, the  contents  whereof  are  these  :  "  King  Demetrius  to  Jonathan,  and  to  the 
nation  of  the  Jews,  sendeth  greeting :  Since  you  have  preserved  your  frivendship 

*  Since  Jonathan  plainly  Hit]  not  put  on  the  pontificial  robes  till  seven  or  eight  years  after  the  death 
of  his  brother  Judas,  or  not  till  the  least  of  tabernacles  in  tlie  hundred  and  sixtieth  of  the  Seleucidse,  1 
Maccab.  x.  21,  Petitiis's  eiiiei>dation  seeiiis:  hero  to  deserve  consideration,  who,  instead  oi  after  four  years 
since  tlie  death  of  his  hrniher  Jinlns,  woiiki  have  us  read  and  therefore  ffter  eight  years  since  the  death  of 
his  brother  Jvdus.  Tiiis  would  loleraL'ly  well  aa;rfe  will)  the  date  of  the  Maccabees,  and  with  Josephus's 
own  exact  chronolog}'  at  the  end  of  the  iweuiictJi  hook  of  these  Antiquities,  which  the  present  text  cannot 
be  made  to  da 


C.  IL  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  431 

for  us,  and  when  you  liave  been  tempted  by  our  eneinies,  you  have  not  joined 
yourselves  to  them,  I  both  commend  you  for  this  your  fidehty,  und  exhort  you  to 
continue  in  the  same  disposition,  for  which  you  sliali  be  repaid,  and  receive  rewards 
from  us;  tbi'  I  will  free  you  from  the  greatest  part  of  the  tributes  and  taxes  which 
you  formerly  paid  to  t!ic  kings  my  predecessors,  and  to  myself;  and  I  do  now 
set  you  free  from  those  tributes  which  you  have  ever  paid:  and,  besides,  I  for- 
give you  the  tax  upon  salt,  and  the  value  of  the  crowns  which  you  used  to  olfer 
to  me  ;*  and  instead  of  the  third  part  of  the  fruits  [of  the  tield,]  and  the  half  of 
the  ii-uits  of  the  trees,  I  relinquish  my  part  of  them  from  this  day :  and  as  to  the 
poll-money  Avhich  ought  to  be  given  me  for  every  head  of  the  inhabitants  of  Judea, 
Samaria,  and  of  the  three  toparchics  tliat  adjoin  to  Judea,  Samai-ia,  and  Galileo, 
and  Perea,  that  I  relinquish  to  you  fortius  time,  and  for  all  time  to  conic.  I  will 
also,  that  the  city  of  Jerusalem  be  holy  and  inviolable,  and  free  tl'om  the  tithe, 
and  from  the  taxes,  unto  its  utmost  bounds.  And  I  so  far  recede  from  my  title  to 
the  citadel  as  to  permit  Jonathan  your  high  priest  to  possess  it,  that  he  may  place 
such  a  garrison  in  it  as  he  approves  of  for  lidelity  and  good  will  to  Jiimself,  that 
they  may  keep  it  for  us.  I  also  make  free  all  those  Jews  who  have  been  made 
captives  and  slaves  in  my  kingdom.  I  also  give  order  that  the  beasts  of  the  Jewa 
be  not  pressed  for  our  service :  and  let  their  Sabbaths,  and  all  their  festivals,  and 
three  days  before  each  of  them,  be  free  from  any  imposition.  In  the  same  man- 
ner, I  set  free  the  Jews  that  ai'e  inhabitants  in  my  kingdom,  and  order  that  no  in- 
jury be  done  them.  I  also  give  leave  to  such  of  them  as  are  willing  to  list  them- 
selves in  my  army,  that  they  may  do  it,  and  those  as  far  as  thirty  thousand;  which 
Jewish  soldiers,  wheresoever  they  go,  shall  have  the  same  pay  as  my  own  army 
hath;  and  some  of  them  I  will  place  in  my  garrisons,  and  some  as  guards  about 
mine  own  body,  and  as  rulers  over  those  that  are  in  my  court.  I  give  tliem  leave 
also  to  use  the  laws  of  their  forefathers,  and  to  observe  them;  audi  will  that  they 
have  power  over  the  three  toparchies  that  are  added  to  Judea ;  and  it  shall  be  in 
the  power  of  the  high  priest  to  take  care  that  no  one  Jew  shall  have  any  other 
temple  for  worship,  but  only  that  at  Jerusalem.  I  bequeath  also,  out  of  my  own 
revenues,  yearly,  for  the  expenses  about  the  sacrifices,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  [drachmae ;]  and  what  money  is  to  spare,  I  will  that  it  shall  be  your 
own.  I  also  release  to  you  those  ten  thousand  drachmae  which  the  kings  received 
from  the  temple,  because  they  appertain  to  the  ])riests  that  minister  in  tlic 
temple.  And  whosoever  shall  fly  to  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  or  to  the  places 
thereto  belonging,  or  who  owe  the  king  money,  or  are  there  on  any  other  ac- 
count, let  them  be  set  free,  and  let  their  goods  be  in  safety.  I  also  give  you 
leave  to  repair  and  rebuild  your  temple,  and  that  all  be  done  at  my  expenses.  I 
also  allow  you  to  build  the  walls  of  your  city,  and  to  erect  high  towers,  and  that 
they  be  erected  at  my  charge.  And  if  there  be  any  fortilied  town  that  would  bo 
convenient  for  the  Jewish  country  to  have  very  strong,  let  it  be  so  built  at  my  ex- 
penses." 

4.  This  was  what  Demetrius  promised,  and  granted  to  the  Jews,  by  this  letter. 
But  king  Alexander  raised  a  great  army  of  mercenary  soldiers,  aiul  of  those  that 
deserted  to  him  out  of  Syria,  and  made  an  expedition  against  Demetrius.  And 
when  it  was  come  to  a  battle,  the  left  wing  of  Demetrius  put  those  that  opposed 
them  to  flight,  and  pursued  them  a  great  way,  and  slew  many  of  them,  and  spoiled 
their  camp;  but  the  right'wing,  where  Demetrius  happened  to  be,  was  beaten  ; 
and  as  for  all  the  rest,  they  ran  away;  but  Demetrius  tought  courageously,  and 
slew  a  great  many  of  the  enemy;  but  as  he  was  in  pursuit  of  the  rest,  his  horse 
carried  him  into  a  deep  bog,  where  it  was  hard  to  get  out,  and  there  it  happened 
that,  upon  his  horse's  falling  down,  he  could  not  escape  being  killed  ;  for  when 

*  Take  Grotius's  note  here  :  "  The  Jews,"  says  he,  "  were  wont  to  present  crovns  to  tiie  kinRS  [of  Sy- 
ria;] afterwards  tliat  gold  wiiich  was  paid  instead  of  those  crowns,  or  which  was  expended  in  making 
them,  was  the  croivji  gold  and  the  crown  (ax."    On  1  iMaccab.  x.  29. 


432  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIII. 

his  enemies  saw  what  had  befallen  him,  they  returned  back,  and  encompassed 
Demetrius  round,  and  they  all  threw  their  darts  at  him :  but  he,  being  now  on  foot, 
fouo-ht  bravely,  but  at  length  he  received  so  many  wounds  that  he  was  not  able 
to  bear  up  any  longer,  but  fell.  And  this  is  the  end  that  Demetrius  came  to, 
when  he  had  reigned  eleven  years,*  as  we  have  elsewhere  related. 


CHAP.  III. 

The  Friendship  that  was  between  Onias  and  Plolemy  Philometor ;  and  how  Onias 
built  a  Ternph  in  Egypt  like  to  that  at  Jerusalem. 

§  1.  But  then  the  son  of  Onias  the  high  priest,  who  was  of  the  same  name  with 
his  father,  and  who  fled  to  king  Ptolemy,  who  was  called  Philometor,  lived  now 
Qt  Alexandria,  as  we  have  said  already.  When  this  Onias  saw  that  Judea  was 
oppressed  by  the  Macedonians,  and  their  kings,  out  of  a  desire  to  purchase  to 
himself  a  memorial  and  eternal  fame,  he  resolved  to  send  to  king  Ptolemy  and 
queen  Cleopatra,  to  ask  leave  of  them  that  he  might  build  a  temple  in  Egypt  like 
to  that  at  Jerusalem,  and  might  ordain  Levites  and  priests  out  of  their  own  stock. 
The  chief  reason  why  he  was  desirous  so  to  do  was,  that  he  relied  upon  the  pro- 
phet Isaiah,  who  lived  about  six  hundred  years  before,  and  foretold  that  there 
certainly  was  to  be  a  temple  built  to  Almighty  God  in  Egypt,  by  a  man  that  was 
a  Jew.  Onias  was  elevated  with  this  prediction  ;  and  wrote  the  following  epistle 
to  Ptolemy  and  Cleopatra  :  "  Having  done  many  and  great  things  tor  you  in  the 
affairs  of  the  war,  by  the  assistance  of  God,  and  that  in  Celesyria  and  Phoenicia, 
I  came  at  length  with  the  Jews  to  Leontopolis,  and  to  other  places  of  your  na- 
tion, where  I  found  that  the  greatest  part  of  your  people  had  temples  in  an  im- 
proper manner,  and  that  on  this  account  they  bear  ill  will  one  against  another, 
which  happens  to  the  Egyptians  by  reason  of  the  multitude  of  their  temples,  and 
the  difference  of  opinion  about  divine  worship.  Now  I  found  a  very  fit  place  in 
a  castle  that  hath  its  name  from  the  country  Diana  ;  this  place  is  full  of  materials 
of  several  sorts,  and  replenished  whh  sacred  animals :  I  desire,  therefore,  that 
you  will  grant  me  leave  to  purge  this  holy  place,  which  belongs  to  no  master, 
and  is  fallen  down,  and  to  build  there  a  temple  to  Almighty  God,  after  the  pat- 
tern of  that  in  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  same  dimensions,  that  may  be  for  the  bene- 
fit of  thyself,  and  thy  wife  and  children,  that  those  Jews  which  dwell  in  Egypt 
may  have  a  place  whither  they  may  come  and  meet  together  in  mutual  harmony 
one  with  another,  and  be  subservient  to  thy  advantages ;  for  the  prophet  Isaiah 
foretold,  that  there  shoidd  he  an  altar  in  Egypt  to  the  Lord  God  ;f  and  many  other 
such  things  did  he  prophesy  relating  to  that  place." 

*  Since  the  rest  of  the  historians  now  extant  give  this  Demetrius  thirteen  years,  and  Josephiis  only 
eKn'cn  years,  Dean  Prideaux  does  not  amiss  in  ascribing  to  hitn  the  mean  number  twelve. 

f  It  seems  to  me,  contrary  to  tlie  opinion  of  Josephus  and  of  tlie  moderns,  both  Jews  and  Christians, 
Ihat  this  |)rophesy  of  Isaiah,  xix.  19,  &c.  In.  that  day  there  shall  be  mi  altar  to  the  Lord  in  the  midst  of 
the  land  of  Egypt,  ^t.  directly  foretold  the  building  of  this  temple  of  Onias  in  Egypt,  and  was  a  sufficient 
warrant  to  tiie  Jews  for  building  it,  and  for  worshiping  the  true  God,  the  God  of  Israel,  therein.  See 
Auilicnt.  Kec.  ii.  p.  755.  That  God  seems  to  have  soon  better  accepted  of  the  sacrifices  and  prayers 
litre  offered  him  than  of  those  at  Jerusalem,  see  the  note  on  chap.  x.  sect.  7.  And  truly  the  marks  of 
Jewish  corruption,  or  interpolation  in  this  text,  in  order  to  discourage  their  people  from  approving  of 
the  worship  of  God  here,  are  very  strong,  and  highly  deserve  our  consideration  and  correction.  I'he 
foregoing  verse  in  Isaiah  runs  thus  in  our  common  copies:  In  thai  day  shall  Jive  cities  in  the  land  nf 
Kg;ypt  speak  the  langvage  of  Canaan  [the  Hebrew  language  ;  shall  he  full  of  Jews,  whose  sacred  i)ooks 
were  in  Hebrew,]  and  swear  to  the  Lord,  of  hosts.  One  [of  the  first]  shall  be  called  the  city  of  destruc- 
tion, Tsa.  XX.  18.  A  strange  name,  city  of  destruction!  upon  so  joyful  an  occasion,  and  a  name  never 
Icard  of  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  or  perhaps  in  any  other  nation.  The  old  reading  was  evidently  the  city 
ofthesvn,  or  Heliopolis ;  and  Onkelos,  in  effect,  and  Synnnachus,  with  the  Arabic  version,  entirely 
confess  that  to  be  the  reading.  The  Septuagint  also,  although  they  have  the  text  disguised  in  the  coni- 
iiiou  copies,  and  call  it  Ascdik,  the  city  of  righteousness  ;  yet,  in  two  or  three  other  copies,  the  Hebrew 
word  itself  for  the  sun,  Achcrcs  or  Tharcs,  is  preserved.     And  since  Onias  insists  with  the  king  and 


C-  III  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  433 

2.  And  this  was  what  Onias  wrote  to  king  Ptolemy.  Now  any  one  may  ob. 
serve  his  piety,  and  that  oi'  his  sister  and  wife  Cleopalra,  by  tliat  epistle  which 
they  wrote  in  answer  to  it  ;  for  tliey  laid  the  blame  and  the  transgression  of  the 
law  npon  the  head  of  Onias.  And  this  was  their  reply  :  "  Kin<j;  Ptolemy  and 
queen  Cleopatra  to  Onias  send,  greeting:  We  have  read  thy  peliiion,  wherein 
thou  desirest  leave  to  be  given  thee  to  purge  that  temple  which  is  tallen  down  at 
Leontopolis,  in  the  Nonius  of  Heliopolis,  and  which  is  named  from  the  country 
Bubastis  ;  on  which  account  we  cannot  but  wonder  that  it  should  be  pleasing  to 
God  to  have  a  temple  erected  in  a  place  so  unclean,  and  so  full  of  sacred  ani- 
mals. But,  since  thou  saycst  that  Isaiah  the  prophet  foretold  this  long  ago,  wo 
give  thee  leave  to  do  it,  if  it  may  be  done  according  to  your  law,  and  so  that  wo 
may  not  ap[)ear  to  have  at  all  oH'ended  Ood  herein." 

3.  So  Onias  took  the  place,  and  built  a  temple,  and  an  altar  to  God,  like  in. 
deed  to  that  in  Jerusalem,  but  smaller  and  poorer.  1  do  not  think  it  proper  for 
me  now  to  describe  its  dimensions,  or  its  vessels,  w  Inch  have  been  already  de* 
scribed  in  my  seventh  book  of  the  wars  of  the  Jews.  However,  Onias  found 
other  Jews  like  to  himself,  together  with  priests  and  Levites,  that  there  performed 
divine  service.     But  we  have  said  enough  about  this  temple. 

4.  Now  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Alexandrian  Jews,  and  those  Samaritans  who 
paid  their  worship  to  the  temple  that  was  built  in  the  days  of  Alexander  at  Mount 
Gerizzim,  did  now  make  a  sedition  one  against  another,  and  disputed  about  their 
temples  before  Ptolemy  himself;  the  Jews  saying  that  according  to  the  law  of 
Moses,  the  temple  was  to  be  built  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  the  Samaritans  saying  that 
it  was  to  be  built  at  Gerizzim.  They  desired,  therefore,  the  king  to  sit  with  his 
friends,  and  hear  the  debates  about  these  matters,  and  punish  those  with  death 
who  were  baffled.  Now  Sabbeus  and  Theodosius  managed  the  argument  for  the 
Samaritans,  and  Andronicus,  the  son  of  Messalamus,  for  the  people  of  Jerusa- 
lem  ;  and  they  took  an  oath,  by  God  and  the  king,  to  make  their  demonstrations 
according  to  the  law  ;  and  they  desired  Ptolemy,  that  whomsoever  he  should  fmd 
that  transgressed  what  they  had  sworn  to,  he  would  put  him  to  death.  Accor- 
dingly the  king  took  several  of  his  friends  into  the  council,  and  sat  down,  in  order 
to  hear  what  the  pleaders  said.  Now  the  Jews  that  were  at  Alexandria  were  in 
great  concern  for  those  men,  whose  lot  it  was  to  contend  for  the  temple  at  Jeru- 
salem ;  for  they  took  it  very  ill  that  any  should  take  away  the  reputation  of  that 
temple,  which  was  so  ancient,  and  so  celebrated  all  over  the  habitable  earth. 
Now  when  Sabbeus  and  Theodosius  had  given  leave  to  Andronicus  to  speak  fnst, 
he  began  to  demonstrate,  out  of  the  law,  and  out  of  the  successions  of  the  high 
priests,  how  they  every  one  in  succession  from  his  father  had  received  that  dig- 
nity, and  ruled  over  the  temple  ;  and  how  all  the  kings  of  Asia  had  honoured 
that  temple  with  their  donations,  and  with  the  most  splendid  gifts  dedicated 
thereto  :  but  as  for  that  at  Gerizzim,  he  made  no  account  of  it,  and  regarded  it 
as  if  it  had  never  had  a  being.  By  this  speech,  and  other  arguments,  Andro- 
sicus  persuaded  the  king  to  determine  that  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  was  built  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  of  Moses,*  and  put  Sabbeus  and  Theodosius  to  death.    And 

queen,  that  Isaiah's  prophesy  contained  inanj'  other  predictions  relating  to  tliis  place,  besides  the  v  ords 
by  hiin  recited,  it  is  hi;;hly  probahlo  that  these  were  especially  meant  by  him  ;  and  lliat  one  iiinin  rea^iii 
W'hy  he  applied  this  prediction  to  himself,  aiui  to  Ids  prefectn're  of  Heliopolis,  which  Uean  I'rideaux  «rU 
proves  was  in  that  part  of  Egypt,  and  why  he  chose  to  l)iiild  in  that  prefecture  of  Heliopolis,  ihoush 
otherwise  an  inipro|)cr  place,  was  this,  that  tire  same  authority  tliat  he  had  for  building  this  temple  ii 
Egypt,  the  very  same  he  had  for  buildins!;  it  in  his  ewn  prefecture  of  Heliopolis  also,  which  he  dpslreit 
to  do,  and  which  he  did  accordingly.  Dean  Frideaiix  has  much  ado  to  avoid  seeinj;  this  corruption  of 
the  Hebrew,  but  it  being  in  support  of  his  own  opinion  about  this  temple,  he  durst  not  see  it ;  and,  in- 
deed, he  reasons  here  in  the  most  weak  and  most  injudicious  manner  jiossible.    J*ee  him  at  the  year  \49. 

^  A  very  unfair  disputation  this!  wliile  the  Jewish  disputant,  knowuig  that  he  could  not  properly 
prove  out  of  the  Pentateuch,  that  t'lr  place  which  Ike  T.ord  tluir  Hod  shnll  chonsc  In  place  /ii3  name  there, 
so  often  referred  to  in  the  book  of  Deuleronoiiiy,  was  Jerusalem  any  more  than  Cpri/./.im,  that  bein?  not 
determined  till  the  days  of  David,  Antii).  F?.  yii.  chap.  xiii.  m-c.  4,  proves  only  what  the  Samaritans  did 
not  deny,  that  the  teniple  (it  Jer'ir.-.lem  was  much  more  aiiciciit.  and  ni'irb  more  celebrated  and  lionoured 
than  that  al  Gerizzim,  which  u;u-  hoil.ing  to  tho  prCiCiit  purpose.     The  wliolc  evidence,  by  the  veiy 

VOL.  1.  a  1 


^34  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Xlfl. 

these  were  the  events  that  befell  the  Jews  at  Alcxundiia  in  the  days  of  Ptolemy 
Philomctor. 


CHAP.  IV. 

How  Alexander  honoured  Jonathan  after  an  extraordinary  manner  ;  and  how  DemC' 
trius,  the  Son  of  Demetrius,   overcame  Alexander,  and  made  a  League  of 
Friendshi])  with  Jonathan. 

§  1.  Demetrius  being  thus  slain  in  battle,  as  we  have  above  related,  Alexander 
took  the  kingdom  of  Syria  ;  and  wrote  to  Ptolemy  Philometor,  and  desired  his 
daughter  in  marriage  ;  and  said,  it  was  but  just  that  he  should  be  joined  in  af- 
finity to  one  that  had  now  received  the  principality  of  his  forefathers,  and 
had  been  promoted  to  it  by  God's  providence,  and  had  conquered  Demetrius, 
and  that  was  on  other  accounts  not  unworthy  of  being  related  to  him.  Ptolemy 
received  this  proposal  of  marriage  gladly  ;  and  wrote  him  an  answer,  saluting 
him  on  account  of  his  having  received  the  principality  of  his  forefathers,  and 
promising  him  that  he  would  give  him  his  daughter  in  marriage  ;  and  assured 
him  that  he  was  coming  to  meet  him  at  Ptolemais,  and  desired  that  he  would 
there  meet  him,  for  that  he  would  accompany  her  from  Egypt  so  far,  and  would 
there  marry  his  child  to  him.  When  Ptolemy  had  written  thus,  he  came  sud- 
denly to  Ptolemais,  and  brought  his  daughter  Cleopatra  along  with  him  ;  and 
as  he  found  Alexander  there  before  him,  as  he  desired  him  to  come,  he  gave 
him  his  child  in  marriage,  and  for  her  portion  gave  her  as  much  silver  and  gold 
as  became  such  a  king  to  give. 

2.  When  the  wedding  was  over,  Alexander  wrote  to  Jonathan  the  high  priest, 
and  desired  him  to  come  to  Ptolemais.  So  when  he  came  to  these  kings,  and 
had  made  them  magnificent  presents,  he  was  honoured  by  them  both.  Alexan- 
der compelled  him  also  to  put  off  his  own  garment,  and  to  take  a  purple  gar- 
ment,  and  made  him  sit  with  him  on  his  throne  ;  and  commanded  his  captains 
that  they  should  go  with  him  into  the  middle  of  the  city,  and  proclaim,  that  it 
was  not  permitted  to  any  one  to  speak  against  him,  or  to  give  him  any  distur- 
bance. And  when  the  captains  had  thus  done,  those  that  were  prepared  to  ac- 
cuse Jonathan,  and  who  bore  him  ill  will,  when  they  saw  the  honour  that  was 
done  to  him  by  proclamation,  and  that  by  the  king's  order,  ran  away,  and  were 
afraid  lest  some  mischief  should  befall  them.  Nay,  king  Alexander  was  so  very 
kind  to  Jonathan  that  he  set  him  down  as  the  principal  of  his  friends. 

3.  But  then,  upon  the  hundred  and  sixty-fifth  year,  Demetrius,  the  son  of  De- 
metrius, came  from  Crete  with  a  great  number  of  mercenary  soldiers,  which  Las- 
thenes  the  Cretian  brought  him,  and  sailed  to  Cihcia.  The  thing  cast  Alexander 
into  great  concern  and  disorder  when  he  heard  it  ;  so  he  made  haste  immediate- 
ly out  of  Phoenicia,  and  came  to  Antioch,  that  he  might  put  matters  in  a  safe 
posture  there  before  Demetrius  should  come.     He  also  left   ApoUonius  Daus* 

oaths  of  both  parties,  being  we  see  obliged  to  be  confined  to  the  law  of  Moses,  or  to  the  Pentateuch  alone. 
However,  wordly  policy  and  interest,  and  the  multitude,  prevailing,  tlie  court  gave  sentence,  as  usual, 
on  the  stronger  side,  euid  poor  Sabbnus  and  Theodosius,  the  Samaritan  disputants,  were  martyred,  and 
this,  so  far  as  appears,  wilnout  any  direct  hearing  at  all,  which  is  like  tlie  usual  practice  of  such  political 
courts  about  matters  of  religion.  Our  copies  say,  that  the  body  cf  the  Jews  were  in  a  great  concern 
about  those  men,  in  the  plural,  who  were  to  dispute  for  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  ;  whereas  it  seems  here 
they  had  but  one  disputant,  Andronicus  by  name  :  perhaps  more  were  prepared  to  speak  on  the  Jews' 
side;  hut  the  first  having  answered  to  his  name,  and  otcj-come  the  Samaritans,  there  was  no  necessity 
for  any  other  defender  of  the  Jcrusalom  temple. 

*  Of  the  several  Jipollonii  about  these  ages,  see  Dean  Prideanx  at  the  year  148.  This  ApoUonius 
Daus  was,  by  his  account,  the  son  of  that  ApoUonius  who  had  been  made  governor  of  Celesyria  and 
I'hcrnicia  by  Seleucus  l^hilojiator,  and  was  himself  a  confidant  of  his  son  Demetrius  the  father,  and  re- 
stored to  his  father's  govermncut  by  him,  but  afterwards  revolted  from  him  to  Alexander,  but  not  to  I^- 
nietriuB  the  ion,  as  he  supposes. 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  435 

governor  of  Celesyrla,  who,  coming  to  Jamnia  witli  a  groat  army,  sent  to  Jona. 
than  the  high  priest,  and  told  him  that  "  it  was  not  riglit  that  he  alone  should 
live  at  rest,  and  with  authority,  and  not  bo  subject  to  the  king  ;  that  this  thing 
had  made  him  a  repi'oach  among  all  men,  that  Le  had  not  yet  made  him  subject 
to  the  king.  Do  not  thou,  therefore,  deceive  thyself,  and  sit  slill  among  tho 
mountains,  and  pretend  to  have  forces  with  thee  ;  but,  if  thou  hast  any  depen- 
dence on  thy  strength,  come  down  into  the  plain,  and  let  our  armies  be  compared 
together,  and  the  event  of  the  battle  will  demonstrate  which  of  us  ig  the  most 
courageous.  However,  take  notice,  that  the  most  valiant  men  of  every  city  aro 
in  my  army,  and  that  these  are  the  very  men  who  have  always  beaten  thy  pro- 
genitors ;  but  let  us  have  the  battle  in  such  a  place  of  the  country  where  we  may 
fight  with  weapons,  and  not  with  stones,  and  where  there  may  be  no  place  whi- 
ther those  that  are  beaten  may  fly." 

4.  With  this  Jonathan  was  irritated  ;  and  choosing  himself  out  ten  thousand 
of  his  soldiers,  he  went  out  of  Jerusalem  in  haste,  with  his  brother  Simon,  and 
came  to  Joppa,  and  pitched  his  camp  on  the  outside  of  the  city,  because  the  peo- 
ple of  Joppa  had  shut  their  gates  against  him,  for  they  had  a  garrison  in  the  city 
put  there  by  ApoUonius  ;  but  when  Jonathan  was  preparing  to  besiege  them,  they 
were  afraid  he  would  take  them  by  force,  and  so  they  opened  the  gates  to  him. 
But  ApoUonius,  when  he  heard  that  Joppa  was  taken  by  Jonathan,  took  three 
thousand  horsemen,  and  eight  thousand  footmen,  and  came  to  Ashdod,  and  remo- 
ving thence,  he  made  his  journey  silently  and  slowly,  and  going  up  to  Joppa,  he 
made  as  if  he  was  retiring  from  the  place,  and  so  drew  Jonathan  into  the  plain, 
as  valuing  himself  highly  upon  his  horsemen,  and  having  his  hopes  of  victory 
principally  in  them.  However,  Jonathan  sallied  out,  and  pursued  ApoUonius  to 
Ashdod  ;  but  as  soon  as  ApoUonius  perceived  that  his  enemy  was  in  the  plain, 
he  came  back  and  gave  him  battle  ;  but  ApoUonius  had  lain  a  thousand  horse- 
men in  ambush  in  a  valley,  that  they  might  be  seen  by  their  enemies  as  behind 
them ;  which  when  Jonathan  perceived,  he  was  under  no  consternation,  but  or- 
dering his  army  to  stand  in  a  square  battle  array,  he  gave  them  a  charge  to  fall 
on  the  enemy  on  both  sides,  and  set  them  to  face  those  that  attacked  them,  both 
before  and  behind  ;  and  while  the  fight  lasted  till  the  evening,  he  gave  part  of 
his  forces  to  his  brother  Simon,  and  ordered  him  to  attack  the  enemies  ;  but  for 
himself,  he  charged  those  that  Avere  with  him  to  cover  themselves  with  their  ar- 
mour,  and  receive  the  darts  of  the  horsemen ;  who  did  as  they  were  command- 
ed ;  so  that  the  enemies'  horsemen,  while  they  threw  their  darts  till  they  had  no 
more  left,  did  them  no  harm ;  for  the  darts  that  were  thrown  did  not  enter  into 
their  bodies,  being  thrown  upon  the  shields,  that  were  united  and  conjoined  to- 
gether, the  closeness  of  which  easily  overcame  the  force  of  the  darts,  and  they 
flew  about  without  any  effect.  But  when  tlie  enemy  grew  remiss  in  throwing 
their  darts  from  morning  till  late  at  night,  Simon  perceived  their  weariness,  and 
fell  upon  the  body  of  men  before  him ;  and,  because  his  soldiers  showed  great 
alacrity,  he  put  the  enemy  to  flight :  and  when  the  horsemen  saw  that  the  foot- 
men ran  away,  neither  did  they  stay  themselves,  but  they  being  very  Mcary,  by 
the  duration  of  the  fight  till  the  evening,  and  their  hope  from  the  footmen  being 
quite  gone,  they  basely  ran  away,  and  in  great  confusion  also,  till  they  were  se- 
parated one  from  another,  and  scattered  over  all  the  plain.  Ui)on  which  Jona- 
than pursued  them  as  far  as  Ashdod,  and  slew  a  great  many  of  them,  and  com- 
pelled the  rest,  in  despair  of  escaping,  to  fly  to  the  temple  of  Dagon,  which  was 
at  Ashdod  ;  but  Jonathan  took  the  city  on  the  first  onset,  and  burnt  it,  and  the 
villages  about  it;  nor  did  he  abstain  from  the  temple  of  Dagon  itself,  but  burnt 
it  also,  and  destroyed  those  that  had  fled  to  it.  Now  the  entire  multitude  of  tho 
enemies  that  fell  in  the  battle,  and  were  consumed  in  the  temple,  were  eight 
thousand.  When  Jonathan,  therefore,  had  overcome  so  great  an  army,  he  re- 
moved from  Ashdod,  and  came  to  Askclon  :  and  when  he  had  pitched  his  camp 
3  1  2 


436  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIIl. 

without  the  city,  the  people  of  Askelon  came  out  and  met  him,  bringing  him 
hospitable  presents,  and  honouring  him  ;  so  he  accepted  of  their  kind  intentions, 
and  returned  thence  to  Jerusalem  with  a  great  deal  of  prey,  which  he  brought 
thence  when  he  conquered  his  enemies  ;  but  when  Alexander  heard  that  Apol- 
lonius  the  general  of  his  army  was  beaten,  he  pretended  to  be  glad  of  it,  because 
he  had  fought  with  Jonathan,  his  friend  and  ally,  against  his  directions.  Ac- 
cordingly he  sent  to  Jonathan,  and  gave  testimony  to  his  worth  ;  and  gave  him 
honorary  rewards,  as  a  golden  button,*  which  it  is  the  custom  to  give  the  king's 
kinsman  ;  and  allowed  him  Ekron,  and  its  toparchy  for  his  own  inheritance. 

5.  About  this  time  it  was  that  king  Ptolemy,  who  was  called  Philometor,  led 
an  army,  part  by  the  sea  and  part  by  the  land,  and  came  to  Syria,  to  the  assis- 
tance of  Alexander,  who  was  his  son-in-law  ;  and  accordingly  all  the  cities  re- 
ceived him  willingly,  as  Alexander  had  commanded  them  to  do,  and  conducted 
him  as  far  as  Ashdod  ;  where  they  all  made  loud  complaints  about  the  temple  of 
Dagon,  which  was  burnt,  and  accused  Jonathan  of  having  laid  it  waste,  and  de- 
stroyed  the  country  adjoining  with  fire,  and  slain  a  great  number  of  them.  Pto- 
lemy heard  these  accusations,  but  said  nothing.  Jonathan  also  went  to  meet 
Ptolemy  as  far  as  Joppa,  and  obtained  from  him  hospitable  presents,  and  those 
glorious  in  their  kinds,  with  all  the  marks  of  honour.  And  when  he  had  con. 
ducted  him  as  far  as  the  river  called  Eleutherus,  he  returned  again  to  Jerusalem. 

6.  But  as  Ptolemy  was  at  Ptolemais,  he  was  very  near  to  a  most  unexpected 
destruction  ;  for  a  treacherous  design  was  laid  for  his  life  by  Alexander,  by  the 
means  of  Ammonius,  who  was  his  friend  ;  and,  as  the  treachery  was  very  plain, 
Ptolemy  wrote  to  Alexander,  and  required  of  him  that  he  should  bring  Ammonius 
to  condign  punishment,  informing  him  what  snares  had  been  laid  for  him  by  Ammo- 
nius, and  desiring  that  he  might  be  accordingly  punished  for  it.  But  when  Alexander 
did  not  comply  with  his  demands,  he  perceived  that  it  was  he  himself  who  laid  the 
design,  and  was  very  angry  at  him.  Alexander  had  also  formerly  been  on  very 
ill  terms  with  the  people  of  Antioch,  for  they  had  suffered  very  much  by  his 
means;  yet  did  Ammonius  at  length  undergo  the  punishment  his  insolent  crimes 
had  deserved,  for  he  was  killed  in  an  opprobrious  manner,  like  a  woman,  while 
he  endeavoured  to  conceal  himself  in  a  feminine  habit,  as  we  have  elsewhere  re- 
lated. 

7.  Hereupon  Ptolemy  blamed  himself  for  having  given  his  daughter  in  marriage 
to  Alexander,  and  for  the  league  he  had  made  with  him,  to  assist  him  againt  De- 
metrius :  so  he  dissolved  his  relation  to  him,  and  took  his  daughter  away  from 
him,  and  immediately  sent  to  Demetrius,  and  offered  to  make  a  league  of  mutual 
assistance  and  friendship  with  him,  and  agreed  with  him  to  give  him  his  daughter 
in  marriage,  and  to  restore  him  to  the  principality  of  his  fathers.  Demetrius  was 
well  pleased  with  this  embassage,  and  accepted  of  his  assistance,  and  of  the  mar- 
riage of  his  daughter.  But  Ptolemy  had  still  one  more  hard  task  to  do,  and  that 
waste  persuade  the  people  of  Antioch  to  receive  Demetrius,  because  they  were 
greatly  displeased  at  him  on  account  of  the  injuries  his  father  Demetrius  had  done 
them ;  yet  did  he  bring  this  about ;  for,  as  the  people  of  Antioch  hated  Alex- 
ander on  Ammonius's  account,  as  we  have  showed  already,  they  were  easily  pre- 
vailed with  to  cast  him  out  of  Antioch  ;  who,  thus  expelled  out  of  Antioch,  came 
into  Cilicia,  Ptolemy  came  then  to  Antioch,  and  was  made  king  bj-  its  inhabi- 
tants, and  by  the  army;  so  that  he  was  forced  to  put  on  two  diadems,  the  one  of 
Asia,  the  other  of  Egypt;  but  being  naturally  a  good  and  a  righteous  man,  and 
not  desirous  of  what  belonged  to  others,  and,  besides  these  dispositions,  being 
also  a  wisre  man  in  reasoning  about  futurities,  he  determined  to  avoid  the  envy  of 
the  Romans;  so  he  called  the  people  of  Antioch  together  to  an  assembly,   and 

ersuaded  them  to  receive  Demetrius  ;  and  assured  them,  that  "  he  would  not 
e  mindful  of  what  they  did  to  his  father,  in  case  he  should  be  now  obliged  by 

t  Dr.  Hudson  observes  lieie,  that  the  Phoenicians  and  Fomans  used  to  reward  such  as  had  deserved 
well  of  them,  by  pruiciiiins  to  thoin  a  golden  buttcn ;  see  chap.  v.  sect.  4. 


I 


C.  lY,  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  437 

them  ;  and  ho  undertook  that  he  would  hinnself  be  a  good  monitor  and  governor 
to  him,  and  promised  that  he  would  not  permit  him  to  attempt  any  bad  actions ; 
but  that,  for  his  own  part,  he  was  contented  with  the  kingdom  ot"  Egypt."  liy 
which  discourse  he  persuaded  the  people  of  Antiocli  to  receive  Demetrius. 

8.  But  now  Alexander  made  haste  with  a  numerous  and  great  armv,  and  came 
out  of  Cilicia  into  Syria,  and  burnt  the  country  belonging  to  Antioch,  and  pillaged 
it;  whereupon  Ptolemy  and  his  son-in-law  Demetrius  brought  their  army  against 
him  (for  lie  had  already  given  iilm  his  daughter  in  marriage,)  and  beat  Alexan- 
der, and  put  him  to  llight ;  and  accordingly  he  lied  into  Arabia.  Now  it  hap- 
pened  in  the  time  of  battle,  that  Ptolemy's  horse,  upon  hearing  the  noise  of  an 
elephant,  cast  him  ofFhis  back,  and  threw  him  on  the  ground  ;  upon  tlie  sifdit  of 
which  accident  his  enemies  fell  upon  him,  and  gave  him  many  woimds  upon  his 
head,  and  brought  him  into  danger  of  death  :  for  when  his  guards  cau<dit  him  up, 
he  was  so  very  ill  that  for  four  days'  time  he  was  not  able  either  to  understand  or 
to  speak.  However  Zabdiel,  a  prince  among  the  Arabians,  cut  ofl"  Alexander's 
head,  and  sent  it  to  Ptolemy,  who,  recovering  of  his  wounds,  and  returning  to  his 
understanding  on  the  lifch  day,  heard  at  once  a  most  agreeable  hearing,  and  saw 
a  most  agreeable  sight,  which  were  the  death  and  head  of  Alexander  ;  yet  a  little 
after  this  his  joy  for  the  death  of  Alexander,  with  which  he  was  so  greatly  satis- 
fied, he  also  departed  this  life.  Now  Alexander,  who  was  called  Balas,  reigned 
over  Asia  five  years,  as  we  have  elsewhere  related. 

9.  But  when  Demetrius,  who  was  styled  Nicator*  had  taken  the  kingdom,  ho 
was  so  wicked  as  to  treat  Ptolemy's  soldiers  very  hardly,  neither  remembering 
the  league  of  mutual  assistance  that  was  between  them,  nor  that  he  was  his  son- 
in-law  and  kinsman,  by  Cleopatra's  marriage  to  him;  so  the  soldiers  fled  from  his 
wicked  treatment  to  Alexandria,  but  Demetrius  kept  his  elephants.  But  Jonathan 
the  high  priest  levied  an  army  out  of  all  Judea,  and  attacked  the  citadel  at  Jeru- 
salem, and  besieged  it;  it  was  held  by  a  garrison  of  Macedonians,  and  by  some 
of  those  wicked  men  who  had  deserted  the  customs  of  their  forefathers.  These 
men  at  first  despised  the  attempts  of  Jonathan  for  taking  the  place,  as  depending 
on  its  strength;  but  some  of  those  wicked  men  went  out  by  night,  and  came  to 
Demetrius,  and  informed  him  that  the  citadel  was  besieged;  who  was  irritated 
with  what  he  heard,  and  took  his  army,  and  came  from  Antioch,  against  Jona- 
than.  And  when  he  was  at  Antioch,  he  wrote  to  him,  and  commanded  him  to 
come  to  him  quickly  to  Ptolemais :  upon  which  Jonathan  did  not  intermit  the  siege 
of  the  citadel,  but  took  with  him  the  elders  of  the  people,  and  the  priests,  and 
carried  with  him  gold,  and  silver,  and  garments,  and  a  great  number  of  presents 
of  friendship,  and  came  to  Demetrius,  and  presented  him  with  them,  and  thereby 
pacified  the  king's  anger.  So  he  was  honoured  by  him,  and  received  from  him 
the  confirmation  of  his  high  priesthood,  as  he  had  possessed  it  by  tiie  grants  of 
the  kings  his  predecessors.  And  when  the  Jewish  deserters  accused  him,  De- 
metrius was  so  far  from  giving  credit  to  them,  that  when  he  petitioned  him  that 
he  would  demand  no  more  than  three  hundred  talents  for  the  tribute  of  ail  Judea, 
and  the  three  toparchies  of  Samaria,  and  Perca,  and  Galilee,  he  complied  with 
the  proposal,  and  gave  him  a  letter  confirming  all  those  grants;  whose  contents 
were  as  follows  :  "  King  Demetrius  to  Jonathan  his  brother,  and  to  the  nation  of 
the  Jews,  sendeth  greeting:  We  have  sent  you  a  copy  of  that  epistle  which  wo 
have  written  to  Lasthenes  our  kinsman,  that  you  may  know  its  contents.  King 
Demetrius  to  Lasthenes  our  father,  sendeth  greeting:  I  have  determined  to  re- 
turn thanks,  and  to  show  favour  to  the  nation  of  fiie  Jews,  which  hath  observed 
the  rules  of  justice  in  our  concerns.  Accordingly  I  remit  to  them  the  three  pre. 
fectures,  Apherima,  and  Lydda,  and  Ramatha,  which  have  been  added  to  Judea 
out  of  Samaria,  with  their  appurtenances:  as  also  what  the  kings  my  prcdeces- 

*  This  name,  Demetrius,  J\"icfilay,  or  Dcmrtrius  the  conqueror,  is  fo  written  on  his  coins  still  extant, 
as  Hudson  and  Spunheim  informs  iis:  ihe  latter  of  whom  gives  us  here  the  entire  inscription,  ^ing' i7«* 
metrius  the  God  Phiiadelplms  JVicaior. 


438  ANTIQUITFES  OF  THE  JEWS."  B.  XTH. 

Bors  received  from  those  that  offered  sacrifices  in  Jerusalem ;  and  what  are  due 
from  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  and  of  the  trees,  and  what  else  belongs  to  us ;  with 
the  salt  pits,  and  the  crowns  that  used  to  be  presented  to  us.  Nor  shall  they  be 
compelled  to  pay  any  of  these  taxes  from  this  time  to  all  futurity.  Take  care 
therefore  that  a  copy  of  this  epistle  be  taken,  and  given  to  Jonathan,  and  be  set 
up  in  an  eminent  place  of  their  holy  temple."  And  these  were  the  contents  of 
this  writing.  And  now  when  Demetrius  saw  that  there  was  peace  every  where, 
and  that  there  was  no  danger,  nor  fear  of  war,  he  disbanded  the  greatest  part  of 
his  army,  and  diminished  their  pay,  and  even  retained  in  pay  no  others  than  such 
foreigners  as  came  up  with  him  from  Crete,  and  from  the  other  islands.  How- 
ever, this  procured  him  ill  will  and  hatred  from  the  soldiers ;  on  whom  he  be- 
stowed nothing  from  this  time,  while  the  kings  before  him  used  to  pay  them  in 
time  of  peace,  as  they  did  before,  that  they  might  have  their  good  will,  and  that 
they  might  be  very  ready  to  undergo  the  difficulties  of  war,  if  any  occasion  should 
require  it.  » 


CHAP.  V. 

How  Trppho,  after  M  had  beaten  Demetrius,  delivered  the  Kingdom  to  Antiochus, 

the  Son  of  Alexander,  and  gained  Jonathan,  for  his  Assistant :  and  concern- 

ing  the  Actions  and  Embassies  of  Jonathan. 

§  1.  Now  there  was  a  certain  commander  of  Alexander's  forces,  an  Apanemian 
by  birth,  whose  name  was  Diodotus,  and  was  also  called  Trypho,  took  notice  of 
the  ill  will  the  soldiers  bare  to  Demetrius,  and  went  to  Malchus  the  Arabian, 
who  brought  up  Antiochus,  the  son  of  Alexander,  and  told  him  what  an  ill  will 
the  armies  bare  Demetrius,  and  persuaded  him  to  give  him  Antiochus,  because 
he  would  make  him  king,  and  recover  to  him  the  kingdom  of  his  father.  Mai- 
chus  at  the  first  opposed  hinm  in  this  attempt  because  he  could  not  believe  him  ; 
but  when  Trypho  lay  hard  at  him  for  a  long  time,  he  overpersuaded  him  to  com- 
ply  with  Trypho's  intentions  and  entreaties.  And  this  was  the  state  Trypho  w&s 
now  in. 

2.  But  Jonathan  the  high  priest,  being  desirous  to  get  clear  of  those  that  were 
in  the  citadel  of  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  Jewish  deserters,  and  wicked  men,  as 
well  as  of  those  in  all  the  garrisons  in  the  country,  sent  presents  and  ambassa- 
dors to  Demetrius,  and  entreated  him  to  take  away  his  soldiers  out  of  the  strong 
holds  of  Judea.  Demetrius  made  ansv/er,  that  after  the  war,  which  he  was  now 
deeply  engaged  in,  was  over,  he  would  not  only  grant  him  that,  but  greater 
things  than  that  also  :  and  he  desired  he  would  send  him  some  assistance  ;  and 
informed  him  that  his  army  had  deserted  him.  So  Jonathan  chose  out  three 
thousand  of  his  soldiers,  and  sent  them  to  Demetrius. 

3.  Now  the  people  of  Antioch  hated  Demetrius,  both  on  account  of  what  mis- 
chief he  had  himself  done  them,  and  because  they  were  his  enemies  also  on  ac- 
count of  his  father  Demetrius,  who  had  greatly  abused  them  ;  so  they  watched 
some  opportunity  which  they  might  lay  hold  on,  to  fall  upon  him.  And  when 
they  were  informed  of  the  assistance  that  was  coming  to  Demetrius  from  Jona- 
than, and  considered  at  the  same  time  that  he  would  raise  a  numerous  army,  un- 
less they  prevented  him,  and  seized  upon  him,  they  took  their  weapons  immedi- 
ately, and  encompassed  his  palace  in  the  way  of  a  siege,  and  seizing  upon  all 
the  ways  of  getting  out,  they  sought  to  subdue  their  king.  And  when  he  saw 
that  the  people  of  Antioch  were  become  his  bitter  enemies,  and  that  they  were 
thus  in  arms,  he  took  the  mercenary  soldiers  which  he  had  with  him,  and  those 
Jews  who  were  sent  by  Jonathan,  and  assaulted  the  Antiochians ;  but  he  was 
overpowered  by  them,  for  they  were  many  ten  thousands,  and  was  beaten.  But 
when  the  Jews  saw  that  the  Antiochians  were  superior,  they  went  up  to  the  top 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS,  ^og 

of  the  palace,  and  shot  at  them  from  thence  ;  and  hecause  they  were  so  remote 
from  them  by  their  height,  that  they  suflbred  noliiing  on  their  side,  but  did  -Teat 
execution  on  the  others,  as  lighting  from  such  an  elevation,  they  drove  tliern  out 
of  the  adjoining  houses,  and  immediately  set  them  on  fire,  whereupon  the  tlamc 
spread  itself  over  the  whole  city,  and  burnt  it  all  down.  This  happened  bv  rea- 
son  of  the  closeness  of  the  houses,  and  because  tlicy  were  generally  built  of 
wood.  So  the  Antiochians,  when  they  were  not  able  to  help  themselves,  nor  to 
stop  the  fire,  were  put  to  flight.  And  as  the  Jews  leaped  from  the  top'of  one 
house  to  the  top  of  another,  and  pursued  them  after  that  manner,  it  thence  hap- 
pened that  the  pursuit  was  so  very  surprising.  But  when  the  king  saw  tliat  the 
Antiochians  were  very  busy  in  saving  their  children  and  their  wives,  and  so  did 
not  fight  any  longer,  he  fell  upon  them  in  the  narrow  passages,  and  fought  them, 
and  slew  a  great  many  of  them,  till  at  last  they  were  forced  to  throw  down  their 
arms,  and  to  deliver  themselves  up  to  Demetrius.  So  he  forgave  them  tliis  their 
insolent  behaviour,  and  put  an  end  to  the  sedition :  and  when  he  had  given  re- 
wards  to  the  Jews  out  of  the  rich  spoils  he  had  gotten,  and  had  returned  them 
thanks,  as  the  cause  of  his  victory,  he  sent  them  away  to  Jerusalem,  to  Jona- 
than,  with  an  ample  testimony  of  the  assistance  they  had  aflbrded  him.  Yet  did 
he  prove  an  ill  man  to  Jonathan  afterward,  and  broke  the  promises  he  had  made: 
and  he  threatened  that  he  would  make  war  upon  him,  unless  he  would  pay  all 
that  tribute  which  the  Jewish  nation  owed  to  the  first  kings  [of  Syria.]  And' this 
he  had  done,  if  Trypho  had  not  hindered  him,  and  diverted  his  preparations 
against  Jonathan,  to  a  concern  for  his  own  preservation  :  for  he  now  returned 
out  of  Arabia  into  Syria,  with  the  child  Antiochus,  Ibr  he  was  yet  in  age  but  a 
youth,  and  put  the  diadem  on  his  head :  and  as  the  whole  Ibrces  that  had  left 
Demetrius,  because  they  had  no  pay,  came  to  his  assistance,  he  made  war  upon 
Demetrius,  and  joining  battle  with  him,  overcame  him  in  the  fight,  and  took 
from  him  both  his  elephants,  and  the  city  Antioch. 

4.  Demetrius,  upon  this  defeat,  retired  into  Cilicia ;  but  the  child  Antiochus 
sent  ambassadors,  and  an  epistle  to  Jonathan,  and  made  him  his  friend  and  con, 
federate,  and  confirmed  to  him  the  high  priesthood,  and  yielded  up  to  him  the 
four  prefectures  which  had  been  added  to  Judea.  Moreover,  he  sent  him  ves- 
sels and  cups  of  gold,  and  a  purple  garment,  and  gave  him  leave  to  use  them. 
He  also  presented  him  with  a  golden  button,  and  styled  him  one  of  his  principal 
friends  ;  and  appointed  his  brother  Simon  to  be  general  over  the  Ibrces,  from  the 
ladder  of  Tyre  unto  Egypt.  So  Jonathan  was  so  pleased  with  these  grants  made 
him  by  Antiochus,  that  he  sent  ambassadors  to  him,  and  to  Trypho,  and  professed 
himself  to  be  their  friend  and  confederate,  and  said  he  would  join  with  him  in  a 
war  against  Demetrius,  informing  him  that  he  had  made  no  proper  return  tbr  the 
kindnesses  he  had  done  him  ;  lor  that  when  he  had  received  many  marks  of  kind- 
ness from  hira,  when  he  stood  in  great  need  of  them,  he,  for  such  good  turns, 
had  requited  him  with  farther  injuries. 

5.  So  Antiochus  gave  Jonathan  leave  to  raise  himself  a  numerous  army  out  of 
Syria  and  Phoenicia,  and  to  make  war  against  Demetrius's  generals  ;  whereupon 
he  went  in  haste  to  the  several  cities,  v/hicli  received  him  splendidly  indeed,  but 
put  no  forces  into  his  hands.  And  when  he  was  come  from  thence  to  Askelon, 
the  inhabitants  of  Askelon  came  and  brought  him  presents,  and  met  him  iu  a 
splendid  manner.  He  exhorted  them,  and  every  one  of  the  cities  of  Celesyria, 
to  forsake  Demetrius,  and  to  join  with  Antiochus  ;  and  in  assisting  him,  to  en- 
deavour  to  punish  Demetrius  for  what  offences  he  had  been  guilty  of  against 
themselves  ;  and  told  them  there  were  many  reasons  Ibr  that  their  procedure,  if 
they  had  a  mind  so  to  do.  And  wlien  he  had  persuaded  those  cities  to  promise 
tlieir  assistance  to  Antiochus,  he  came  to  Gaza,  in  order  to  induce  them  also  to 
be  friends  to  Antiochus ;  but  he  found  the  inhabitants  of  Gaza  much  more  alie- 
nated from  him  tlian  he  expected,  for  they  had  shut  (heir  gates  against  him,  and 
although  they  had  deserted  Demetrius,  they  had  not  resolved  to  join  themselves 


440  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIIL 

to  Antiochus.  Tliis  provoked  Jonathan  to  besiege  tliem,  and  to  harass  their 
country  ;  for  as  he  set  a  part  of  his  army  round  about  Gaza  itself,  so  with  the 
rest  he  overran  their  land,  and  spoiled  it,  and  burnt  what  was  in  it.  When  the 
inhabitants  of  Gaza  saw  themselves  in  this  state  of  aflliction,  and  that  no  assist- 
ance came  to  them  from  Demetrius,  that  what  distressed  them  was  at  hand,  but 
what  should  profit  them  Avas  still  at  a  great  distance,  and  it  was  uncertain  whe- 
ther it  would  come  at  all  or  not,  they  thought  it  v/ould  be  prudent  conduct  to 
leave  off  any  longer  continuance  with  him,  and  to  cultivate  friendship  with  tlio 
other ;  so  they  sent  to  Jonathan,  and  professed  they  would  be  his  friends,  and 
olfered  him  assistance  :  for  such  is  the  temper  of  men,  that  before  they  have 
had  the  trial  of  great  afflictions,  they  do  not  understand  what  is  for  their  advan- 
tage,  but  when  they  find  themselves  under  such  afflictions,  they  then  change 
their  minds,  and  what  it  had  been  better  for  them  to  have  done  before  they  had 
been  at  all  damaged,  they  choose  to  do,  but  not  till  after  they  have  suffered  such 
damages.  However,  he  made  a  league  of  friendship  with  them,  and  took  from 
them  hostages  for  their  performance  of  it,  and  sent  these  hostages  to  Jerusalem, 
while  he  went  himself  over  all  the  country,  as  far  as  Damascus. 

6.  But  when  he  heard  that  the  generals  of  Demetrius's  forces  were  come  to 
the  city  Cadesh  with  a  numerous  army  (the  place  lies  between  the  land  of  the 
Tyrians  and  Galilee,)  for  they  supposed  they  should  hereby  draw  him  out  of 
Syria,  in  order  to  preserve  Galilee,  and  that  he  would  not  overlook  the  Galileans, 
who  were  his  own  people,  when  war  was  made  upon  them,  he  went  to  meet  them, 
having  left  Simon  in  Judea,  who  raised  as  great  an  army  as  he  was  able  out  of 
the  country,  and  then  sat  down  before  Bethsura,  and  besieged  it,  that  being  the 
strongest  place  in  all  Judea ;  and  a  garrison  of  Demetrius's  kept  it,  as  we  have 
already  related.  But  as  Simon  was  raising  banks,  and  bringing  his  engines  of 
war  against  Bethsura,  and  was  very  earnest  about  the  siege  of  it,  the  garrison 
was  afraid  lest  the  place  should  be  taken  of  Simon  by  force,  and  they  put  to  the 
sword ;  so  they  sent  to  Simon,  and  desired  the  security  of  his  oath,  that  they  should 
come  to  no  harm  from  him,  and  that  they  would  leave  the  place,  and  go  away  to 
Demetrius.  Accordingly  he  gave  them  his  oath,  and  ejected  them  out  of  the  city, 
and  he  put  therein  a  garrison  of  his  own. 

7.  But  Jonathan  removed  out  of  Galilee,  and  from  the  waters  which  are  called 
Gennesar,  for  there  he  was  before  encamped,  and  came  into  the  plain  that  is 
called  Asor,  without  knowing  that  the  enemy  was  there.  When  therefore  Deme- 
trius's men  knew  a  day  beforehand,  that  Jonathan  was  coming  against  them,  they 
laid  an  ambush  in  the  mountain,  who  were  to  assault  him  on  the  sudden,  while 
they  themselves  met  with  an  army  in  the  plain,  which  army,  when  Jonathan  saw 
ready  to  engage  him,  he  also  got  ready  his  own  soldiers  for  the  battle  as  well  as 
he  was  able ;  but  those  that  were  laid  in  ambush  by  Demetrius's  generals  being 
behind  them,  the  Jews  were  afraid  lest  they  should  be  caught  in  the  midst  between 
two  bodies,  and  perish,  so  they  ran  away  in  haste,  and  indeed  all  the  rest  left 
Jonathan ;  but  a  few  there  were,  in  number  about  fifty,  who  staid  with  him,  and 
with  them  Mattathias,  the  son  of  Absalom,  and  Judas,  the  son  of  Chapseus,  who 
were  commanders  of  the  whole  army.  These  marched  boldly,  and  like  men  des- 
pcrate,  against  the  enemy,  and  so  pushed  them,  that  by  their  courage  they  daunted 
tliem,  and  with  their  weapons  in  their  hands,  they  put  them  to  flight.  And  when 
these  soldiers  of  Jonathan,  that  had  retired,  saw  the  enemy  giving  way,  they  got 
together  after  their  flight,  and  pursued  them  with  great  violence :  and  this  they  did 
as  far  as  Cadesh,  where  the  camp  of  the  enemy  lay. 

8.  Jonathan  having  thus  gotten  a  glorious  victory,  and  slain  two  thousand  of 
the  enemy,  returned  to  Jerusalem.  So  when  he  saw  that  all  his  affairs  prospered, 
according  to  his  mind,  by  the  providence  of  God,  he  sent  ambassadors  to  the 
Romans,  being  desirous  of  renewing  that  friendship  which  their  nation  had  with 
them  formerly.  He  enjoined  the  same  ambassadors,  that,  as  they  came  back, 
they  should  go  to  the  Spartans,  and  put  them  in  mind  of  their  friendship  and  kin- 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  4.JI 

dred.  So  when  the  ambassadors  came  to  Rome,  ifiey  v.  cat  into  their  senate,  and 
said  what  tliey  were  comiuanded  by  Jonathan  tlie  higb  priest  to  say,  how  he  had 
sent  them  to  confirm  their  friendshij).  Tiic  senate  tlien  confirmed  what  had  been 
formerly  decreed  concerning  their  friendship  with  the  Jews  ;  and  gave  them  let. 
ters  to  carry  to  all  the  kings  of  Asia  and  Europe,   and  to  the  governors  of  the 
cities,   that  they  might  safely  conduct  them  to  their  own  country.     Accordingly 
as  they  returned,  they  came  to  Sparta,  and  delivered  the  epistle  which  they  iiad 
received  of  Jonathan  to  them  ;  a  copy  of  which  here  follows  ;  "  Jonathan  the  Jiigh 
j)riest  of  the  Jewish  nation,  and  the  senate,  and  body  of  the  people  of  the  Jews, 
U)  tlie  cphori  and  senate,  and  people  of  the  Lacedemonians,  send  greeting  :  If  you 
be  well,  and  both  your  public  and  private  aflairs  be  agreeable  to  your  mind,  it  is 
according  to  our  wishes.     We  are  also  well.     When  in  former  times  an  epistle 
was  brought  to  Onias,  who  was  then  our  high  priest,   from  Areus,   who  at  that 
time  was  your  king,  by  Demoteles,  concerning  the  kindred  that  v,as  between  us 
and  you,  a  copy  ot"  which  is  here  subjoined,  we  both  joyfully  received  the  epistle, 
and  were  well  pleased  with  Demoteles  and  Areus,  although  we  did  not  need  such 
a  demonstration,  because  we  were  satisfied  about  it  from  the  sacred  writings,* 
3'et  did  not  we  think  fit  first  to  begin  the  claim  of  this  relation  to  you,   lest  we 
should  seem  too  early  in  taking  to  ourselves  the  glory  which  is  now  given  us  by 
you.   It  is  a  long  time  since  this  relation  of  ours  to  you  hath  been  renewed  ;  and 
when  we,  upon  holy  and  festival  days,  offer  sacrifices  to  God,  we  pray  to  liim  for 
your  preservation  and  victory.  As  to  ourselves,  although  we  have  had  many  wars 
that  have  compassed  us  around,  by  reason  of  the  covetousness  of  our  neighbours, 
yet  did  not  we  determine  to  be  troublesome  either  to  you,  or  to  others  that  were 
related  to  us ;  but  since  we  have  now  overcome  our  enemies,  and  have  occasion 
to  send  Numenius  the  son  of  Antiochus,  and  Antipater  the  son  of  Jason,  who  are 
both  honourable  men  belonging  to  our  senate,  to  the  Romans,  we  gave  them  this 
epistle  to  you  also,  that  they  might  renew  that  friendship  which  is  between  us. 
You  will  therefore  do  well  yourselves  to  write  to  us,  and  send  an  account  of  w  hat 
you  stand  in  need  of  from  us,  since  we  are  in  all  things  disjioscd  to  act  according 
to  your  desires."     So  the  Lacedemonians  received  the  ambassadors  kindly,  and 
made  a  decree  for  friendship  and  mutual  assistance,  and  sent  it  to  them. 

9.  At  this  time  there  were  three  sects  among  the  Jews,  who  had  ditfercnt  opi- 
nions  concerning  human  actions ;  the  one  was  called  the  sect  of  the  Pharisees, 
another  the  sect  of  the  Sadducees,  and  the  other  the  sect  of  the  Essems.  Now 
for  the  Pharisees,!  they  say  that  some  actions,  but  not  all,  are  the  work  of  fate, 
and  some  of  them  are  in  our  own  power,  and  that  they  arc  liable  to  late,  but  are 
not  caused  by  fate.  IJut  the  sect  of  the  Essenes  affirm,  that  fate  governs  all 
things,  and  that  nothing  befalls  men  but  what  is  according  to  its  determination. 
And  for  the  Sadducees,"they  take  away  fate,  and  say  there  is  no  such  thing,  and 

*  This  clause  is  otherwise  rendereH  in  the  first  book  of  the  Maccabees,  xii.  9.  For  Vuitxce  have  tlie 
holy  hooks  oj"  scripture  in  our  hands  to  corn  fort  us.  The  Hebrew  orij;inHl  being  lost,  we  cannot  certainly 
judge  which  was  the  truest  version,  onlv  tlie  (coherence  favours  Josephiis.  15ut  if  this  were  the  Jews' 
meaniim,  that  they  were  satislied  out  of  their  15il)le,  that  the  Jews  and  Lacedemonians  were  of  kin.  that 
part  of  their  Bible  is  now  lost,  for  v.'e  find  no  such  assertion  in  our  present  copies. 

t  'i'hose  that  suppose  Joscphus  to  contradict  himself  in  his  three  several  accounts  of  the  notions  of  iho 
Phari.sees,  this  here,  and  that  earlier  one,  which  is  thelar;;est,  Of  the  War,  B.  ii.  cliap.  viii.  tect.  11 ;  .mrt 
tliat  later,  Antiq.  IJ.  xviii.  chap.  i.  sect.  3  ;  as  if  he  sometimes  said  they  introduced  an  absolute  fatality, 
and  denied  all  freedom  of  human  actions,  is  almost  wliolly  groundless ;  he  ever,  asthe  very  IcarnPiK'st- 
saubon  here  truly  oikserves.assertin;;,  that  the  Pharisees  were  between  Kssenesand  .Sadducees,  and  did 
<inl  V  so  far  ascribe  ail  to  fate  or  divine  providence,  as  was  consistent  with  the  freedom  of  human  actions. 
I  lowevcr,  their  perplexed  way  of  talking  about  fate  or  providence  as  overruling  all  things,  made  it  com- 
monly thought  thev  were  willing  to  e.xcuse  their  sins  by  ascribing  them  to  fate,  as  in  tlic  .•\poslolical  Con- 
siitulions,  U.  vi.  chap.  vi.  i'erhaps  under  the  samegeneral  name  some  difference  of  opinion  in  this  point 
might  be  projiagated,  as  is  very  common  ill  all  parties,  especially  in  points  of  metaphysical  subtiliiy  : 
however,  our  Josephus,  who  in  his  heart  was  a  great  admirer  of  the  piety  of  the  Essenes,  was  in  practice 
a  I'horisee,  as  he  himself  informs  us,  in  his  own  Life,  sect.  2.  And  his  account  of  this  doctrine  nf  the 
Pharisees,  is  for  certain  agreeable  to  his  own  opinion,  who  ever  l)oth  fully  allowed  the  freedom  ot  huniaii 
actions,  and  yet  strongly  belii'vi!.!  the  powerful  interposition  of  divine  providence.  Sec  couccrning  ttiis 
niatiera  remarkable  clause,  .Aiitii].  C.  xviii.  chap.  x.i.  sect.  7. 

Vol.  I  3  k 


442  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Xllf. 

that  the  events  of  luiman  affairs  are  not  at  its  disposal,  but  they  suppose  that  all 
our  actions  are  in  our  own  power,  so  that  we  are  ourselves  the  causes  of  what  is 
good,  and  receive  what  is  evil  from  our  ov/n  folly.  However,  I  have  given  a  more 
exact  account  of  these  opinions  in  the  second  book  of  the  Jewish  War. 

10.  But  now  the  generals  of  Demetrius,  being  willing  to  recover  the  defeat 
they  had  had,  gathered  a  greater  army  together  than  they  had  before,  and  came 
against  Jonathan ;  but  as  soon  as  he  was  informed  of  their  coming,  he  went  sud- 
denly  to  meet  them,  to  the  country  of  Hamoth,  for  he  resolved  to  give  them  no 
opportunity  of  coming  into  Judea,  so  he  pitched  his   camp  at  fifty  furlongs  dis- 
tance  from  the  enemy,  and  sent  out  spies  to  take  a  view  of  their  camp,  and  after 
what  manner  they  were  encamped.     When  his  spies  had  given  him  full  informa- 
tion,  and  had  seized  upon  some  of  them  by  night,  who  told  him  the  enemy  would 
soon  attack  him,  he,  thus  apprized  beforehand,  provided  for  his  security,  and 
placed  watchmen  beyond  his  camp,  and  kept  all  his  forces  armed  all  night ;  and 
he  gave  them  a  charge  to  be  of  good  courage,  and  to  have  their  minds  prepared 
to  tight  in  the  night-time,  if  they  should  be  obliged  so  to  do,  lest  their  enemy's  de- 
signs should  seem  concealed  from  them.     But  when  Demetrius's  commanders 
were  informed  that  Jonathan  knew  what  they  intended,  their  counsels  were  dis- 
ordered, and  it  alarmed  them  to  find,  that  the  enemy  had  discovered  those  their 
intentions  ;  nor  did  they  expect  to  overcome  them  any  other  way,  now  they  had 
failed  in  the  snares  they  had  laid  for  them  ;  for  should  they  hazard  an  open  bat- 
tle, they  did  not  think  they  should  be  a  match  for  Jonathan's  army  ;  so  they  re- 
solved  to  fly  :  and  having  lighted  many  fires,  that  when  the  enemy  saw  them  they 
might  suppose  they  were  there  still,  they  retired.     But  when  Jonathan  came  to 
give  them  battle  in  the  morning  in  their  camp,  and  found  it  deserted,  and  under- 
stood they  were  fled,  he  pursued  them,  yet  he  could  not  overtake  them,  for  they 
had  already  passed  over  the  river  Eleutherus,  and  were  out  of  danger.    So  when 
Jonathan  was  returned  thence,  he  went  into  Arabia,  and  fought  against  the  Na- 
bateans,  and  drove  away  a  great  deal  of  their  prey,  and  took  [many]  captives, 
and  came  to  Damascus,  and  there  sold  off  that  he  had  taken.     About  the  same 
time  it  was  that  Simon  his  brother  went  over  all  Judea  and  Palestine,  as  far  as 
Askelon,  and  fortified  the  strong  holds  :  and  when  he  had  made  them  very  strong, 
botli  in  the  edifices  erected,  and  in  the  garrisons  placed  in  them,  he  came  to 
Joppa,  and  when  he  had  taken  it,  he  brought  a  great  garrison  into  it,  for  he 
heard  that  the  people  of  Joppa  were  disposed  to  deliver  up  the  city  to  Demetrius's 
generals. 

11.  When  Simon  and  Jonathan  had  finished  these  affairs,  they  returned  to 
Jerusalem,  where  Jonathan  gathered  all  the  people  together,  and  took  counsel 
to  restore  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  to  rebuild  the  wall  that  encompassed  the 
temple,  which  had  been  thrown  down,  and  to  make  the  places  adjoining  stronger 
by  very  high  towers ;  and  besides  that,  to  build  another  wall  in  the  midst  of  the 
city,  in  order  to  exclude  the  market-place  from  the  garrison  which  was  in  the 
citadel,  and  by  that  means  to  hinder  them  from  any  plenty  of  provisions;  and 
moreover,  to  make  the  fortresses  that  were  in  the  country  much  stronger,  and 
more  defensible  than  they  were  before.  And  when  these  things  were  approved 
of  by  the  multitude,  as  rightly  proposed,  Jonathan  himself  took  care  of  the  buiU 
ding  that  belonged  to  the  city,  and  sent  Simon  away  to  make  the  fortresses  in  the 
country  more  secure  than  formerly.  But  Demetrius  passed  over  [Euphrates] 
and  came  into  Mesopotamia,  as  desirous  to  retain  that  country  still,  as  well  as 
Babylon ;  and  when  he  should  have  obtained  the  dominion  of  the  upper  provin- 
ces, to  lay  a  foundation  for  recovering  his  entire  kingdom ;  for  those  Greeks  and 
Macedonians  who  dwelt  tliere  frequently  sent  ambassadors  to  him,  and  promised, 
that  if  he  would  come  to  them,  they  would  deliver  themselves  up  to  him,  and  as- 
sist them  in  fighting  against  Arsaces,*  the  king  of  the  Parthians.     So  he  was  ele- 

•  This  king,  who  was  of  the  famous  lace  of  Arsaces,  is  both  here,  and  1  Mac.  xiv.  2,  called  by  the 


C.  VI.  ANTIOUITIES  OF  THK  JEWS.  443 

vated  with  these  hopes,  and  camchastilj  .0  tncrn,  as  having  resolved  that,  if  he 
had  once  overthrown  the  Parthiuns,  and  gotten  an  army  ofliis  own,  he  would 
make  war  against  Trypho,  and  eject  him  out  of  Syria ;  and  the  people  of  that 
country  received  him  with  great  alacrity.  So  he  raised  forces,  witli  which  he 
fought  against  Arsaces,  and  lost  all  his  army,  and  was  himself  taken  alive,  as  wo 
have  elsewhere  related. 


CHAP.  VI. 

How  Jonathan  rvas  slain  hy  Treachery  ;  and  how  thereupon  the  Jews  made  Simon 

their  General  and  High  Priest ;  what  courageous  Actions  also  lie  performed, 

especially  against  Trypho, 

§  1.  Now  when  Trypho  knew  what  had  hefallen  Demetrius,  he  wa's  no  lon<'ei 
firm  to  Antiochus,  but  contrived  by  subtility  to  kill  him,  and  then  take  possession 
of  his  kingdom;  but  the  fear  that  he  was  in  of  Jonatlian  was  an  obstacle  to  this 
his  design,  for  Jonathan  was  a  friend  to  Antiochus,  for  which  cause  he  resolved 
first  to  take  Jonathan  out  of  the  way,  and  then  to  set  about  his  designs  relating  to 
Antiochus;  but  he  judged  it  best  to  take  him  otf  by  deceit  and  treachery,  came 
from  Antioch  to  Bethshan,  which  by  the  Greeks  is  called  ScythopoUs,  at  which 
place  Jonathan  met  him  with  forty  thousand  chosen  men,  for  he  thought  that  he 
came  to  fight  him;  but  when  he  perceived  that  Jonathan  was  ready  to  fight,  he 
attempted  to  gain  him  by  presents,  and  kind  treatment,  and  gave  orders  to  his 
captains  to  obey  him;  and  by  these  means  was  desirous  of  giving  him  assurance 
of  his  good  will,  and  to  take  aAvay  all  suspicions  out  of  his  mind,  that  so  he  might 
make  him  careless  and  inconsiderate,  and  niiglit  take  him  when  he  was  unguar- 
ded.  He  also  advised  him  to  dismiss  his  arm}',  because  tliere  was  no  occasion 
for  bringing  it  with  him  when  there  was  no  war,  but  all  was  in  peace.  However, 
he  desired  him  to  retain  a  few  about  him,  and  go  with  him  to  Ptolemais,  for  that 
he  would  deliver  the  city  up  to  him,  and  would  bring  all  the  fortresses  that  were 
in  the  country  under  his  dominion  :  and  he  told  him,  that  he  came  with  those  very 
designs. 

2.  Yet  did  not  Jonathan  suspect  any  thing  at  all  by  this  his  management,  but 
believed  that  Trypho  gave  him  this  advice  out  of  kindness,,  and  with  a  sincere  dc- 
sign.  Accordingly  he  dismissed  his  army,  and  retained  no  more  tlian  three  thou- 
sand  of  them  with  him,  and  left  two  thousand  in  Galilee,  and  he  himself,  with  one 
thousand,  came  with  Trypho  to  the  Ptolemais.  But  when  the  people  of  Ptolc- 
mais  had  shut  their  gates,  as  it  had  been  commanded  them  by  Trypho  to  do,  ho 
took  Jonathan  alive  and  slew  all  that  were  witli  him.  He  also  sent  soldiers 
against  those  two  thousand  that  were  left  in  Galilee,  in  order  to  destroy  thenv 
but  those  men  having  heard  the  report  of  what  had  happened  to  Jonathan,  they 
prevented  the  execution,  and  before  those  that  were  sent  by  Trypho  came,  they 
covered  themselves  with  their  armour,  and  went  away  out  of  the  country.  A"o\v 
when  those  that  were  sent  against  them  saw  that  they  were  ready  to  tight  for 
their  lives,  they  gave  them  no  disturbance,  but  returned  hack  to  Trypho. 

3.  But  when  the  people  of  Jerusalem  heard  that  Jonathan  was  taken,  and  that 
the  soldiers  who  were  with  him  were  destroyed,  they  deplored  his  sad  fate,  and 
there  was  earnest  inquiry  made  about  him  by  every  body,  and  a  great  and  just 
fear  fell  upon  them,  and  made  them  sad,  lest  now  they  were  deprived  of  the  cou- 
rage  and  conduct  of  Jonathan,  the  nations  about  them  should  bear  (hem  ill-will  ; 
and  as  they  were  before  quiet  on  account  of  Jonathan,  tiiey  should  now  rise  up 

family  name  Jlrsaccs,  but  Appian  paj-s,  Iiis  proper  name  was  Phranhs.     lie  is  here  also  railed  hy  Jose 
phiis,  i\\e  king  of  the  Partlunns,  asilie  Greeks  used  to  call  them,  but  by  the  elder  a  uihnr  of  the  first  book 
of  Maccabees,  theA;mg-  oflhc  Persians  and  Mcd.:s,  according  to  the  language  of  the  eastern  nuiipns.  See 
Autiient.  Rec.  part  ii.  p.  1103. 
3K2 


444  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Xin. 

a«tiinst  them,  and  by  makinn;  war  with  them,  should  force  them  into  the  utmost 
dangers.  And,  indeed,  what  they  suspected  really  befell  them  ;  for  when  those 
nations  heard  of  the  death  of  Jonathan,  they  began  to  make  war  with  the  Jens:, 
as  now  destitute  of  a  governor ;  and  Trypho  himself  got  an  army  together,  and  liad 
an  intention  to  go  up  to  Judea,  and  make  war  against  its  inhabitants.  But  when 
Simon  saw  tliat  the  people  of  Jerusalem  were  terriiied  at  the  circumstances  they 
were  in,  he  desired  to  make  a  speech  to  them,  and  thereby  to  render  them  more 
resolute  in  opposing  Trypho  when  he  should  come  against  them.  He  then  called 
tlie  people  together  into  the  temple,  and  thence  began  thus  to  encourage  tliem  : 
"  O  my  countrymen,  you  are  not  ignorant  that  our  father,  myself,  and  my  brethren 
have  ventured  to  hazard  our  lives,  and  that  wilhngly,  for  the  recovery  of  your 
liberty ;  since  I  have  therefore  such  plenty  of  examples  before  me,  and  we  of  our 
family  have  determined  with  ourselves  to  die  for  our  laws,  and  our  divine  wor- 
ship, there  shall  no  terror  be  so  great  as  to  banish  this  resolution  from  our  souls, 
nor  to  introduce  in  its  place  a  love  of  life,  and  a  contempt  of  glory.  Do  you, 
tlierefore,  follow  me  Avith  alacrity,  wliithersoever  I  shall  lead  you,  as  not  destitute 
of  such  a  captain  as  is  willing  to  sufler,  and  to  do  the  greatest  things  for  you;  for 
neither  am  I  better  than  my  brethren  that  I  should  be  sparing  of  my  own  life,  nor 
so  far  worse  than  they  as  to  avoid  and  refuse  what  they  thought  the  most  ho- 
nourable of  all  things,  I  mean  to  undergo  death  for  your  laws,  and  for  that  wor- 
ship of  God  which  is  peculiar  to  you;  I  will  therefore  give  such  proper  demon- 
strations as  will  show  that  I  am  their  own  brother  ;  and  I  am  so  bold  as  to  expect 
that  I  shall  avenge  their  blood  upon  our  enemies,  and  deliver  you  all,  with  your 
M  ives  and  children,  from  the  injuries  they  intend  against  you,  and  with  God's  as- 
sistance, to  preserve  your  temple  from  destruction  by  them ;  for  I  see  that  these 
nations  have  you  in  contempt,  as  being  without  a  governor,  and  that  they  thenco 
are  encouraged  to  make  war  against  you." 

4.  By  this  speech  of  Simon's,  he  inspired  the  multitude  with  courage,  and  as 
they  had  been  before  dispirited  through  fear,  they  were  now  raised  to  a  good 
hope  of  better  things,  insomuch  that  the  whole  muUitude  of  the  people  cried  out 
all  at  once,  that  Simon  should  be  their  leader ;  and  that  instead  of  Judas  and 
Jonathan,  his  brethren,  he  should  have  the  government  over  them  ;  and  they 
promised  that  they  would  readily  obey  him  in  whatsoever  he  should  command 
them.  So  he  got  together  immediately  all  his  own  soldiers  that  were  fit  for  war, 
and  made  haste  in  rebuilding  the  walls  of  the  city,  and  strengthened  them  by 
very  high  and  strong  towers ;  and  sent  a  friend  of  his,  one  Jonathan,  the  son  of 
Absalom,  to  Joppa,  and  gave  him  order  to  eject  the  inhabitants  out  of  the  city, 
for  he  was  afraid  lest  they  should  deliver  up  the  city  to  Trypho,  but  he  himself 
stayed  to  secure  Jerusalem. 

5.  But  Trypho  removed  from  Ptolemais  with  a  great  ai'my,  and  came  into  Ju- 
dea, and  brought  Jonathan  with  him  in  bonds.  Simon  also  met  him  with  his 
army  at  the  city  Adida,  which  is  upon  a  hill,  and  beneath  it  lie  the  plains  of  Ju- 
dea. And  when  Trypho  knew  that  Simon  was  by  the  Jews  made  their  governor, 
he  sent  to  him,  and  would  have  imposed  upon  him  by  deceit  and  treachcrj^,  and 
desired,  if  he  would  have  his  brother  Jonathan  released,  that  he  would  scud  him 
a  hundred  talents  of  silver,  and  two  of  Jonathan's  sons  as  hostages,  that  when  he 
.shall  be  released,  he  may  not  make  Judea  revolt  from  the  king,  for  that  at  pre. 
sent  he  was  kept  in  bonds  on  account  of  the  money  he  had  borrowed  of  the  king, 
and  now  owed  it  to  him.  But  Simon  was  aware  of  the  craft  of  Trypho,  and  a), 
tliough  he  knew,  that  if  he  gave  him  the  money  he  should  lose  it,  and  that  Try- 
pho wovdd  not  send  his  brother  free,  and  withal,  should  deliver  the  sons  of  Jonathan 
to  the  enemy,  yet  because  he  was  afraid  that  he  should  have  a  calumny  raised 
against  him  among  the  multitude  as  the  cause  of  his  brother's  death,  if  he  neither 
gave  tlio  money  nor  sent  Jonathan's  sons,  he  gatlicred  his  army  together,  and 
told  them  what  offers  Trypho  had  made  ;  and  added  this,  that  the  offers  were  en- 
snaring and  treacherous,  and  yet  that  it  was  more  eligible  to  send  the  money  and 


C.  Vr.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  445 

Jonathan's  sons,  than  to  be  liable  to  the  imputation  of  not  complying  with  Try. 
pho's  offers,  and  thereby  refusing  to  save  his  brotlier.  Accordingly  tsimon  sent 
the  sons  of  Jonathan  and  the  money  ;  but  when  Tryplio  liad  received  them,  ho 
did  not  keep  his  promise,  nor  set  Jonathan  free,  but  took  bis  army,  and  went  about 
all  tlie  country,  and  resolved  to  go  up  uflerwurd  to  Jcrusalc'iu  by  the  wav  of 
Idumea,  while  Simon  went  over  against  him  with  his  army,  and  all  along  pitched 
his  own  camp  over  against  his. 

(5.  But  when  those  that  were  in  the  citadel  had  sent  to  Trypho,  and  besouolit 
him  to  make  haste  and  come  to  them,  and  to  send  them  provisions,  he  pre[)arc;d 
his  cavalry  as  though  he  would  be  at  Jerusalem  that  very  night,  but  so  Treat  a 
quantity  of  snow  fell  in  the  night  that  it  covered  the  roads,  and  made  them  so 
deep,  that  there  was  no  passing,  especially  for  tlie  cavalry.  This  hindered  him 
from  coming  to  Jerusalem ;  whereupon  Trypho  removed  thence,  and  came  into 
Celesyria,  and  falling  vehemently  upon  the  land  of  Cilead,  he  slew  Jonathan 
there,  and  when  he  had  given  order  for  his  burial,  he  returned  himself  to  Antioch. 
However,  Simon  sent  some  to  the  city  Basca  to  bring  away  his  brother's  bones, 
and  buried  them  in  their  own  city  Modin  ;  and  all  the  people  made  great  lamen- 
tation  over  him.  Simon  also  erected  a  very  large  monument  for  his  father  and 
his  brethren,  of  white  and  polished  stone,  and  raised  it  a  great  height,  and  so  as 
to  be  seen  a  long  way  off,  and  made  cloisters  about  it,  and  set  up  pillars, 
which  were  of  one  stone  apiece  ;  a  work  it  was  wonderful  to  see.  Moreover,  ho 
bailt  seven  pyramids  also  for  his  parents  and  his  brethren,  one  for  each  of  them, 
which  were  made  very  surprising,  both  for  their  largeness  and  beauty,  and  which 
have  been  preserved  to  tins  day  ;  and  we  know  that  it  was  Simon  who  bestowed 
so  much  zeal  about  the  burial  of  Jonathan,  and  the  building  of  these  monuments 
for  his  relations.  Now  Jonathan  died  when  he  had  been  high  priest  four  years,* 
and  had  been  also  governor  of  his  nation.  And  these  were  the  circumstances 
that  concerned  his  death. 

7.  But  Simon,  who  was  made  high  priest  by  the  multitude,  on  the  very  first 
year  of  his  high  priesthood  set  his  people  free  from  their  slavery  under  the  Ma- 
cedonians, and  permitted  them  to  pay  tribute  to  them  no  longer :  which  liberty 
and  freedovn  from  tribuie  they  obtained  after  a  hundred  and  seventy  yearsf  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Assyrians,  which  was  after  Selcucus,  who  was  called  Nicator, 
got  the  dominion  over  Syria.  Now  the  atfection  of  the  multitude  towards  Simon 
was  so  great,  that  in  their  contracts  one  with  another,  and  in  their  public  records, 
they  wrote,  "  In  the  first  year  of  Simon  the  l)encfactor  and  ethnarch  of  tho 
Jews ;  for  under  him  they  were  very  happy,  and  overcame  the  enemies  that 
were  round  about  them,  for  Simon  overthrew  the  city  Gazara,  and  Joppa,  and 
Jamnia.  He  also  took  the  citadel  of  Jerusalem  by  siege,  and  cast  it  down  to 
the  ground,  that  it  might  not  be  any  more  a  place  of  refuge  to  their  enemies 
when  they  took  it,  to  do  them  mischief,  as  it  had  been  till  now.  And  when  ho 
had  done  this,  he  thought  it  their  best  way,  and  most  for  their  advantage  to  level 
the  very  mountain  itself  upon  which  the  citadel  happened  to  stand,  that  so  tho 

*  There  is  some  error  in  tlie  copies  here,  when  no  more  than  four  j'ears  are  ascribed  to  the  high  priest' 
hood  of  Jonathan.  We  know  by  Josephiis's  last  Jewish  chronoiog)-,  Antiq.  B.  xx.  cii.  x.  that  iliere  was 
an  inlerval  of  seven  j-ears  between  tlie  death  of  Alciinus  or  Jacinius,  tlie  last  lii(;h  priest,  and  the  real 
hia,h  priesthood  of  Jonathan,  to  whom  yet  those  seven  years  seoni  here  to  be  ascribed,  as  a  part  of  thcni 
were  to  Judas  buibre,  Antiq.  B.  xii.  cliap.  x.  sect.  6.  Now  since,  besides  these  seven  years  inlnre^nutn 
in  the  pontificate,  we  are  told,  Antiq.  B.  xx.  ch.  x.  that  Jonathan's  real  hish  priesthood  lasted  seven  years 
more,  these  two  seven  years  will  make  up  fourteen  years,  which  I  suppose  was  Josephus's  own  number 
in  this  place,  instead  of  the  four  in  our  present  copies. 

j  These  170  years  of  the  Assyrians  mean  no  more,  as  Josephus  explains  himself  here,  than  from  the 
Uiva  of  Seleucus,  which  as  it  is  known  to  have  begun  on  the  312th  year  before  the  Christian  xra,  from  its 
S])ringin  the  first  book  of  Maccal'ees,  and  from  its  autumn  in  the  second  book  of  Maccabees,  so  diil  it 
not  begin  at  Babylon  till  the  next  spring  on  the  SUtli  year.  .See  I'rid.  at  the  year  31  J.  And  it  is  truly 
observed  by  Dr.  Hudson  on  iliis  place,  that  the  Syrians  and  Assyrians  are  sometimes  confounded  in  an- 
cient authors,  according  to  the  nordsof  Justin  the  epitomizer  of  TrognsTompcius,  who  says,  "That  the 
Assyrians  were  afterwards  called  Syrians."  B.  I.  ch.  xi.  See  Of  the  War,  B.  v.  ch.  ix.  sect.  4.  whero 
tlic  Philistines  themselves,  at  the  very  south  limit  of  Syria,  in  its  utmost  extent,  arc  called  Assyrians  bj 
Josephus,  a;  Spanheini  observes. 


446  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS'.  B.  XIII." 

temple  might  be  higher  than  it.  And  indeed,  when  he  had  called  the  multitude 
to  an  assembly,  he  persuaded  them  to  have  it  so  demolished,  and  this  by  putting 
them  in  mind  what  miseries  they  had  suffered  by  its  garrison,  and  the  Jewish 
deserters,  and  what  miseries  they  might  hereafter  suffer  in  case  any  foreigner 
should  obtain  the  kingdom,  and  put  a  garrison  into  that  citadel.  This  speech 
induced  the  multitude  to  a  compliance,  because  he  exhorted  them  to  do  nothing 
but  what  was  for  their  own  good  ;  so  they  all  set  themselves  to  work,  and  leveled 
the  mountain,  and  in  that  work  spent  both  day  and  night  without  any  intermis- 
sion,  which  cost  them  three  whole  years  before  it  was  removed,  and  brought  to 
an  entire  level  with  the  plain  of  the  rest  of  the  city.  After  which  the  temple 
was  the  highest  of  all  the  buildings,  now  the  citadel,  as  well  as  the  mountain 
whereon  it  stood,  were  demolished.  And  these  actions  were  thus  performed 
under  Simon. 


CHAP.  VII. 

How  Simon  confederated  Mmself  with  Antiochus  Pius,  and  made  war  against  Trypho  ; 

and  a  little  afterward  against  Cendebeus,  the  General  of  Antiochus' s 

Army  :  as  also  how  Simon  was  murdered  by  his  Son-in-law 

Ptolemy,  and  that  by  Treachery. 

§  1.*  Now  a  little  while  after  Demetrius  had  been  carried  into  captivity,  Trypho 
his  governor  destroyed  Antiochus,  the  son  of  Alexander,f  who  was  called  the 
God,X  and  this  when  he  had  reigned  four  years,  though  he  gave  it  out  that  he 
died  under  the  hands  of  the  surgeons.  He  then  sent  his  friends,  and  those  that 
were  most  intimate  with  him,  to  the  soldiers  ;  and  promised  that  he  would  give 
them  a  great  deal  of  money  if  they  would  make  him  king.  He  intimated  to  them 
that  Demetrius  was  made  a  captive  by  the  Parthians :  and  that  Demetrius's  bro- 
ther Antiochus,  if  he  came  to  be  king,  would  do  them  a  great  deal  of  mischief, 
in  way  of  I'evenge  for  their  revolting  from  his  brother.  So  the  soldiers,  in  ex- 
pectation of  the  wealth  they  should  get  by  bestowing  the  kingdom  on  Trypho, 
made  him  their  ruler.  However,  when  Trypho  had  gained  the  management  of 
affairs,  he  demonstrated  his  disposition  to  be  wicked  ;  for  while  he  was  a  private 
person,  he  cultivated  a  familiarity  with  the  multitude,  and   pretended  to  great 

*  It  must  here  be  diligently  noted,  that  Josephus'scopy  of  the  first  book  of  Maccabees,  which  he  had 
so  carefully  followed,  and  faithfully  abridged  as  far  as  the  50th  verse  of  the  twelfth  chapter,  seems  there 
to  have  ended.  What  few  things  there  are  afterward  common  to  both,  might  probably  be  learned  by  him 
from  some  other  more  imperfect  records.  However,  we  must  exactly  observe  here,  what  the  remaining 
part  of  that  book  of  the  Maccabees  informs  us  of,  and  what  Josephus  would  never  have  omitted,  had  his 
copy  contained  so  much,  that  this  .Simon  the  Great,  the  Maccabee,  made  a  league  with  Antiochus  Soter, 
the  son  of  Demetrius  Soter,  and  brother  of  the  other  Demetrius,  who  was  now  a  captive  in  Parthia,  tiiat 
upon  his  coming  to  the  crown,  about  the  140lh  year  before  the  Christian  a;ra,  he  granted  great  privileges 
to  the  Jewish  nation,  and  to  Simon  their  high  priest  and  ethnarch,  which  privileges  Simon  seems  to  have 
taken  of  his  own  accord,  about  three  years  before.  In  particular  he  gave  him  leave  to  coin  money  for 
bis  country,  with  his  own  stamp  :  and  as  concernit>g  Jerusalem,  and  the  sanctuary,  that  they  should  be 
free,  or  as  the  vulgar  Latin  hath  it,  holy  and  free,  1  Maccab.  xv.  6,  7,  which  I  take  to  be  the  truer  read- 
ing, as  being  the  very  words  of  his  father's  concession  offered  to  Jonathan  several  years  before,  ch.  x.  31, 
and  Antiq.  B.  xiii.  ch.  ii.  sect.  3.  Now  what  makes  this  date,  and  these  grants,  greatly  remarkable,  is 
the  state  of  the  remaining  genuine  shekels  of  the  Jews  with  Samaritan  characters,  which  seem  to  have 
been,  most  of  them  at  least,  coined  in  tlie  four  first  years  of  this  Simon  the  Asamonean,  and  having  upon 
them  these  words  on  the  one  side,  Jemscdfiii  the  holy,  and  on  tlie  reverse,  In  ike  year  of  freedom,  1,  or  2, 
or  3,  or  4,  which  shekels  therefore  arc  original  monuments  of  these  times,  and  undeniable  marks  of  the 
truth  of  the  history  in  these  cliapters,  though  it  be  in  a  great  measure  omitted  by  Josephus.  See  Essay  on 
the  Old  Test.  p.  157,  158.  The  reason  why  I  ratlier  suppose  tliat  his  copy  of  the  Maccabees  wanted 
these  chapters,  thantliat  his  own  copies  are  here  imperfect,  is  this,  that  aJl  their  contents  are  not  here 
omitted,  though  much  the  greatest  part  be. 

f  How  Tryphokilled  this  Antiochus,  the  epitome  of  Livy  informs  us,  chap.  53,  viz.  that  he  corrupted 
his  physicians  or  surgeons,  who  falsely  pretending  to  the  people  that  he  was  perishing  with  the  stone,  as 
they  cut  him  for  it,  killed  him,  which  exactly  agrees  with  Josephus. 

}  That  this  Antiochus  the  son  of  Alexander  Balas,  was  called  the  God,  is  evident  from  his  coins,  which 
Spanheim  assures  us  bear  this  inscription,  King  .Antiochus  the  God,  Ei>iphanes  the  Victorious. 


C.  Vn.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  447 

moderation,  and  so  drew  them  on  artfully  to  whatsoever  he  pleased  ;  but  when 
he  had  once  taken  the  kingdom,  he  laid  aside  any  further  dissimulation,  and  was 
true  Tri/pho,  which  behaviour  made  his  enemies  superior  to  him  ;  for  the  sol- 
diery hated  him,  and  revolted  from  him  to  Cleopatra,  the  wife  of  Demetrius,  who 
was  then  shut  up  in  Scleucia  with  her  children.  But  as  Antiochus,  the  brother 
of  Demetrius,  who  was  called  Soter,  was  not  admitted  by  any  of  the  cities  on 
account  of  Trypho,  Cleopatra  sent  to  him,  and  invited  him  to  marry  her,  and  to 
take  the  kingdom.  The  reasons  why  she  made  this  invitation  were  these  ;  that 
her  friends  persuaded  her  to  it,  and  that  she  was  afraid  for  herself,  in  case  some 
of  the  people  of  Seleucia  should  deliver  up  the  city  to  Trypho. 

2.  As  Antiochus  was  now  come  to  Seleucia,  and  his  forces  increased  every 
day,  he  marched  to  fight  Trypho ;  and  having  beaten  him  in  the  battle,  he  ejected 

•him  out  of  the  Upper  Syria  into  Phcenicia,  and  pursued  him  thither,  and  besieged 
him  in  Dora,  which  was  a  fortress  hard  to  be  taken,  whither  he  had  fled.  He  also 
sent  ambassadors  to  Simon  the  Jewish  high  priest,  about  a  league  of  friendship 
and  mutual  assistance  :  who  readily  accepted  of  the  invitation,  and  sent  to  An- 
tiochus great  sums  of  money,  and  provisions,  for  those  that  besieged  Dora,  and 
thereby  supplied  them  very  plentifully,  so  that  for  a  little  while  he  was  looked  upon 
as  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends ;  but  still  Trypho  fled  from  Dora  to  Apamia, 
where  he  was  taken  during  the  siege,  and  put  to  death  when  he  had  reigned 
three  years. 

3.  However  Antiochus  forgot  the  kind  assistance  that  Simon  had  afforded  him 
in  his  necessity,  by  reason  of  his  covetous  and  wicked  disposition,  and  committed 
an  army  of  soldiers  to  his  friend  Cendebeus,  and  set  him  at  once  to  ravage  Judea, 
and  to  seize  Simon.  When  Simon  heard  of  Antiochus's  breaking  his  league 
with  him,  although  he  were  now  in  years,  yet  provoked  with  the  unjust  treatment 
he  had  met  with  from  Antiochus,  and  taking  a  resolution  brisker  than  his  age 
could  well  bear,  he  went  like  a  young  man  to  act  as  general  of  his  army.  He 
also  sent  his  sons  before  among  the  most  hardy  of  his  soldiers,  and  he  himself 
marched  on  with  his  army  another  way,  and  laid  many  of  his  men  in  ambushes 
in  the  narrow  valley  between  the  mountains ;  nor  did  he  fail  of  success  in  any 
of  his  attempts,  but  was  too  hard  for  his  enemies  in  every  one  of  them.  So  he 
ied  the  rest  of  his  life  in  peace,  and  did  also  himself  make  a  league  with  the 
Romans. 

4.  Now  he  was  the  ruler  of  the  Jews  in  all  eight  years  ;  but  at  a  feast  came 
to  his  end.  It  was  caused  by  the  treachery  of  his  son-in-law  Ptolemy;  who 
caught  also  his  Avife,  and  two  of  his  sons,  and  kept  them  in  bonds.  He  also  sent 
some  to  kill  John  the  third  son,  whose  name  was  llijrcanm ;  but  the  young  man 
perceiving  them  coming,  he*  avoided  the  danger  he  was  in  from  them,  and  made 
haste  into  the  city  [Jerusalem,]  as  relying  on  the  good  will  of  the  multitude,  be 
cause  of  the  benefits  they  had  received  from  his  father,  and  because  of  the  hatred 
the  same  multitude  bare  to  Ptolemy,  so  that  when  Ptoh'iny  was  endeavouring  to 
enter  the  city  by  another  gate,  they  drove  him  away,  as  having  already  admitted 
of  Hyrcanus. 

*  Here  Josepliiis  begins  to  follow  and  to  abridge  tbe  next  sacred  Hebrew  book,  styled,  in  the  end  of  me 
first  book  of  Maccabeus,  The  Chronicles  of  John  [  fIi/rcanits\-<]  hii^li  priesthood,  but  in  some  of  the  Creek 
copies,  {he  fourth  book  of  Maccabeus.  A  (ireck  version  of  this  cbronicic  was  extant  not  very  l<)Mgas;o  in 
the  days  of  Santas  Fagninus,  and  SixtusSencnsis,  at  Lyons,  lliougli  it  seems  to  have  been  tlicre  burnt,  and 
to  be  now  utterly  lost.  See  Sixtus  Senensis's  account  of  it,  of  its  many  Hebraisms,  and  its  great  agree- 
ment with  Josephus's  abridgment,  in  the  Autheut.  liec.  pail  i.  p.  206,  "207,  208. 


448  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIII. 


CHAP.  VIII. 

Hyrcanus  receives  the  High  Priesthood,  and  ejects  Pt6le7ny  out  of  the  Countr  . 

Antiochus  makes  War  against  Hyrcanus,  and  afterwards  makes  a 

League  with  him. 

§  1.  So  Ptolemy  retired  to  one  of  the  fortresses  that  was  above  Jericho,  which 
was  called  Dagon:  but  Hyrcanus  having  taken  the  priesthood  that  had  been  his 
father's  before,  and  in  the  first  place  pi'opitiated  God  by  sacrifices,  he  then  made 
an  expedition  against  Ptolemy  :  and  when  he  made  his  attacks  upon  the  place, 
in  other  points  he  was  too  hard  for  him,  but  was  rendered  weaker  than  he,  by  the 
commiseration  he  had  for  his  mother  and  brethren,  and  by  that  only ;  for  Ptolemy  ^ 
brought  them  upon  the  wall,  and  tormented  them  in" the  sight  of  all,  and  threa- 
tened that  he  would  throw  them  down  headlong,  unless  Hyrcanus  would  leave  oft" 
the  siege.  And  as  he  thought  that  so  far  as  he  relaxed  as  to  the  siege  and  taking 
of  the  place,  so  much  favour  did  he  show  to  those  that  were  dearest  to  him  by 
preventing  their  misery;  his  zeal  about  it  was  cooled.  However  his  mother 
spread  out  her  hands,  and  begged  of  him  that  he  would  not  grow  remiss  on  her 
account,  but  indulge  his  indignation  so  much  the  more,  and  that  he  would  do  his 
utmost  to  take  the  place  quickly,  in  order  to  get  the  enemy  under  his  power,  and 
then  to  avenge  upon  him  what  he  had  done  to  those  that  were  dearest  to  him- 
self; for  that  death  would  be  to  her  sweet,  though  with  torment,  if  that  enemy  of 
theirs  might  be  brought  to  punishment  for  his  wicked  dealings  to  them.  Now 
when  his  mother  said  so,  he  resolved  to  take  the  fortress  immediately ;  but  when 
he  saw  her  beaten  and  torn  to  pieces,  his  courage  failed  him,  and  he  could  not 
but  sympathize  with  what  his  mother  sufl^ered,  and  was  thereby  overcome.  And 
as  the  siege  was  drawn  out  into  length  by  this  means,  that  year  on  which  the 
Jews  used  to  rest  came  on,  for  the  Jews  observe  this  rest  eveiy  seventh  year,  as 
they  do  every  seventh  day ;  so  that  Ptolemy  being*  for  this  cause  relcjased  from 
the  war,  he  slew  the  brethren  of  Hyrcanus,  and  his  mother  :  and  when  he  had  so 
done,  he  fled  to  Zeno,  who  was  called  Cotylais,  Avho  was  then  the  tyrant  of  the 
city  Philadelphia. 

2.  But  Antiochus  being  very  uneasy  at  the  miseries  that  Simon  had  brought 
upon  him,  he  invaded  Judea  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign,  and  the  first  year  of 
the  principality  of  Hyrcanus,  in  the  hundred  and  sixty-second  olympiad. f  And 
vrhen  he  had  burnt  the  country,  he  shut  up  Hyrcanus  in  the  city,  which  he  en-  ■ 
compar.sed  round  with  seven  encampments,  but  did  just  nothing  at  first,  because 
of  the  strength  of  the  walls,  and  because  of  the  valour  of  the  besieged,  although 
they  were  once  in  want  of  water,  which  yet  they  were  delivered  from  by  a  large 
shower  of  rain,  which  fell  at  the  setting  of  the  Pleiades.:}:     However,  about  the 

*  Hence  wc  learn,  tliat  in  ihe  flays  of  this  excellent  high  priest  John  Hyrcanus,  the  observation  of  the 
Sabbaiic  year,  as  Josepljiis  sii])posc(l,  required  a  rest  from  ivar,  as  did  that  of  the  vccliy  Sabbath  from 
vcirk.  1  mean  this,  unless  in  the  case  of  necessity,  when  the  Jews  were  attacked  by  their  enemies,  in 
which  case  indeed,  and  in  which  alone,  they  then  allowed  defensive  fighting  to  be  lawful  even  on  the 
Sabl)atli  day,  as  we  see  in  several  places  of  Josephus,  Antiq.  B.  xii.  ch.  vi.  sect.  2  ;  B.  xiii.  ch.  i.  sect.  3: 
Of  the  War,  B.  i.  ch.  vii.  sect.  3.  But  then  it  must  be  noted,  that  this  rest  from  war  no  way  appears  in 
ilie  first  book  of  Maccabees,  ch.  xvi.  but  the  direct  contrary  ;  though  indeed  the  Jews,  in  the  days  of  An- 
tiochus Epiphanes,  did  not  venture  upon  fighting  on  the  Sal)bath  day.  even  in  the  defence  of  their  own 
lives,  till  the  Asamoneans  or  Maccabees  decreed  so  to  do,  1  Mao.  ii.  32 — 41  ;  Antiq.  B.  xii.  ch.  vi.  sect.  2. 

t  Josephus's  copies,  both  Greek  and  Latin,  have  here  a  gross  mistake,  when  they  say,  tliat  this  first 
year  of  John  Hyrcanus,  which  we  have  just  now  seen  to  havabeen  a  Sabbatic  year,  was  in  the  162nd 
olympiad,  whereas  it  was  for  certain  the  second  year  of  the*  161st.  See  the  like  before,  B.  xii.  ch.  vii. 
sect.  6. 

\  This  helical  setting  of  the  Pleiades,  or  seven  stars,  was  in  the  days  of  Hyrcanus  and  Josephus,  early 
in  tlie  spring,  about  P'cbruary,  the  time  of  the  latter  rain  in  Judea  :  and  this,  so  fa'r  as  I  remember,  is  tlia 
only  astronomical  character  of  time,  besides  one  eclipse  of  the  moon  in  the  reign  of  Herod,  tiiat^ve  ineet 
with  in  all  Josephus,  the  Jews  being  little  accustomed  to  astronomical  observations,  any  farther  than  for 
the  uirs  of  ilieir  kalendar,  and  utterly  forbidden  those  astrological  uses  which  the  heathens  commonly 
made  of  theiu. 


A 


C.  Vm.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  449 

north  part  of  the  wall,  where  it  happened  the  city  was  upon  a  level  with  the  out- 
ward  ground,  the  king  raised  a  hundred  towers  of  three  stories  high,  and  placed 
bodies  of  soldiers  upon  them,  and  us  ho  made  his  attacks  every  day,  he  cut  a 
double  ditch,  deep  and  broad,  and  conlincd  the  inhabitants  wilhia  it  as  m  ithin  u 
wall :  but  the  besieged  contrived  to  make  frequent  sallies  out ;  and  if  the  enemy 
were  not  any  where  upon  their  guard,  they  fell  upon  them,  and  chd  them  a  great 
deal  of  mischief,  and  if  they  perceived  tliem,  they  then  retired  into  the  city  wilh 
ease.  But  because  Ilyrcanus  discerned  the  inconvenience  of  so  great  a  number 
of  men  in  the  city,  while  the  provisions  were  the  sooner  spent  by  them,  and  yet, 
as  is  natural  to  suppose,  those  great  numbers  did  notlung,  he  separated  the 
useless  part,  and  excluded  them  out  of  the  city,  and  retained  that  part  only  which 
were  in  the  tlower  of  their  age,  and  lit  for  war.  However,  Antiochu.-s  would  not 
let  those  that  were  excluded  go  away,  who  therelore  wandering  about  between  the 
walls,  and  consuming  away  by  famine,  died  miserably  ;  but  when  the  feast  of  ta- 
bernacles was  at  hand,  those  that  were  within  commiserated  their  condition,  and 
received  them  in  again.  And  when  Hyrcanus  sent  to  Antiochus,  and  desired 
there  might  be  a  truce  for  seven  days,  because  of  the  festival,  he  gave  way  to 
this  piety  towards  God,  and  made  that  truce  accordingly  :  and  besides  that,  he 
sent  in  a  magnificent  sacrifice,  bulls,  with  their  horns  gilded,*  with  all  sorts  of 
sweet  spices,  and  with  cups  of  gold  and  silver.  So  those  that  were  at  the  gates 
received  the  sacrifices  from  those  that  brought  them,  and  led  them  to  the  temple; 
Antiochus,  the  meanwhile,  feasting  his  army  :  Avhich  was  quite  a  different  con- 
duct  from  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  who,  when  he  had  taken  the  city,  he  oflercd 
swine  upon  the  altar,  and  sprinkled  the  temple  with  the  broth  of  their  Hesh  in  order 
to  violate  the  laws  of  the  Jews,  and  the  religion  they  derived  from  their  fore- 
fathers ;  for  which  reason  our  nation  made  war  with  him,  and  would  never  be 
reconciled  to  him.  But  for  this  Antiochus,  all  men  called  him  Antiochus  the  Pious, 
for  the  great  zeal  he  had  about  religion. 

3.  Accordingly  Hyrcanus  took  this  moderation  of  his  kindly ;  and  when  he 
understood  how  religious  he  was  towards  the  Deity,  he  sent  an  embassage  to  him, 
and  desired  that  he  would  restore  the  settlements  they  received  from  their  fore- 
fathers. So  he  rejected  the  counsel  of  those  thatf  would  have  him  utterly  de- 
stroy the  nation  by  reason  of  their  way  of  living,  which  was  to  others  unsociable, 
and  did  not  regard  what  they  said.  But  being  persuaded  that  all  they  did  was 
out  of  a  religious  mind,  he  answered  the  ambassadors.  That  if  the  besieged  would 
deliver  up  their  arms,  and  pay  tribute  for  Joppa,  and  the  other  cities  which  bor- 
dered upon  Judea,  and  admit  a  garrison  of  his,  on  these  terms,  he  would  make 
war  against  them  no  longer.  But  the  Jews,  although  they  were  content  with  the 
other  conditions,  did  not  agree  to  admit  the  garrison,  because  they  could  not  as- 
sociate with  other  people,  nor  converse  with  them  ;  yet  were  they  willing,  instead 
of  the  admission  of  the  garrison,  to  give  him  hostages,  and  five  hundred  talents 
of  silver,  of  which  they  paid  down  three  hundred,  and  sent  the  hostagf^s  immedi- 
ately, which  king  Antiochus  accepted.  One  of  those  hostages  was  Ilyrcanus's 
brother  :  but  still  he  broke  down  the  fortifications  that  encompassed  the  city  :  and 
upon  these  conditions  Antiochus  broke  up  the  siege  and  departed. 

4.  But  Hyrcanus  opened  the  sepulchre  of  David,  who  excelled  all  other  kirgs 
in  riches,  and  took  out  of  it  three  thousand  talents.  He  was  also  the  first  of  the 
Jews  that,  relying  on  his  wealth,  maintained  foreign  troops.  There  was  also  a 
league  of  friendship  and  mutual  assistance  made  between  them:  upon  which  Hyr- 
canus admitted  him  into  the  cily,  and  furnished  him  wilh  whatsoever  his  army 
wanted  in  great  plenty,  and  with  great  generosity,  and  marched  along  with  bim 

*  Dr.  Hurlson  tells  us  heie,  tlwt  this  custom  of  gilding  Ihc  horns  of  those  o.xen  that  wcie  to  Ihj  sacrifi- 
oo'l,  is  a  known  thiu:^  lioth  in  the  poets  anH  orators. 

■\  This  arcoiint  in  Josepluis,  tliat  the  present  Antiochus  was  persuaded,  tliough  in  vain,  not  ti.  niake 
peace  with  the  .Jews,  but  to  cut  tliem  off  utterly,  is  fully  confirmed  hy  Diodorus  ijiculas,  in  i'holius's  ex- 
tracts out  of  Ins  ;ilth  Book. 

Vol..  I.  3L 


450  AXTIQL^riES  OF  THE  JEWS.  E.  Xnj, 

■jv'hcn  he  mado  an  expedition  against  the  Pjirthians  ;  of  which  Nicolans  of  Da:- 
nascus  is  a  witness  lor  us  ;  wlio  in  his  history  -writes  thus  :  "  When  Antiochus 
had  erected  a  trophy  at  the  river  Lycus,  upon  his  conquest  of  Indates,  the  gene- 
T.alofthe  Partliians,  he  stayed  there  two  days.  It  was  at  the  desire  ofHyrcanus 
the  Jew,  because  it  was  such  a  festival  derived  to  them  from  their  forefathers,, 
vhereon  the  law  of  the  Jews  did  not  allow  them  to  travel."  And  truly  he  did 
not  speak  falsely  in  saying  so  ;  for  that  festival,  which  we  call  Pentecost,  did  then 
fall  out  to  be  the  next  day  to  the  Sabbath  :  nor  is  it  lawful*  for  us  to  journey,  ei- 
ther on  the  Sabbath  day,  or  on  a  festival  day.  But  when  Anliochus  joined  battle 
with  Arsaces,  the  king  of  Parthia,  he  lost  a  great  part  of  his  army,  and  was  him- 
self slain  ;  and  his  brother  Demetrius  succeeded  in  the  kingdom  of  Syria,  by  the 
permission  of  Arsaces,  who  freed  him  from  his  captivity,  at  the  same  time  that 
Antiochus  attacked  Parthia,  as  wc  have  formerly  related  elsewhere. 


CHAP.  IX. 

How,  after  the  Death  of  Anlioclms,  Hyrcanus  made  an  Expedition  against  Syria, 

and  made  a  League  with  the  Romans.     Concerning  the  Death  of  King 

Demetrius  and  Alexander. 

§  1.  BtJT  when  Hyrcanus  heard  of  the  death  of  Antiochus,  he  presenfey  made 
an  expedition  against  the  cities  of  Syria,  hoping  to  find  them  destitute  of  fighting 
men,  and  of  such  as  were  able  to  defend  them.  Howevier,  it  was  not  till  the 
sixth  month  that  he  tookMedaba,  and  that  not  without  the  greatest  distress  of  his 
army.  After  this  he  took  Samega,  and  the  neighbouring  places  ;  and  besides 
these,  Shechem  and  Gerizzim,  and  the  nation  of  the  Cutheans,  who  dwelt  at  the 
temple  which  resembled  that  temple  which  was  at  Jerusalem,  and  which  Alexan- 
der permitted  Sanballat  the  general  of  his  army,  to  build  for  the  sake  of  Manas- 
seh,  who  was  son-in-law  to  Jaddua  the  high  priest,  as  we  have  formerly  related  ; 
which  temple  was  now  deserted  two  hundred  years  after  it  was  built.  Hyrcanus 
took  also  Dora  and  Marissa,  citiesof  Idumea,  and  subdued  all  theldumeans  ;  and 
permitted  them  to  stay  in  that  country,  if  they  would  circumcise  their  genitals, 
and  make  use  of  the  laws  of  the  Jews  ;  and  they  were  so  desirous  of  living  in  the 
country  of  their  forefathers  that  they  submitted  to  the  use  of  circumcision,f  and 
of  the  rest  of  the  Jewish  ways  of  living,  at  which  time  therefore  this  befell  them^ 
that  they  were  hereafter  no  other  than  Jews. 

2.  But  Hyrcanus  the  high  priest  was  desirous  to  renew  that  league  of  friend- 

*  The  Jews  were  not  tn  inarcli,  or  journey,  on  the  Sabliath,  or  on  such  a  great  festival  as  was  equiva- 
lent to  the  Sabbath,  any  farther  tlian  a  Sabbalk  da  if  s  journey,  or  2000  cubits.  See  the  note  on  Antiq.  B. 
XX.  ch.  viii.  sect.  6. 

f  This  account  of  the  Idunieans  admitting  circumcision,  and  the  entire  Jewish  law,  from  this  time,  or 
from  the  days  of  Hyrcanus,  isconfimicd  by  their  entire  history  afterward. — See  Antiq.  B.  xiv.  ch.  viii. 
prct.  t  ;  B.  XV.  ch.  vii.  sect.  9  :  Of  the  War,  B.  ii.  ch.  iii.  sect.  1  :  B.  iv.  ch.  iv.  sect.  5.  This,  in  the 
opinion  of  Josephus,  made  them  proselytesof  justice,  or  entire  Jews,  as  here  and  elsewhere,  Antiq  B. 
xiv.  cli.  viii.  sect.  1.  tTowcver  Antigonus,  the  cnciii}'  of  Herod,  though  Herod  were  derived  from  such 
a  proselyte  of  justice  for  several  generations,  will  allow  him  to  be  no  more  than  a  half  Jew,  B.  xiv.  ch. 
XV.  sect.  2.  But  still  take  out  of  Dean  I'rideaux,  at  the  year  120,  the  words  of  Animonius,  a  gramma- 
rian, vvliich  fully  confirms  this  account  of  the  Idumeans  in  Josephus  ;  "  The  Jews,  says  he,  are  such  by 
natiM'C,  and  from  the  beginning,  whilst  the  Idiuiieans  were  not  Jews  from  the  beginning,  but  Phoeni- 
cians and  Syrians;  Init  being  afterward  subdued  by  the  Jews,  and  compelled  to  be  circumcised,  and  to 
nniie  into  one  nation,  and  be  subject  to  the  same  laws,  were  called  ./c?;',?."  Dio  also  says,  as  the  Dean 
thi're  quotes  him  frou)  book  xxxvi.  p.  37  :  "  That  countr)'  is  called  Juilca,  and  the  people  Jars,  and  this 
iKinie  \'  c'^'en  also  to  as  many  others  ns  embrace  their  religion,  thout\h  of  other  nations."  But  then  upon 
what  foundation  so  good  a  cnvenicr  as  Hyrrnnus  took  upon  him  to  comjiel  these  Idumeans  either  to  be- 
come Jews,  or  to  leave  their  country,  deserves  great  consideration.  I  suppose  it  was  becau'^e  ihev  had 
long  a^o  been  (trivcn  out  of  liie  land  of  Fldom,  and  had  seized  on  and  possessed  the  tribe  of  Simeon,  and 
all  ibo  «nuiliern  parts  nf  the  tribe  ofJudah,  which  was  the  pecidiar  inlierilance  of  the  worshiper^  of  ihc 
true  Cod  without  idolntorv,  as  the  re;ifier  may  learn  iioiu  Keland,  Palestine,  part  j.  p.  154,  SOj  ;  and 
from  Pridcaux,  at  the  years  140  and  1  jj. 


C  X-  ANTIQUmrs  OF  THE  JEWS,  45^ 

ship  <and  amity  they  had  witli  tlie  Romoiis  :  acrordingly  Im  sent  nn  cmbassafre  to 
ihem  :  and  when  the  .senate  had  received  theii-  episile,  tliey  made  a  lea<nie  of 
friendship  with  them  after  the  manner  loilowiiifr:  "Faiiiiis  the  son  of  .\!aix;iis  the 
|.ractor,  gathered  the  senate  together  on  the  eighth  day  before  tiie  ides  of  February, 
in  the  seuate-lionse,  wlien  Lucius  Maidins,  the  son  of  Lneins,  of  the  Mentine 
tribe,  and  Cains  Sempronius,  the  son  of  Cains,  of  the  Falernian  tribe,  were  pre- 
sent. The  occasion  was,  tliat  tlie  ambassadors  sent  by  the  people  of  the  Jews,* 
Siraonthe  son  ofDositheus,  and  ApoUonius,  the  son  of  Alexander,  and  Didorus, 
the  son  of  Jason,  who  were  good  and  virtuous  men,  had  somewhat  to  propose 
about  that  league  of  triendship  and  mutual  assistance  whicli  subsisted  between 
tJiem  and  the  Romans,  and  about  other  public  atlairs,  who  desired  that  Joppa  and 
the  havens,  and  Gazara  and  the  springs  [of  Jordan,]  and  the  several  other  cities 
and  countries  of  theirs  wiiich  Antiochus  had  taken  from  them  in  the  war,  contrary 
to  the  decree  of  the  senate,  might  be  restored  to  them :  and  that  it  mifdit  not  be 
lawful  for  the  king's  troops  to  pass  through  their  country,  and  the  countries  of  those 
that  are  subject  to  them :  and  that  what  attempts  Antiochus  then  made  during  that 
war,  without  the  decree  of  the  senate,  might  be  made  void  :  and  that  tiiey  would 
send  ambassadors,  who  should  take  care  that  restitution  be  made  them  of  what 
Antiochus  had  taken  from  them,  and  that  they  should  make  an  estimate  of  the 
country  that  had  been  laid  waste  in  that  war ;  and  that  they  would  grant  them 
letters  of  protection  to  the  kings  and  I'ree  people,  in  order  to  their  (juiet  return 
home.  It  was  therefore  decreed,  as  to  these  points,  to  renew  their  league  of 
friendship  and  mutual  assistance  with  these  good  men,  and  who  were  sent  by  a 
good  and  a  friendly  people."  But  that  as  to  the  letters  desired,  their  answer  was, 
that  the  senate  would  consult  about  that  matter,  when  their  own  afi'airs  would 
give  them  leave,  and  that  they  would  endeavour  for  the  time  to  come,  that  no 
like  injury  should  be  done  them  ;  and  that  their  praetor  Fanius  should  give  them 
money  out  of  the  public  treasury  to  bear  their  expenses  home-  And  thus  did  Fa- 
nius dismiss  the  Jewish  ambassadors,  and  gave  them  money  out  of  the  public 
treasury :  and  gave  the  decree  of  the  senate  to  those  that  were  to  conduct  them, 
and  to  take  care  that  they  should  return  home  in  safety. 

3.  And  thus  stood  the  affairs  of  Hyrcanus  the  high  priest.  But  as  for  king 
Demetrius,  who  had  a  mind  to  make  war  against  Hyrcanus,  there  was  no  op- 
portunity nor  room  for  it,  while  both  the  Syrians  and  the  soldiers  bare  ill  will  to 
him,  because  he  was  an  ill  man.  But  wlien  they  had  sent  ambassadors  to  Pto- 
lemy, who  was  called  Physcon,  that  he  would  send  them  one  of  the  family  of 
Seleucus,  in  order  to  take  the  kingdom,  and  he  had  sent  them  Alexander,  who 
was  called  Zebina,  Avith  an  army,  and  there  had  been  a  battle  between  them, 
Demetrius  was  beaten  in  the  fight,  and  fled  to  Cleopatra  his  wife,  to  Ptolemais  ; 
but  his  wife  would  not  receive  him.  He  went  thence  to  Tyre,  and  was  there 
caught,  and  when  he  had  sufiered  mucii  from  his  enemies  before  his  death,  he 
was  slain  by  tiiem.  So  Alexander  took  the  kingdom,  and  made  a  league  with 
Hyrcanus,  who  yet,  when  he  afterward  fougiit  with  Antiochus  the  son  of  Deme. 
trius,  who  was  called  Grypus,  was  also  beaten  in  the  fight,  and  slain. 


CHAP.  X. 

How,  upon  the  Quarrel  heticcen  Antiochus  Grypus  and  Antiochus  Ci/:icenus,  about 

tJie  Kingdom,  Ili/rcanus  tonic  Samaria,  and  ullcrli/  dnmlishcd  it ;  and 

how  Hyrcanus  joined  himself  to  the  Sect  of  the  Sadducees,  and 

left  that  of  the  Pharisees. 

§  1.  When  Antiochus  had  taken  the  kingdom,  he  was  afraid  to   maJio  war 

"  In  this  decree  of  tlie  Roman  sRnatc,  it  seems  tlint  these  aml)as?a(lors  were  sent  from  the' people  <iftb£^ 
Jews,  as  well  as  from  their  prince  or  liigh  priest  John  J/ijrcanus. 
3  L  2 


452  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIII. 

against  Judca,  because  he  hoard  that  his  brother  by  the  same  inother,  who  was 
also  called  Antiochus,  was  raising  an  army  against  him  out  of  Cyzicum  ;  so  ho 
staid  in  his  own  land,  and  resolved  to  prepare  himself  tor  the  attack  he  expected 
from  his  brother,  who  was  called  Cyzicenus,  because  he  had  been  brought  up 
in  that  city.  He  was  the  son  of  Antiochus  that  was  called  Soter,  who  died  iu 
Portia.  He  was  the  brother  of  Demetrius,  the  father  of  Giypus,  for  it  so  hap- 
pened, that  one  and  the  same  Cleopatra  was  married  to  two,  who  were  brethren, 
as  we  have  related  elsewhere.  But  Antiochus  Cyzicenus  coming  into  Syria, 
continued  many  years  at  war  with  his  brother.  Now  Hyrcanus  lived  all  this 
while  in  peace  ;  for,  after  the  death  of  Antiochus,  he  revolted  from  the  Mace- 
donians,*  nor  did  he  any  longer  pay  them  the  least  regard,  either  as  their  sub- 
ject or  their  friend  ;  but  his  ati'airs  were  in  a  very  improving  and  flourishing  con- 
dition in  the  times  of  Alexander  Zcbina,  and  especially  under  these  brethren  ; 
for  the  war  which  they  had  with  one  another  gave  Hyrcanus  the  opportunity  of 
enjoying  himself  in  Judea  quietly,  insomuch  that  he  got  an  immense  quantity  of 
money.  However  when  Antiochus  Cyzicenus  distressed  his  land,  he  then  openly 
showed  what  he  meant.  And  when  he  saw  that  Antiochus  was  destitute  of 
Egyptian  auxiliaries,  and  that  both  he  and  his  brother  were  in  an  ill  condition 
in  the  struggles  they  had  one  with  another,  he  despised  them  both. 

2.  So  he  made  an  expedition  against  Samaria,  which  was  a  very  strong  city; 
of  whose  present  name  Sebastc,  and  its  rebuilding  by  Herod,  we  shall  speak  at  a 
proper  time  ;  but  he  made  his  attack  against  it,  and  besieged  it  with  a  great  deal 
of  pains ;  for  he  was  greatly  displeased  with  the  Samaritans  for  the  injuries  they 
had  done  to  the  people  of  Merissa,  a  colony  of  the  Jews,  and  confederate  with 
them,  and  this  in  compliance  to  the  kings  of  Syria.  When  he  had  therefore  drawn 
a  ditch,  and  built  a  double  wall  round  the  city,  which  were  fourscore  furlongs 
long,  he  set  his  sons  Antigonus  and  Aristobulus  over  the  siege,  which  brought  the 
Samaritans  to  that  great  distress  by  famine,  that  they  were  forced  to  eat  what 
used  not  to  be  eaten,  and  to  call  for  Antiochus  Cyzicenus  to  help  them,  who  came 
readily  to  their  assistance,  but  was  beaten  by  Aristobulus,  and  when  he  was  pur- 
sued  so  far  as  Scythopolis  by  the  two  brethren,  he  got  away.  So  they  returned 
to  Samaria,  and  shut  them  again  within  the  wall,  till  they  were  forced  to  send  for 
the  same  Antiochus  a  second  time  to  help  them,  who  procured  about  six  thousand 
men  from  Ptolemy  Lathyrus,  which  were  sent  them  without  his  mother's  con- 
sent,  who  had  then  in  a  manner  turned  him  out  of  his  government.  With  these 
Egyptians  Antiochus  did  at  first  overrun  and  ravage  the  country  of  Hyrcanus, 
after  the  manner  of  a  robber,  for  he  durst  not  meet  him  in  the  face  to  fight  wilii 
him,  as  not  having  an  army  sufficient  for  that  purpose,  but  only  from  this  sup- 
posal,  that  by  thus  harassing  his  land,  he  should  force  Hyrcanus  to  raise  the  siege 
of  Samaria;  but  because  he  fell  into  snares,  and  lost  many  of  his  soldiers  therein, 
lie  went  away  to  Tripoli,  and  committed  the  prosecution  of  the  war  against  the 
Jews  to  Callimander  and  Epicrates. 

3.  But  as  to  Callimander,  he  attacked  the  enemy  too  rashly,  and  was  put  to 
flight,  and  destroyed  immediately ;  and  as  to  Epicrates,  he  was  such  a  lover  of 
money  that  he  openly  betrayed  Scythopolis,  andother  places  near  it,  to  the  Jews, 
but  was  not  able  to  make  them  raise  the  siege  of  Samaria.  And  when  Hyrcanus 
had  taken  that  city,  which  was  not  done  till  after  a  year's  siege,  he  was  not  con- 
tented with  doing  that  only,  but  he  demolished  it  entirely,  and  brought  rivulets 
to  it  to  drown  it;  for  he  dug  such  hollows  as  might  let  the  water  run  under  it : 
nay,  he  took  away  the  very  marks  that  there  had  ever  been  such  a  city  tlicre. 
Now  a  very  surprising  thing  is  related  of  this  high  priest  Hyrcanus,  how  God 
came  to  discourse  with  him  ;  for  they  say,  that  on  the  very  same  day  on  which 
his  sons  fought  with  Antiochus  Cyzicenus,  he  was  alone  in  the  temple,  as  high 

*  Dean  Prideaux  takes  notice  at  the  year  130,  tliat  Justin,  in  agreement  vvitli  Josephiis,  sajs,  "  Tlie 
power  of  (he  Jews  was  now  grown  so  great  tliat  after  this  Antiochus  iliey  would  not  bear  any  Macedonian 
king  over  them,  and  lliai  they  set  up  a  governiiicnt  of  their  own,  and  infested  Syria  willi  great  svars." 


C.  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  453 

priest,  offering  incense,  and  heard  a  voice,  that  "his  sons  had  just  then  over- 
come  Antioclms."  Ami  this  he  openly  declared  before  all  the  iniiititudo  upon  his 
coming  out  of  the  temple ;  and  it  accordingly  proved  true.  And  in  this  pcjsture 
were  the  affairs  of  Hyrcanus. 

4.  Now  it  happened  at  this  time,  that  not  only  those  Jews  v\ho  were  at  Jcru- 
salem  and  in  Judea  were  in  prosperity,  but  also  those  of  them  that  were  at  Alex- 
andria,  and  in  Egypt  and  Cyprus,  for  Cleopatra  the  queen  was  at  variance  with 
her  son  Ptolemy,  who  was  called  Lathyrus,  and  appointed  for  her  generals  Chei- 
cias,  and  Ananias,  the  sons  of  that  Onias  who  built  the  temple  in  the  preleclure 
of  Heliopolis,  like  to  that  at  Jerusalem,  as  we  have  elsewhere  related.  Cleopatra 
intrusted  these  men  with  her  army ;  and  did  nothing  without  their  advice,  as  Strabo 
of  Cappadocia  attests,  wlien  he  saith  thus:  "  Now  the  greater  i)arf,  both  those 
that  came  to  Cyprus  with  us,  and  those  that  were  sent  afterward  thither,  revolted 
to  Ptolemy  immediately ;  only  those  that  were  called  Onias's  party,  being  Jews, 
continued  faithful,  because  their  countrymen  Chelcias  and  Ananias  were  in  chief 
favour  with  the  queen."     These  are  the  words  of  Strabo. 

5.  However  this  prosperous  state  of  affairs  moved  the  Jews  to  envy  Hyrcanus ; 
but  they  that  were  the  worst  disposed  to  him  were  the  Pharisees,*  who  are  one  of 
the  sects  of  the  Jews,  as  we  have  informed  you  already.  These  have  so  great  a 
power  over  the  multitude,  that  when  they  say  any  thing  against  the  king,  or 
against  the  high  priest,  they  arc  presently  believed.  Now  Hyrcanus  was  a  dis- 
ciple  of  theirs,  and  greatly  beloved  by  them.  And  when  he  once  invited  them 
to  a  feast,  and  entertained  them  very  kindly,  when  he  saw  them  in  a  good  humour, 
he  began  to  say  to  them,  that  "  they  knew  he  was  desirous  to  be  a  righteous 
man,  and  to  do  all  things  whereby  he  might  please  God,  which  was  the  profes- 
sion of  the  Pharisees  also.  However,  he  desired,  that  if  they  observed  him  of- 
fending in  any  point,  and  going  out  of  the  right  way,  they  would  call  him  back 
and  correct  him."  On  which  occasion  they  attested  to  his  being  entirely  virtuous ; 
with  which  commendation  he  was  well  pleased.  But  still  tliere  was  one  of  his 
guests  there,  whose  name  was  Eleazar,!  a  man  of  an  ill  temper,  and  delighting 
in  seditious  practices.  This  man  said,  "  Since  thou  desirest  to  know  the  truth, 
if  thou  wilt  be  righteous  in  earnest,  lay  down  the  high  priesthood,  and  content 
thyself  with  the  civil  government  of  the  people."  And  when  he  desired  to  know 
for  what  cause  he  ouglit  to  lay  down  tlie  high  priesthood  ?  the  other  replied, 
"  We  have  heard  it  from  old  men,  tliat  thy  mother  had  been  a  captive  under  the 
reign  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes."  This  story  was  talse,  and  Hyrcanus  was  pro- 
voked against  him;  and  all  the  Pharisees  had  a  very  great  indignation  against 
him. 

6.  Now  there  was  one  Jonathan,  a  very  great  friend  of  Hyrcanus's,  but  of  the 
sect  of  the  Sadducees,  whose  notions  are  quite  contrary  to  those  of  the  Pharisees. 
He  told  Hyrcanus,  that  "Eleazar  had  cast  such  a  reproach  upon  him  according 
to  the  common  sentiments  of  all  the  Pharisees;  and  that  this  would  be  made  ma- 
nifest  if  he  would  but  ask  them  the  question,  what  punishment  they  thought  this 
man  deserved?  for  that  he  might  depend  upon  it,  that  the  reproach  was  not  laid 
on  him  with  their  approbation,  if  they  were  for  punishing  hhn  as  his  crime  descr- 

*  The  original  of  the  Sadducees,  as  a  considerable  party  amon?  the  Jews,  being  contained  in  this  anri 
tne  two  foUnwiii;;  sections,  take  Dean  Pridcaux's  note  upon  this  their  first  public  appearance,  which  I 
suppose  to  he  tnic:  "  Hyrcanus,"  says  he,  "  went  o\'er  to  the  party  of  the  .Saddurees,  that  is  by  embra- 
cing tiieir  doctrine  against  tlic  traditions  of  the  elders,  added  to  the  written  law,  and  made  of  equal  au- 
thority with  it,  but  not  their  doctrine  agains^t  tlie  resurrection  and  a  future  state,  for  this  cannot  be  sup- 
posed of  so  good  and  ri£;liteous  a  man  as  John  Hyrcanus  is  said  to  be.  It  is  mnst  probable,  that  at  this 
time  tiie  Sadducees  liad  gone  no  farther  in  their  doctrines  of  that  sect  tiian  to  deny  all  their  unwritten 
traditions,  which  the  Pharisees  were  so  fond  of ;  for  Josephus  mentions  no  other  difference  at  this  time 
lietween  them  :  neither  doe*  he  say  that  Hyrcanus  went  over  to  the  Sadducees  in  any  other  particular 
than  in  the  abolishing  of  all  tlie  traditionary  constitutions  of  the  Pharisees,  which  our  Saviour  condem- 
ned as  well  as  they-"     [At  the  year  108.] 

f  This  slander,  that  arose  troin  a  Pharisee,  has  I)een  preserved  by  their  successors  the  Rabins  to  these 
latter  ages,  for  Dr.  Hudson  assuresus,  that  David  (lantz,  in  his  ciironology  S.  Fr.  p.  77,  in  Vorstius'  yer- 
sioji,  relates  tliat  Hyrcanus's  niotlier  was  taken  captive  in  MountModinlii.    Sec  ch.  xii.  sect.  5. 


454  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  Xllf. 

vcd."  So  tl)e  PJinrisces  made  answer,  that  "lie  deserved  stripes  and  bonds,  but 
(hat  it  did  not  seem  right  to  punish  reproaclies  with  death."  And  indeed  tho 
Pliarisecs,  even  upon  other  occasions,  are  not  apt  to  be  severe  in  punishments. 
At  this  gentle  sentence  llyrcanus  was  very  angry,  and  thought  that  this  man  re- 
proached him  by  their  approbation.  It  was  this  Jonathan  who  chiefly  irritated 
him,  and  influenced  him  so  tar  that  he  made  him  leave  the  party  of  the  Pharisees, 
and  abohsii  the  decrees  they  b.ad  imposed  on  the  people,  and  to  punish  those  that 
observed  them.  From  this  source  arose  that  hatred  which  he  and  his  sons  met 
with  from  the  multitude  ;  but  of  these  matters  we  shall  speak  hereafter.  What  I 
would  now  explain  is  this,  that  the  Pharisees  have  delivered  to  the  people  a  great 
many  observances  by  succession  from  their  fathers,  which  are  not  written  in  the 
law  of  Moses ;  and  for  that  reason  it  is  that  the  Sadducees  reject  them,  and  say, 
tliat  v.e  are  to  esteem  those  observances  to  be  obligatory  which  are  in  the  written 
word,  but  are  not  to  observe  what  are  derived  from  the  tradition  of  our  forefathers. 
And  concerning  these  things  it  is  that  great  disputes  and  differences  have  arisen 
among  them,  while  the  Sadducees  are  able  to  persuade  none  but  the  rich,  and 
have  not  the  populace  obsequious  to  them,  but  the  Pharisees  have  the  multitude 
of  their  side.  But  about  these  two  sects,  and  that  of  the  Essenes,  I  have  treated 
accurately  in  the  second  book  of  Jewish  affairs. 

7.  But  when  Hyrcanus  had  put  an  end  to  this  sedition,  he  after  that  lived  hap- 
pily, and  administered  the  government  in  the  best  manner  for  thirty-one  years, 
and  then  died;*  leaving  behind  him  five  sons.  He  was  esteemed  by  God  worthy 
of  the  three  greatest  privileges,  the  government  of  his  nation,  the  dignity  of  the 
liigh  priesthood,  and  prophecy ;  lor  (iod  was  with  him,  and  enabled  him  to  know 
futurities :  and  to  foretell  this  in  particular,  that  as  to  his  two  eldest  sons,  he  fore- 
told that  they  would  not  long  continue  in  the  government  of  public  affairs  ;  whose 
unhappy  catastrophe  will  be  worth  our  description,  that  we  may  thence  learn 
how  very  much  they  were  inferior  to  their  father's  happiness. 


CHAP.  XH. 

HoiD  Aristohulus,  wlien  he  had  taken  the  Government,  first  of  all  put  a  Diadem  on 

his  Head,  and  was  most  barbarously  cruel  to  his  Mother  and  his  Brethren  ;  and 

how,  after  he  had  slain  Antigonus,  he  himself  died. 

§  1.  Now  when  their  father  Hyrcanus  was  dead,  the  eldest  son,  Aristohulus,  in- 
tending to  change  the  government  into  a  kingdom,  for  so  he  resolved  to  do,  first 
of  all  put  a  diadem  on  his  head,  four  hundred  eighty  one  years  and  three  months 
after  the  people  had  been  delivered  from  the  Babylonish  slavery,  and  were  retur- 
ned to  their  own  country  again.     This  Aristohulus  loved  his  next  brother  Antigo- 

*  Here  ends  the  high  priesthood  and  the  life  of  this  excellent  person  John  Hyrcanus;  and  together  with 
liim  the  lioly  theocraci/,  or  divine  government  of  the  Jewish  nation,  and  its  concomitant  oracle  by  Urim. 
IVow  follows  the  profaiw.  and  tyrannical  Jewish  »non«?r//y,  first  of  the  Asamoneans  or  Maccabees,  and 
tlien  of  Herod  the  Great,  the  Iduniean,  till  tlie  coming  of  the  Messiah.  See  the  note  on  Antiq.  B.  iii. 
ebap.  viii.  sect.  9.  Hear  Strabo's  testimony  on  this  occasion,  B.  xvi.  page  761,  762 :  "  Tliose,"  says  he, 
"  that  succeeded  Moses,  continued  for  some  time  in  earnest,  both  in  rigliteous  actions,  and  in  piety ;  but 
after  a  while,  there  were  others  that  took  upon  them  the  high  priesthood  ;  at  first  superstitious  and  af- 
terwards tyrannical  persons.  Sucli  a  prophet  was  Moses,  and  those  that  succeeded  him,  beginning  in  a 
way  not  to  bel)!aine(l,  butchanging  for  the  worse.  And  when  it  openly  appeared  that  the  government 
was  become  tyrannical,  Alexander  was  tiie  first  that  set  up  himself  for  a  king  instead  ofa  priest  ;  and  his 
Bons  were  Hyrcanus  atid  Aristohulus."  All  in  agreement  with  Jasephus,  excepting  this,  that  Slrabo  omits 
tlie  first  king  Aristobulus,  who  reigned  but  a  single  year,  seems  hardly  to  have  come  to  his  knowledge. 
Nor  indeed  does  .Aristohulus,  the  son  of  Alexander,  pretend  that  the  name  of  king  was  taken  before  his 
fatlver  Alexander  took  it  himself.  Antiq.  J?,  xiv.  chap.  iii.  sect.  2.  See  also  chap.  xii.  sect.  1,  which  fa- 
\our  Strabo  also.  And  indeed,  if  we  may  judge  froni  tlie  very  different  characters  of  the  Egyptian  Jews 
{inner  high  priests,  and  of  the  Palestine  Jews  under  kings,  in  ilie  two  next  centuries,  we  may  well  sup- 
pose, that  the  divine  Sher.linn  was  removed  into  Egypt,  and  that  the  worshipers  at  the  temple  of  Onias 
were  better  men  than  those  at  the  temple  of  Jerusalem. 


C.  XL  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  455 

nus,  and  treated  him  as  his  equal,  but  the  others  he  held  in  bonds.  He  also  cast 
his  mother  into  prison,  because  she  disputed  tlie  f;ovcnmicnt  \m\\\  him,  for  \\\r. 
canus  had  left  her  to  be  mistress  of  all.  He  also  proceeded  to  that  degree  of 
barbarity  as  to  kill  her  in  prison  with  hunrrcr ;  nay,  he  was  alienated  from  his 
brother  Antigonus  by  calumnies,  and  added  him  to  the  rest  whom  he  slew,  yet  he 
seemed  to  have  an  atiection  for  him,  and  made  him  above  the  rest  a  partner  with 
him  in  the  kingdom.  Those  caliunnies  he  at  first  did  not  give  credit  to,  partly 
because  he  loved  him,  and  so  did  not  give  heed  to  what  was  said  against  him,  and 
partly  because  he  thought  the  reproaches  were  derived  from  the  envy  of  the  re- 
laters.  But  when  Antigonus  was  once  returned  from  the  army,  and  that  feast 
was  then  at  hand  when  they  make  tabernacles  to  [the  honour  of]  (Jod,  it  hap- 
pened that  Aristobulus  was  fallen  sick,  and  that  Antigonus  went  up  most  splen- 
didly adorned,  and  with  his  soldiers  about  him  in  their  armour,  to  the  tcm|)le,  to 
celebrate  the  feast,  and  to  put  up  many  prayers  for  the  recovery  of  his  brotiier, 
when  some  wicked  persons,  who  had  a  great  mind  to  raise  a  dilference  between 
the  brethren,  made  use  of  this  opportunity  of  tlie  pompous  appearance  of  Anti- 
gonus, and  of  the  great  actions  winch  he  had  done,  and  went  to  the  king,  and 
spitefully  aggravated  the  pompous  show  of  his  at  the  feast,  and  pretended  tiiat  all 
these  circumstances  were  not  like  those  of  a  j)rivate  person ;  that  these  actions 
were  indications  of  an  adection  of  royal  authority  ;  and  that  his  coming  with  a 
strong  body  of  men  must  be  with  an  intention  to  kill  him ;  and  that  his  way  of 
reasoning  was  this,  that  it  was  a  silly  thing  in  him,  while  it  was  in  his  power  to 
reign  himself,  to  look  upon  it  as  a  great  favour  that  he  was  honoured  with  a  lower 
dignity  by  his  brother. 

2.  Aristobulus  yielded  to  these  imputations,  but  took  care  both  that  his  brother 
should  not  suspect  him,  and  that  he  himself  might  not  run  the  hazard  of  his  own 
safety;  so  he  ordered  his  guards  to  lie  in  a  certain  place  that  was  imder  gntund, 
and  dark  (he  himself  then  lying  sick  in  the  tower  which  was  called  Antonia,)  and 
he  commanded  them,  that  in  case  Antigonus  came  into  him  unarmed,  they  should 
not  touch  any  body,  but  if  armed,  they  should  kill  him ;  yet  did  he  send  to  Anti- 
gonus, and  desired  that  he  would  come  unarmed.  But  the  queen,  and  those  that 
joined  with  her  in  die  plot  against  Antigonus,  persuaded  the  messenger  to  tell  him 
the  direct  contrary:  how  his  brother  had  heard  that  he  had  made  liimself  a  huo 
suit  of  armour  for  war,  and  desired  him  to  come  to  him  in  that  armour  that  he 
might  see  how  fine  it  was.  So  Antigonus,  suspecting  no  treachery,  but  depen- 
ding on  the  good  will  of  his  brother,  came  to  Aristobulus  armed,  as  he  used  io  b»;, 
with  his  entire  armour,  in  order  to  show  it  to  him ;  but  when  he  was  come  at  a 
place  which  is  called  Strato's  Tower,  where  the  jiassage  happened  to  be  exceed, 
ing  dark,  the  guards  slew  him;  which  death  of  his  demonstrates  that  nothing  is 
stronger  than  envy  and  calumny,  and  tliat  nothing  does  more  certainly  divide  the 
good-will  and  natural  afiections  of  men  than  those  passions.  But  here  one  may 
take  occasion  to  wonder  at  one  Judas,  who  was  of  the  sect  of  the  Essencs,  and 
wiio  never  missed  the  truth  in  his  predictions  ;  for  this  man,  when  he  saw  Anti- 
gonus passing  by  the  temple,  cried  out  to  his  companions  and  friends,  who  abode 
with  him  as  Ids  scholars,  in  order  to  learn  the  art  of  fon^tcdling  tilings  to  come,* 
"  That  it  was  good  for  him  to  die  now,  since  he  had  s|K>ken  falsely  about  Aiui- 
gonns,  who  is  still  alive,  and  I  see  him  ])assing  by,  although  he  had  Ibretold  he 
should  die  at  the  place  called  Strato's  Tower,  that  very  day,  while  yet  the  i)laco 
is  six  hundred  furlongs  ofl",  where  he  had  foretcdd  he  should  be  slain  ;  and  still 
this  day  is  a  great  part  of  it  already  ])ast,  so  tiiat  he  v/as  in  danger  of  |)r<)ving  a 
false  prophet."  As  he  was  .raying  this,  and  that  in  a  melancholy  mood,  the  news 
came  that  Antigonus  was  slain  in  a  place  under  ground,   which  itself  was  also 

*  Hence  we  learn,  that  the  Esscnes  pretended  to  have  rules  wherein-  men  miRht  foretell  things  tocome, 
anil  that  this  Judas  the  F'.sscne  laii^lit  those  rules  to  his  scholars  ;  hut  whether  their  pretences  were  ofaii 
astrological  or  maj^icnl  nature,  wliirh  vet  in  such  relisious  Jews,  who  were  utterly  forbidden  such  arts,  is 
no  way  probable,  or  10  any  Bath  Col,  nnjkeu  of  liy  the  latter  Rabbins,  01  otherwise,  1  cainiot  say.  ike 
Of  the  VVar,  B.  ii.  ch.  viii.  sect.  12. 


456  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIII. 

called  Strato's  Tower,  or  of  the  same  name  with  that  Cesarea  which  is  seated  at 
the  sea.     This  event  put  the  prophet  into  a  great  disorder. 

3.  But  Aristobulus  repented  immediately  of  this  slaughter  of  his  brother  ;  on 
which  account  his  disease  increased  upon  him,  and  he  was  disturbed  in  his  mind, 
upon  the  guilt  of  such  wickedness,  insomuch  that  his  entrails  were  corrupted  by 
his  intolerable  pain,  and  he  vomited  blood  :  at  which  time  one  of  the  servants 
that  attended  upon  him,  and  was  carrying  his  blood  away,  did  by  divine  provi- 
dence, as  I  cannot  but  suppose,  slip  down,  and  shed  part  of  his  blood  at  the  very 
place  where  there  were  spots  of  Antigonus's  blood,  there  slain,  still  remaining; 
and  when  there  was  a  cry  made  by  the  spectators,  as  if  the  servant  had  on  pur- 
pose shed  the  blood  on  that  place,  Aristobulus  heard  it,  and  inquired  what  the 
matter  was?  And  as  they  did  not  answer  him,  he  was  the  more  earnest  to  know 
Avhat  it  was,  it  being  natural  to  men  to  suspect  that  what  is  thus  concealed  is  very 
bad  :  so  upon  his  threatening,  and  forcing  them  by  terrors  to  speak,  they  at 
length  told  him  the  truth  ;  whereupon  he  shed  many  tears,  in  that  disorder  of 
mind  which  arose  from  his  consciousness  of  Avhat  he  had  done,  and  gave  a  deep 
groan,  and  said  :  "  I  am  not  therefore,  I  perceive,  to  be  concealed  from  God,  in 
the  impious  and  horrid  crimes  I  have  been  guilty  of,  but  a  sudden  punishment  is 
coming  upon  me  for  the  shedding  the  blood  of  my  relations.  And  now,  O  thou 
most  impudent  body  of  mine,  how  long  wilt  thou  retain  a  soul  that  ought  to  die, 
in  order  to  appease  the  ghosts  of  my  brother  and  my  mother  ?  Why  dost  thou 
not  give  it  all  up  at  once  ?  And  why  do  I  deliver  up  my  blood  drop  by  drop  to 
those  whom  1  have  so  wickedly  murdered  V  In  saying  which  last  words,  he 
died,  having  reigned  a  year.  He  was  called  a  lover  of  the  Grecians;  and  had 
conferred  many  benefits  on  his  own  country,  and  made  war  against  Iturea,  and 
added  a  great  part  of  it  to  Judea,  and  compelled  the  inhabitants,  if  they  should 
continue  in  that  country,  to  be  circumcised,  and  to  live  according  to  the  Jewish 
laws.  He  was  naturally  a  man  of  candour,  and  of  great  modesty,  as  Strabo 
bears  witness,  in  the  name  of  Timagenes  ;  v.  ho  says  thus :  "  This  man  was  a 
person  of  candour,  and  very  serviceable  to  the  Jews,  for  he  added  a  country  to 
them,  and  obtained  a  part  of  the  nation  of  the  Itureans  for  them,  and  bound  them 
to  them  by  the  bond  of  the  circumcision  of  their  genitals." 


CHAP.  XH. 

How  Alexander,  when  he  had  taken  the  Government,  made  an  Expedition  against 

Ptolemais,  and  then  raised  the  Siege  out  of  Fear  of  Ptolemy  Lathyrus ;  and 

how  Ptolemy  made  War  against  him,  because  he  had  sent  to  Cleopatra  to 

persuade  her  to  make  War  against  Ptolemy,  and  yet  pretended  to  be 

in  Friendship  with  him,  when  he  beat  the  Jews  in  the  Battle. 

§  1.  When  Aristobulus  was  dead,  his  wife  Salome,  who  by  the  Greeks  was 
called  Alexandria,  let  his  brethren  out  of  prison  (for  Aristobulus  had  kept  them 
in  bonds,  as  we  have  said  already,)  and  made  Alexander  Janneus  king,  who  was 
the  superior  in  age,  and  in  moderation.  The  child  happened  to  be  hated  by  his 
father  as  soon  as  he  was  born,  and  could  never  be  permitted  to  come  into  his 
father's  sight,  till  he  died.  The  occasion  of  which  hatred  is  thus  reported  : 
When  Hyrcanus  chiefly  loved  the  two  eldest  of  his  sons,  Antigonus.  and  Aristo- 
bulus, God  appeared  to  him  in  his  sleep,  of  whom  he  inquired,  which  of  his  sons 
should  be  his  successor ;  upon  God's  representing  to  him  the  countenance  of 
Alexander,  he  was  grieved  that  he  was  to  be  the  heir  of  all  his  goods,  and  suf- 
fered him  to  be  brought  up  in  Galilee.*     However,  God  did  not  deceive  Hyrca- 

•  The  rrason  wliv  Hyicanus  siiffi'icri  not  this  son  of  liiswhom  be  did  not  love,  to  come  intoJiidea,  but 
fnlored  biin  to  be  biouglii  up  in  GulUce,  is  suggested  l-y  Dr.  Hudson,  that  Galilee  was  not  esicenied  so 


C.  XII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  457 

nus,  for  after  the  death  of  Aristobuliis,  he  certainly  took  the  kingdom  ;  and  one 
of  his  brethren,  who  aifected  the  kingdom,  he  slew,  and  tlie  otiier,  who  chose 
to  live  a  private  and  quiet  life,  he  had  in  esteem. 

2.  When  Alexander  Janneus  had  settled  the  government  in  the  maimer  that 
he  judged  best,  he  made  an  expedition  against  Ptolemais  ;  and  having  overcome 
the  men  in  battle,  he  shut  them  up  in  the  city,  and  sat  round  about  and  besieged 
it ;  for  of  the  maritime  cities  there  remained  only  Ptolemais  and  (Jaza  to  be 
conquered,  besides  Strato's  Tower,  and  Dora,  which  were  held  Ijy  the  tyrant 
Zoilus.  Now  while  Antiochus  Philometer,  and  Antiochus,  wjio  was  called  C.'v  i- 
cenus,  were  making  war  one  against  another,  and  destroying  one  another's  ar- 
mies,  the  people  of  Ptolemais  could  have  no  assistance  from  them  ;  but  when 
they  were  distressed  with  this  siege,  Zuilus,  who  possessed  Strato's  Tower  and 
Dora,  and  maintained  a  legion  of  soldiers,  and  on  occasion  of  tlie  contest  be- 
tween the  kings  affected  tyranny  himself,  came  and  brought  some  small  assis- 
tance  to  the  people  of  Ptolemais  ;  nor  indeed  had  the  kings  such  a  friendship  for 
them,  as  that  they  should  hope  for  any  advantage  from  them.  Both  those  kings 
were  in  the  case  of  wrestlers,  who  linding  themselves  deficient  in  strength,  and 
yet  being  ashamed  to  yield,  put  off  the  tight  by  laziness,  and  by  lying  still  as 
long  as  they  can.  The  only  hope  they  had  remaining  was  from  the  kings  of 
Egypt,  and  from  Ptolemy  Lathyrus,  who  now  held  Cyprus,  and  who  came  to 
Cyprus  when  he  was  driven  from  the  government  of  Egypt  by  Cleopatra  his 
mother  :  so  the  people  of  Ptolemais  sent  to  this  Ptolemy  Lathyrus,  and  desired 
him  to  come  as  a  confederate,  to  deliver  them,  now  they  were  in  auch  danger, 
out  of  the  hands  of  Alexander.  And  as  the  ambassadors  gave  him  hopes,  that 
if  he  would  pass  over  into  Syria,  he  would  have  the  people  of  Gaza  on  the  side 
of  those  of  Ptolemais  ;  as  also  they  said,  that  Zoilus,  and  besides  these  the  Sido- 
nians,  and  many  others,  would  assist  them ;  so  he  was  elevated  at  this,  and  got 
his  fleet  ready  as  soon  as  possible. 

3.  But  in  this  interval  Demenetus,  one  tliat  was  of  abilities  to  persuade  men 
to  do  as  he  would  have  them,  and  a  leader  of  the  populace,  made  those  of  Pto- 
lemais change  their  opinions  :  and  said  to  them.  That  "  it  was  better  to  run  the 
hazard  of  being  subject  to  the  Jews  than  to  admit  of  evident  slavery  by  delive- 
ring themselves  up  to  a  master  ;  and  besides  that,  to  have  not  only  a  war  at  pre- 
sent,  but  to  expect  a  much  greater  war  from  Egypt,  for  that  Cleopatra  would 
not  overlook  an  army  raised  by  Ptolemy  for  himself  out  of  the  neighbourhood, 
but  would  come  against  them  with  a  great  army  of  her  own,  and  this  because 
she  was  labouring  to  eject  her  son  out  of  Cyprus  also  ;  that  as  for  Ptolemy,  if  he 
fail  of  his  hopes,  he  can  still  retire  to  Cyprus,  but  that  they  will  be  left  in  tlie 
greatest  danger  possible."  Now  Ptolemy,  although  he  had  heard  of  the  change 
that  was  made  in  the  people  of  Ptolemais,  yet  did  he  still  go  on  with  his  voyage, 
and  came  to  the  country  called  Sycamine,  and  there  set  his  army  on  shore. 
This  army  of  his  in  the  whole,  horse  and  foot  together,  were  about  thirty  thou, 
sand,  with  which  he  marched  near  Ptolemais,  and  there  pitched  his  camp  :  but 
when  the  people  of  Ptolemais  neither  received  his  ambassadors,  nor  would  licar 
what  they  had  to  say,  he  was  under  a  very  great  concern. 

4.  But  when  Zoilus  and  the  people  of  Gaza  came  to  him,  and  desired  his  as- 
sistance,  because  their  country  was  laid  waste  by  the  Jews,  and  by  Alexander," 
Alexander  raised  the  siege,  for  fear  of  Ptolemy  :  and  when  he  had  drawn  oil' his 
army  into  his  own  country,  he  used  a  stratagem  afterwards,  by  privately  inviting 
Cleopatra  to  come  against  Ptolemy,  but  publicly  pretending  to  desire  a  league 
of  friendship  and  mutual  assistance  with  him  ;  and  promising  to  give  him  four 
hundr(Ml  talents  of  silver,  he  desired  that,  by  way  of  recpiital,  he  would  take  otf 
Zoilus  the  tyrant,  and  give  his  country  to  tlie  Jews.     And  then  indeed  Ptolemy 

liapnv  and  wrll  ri.ltivnipd  a  cmmtrv  as  Jiulea,  Matt.  xxvi.  7.? ;  Jolni,  vii.  52  ;  Act?,  ii.  7  ;  although  aiio- 
tliei  obvious  reason  occLirs  also,  tliut  he  was  larlht-r  out  of  iiis  sight  in  Galilee  than  he  wonlii  have  t>eea 
ji)  .Iiidea. 

VOL.  I.  3  M 


458  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIII. 

•with  pleasure  made  such  a  league  of  friendship  with  Alexander,  and  subdued 
Zoilus  :  but  when  he  afterward  heard  tliat  he  had  privily  sent  to  Cleopatra  his 
mother,  he  broke  the  league  with  him,  which  yet  he  had  confirmed  with  an  oath, 
and  fell  upon  him,  and  besieged  Ptolemais,  because  it  would  not  receive  Jiini.. 
However,  leaving  his  generals,  with  some  part  of  his  forces,  to  go  on  with  the 
sietre,  he  went  himself  immediately  with  the  rest  to  lay  Judca  waste  ;  and  when 
Alexander  understood  this  to  be  Ptolemy's  intention,  he  also  got  together  about 
fifty  thousand  soldiers  out  of  his  own  country ;  nay,*  as  some  writers  have  said, 
eighty  thousand.  He  then  took  his  army  and  went  to  meet  Ptolemy  ;  but  Pto- 
lemy fell  upon  Asochis,  a  city  of  Galilee,  and  took  it  by  lorce  on  the  Sabbath 
day,  and  there  he  took  about  ten  thousand  slaves,  and  a  great  deal  of  other  prey. 

5.  He  then  tried  to  take  Sepphoris,  which  w'as  a  city  not  far  from  that  which 
was  destroyed,  but  lost  many  of  hi,s  men  ;  yet  did  he  then  go  to  fight  with  Alex- 
ander, which  Alexander  met  him  at  the  river  Jordan,  near  a  certain  place  called 
Saphoth  [not  far  from  the  river  Jordan,]  and  pitched  his  camp  near  to  the  enemy. 
He  had  however  eight  thousand  in  the  first  rank,  which  he  styled  Hecatimtoma- 
chi,  having  shields  of  brass.  Those  in  the  first  rank  of  Ptolemy's  soldiers  also 
had  shields  covered  with  brass  :  but  Ptolemy's  soldiers  in  other  respects  were  in- 
ferior to  those  of  Alexander,  and  therefore  were  more  fearful  of  running  hazards ; 
but  Philostephanus,  the  camp-master,  put  great  courage  into  them,  and  ordered 
them  to  pass  the  river,  which  was  between  their  camps  :  nor  did  Alexander  thinlc 
fit  to  hinder  their  passage  over  it,  for  he  thought  that  if  the  enemy  had  once  got- 
ten the  river  on  their  back,  that  he  should  the  easier  take  them  prisoners,  when 
they  could  not  flee  out  of  the  battle  :  in  the  beginning  of  which,  the  acts  on  both 
sides  with  their  hands,  and  with  their  alacrity,  were  alike,  and  a  great  slaughter 
was  made  by  both  the  armies,  but  Alexander  was  superior,  till  Philostephanus 
opportunely  brought  up  the  auxiliaries  to  help  those  that  were  giving  way  ;  but 
as  there  were  no  auxiliaries  to  afford  help  to  that  part  of  the  Jews  that  gave  way, 
it  fell  out  that  they  fled,  and  those  near  them  did  not  assist  them,  but  fled  along 
with  them.  However,  Ptolemy's  soldiers  acted  quite  otherwise;  for  they  fol- 
lowed the  Jews,  and  killed  them,  till  at  length  those  that  slew  them  pursued  after 
them,  when  they  had  made  them  all  run  away,  and  slew  them  so  long  that  their 
weapons  of  iron  were  blunted,  and  their  hands  quite  tired  with  the  slaughter; 
for  the  report  was,  that  thirty  thousand  men  were  then  slain.  Timagenes  says, 
they  were  fifty  thousand.  As  for  the  rest  they  were  part  of  them  taken  captives, 
•and  the  other  part  ran  away  to  their  own  country. 

G.  After  this  victory,  Ptolemy  overran  all  the  country  ;  and  when  night  came 
on,  he  abode  in  certain  villages  of  Judea,  which  when  he  found  full  of  women 
and  children,  he  commanded  his  soldiers  to  strangle  them,  and  cut  them  in  pieces, 
and  then  to  cast  them  into  boiling  caldrons,  and  then  to  devour  their  limbs  as 
sacrifices.  This  commandment  was  given,  that  such  as  fled  from  the  battle, 
and  came  to  them,  might  suppose  their  enemies  were  cannibals,  and  ate  men's 
flesh,  and  might  on  that  account  be  still  more  terrified  at  them  upon  such  a  sight. 
And  both  Strabo  and  Nicholaus  [of  Damascus]  affirm  that  they  used  these  people 
after  this  manner,  as  I  have  already  related.  Ptolemy  also  took  Ptolemais  by 
force,  as  we  have  declared  elsewhere. 

*  From  these  and  other  nccasioiial  expressions  dropped  by  Josephtis,  we  may  learn,  that  where  the 
eacred  hooks  of  the  Jews  were  deficient,  he  had  several  otlicr  histories  then  extant, liut  now  most  of  tlieiu 
lost,  which  he  faithfully  followed  in  his  own  history  :  nor  indeed  have  we  any  other  records  of  those 
times,  relating  lo  Judea,  thatcan  he  compared  to  tliese  accounts  of  Josephus,  though,  when  we  do  meet 
with  authentic  fragments  of  such  original  records,  tliey  almost  always  confirm  his  history. 


C.  Xlir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  459 


CHAP.  xiir. 

How  Alexander,  upon  tlir  League  of  mutual  Defence  vhich  Clenpatra  had  agreed 

with  him,  made  an  Kxpedition  against   Celesyrin  and  ntterh/  overthrew  the 

City  of  (iaza ;  and  how  he  slew  many  Ten  Thmtiands  of  Jews  that  re- 

helled  against  him  ;  also   concerning  Aniiochiis  Grypns,  Selciicus, 

Antiocluis  Cyzicenus,  and  Antiochtis  Pius,  and  others. 

§  1.  Wnr.^f  Cleopatra  saw  that  her  son  was  grown  <]:reat,  and  laid  Jiidca  waste, 
without  disturbance,  and  had  jjotten  the  city  of  Ca/.a  under  his  power,  she  re- 
solved no  longer  to  overlook  wliat  he  did,  when  he  was  almost  at  her  gates ;  and 
she  concluded  that  now  he  was  so  much  stronger  than  before,  he  would  be  very 
desirous  of  tlin  dominion  over  the  Egyptians,  but  she  immediately  marched 
against  him  with  a  fleet  at  sea,  and  an  army  of  foot  on  land,  and  made  Chelcias 
and  Ananias  the  Jews,  generals  of  her  whole  army,  while  she  sent  the  greatest 
part  of  her  riches,  her  grandchildren,  and  her  testament  to  the  people  of  Cos.* 
Cleopatra  also  ordered  her  son  Alexander  to  sail  with  a  great  lleet  to  Phoenicia; 
and  when  that  country  revolted,  she  came  to  Ptolemais,  and  because  the  people 
of 'Ptolemais  did  not  receive  her,  she  besieged  the  city;  but  Ptolemy  went  out 
of 'Syria,  and  made  haste  into  Egypt,  supposing  that  he  should  find  it  destitute 
of  an  army,  and  soon  take  it,  though  he  failed  of  his  hopes.  At  this  time 
Chelcias,  one  of  Cleopatra's  generals,  happened  to  die  in  Celesyria,  as  he  was 
in  pursuit  of  Ptolemy. 

2.  When  Cleopatra  heard  of  her  son's  attempt,  and  that  his  Egyptian  expedi- 
tion  did  not  succeed  according  to  his  expectations,  she  sent  thither  part  of  her 
army,  and  drove  him  out  of  that  country;  so  when  he  was  returned  out  of  Egypt 
again,  he  abode  during  the  winter  at  Gaza,  in  which  time  Cleopatra  took  the 
garrison  that  was  in  Ptolemais  by  siege,  as  well  as  the  city  ;  and  when  Alexan- 
der  came  to  her,  he  gave  her  presents,  and  such  marks  of  respect  as  were  but 
proper,  since  under  the  miseries  he  endured  by  Ptolemy,  lie  had  no  other  refuge 
but  her.  Now  there  were  some  of  her  friends  who  persuaded  her  to  seize  Alex- 
ander, and  to  overrun  and  take  possession  of  the  country,  and  not  to  sit  still  and 
see  such  a  multitude  of  brave  Jews  subject  to  one  man.  But  Ananias's  counsel 
was  contrary  to  theirs,  who  said,  that  "  she  would  do  an  unjust  action  if  she  de- 
prived a  man  that  was  her  ally  of  that  authority  which  belonged  to  him,  and  this  a 
man  who  is  related  to  us ;  for,"  said  he,  "  I  would  not  have  thee  ignorant  of  this, 
that  what  injustice  thou  dost  to  him  will  make  all  us  that  are  Jews  to  be  thy  one- 
mies."  This  desire  of  Ananias  Cleopatra  complied  with,  and  did  no  injury  to 
Alexander,  but  made  a  league  of  mutual  assistance  with  him,  at  Scythopolis,  a 
city  ofCelesyria. 

3.  So  when  Alexander  was  delivered  from  the  fear  he  was  in  of  Ptolemy,  he 
presently  made  an  exhibition  against  Celesyria.  He  also  took  Gadara  after  a 
siege  of  ten  months.  He  took  also  Amathus,  a  very  strong  fortress  belonging 
to  the  inhabitants  above  Jordan,  where  Theodoras  the  son  of  Zeno  had  his  cliiet 
treasui-e,  and  what  he  esteemed  most  i)recious.  This  Zrno  fell  imexpectediy 
upon  the  Jews,  and  slew  ten  thousand  of  them,  and  seized  upon  Alexander's  bag- 
gage ;  yet  did  not  this  misfortune  terrify  Alexander,  hut  he  made  an  expedition 
upon  the  maritime  parts  of  the  country,  Kaphia  and  Antliedon  (the  name  of  which 
king  Herod  afterwards  changed  to  Agrippias,)  and  even  took  that  by  force  ;  but 
M-hen  Alexander  saw  that  Ptolemy  was  retired  from  Gaza  to  Cyprus,  and  his  mo- 
ther Cleopatra  was  returned  to  Egypt,  he  grew  angry  at  the  \)co\An  of  Gaza,  be- 
cause  they  had  invited  Ptolemy  "to  assist  them,  and  besieged  their  city,  and 

*  This  city  or  island  of  Cos  is  not  that  remote  island  in  the  JF.Renn  sea  famous  for  the  birth  of  the  great 
Hippocrates,  but  a  city  or  island  ol  the  same  name  adjoinin;;  to  Ki'vpt,  mcntioneH  both  by  Stcphanusand 
Ptolemy,  as  Dr.  Hudson  informs  us.    Of  which  Cos,  and  the  treasures  there  laid  up  by  Cleopatra  and 
die  Jews,  see  Antiq.  b.  xiv.  cli.  vii.  sect.  2. 
3M2 


460  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIII. 

ravaf^ed  their  country.  But  as  Appollodotus,  the  general  of  the  army  of  Gaza, 
fell  upon  the  camp  of  the  Jews  by  night,  with  two  thousand  foreign,  and  ten  thou- 
sand  of  his  own  forces,  while  the  night  lasted,  those  of  Gaza  prevailed,  because 
tiie  enemy  was  made  to  believe  that  it  was  Ptolemy  who  attacked  them  ;  but  when 
dav  was  come  on,  and  that  mistake  Avas  corrected,  and  the  Jews  knew  the  truth 
of  the  matter,  they  came  back  again,  and  fell  upon  those  of  Gaza,  and  slew  of 
ihcm  about  a  thousand  :  but  as  those  of  Gaza  stoutly  resisted  them,  and  would 
not  'sicld  for  cither  their  want  of  any  thing,  nor  for  the  great  multitude  that  were 
slaiii,  for  they  would  rather  sutfer  any  hardship  whatever  than  come  under  the 
power  of  their  enemies,  Aretas,  king  of  the  Arabians,  a  person  then  very  illus- 
trious, encouraged  them  to  go  on  with  alacrity,  and  promised  them  that  he  would 
come  to  their  assistance  ;  but  it  happened  that  before  he  came,  Apollodotus  was 
slain,  for  his  brother  Lysimachus,  envying  him  for  the  great  reputation  he  had 
gained  among  the  citizens,  slew  him,  and  got  the  army  together,  and  delivered 
up  the  city  to  Alexander,  who,  when  he  came  in  at  first,  lay  quiet,  but  afterward 
set  his  army  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Gaza,  and  gave  them  leave  to  punish  them ; 
so  some  went  one  way,  and  some  went  another,  and  slew  the  inhabitants  of  Gaza  : 
yet  were  not  they  of  cowardly  hearts  ;  but  opposed  those  that  came  to  slay  them, 
"and  slew  as  many  of  the  Jews ;  and  some  of  them,  when  they  saw  themselves 
deserted,  burnt  their  own  houses,  that  the  enemy  might  get  none  of  their  spoils  ; 
nay,  some  of  them  with  their  own  hands  slew  their  children  and  their  wives, 
having  no  other  way  but  this  of  avoiding  slavery  for  them  ;  but  the  senators,  who 
were  in  all  five  hundred,  fled  to  Apollo's  temple  (for  this  attack  hdppened  to  be 
made  while  they  were  sitting,)  whom  Alexander  slew  ;  and  when  he  had  utterly 
overthrown  their  city,  he  returned  to  Jerusalem,  having  spent  a  year  in  that 
siege. 

4.  About  this  very  time  Antiochus,*  who  was  called  Grypus,  died.  His  death 
was  caused  by  Heracleon's  treachery,  when  he  had  lived  forty-five  years,  and 
had  reigned  twenty-nine.f  His  son  Seleucus  succeeded  him  in  the  kingdom ; 
and  made  war  with  Antiochus,  his  father's  brother,  who  was  called  Antiochus 
Cyzicenus,  and  beat  him,  and  took  him  prisoner,  and  slew  him.  But  after  a  while 
Antiochus,:}:  the  son  of  Cyzicenus,  who  was  called  Pius,  came  to  Aradus,  and  put 
the  diadem  on  his  own  head;  and  made  war  with  Seleucus,  and  beat  him,  and 
drove  him  out  of  all  Syria.  But  when  he  fled  out  of  Syria,  he  came  to  Mopsues- 
lia  again,  and  levied  money  upon  them  ;  but  the  people  of  Mopsuestia  had  indig. 
nation  at  what  he  did,  and  burnt  down  his  palace,  and  slew  him,  together  with 
his  friends.  But  when  Antiochus  the  son  of  Cyzicenus,  was  king  of  Syria,  An- 
tiochus,§  the  brother  of  Seleucus  made  war  upon  him,  and  was  overcome  and 
destroyed,  he  and  his  army.  After  him,  his  brother  Philip  put  on  the  diadem  and 
reigned  over  some  part  of  Syria  ;  but  Ptolemy  Lathyrus  sent  for  his  fourth  bro- 
ther Demetrius,  who  was  called  Eucerus,  from  Cnidus,  and  made  him  king  of 
Damascus.  Both  these  brothers  did  Antiochus  vehemently  oppose,  but  pre- 
sentlydied;  for  when  he  was  come  as  an  auxiliary  to  Laodice,||  queen  of  the 
Gileadites,  when  she  was  making  war  against  the  Parthians,  and  he  was  fighting 
courageously,  he  fell,  while  Demetrius  and  Philip  governed  Syria,  as  hath  been 
elsewhere  related. 

*  This  account  of  the  death  of  Antiochus  Gr}'pus  is  confirmed  b}- Appian,  Syriac,  p.  132,  here  cited 
by  Spanheim. 

+  i-'orphyrv  says,  that  this  Antiochus  Grypus  reigned  but  26  years,  as  Dr.  Hudson  observes. 

i  The  copies  of  Josephus,  both  Greek  and  Latin,  have  here  a  so  grossly  false  reading,  Jlntiochvs  and 
Antonimts,  ox  ^■in/onnis  P/ms,  for  ^ri^/or/ms  Fn(5,  that  the  editors  are  forced  to  correct  tlie  text  from 
the  other  historians,  who  all  a^reethat  this  king's  name  was  nothing  more  than  ^nfioc/(?/s  Pij/5. 

\  'I'hese  two  brothers,  Antiochus  and  Fliilippus,  are  called  twins  by  Porphyry;  the  fourth  brother  was 
king  of  Damascus;  both  which  are  the  observations  of  Spaniieim. 

II  This  Lnodicea  was  a  city  of  Gilead  beyond  Jordan.  However,  Porphyry  says  that  this  Antiochus 
Pius  did  not  die  in  this  batlle,  but,  running  away,  was  drowned  in  the  river  Orontes.  Appian  says,  that 
he  was  deprived  of  the  kingdom  of  Syria  by  Tigranes;  but  Porpiiyry  makes  this  Laodice  Queen  of  tl.e 
Calamaus:  all  which  is  noted  by  Spanheiin.  In  such  confusion  of  the  latter  historians,  we  have  no  rea- 
son to  prefer  any  of  them  befure  Josejihus,  who  had  more  original  ones  before  him. 


C.  XIV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  4gl 

5.  As  to  Alexander,  his  own  people  were  seditious  against  him  ;  for  at  a  fes- 
tival  which  was  then  cclehrated,  when  he  stood  upon  the  altar,  and  was  going  to 
sacrifice,  the  nation  rose  upon  "him,  and  pelted  him  with  citrons,  [which  they  then 
had  in  their  hands,  hecause]  the  law  of  the  Jews  required,  that  at  the  feast'of  ta- 
bernacles everyone  should  have  branches  of  the  palm-tree  and  citron-tree  ;  which 
thing  we  have  elsewhere  relat(;d.  They  also  reviled  him,  as  derived*  from  a 
captive,  and  so  unworthy  of  iiis  diojnify  and  of  sacrificing.  At  tliis  he  was  in  a 
rage,  and  slew  of  them  about  six  thousand.  lie  also  built  a  partition  wall  of  wood 
round  tlie  aUar  and  the  temple,  as  far  as  that  partition  witliin  it  which  was  only 
lawful  for  the  priests  to  enter,  and  by  this  means  he  obstructed  the  multitude  from 
C(tfning  at  him.  lie  also  maintained  foreigners  of  Pisidia  and  Cilicia:  for  as  to 
the  Syrians,  he  was  at  war  with  tiiein,  and  so  made  no  use  of  them.  He  also 
overcame  the  Arabians,  such  as  the  Moabitcs  and  Gileadites,  and  made  them 
bring  tribute.  Moreover,  he  demolished  Amathus,  while  Theodorusf  durst  not 
fight  with  him  :  but  as  he  had  joined  battle  with  Obedas,  king  of  the  Arabians, 
and  tell  into  an  ambush  in  places  that  were  rugged  and  difficult  to  be  travelled 
over,  he  was  thrown  down  into  a  deep  valley  by  the  multitude  of  the  camels  at 
Gadara,  a  village  of  Gilead,  and  hardly  escaped  with  his  life.  From  thence  he 
fled  to  .Jerusalem,  where,  besides  his  other  ill  success,  the  nation  insulted  him, 
and  he  fought  against  them  for  six  years,  and  slew  ho  fewer  than  fifty  thousand  of 
them.  And  when  he  desired  that  they  would  desist  from  their  ill-will  to  him,  they 
hated  him  so  much  the  more,  on  account  of  what  had  already  happened ;  and 
when  he  had  asked  them  what  he  ought  to  do  ?  they  all  cried  out,  "  that  he  ought 
to  kill  himself"  They  also  sent  to  Demetrius  Eucerus,  and  desired  him  to  make 
a  leacue  of  mutual  defence  with  them. 


CHAP.  XIV. 

How  Demetrhis  Fjicerus  overcame  Alexander,  and  yet  in  a  little  Time  retired  out  of 

the  Counlnj  for  fear  of  the  Jews  ;  as  also  how  Alexander  slew  many  of  the  Jews, 

and  thereby  got  clear  of  his  Troubles.   Concerning  the  Death  of  Demetrius. 

§  1.  So  Demetrius  came  with  an  army,  and  took  those  that  invited  him,  and 
pitched  his  camp  near  the  city  Shechem  :  upon  which  Alexander,  with  his  six 
thousand  two  hundred  mercenaries,  and  about  twenty  thousand  Jews,  who  were 
of  his  party,  went  against  Demetrius,  who  had  three  thousand  horsemen,  and 
forty  thousand  footmen.  Now  there  were  great  endeavours  used  on  both  sides, 
Demetrius  trying  to  bring  off  the  mercenaries  that  were  with  Alexander,  because 
they  were  Greeks,  and  Alexander  trying  to  brinfj  off  the  Jews  that  were  with  De- 
metrius. However,  when  neither  of  them  could  persuade  them  so  to  do,  they 
came  to  a  battle,  and  Demetrius  was  the  conqueror,  in  which  all  Alexander's 
mercenaries  were  killed,  when  they  had  given  demonstration  of  their  fidelity  and 
courage.     A  great  number  of  Dcmetrius's  soldiers  were  slain  also. 

2.  Now  as  Alexander  fled  to  the  mountains,  six  thousand  of  the  Jews  hereupon 
came  together  [from  Demetrius,]  to  him,  out  of  pity  at  tlie  change  of  his  fortime  : 
upon  which  Demetrius  was  afraid,  and  retired  out  of  the  country  ;  after  which 
the  Jews  fought  against  Alexander,  and,  being  beaten,  were  slain  in  great  num- 
bers in  the  several  battles  they  had  :  and  when  he  had  shut  up  the  most  power- 
ful of  them  in  the  city  Rethome,  he  besieged  them  tliennn  ;  and  when  lie  had 
taken  the  city,  and  gotten  the  men  into  his  power,  he  !)rou<i:ht  them  to  Jenisalem, 
and  did  one  of  the  most  barbarous  actions  in  the  world  to  them  :  for  as  he  was 

*  This  reproach  upon  Ale\andor,  that  he  was  sprung  from  a  captive,  fccms  only  the  repetition  of  the 
old  rharisRical  calumn)'  upon  his  father,  chap.  x.  sect.  5. 

+  This  Tlieodorus  was  the  son  of  Zeno,  and  was  in  possession  of  Amatlius,  as  we  learn  from  sect.  3, 
foregoing. 


462  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE,  JEWS.  B.  Xin. 

feasting  with  his  concubines,  in  tlie  sight  of  all  the  city,  he  ordered  about  eight 
hundred  of  them  to  be  crucified,  and  while  they  were  living,  he  ordered  the 
throats  of  their  children  and  wives  to  be  cut  before  their  eyes.  This  was  indeed 
by  way  of  revenge  for  the  injuries  they  had  done  him  ;  which  punishment  yet 
was  of  an  inhuman  nature,  tliough  we  suppose  that  he  had  been  never  so  much 
distressed,  as  indeed  he  had  been,  by  his  wars  with  them  ;  for  he  had  by  their 
means  come  to  the  last  degree  of  hazard,  both  of  his  life  and  of  his  kingdom, 
while  they  were  not  satisfied  by  themselves  only  to  fight  against  him,  but  intro- 
duced  foreigners  also  for  the  same  purpose ;  nay,  at  length  they  reduced  him  to 
that  degree  of  necessity  that  he  was  forced  to  deliver  back  to  the  king  of  Arabia 
the  land  of  Moab  and  Gilead,  which  he  had  subdued,  and  the  places  that  were  tn 
them,  that  they  might  not  join  with  them  in  the  war  against  him,  as  they  had 
done  ten  thousand  other  things  that  had  tended  to  aftront  and  reproach  him. 
However,  this  barbarity  seems  to  have  been  without  any  necessity,  on  which  ac- 
count he  bare  the  name  of  a  Thracian*  among  the  Jews  :  whereupon  the  sol- 
diers that  had  fought  against  him,  being  about  eight  thousand  in  number,  ran 
away  by  night,  and  continued  fugitives  all  the  time  that  Alexander  lived  :  wha, 
being  now  freed  from  any  fiirther  disturbance  from  them,  reigned  the  rest  of  his 
time  in  the  utmost  tranquillity.  > 

3.  But  when  Demetrius  was  departed  out  of  Judea,  he  went  to  Berea,  and 
besieged  his  brother  Philip,  having  with  him  ten  thousand  footmen,  and  a  thou- 
sand horsemen.  However,  Stralo,  the  tyrant  of  Berea,  the.  confederate  of  Phi- 
lip, called  in  Zizon,  the  ruler  of  the  Arabian  tribes,  and  Mithridates  Sinax,  the 
ruler  of  the  Parthians,  who  coming  with  a  great  number  offerees,  and  besieging 
Demetrius  in  his  encampment,  into  which  they  had  driven  him  with  their  arrows, 
they  compelled  those  that  were  with  him  by  thirst  to  deliver  up  themselves.  So 
they  took  a  great  many  spoils  out  of  the  country,  and  Demetrius  himself,  whom 
they  sent  to  Mithridates,  who  was  then  king  of  Parthia,  but  as  to  those  whom 
they  took  captives  of  the  people  of  Antioch,  they  restored  them  to  the  Antiochi- 
ans  without  any  reward.  Now  Mithridates,  the  king  of  Parthia,  had  Demetrius 
in  groat  honour,  till  Demetrius  ended  his  life  by  sickness.  So  Philip,  presently 
after  the  fight  was  over,  came  to  Antioch,  and  took  it,  and  reigned  over  Syria. 


CHAP.  XV. 

How  Anlioclms,  who  was  called  Dionysius,  and  after  him  Aretas,  made  Expeditmis 

into  Judea ;  as  also  hoiv  Alexander  took  many  Cities,  and  then  returned 

to  Jerusalem,  and  after  a  Sickness  of  Three  Years  died  ; 

and  what  Counsel  he  gave  to  Alexandria. 

§  1.  Apter  this,  Antiochus,  who  was  called  Dionysius,f  and  was  Philip's  brother, 
aspired  to  the  dominion,  and  came  to  Damascus,  and  got  the  power  into  his  hands, 
and  there  he  reigned:  but  as  he  was  making  war  against  the  Arabians,  his  bro- 
ther Philip  heard  of  it,  and  came  to  Damascus,  where  Milesus,  who  had  been  left 
governor  of  the  citadel,  and  the  Damascens  themselves,  delivered  up  the  city  to 
Jiim ;  yet  because  Philip  was  become  ungrateful  to  him,  and  had  bestowed  upon 
him  nothing  of  that  in  hopes  whereof  he  had  received  liim  into  the  city,  but  had  a 
mind  to  have  it  believed  that  it  was  rather  delivered  up  out  of  fear  than  by  the- 
kindness  of  Milesus,  and  because  he  had  not  rewarded  him  as  he  ought  to  have 
done,  he  became  suspected  by  him,  and  so  he  was  obliged  to  leave  Damascus 

*  This  name  Thracidn,  which  the  Jews  ^nve  Alexander,  must,  by  the  coherence,  denote  as  barbarous 
cs  n  Thracian,  or  somewhat  lilic  it,  but  what  it  properly  sit^iiifies  is  not  known. 

f  Spanheim  takes  notice,  that  this  \ntiochus  Dionysius  [the  brother  of  Philip,  and  of  Demetrius  Eu- 
cenis,  and  of  two  others]  was  liie  fifth  son  of  Antiochus  Gryjnis  j  and  that  he  is  styled  on  the  coins,  An- 
iiochxis  F.jiijihanes  Dioni/sius. 


C.  XV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


4G3 


again  ;  for  Milesus  cauglit  him  marching  out  into  the  Ilippodromo,  and  shut  him 
up  in  it,  and  kept  Danuiscus  lor  Antiochiis  [Eucorus,]  Aviio,  hearing  how  Phihi)'s 
atfairs  stood,  came  hack  out  ofArabia.  lie  also  came  iminediatelv,*'and  made  an 
expedition  against  Judea,  with  eight  tiiousand  armed  Ibotnien,  and  ei'dit  hundred 
horsemen.  So  Alexander,  out  of  fear  of  his  coming,  dug  a  deep  ditch,  be<Mnnin<' 
at  Chabarzaba,  which  is  now  called  Antipatris,  to  tlic  sea  of  Joppa,  on  wiifch  part 
only  his  array  could  be  brought  against  him.  He  also  raised  a  Mall,  and  erected 
wooden  towers,  and  intermediate  redoubts,  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  furlonos  iti 
length,  and  there  expected  the  coming  of  Antiochus;  but  he  soon  burnt  tlienT  all, 
and  made  his  army  pass  by  that  way  into  Arabia.  The  Arabian  king  [Aretas,] 
at  first  retreated,  but  afterward  appeared  on  the  sudden  with  ten  thousand  iiorse- 
men.  Antiochus  gave  them  the  meeting,  and  fought  desperately  ;  and  indeed 
■when  he  had  gotten  the  victory,  and  was  bringing  some  auxiliaries' to  that  part  of 
his  army  that  was  in  distress,  he  was  slain.  When  Antiocluis  was  fallen,  his  army 
fled  to  the  village  Cana,  where  the  greatest  part  of  them  perished  by  famine. 

2.  After  him  Aretas*  reigned  over  Celesyria,  being  called  to  tlie  govcrmnent 
by  those  that  held  Damascus,  by  reason  of  the  hatred  they  bare  to  Ptolemv  .Mc- 
neus.  He  also  made  thence  an  expedition  against  Judea,  and  beat  Alexander  iu 
battle,  near  a  place  called  Adida,  yet  did  he,  upon  certain  conditions  agreed  on 
between  them,  retire  out  of  Judea. 

3.  But  Alexander  marched  again  to  the  city  Dios,  and  took  it ;  and  then  made 
an  expedition  against  Essa,  where  was  the  best  part  of  Zeno's  treasures,  and 
there  he  encompassed  the  place  witli  three  walls  ;  and  when  he  had  taken  the 
city  by  fighting,  he  marched  to  (jolan  and  Seleucia  :  and  when  he  had  taken 
these  cities,  he,  besides  them,  took  that  valley  which  is  called  Vallev  of  Antio- 
chus, as  also  the  fortress  Camala.  He  also  accused  Demetrius,  who  was  gover- 
nor of  those  places,  of  many  crimes,  and  tiu'iied  liim  out :  and  after  he  had  spent 
three  years  in  tjiis  war,  he  returned  to  his  own  country,  when  the  Jews  joyfully 
received  him  upon  this  his  good  success. 

4.  Now  at  this  time  the  Jews  were  in  possession  of  the  following  cities  that 
had  belonged  to  the  Syrians,  and  Idumcans,  and  Phoenicians :  at  the  seaside, 
Strato's  Tower,  Apollonia,  Joppa,  Jainnia,  Ashdod,  (iaza,  Anthedon,  Raphia,  and 
Rhinocolura  ;  in  the  middle  of  the  country,  near  to  Iduinca,  Adora,  and  .Marissa  ; 
near  the  country  of  Samaria  Mount  Carmel,  and  Mount  Tabor,  Scythopolis,  and 
Gadara ;  of  the  country  of  Gaulonites,  Selucia,  and  Gabala  ;  in  the  country  of 
Moab,  Heshbon  and  Nedaba,  Lemba,  and  Oronas,  (Jelithon,  Zara,  the  valley  of 
the  Cilices,  and  Pella  ;  whicli  last  they  utterly  destroyed,  because  its  inhabitantsf 
■would  not  bear  to  change  their  religious  rites  for  those  peculiar  to  the  Jews. 
The  Jews  also  possessed  others  of  tiie  principal  cities  of  Syria,  which  had  been 
destroyed. 

5.  After  this,  king  Alexander,  alihougli  he  fell  into  a  distemper  by  hard  driid<- 
ing,  and  had  a  quartan  ague,  whicli  held  him  three  years,  yet  would  nut  leave  off 
going  out  with  his  army,  till  he  was  (piite  spent  with  the  labours  he  had  »in«ler. 
gone,  and  died  in  the  bounds  of  Ragaba,  a  fortress  beyond  Jordan.  JJiif  when 
his  queen  saw  that  he  was  ready  to  die,  and  had  no  longer  any  hopes  of  sin-vi- 
ving,  she  came  to  him  weeping  and  lamenting,  and  bewailed  herself  and  lier 
sons,  on  the   desolate   condition  they  should  be  left  in  :  and  said  to  him,  "  To 

*  This  Arotas  was  the  first  king  of  tlio  Araliians  who  took  Damascus  and  rricned  there  ;  wliirh  name 
became  afterwards  Common  to  such  Arabian  kings,  both  at  I'etra  an<l  at  Daniitsciis,  as  we  leain  from  Jo- 
fcej)hiis  in  many  places,  and  from  St.  I'aiil,  2  Cor.  xi.  32.     ."^ce  the  noic  on  Aniiq.  H.  xvi.  cha|).  \x.  sect.  4. 

f  AVe  may  here,  and  elsewhere,  take  notice,  that  whatever  countries  or  cities  the  Asnionenns  conquer- 
ed from  any  of  the  neighhouring  nations,  or  whatever  countries  or  cities  they  i;aineH  frfiin  ihoni,  that  had 
not  helon^ed  to  them  Ijofore,  they,  after  the  days  of  I  lyrcanus,  compelled  the  iiihahitanls  to  leave  their 
idolatry,  and  entirely  to  receive  tlie  law  of  Moses,  as  proselytes  of  justice,  or  else  banished  ihcni  into 
other  lands.  That  excellent  prince,  John  Ilyrcnmis,  did  it  to  the  Idumeans,  as  I  have  noted  on  chap, 
ix.  sect.  1,  already,  who  lived  then  in  the  promised  land,  and  this  I  suppose  justly  ;  hut  hy  what  ri;;httlio 
rest  did  it,  even  to  countries  or  cities  that  were  no  part  of  that  land,  1  do  not  ai  all  know.  This  looks 
too  like  unjust  persecution  for  religion. 


4(54  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XUl, 

whom  dost  thou  thus  leave  me,  and  my  children,  who  are  destitute  of  all  other 
supports  ;  and  this  when  thou  knowest  how  much  ill-will  thy  nation  bears  thee  ?" 
But  he  f^ave  her  the  following  advice  :  "  That  she  need  but  follow  what  he  would 
sugo-est  to  her,  in  order  to  retain  the  kingdom  securely,  with  her  children  ;  that 
shesliouid  conceal  his  death  from  the  soldiers  till  she  should  have  taken  that 
place  ;  after  this,  she  should  go  in  triumph,  as  upon  a  victory,  to  Jerusalem,  and 
put  some  of  her  authority  into  the  hands  of  the  Pharisees,  for  that  they  would 
commend  her  for  the  honour  she  had  done  them,  and  woidd  reconcile  the  nation 
to  her  ;  for  he  told  her,  they  had  great  authority  among  the  Jews,  both  to  do  hurt 
to  such  as  they  hated,  and  to  bring  advantages  to  those  to  whom  they  were 
friendly  disposed,  for  that  they  are  then  believed  best  of  all  by  the  multitude 
when  they  speak  any  severe  thing  against  others,  though  it  be  only  out  of  envy 
at  them.  And  he  said,  that  it  was  by  their  means  that  he  had  incurred  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  nation,  whom  indeed  he  had  injured.  Do  thou,  therefore,  said  he, 
when  thou  art  come  to  Jerusalem,  send  for  the  leading  men  among  them,  and 
show  them  my  body,  and  with  great  appearance  of  sincerity,  give  them  leave  to 
use  it  as  they  themselves  please,  whether  they  will  dishonour  the  dead  body  by 
refusing  it  burial,  as  having  severely  sutfered  by  my  means,  or  whether  in  their 
anger  they  will  offer  any  other  injury  to  that  body.  Promise  them  also,  that  thou 
wilt  do  nothing  without  them  in  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom.  If  thou  dost  but  say  this 
to  them,  I  shall  have  the  honour  of  a  more  glorious  funeral  from  them  than  thou 
couldst  have  made  for  me  :  and  when  it  is  in  their  power  to  abuse  my  dead  body, 
they  will  do  it  no  injury  at  all,  and  thou  wilt  rule  in  safety."*  So  when  he  had 
given  his  wife  this  advice,  he  died,  after  he  had  reigned  twenty-seven  years,  and 
lived  fifty  years  within  one. 


CHAP.  XVI. 

How  Alexandra,  by  gaining  the  Goodwill  of  the  Pharisees,  retained  the  Kingdom 
Nine  Years,  arid  then,  having  done  many  glorious  Actions,  died. 

§  1.  So  Alexandra,  when  she  had  taken  the  fortress,  acted  as  her  husband  had 
suggested  to  her,  and  spake  to  the  Pharisees,  and  put  all  things  into  their  power, 
both  as  to  the  dead  body,  and  as  to  tlie  affairs  of  the  kingdom,  and  thereby  paci- 
fied their  anger  against  Alexander,  and  made  them  bear  good  will  and  friendship 
to  him;  who  then  came  among  the  multitude,  and  made  speeches  to  them,  and 
laid  before  them  the  actions  of  Alexander,  and  told  them,  that  they  had  lost  a 
righteous  king  ;  and  by  the  commendation  they  gave  him,  they  brought  them  to 
grieve,  and  to  be  in  heaviness  for  him,  so  he  had  a  funeral  more  splendid  than  had 
any  of  the  kings  before  him.   Alexander  left  behind  him  two  sons,  Hyrcanus  and 

*  It  seems  by  this  dying  advice  of  Alexander  .lanneus  to  his  wife,  tliat  he  had  himself  pursued  the 
measures  of  his  father  Hyrcanus,  and  taken  part  with  the  Sadducees,  who  kept  close  to  the  written  law, 
against  the  Pharisees,  who  had  introduced  tiieir  own  traditions,  chap.  xiv.  sect.  2  ;  and  that  he  now  saw 
a  political  necessity  of  submitting  to  the  Pharisees  and  their  traditions  hereafter,  if  his  widow  and  (auu- 
ly  minded  to  retain  their  monarchical  government  or  tyraimy  over  the  Jewish  nation  :  which  sect  \('t, 
thus  supported,  were  at  last  in  a  great  measure  the  ruin  of  the  religion,  government,  and  nation  ot  ilie 
Jews,  and  brought  them  into  so  wicked  state  that  the  vengeance  of  Cod  came  upon  them  to  their  utter 
excision.  Just  thus  did  Caiaphas  politically  advise  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim,  John  xi.  50  ;  Thai  it  ivas  c.i- 
pedientfor  them  that  one  man  slwiild  die  for  the  people,  and  that  the  whole  nation  perish  not  ;  and  this  in 
consequence  of  their  own  political  supposal,  ver.  48,  ihalij'theywovld  let  Jesns  alone,  witii  his  iiiirarlcs, 
all  men  ivould  believe  on  hi7n,  and  the  Romans  would  come,  and  take  away  hoih  their  place  and  notion. 
Whicli  political  crucifixion  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  brought  down  the  vengeance  of  God  upon  them,  and  oc- 
casioned those  very  Romans,  of  whom  they  seemed  so  much  afraid  that  to  prevent  it  they  put  him  to 
death,  actually  to  come  and  take  away  both  their  place  and  nation,  within  38  years  afterwards.  I  heartily 
wish  the  politicians  of  Ciiristendoin  would  consider  these  a'nd  tlie  like  examples,  and  no  longer  sacritire 
all  virtue  and  religion  on  tiieir  pernicious  schemes  of  government,  to  the  bringing  down  the  judgments  of 
tJod  upon  themselves,  and  ttie  several  nations  intrusted  to  their  care.  But  this  is  a  digression:  I  wisli 
it  were  nu  unseasonable  one  also.  Jos(>phus  himself  several  times  makes  such  digressions,  and  I  here 
veiiiurc  lu  follow  him.     Sec  one  of  thom  at  the  conclusion  of  the  very  next  chapter 


C.  XVI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TliE  JEWS. 


4C5 


Aristobnlus,  but  committed  the  kingdom  to  Alexandra.  Now  a.s  to  tiiese  two 
sons,  Hyrcanus  was  indeed  unable  to  manage  public  afiairs,  and  dcligbted  rather 
in  a  quiet  life  ;  but  the  younger,  Aristobuius,  was  an  active  and  a  boFd  n)an;  and 
for  this  woman  herself,  Alexandra,  she  was  loved  by  the  multitude,  because  she 
seemed  displeased  at  the  oOences  her  husband  had  "been  <i-Liilty  of. 

2.  So  she  made  Hyrcanus  high  priest,  because  he  was  the  elder,  but  much 
more  because  he  cared  not  to  meddle  with  politics,  and  permitted  the  Pharisees 
to  do  every  thing ;  to  whom  also  she  ordered  tlie  multitude  to  be  obedient.  Slie 
also  restored  again  those  practices  which  the  Pharisees  had  introduced,  accord- 
ing  to  the  traditions  of  their  forefathers,  and  which  her  father-in-law,  Ilvrcanus 
had  abrogated.  So  she  had  indeed  the  name  of  the  Regent,  but  the  Pharisees 
had  the  authority:  for  it  was  they  who  restored  such  as  had  been  banished,  and 
such  as  were  prisoners  at  liberty,  and  to  say  all  at  once,  they  dili'ered  in  nofliiiiT 
from  lords.  However,  the  queen  also  took  care  of  the  affairs  of  the  kin-rdoni^ 
and  got  together  a  great  body  of  mercenary  soldiers,  and  increased  her  own'^army 
to  such  a  degree  that  she  became  terrible  to  the  neighbouring  tyrants,  and  took 
hostages  of  them:  and  the  country  was  entirely  at  peace,  exccptin<T  the  Phari- 
sees; for  they  disturbed  the  queen,  and  desired  she  would  kill  those  who  per. 
suaded  Alexander  to  slay  the  eight  hundred  men  :  after  which  they  cut  the  throat 
of  one  of  them,  Diogenes  :  and  after  him  they  did  the  same  to  several,  one  after 
another,  till  the  men  that  were  the  most  potent  came  into  the  palace,  and  Aristo- 
bulus  with  them,  for  he  seemed  to  be  displeased  at  what  was  done,  and  it  ap- 
peared openly,  that  if  he  had  an  opportunity,  he  would  not  permit  his  mother  to  go 
on  so.  "  These  put  the  queen  in  mind  what  great  dangers  they  had  gone  throu"li, 
and  great  things  they  had  done,  whereby  they  had  demonstrated  the  firmness  of 
their  fidelity  to  their  master,  insomuch  that  they  had  received  the  greatest  marks 
of  favour  from  him  :  and  they  begged  of  her,  that  she  would  not  utterly  blast  their 
hopes,  as  it  now  happened,  that  when  they  had  escaped  the  hazards  that  arose 
from  their  [open]  enemies,  they  were  to  be  cut  off'  at  home  by  tiieir  [  private] 
enemies,  like  brute  beasts,  without  any  help  whatsoever.  Thev  said  also,  that 
if  their  adversaries  would  be  satisfied  with  those  that  had  been  slain  already,  they 
would  take  what  had  been  done  patiently,  on  account  of  their  natural  love  to 
their  governors ;  but  if  they  must  expect  the  same  for  tlie  future  also,  tliey  implored 
of  her  a  dismission  from  her  service  ;  for  they  could  not  bear  to  think  of  attempt, 
ing  any  method  for  their  deliverance  without  her,  but  would  rather  die  willinsly 
before  the  palace  gate,  in  case  she  would  not  forgive  them.  And  that  it  was  a 
great  shame,  both  for  themselves  and  for  the  queen,  that  when  they  were  ne- 
glected  by  her,  they  should  come  under  the  lash  of  her  husband's  enen)ies ;  for 
that  Aretas,  the  Arabian  king,  and  the  monarchs,  would  give  any  reward,  if  (hey 
could  g«t  such  men  as  foreign  auxiliaries,  to  whom  their  very  names,  before  their 
voices  be  heard,  may  perhaps  be  terrible,  but  if  they  could  not  obtain  this  their 
second  request,  and  if  she  had  determined  to  prefer  the  Pharisees  before  them, 
they  still  insisted  that  she  would  place  them  every  one  in  her  fortresses;  for  if 
some  fatal  demon  had  a  constant  spite  against  Alexander's  house,  they  would  be 
willing  to  bear  their  part,  and  to  live  in  a  private  station  there." 

3.  As  these  men  said  thus,  and  called  upon  Alexander's  ghost  for  commise- 
ration of  those  already  slain,  and  those  in  danger  of  it,  all  the  bystanders  brake 
out  info  tears  :  but  Aristobulus  cliiefly  made  manil'est  what  were  his  sentimeius, 
and  used  many  reproachful  exjjressions  to  his  mother,  [sa\  ing]  "  Nay,  indeed  llie 
case  is  this,  that  they  have  been  themselves  the  autiiors  of  their  own  calamities, 
who  have  permitted  a  woman  who,  against  rea^^on,  was  mad  with  ainbitiun,  to 
reign  over  them,  wlien  there  were  sons  in  the  fiower  of  tlieir  age  fitter  for  it." 
So  Alexandra,  not  knowing  what  to  do  with  any  decency,  committed  the  fortresses 
to  them,  all  but  Ilvrcaniaand  Alcxandrium,  and  JIaclierus,  where  her  princi[)al 
treasures  were.  Alter  a  little  while  also,  she  sent  her  son  Aristobulus  with  an  army 
to  Damascus  against  Ptolemy,  who  was  called  Menneus,  who  was  such  a  bad 

VOL.  1.  3  N. 


456  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIII' 

neighbour  to  the  city ;  but  he  did  nothing  considerable  there,  and  so  returned 

home. 

4.  About  this  time  news  was  brought  that  Tigranes,  the  king  of  Armenia,  had 
made  an  irruption  into  Syria  with  five  hundred  thousand"  soldiers,  and  was  coming 
against  Judea.  This  news,  as  may  well  be  supposed,  terrified  the  queen  and  the 
nation.  Accordingly  they  sent  him  many  and  very  valuable  presents,  as  also 
ambassadors,  and  that  as  he  was  besieging  Ptolemais;  for  Selene  the  queen,  the 
same  that  was  also  called  Cleopatra,  ruled  then  over  Syria,  who  had  persuaded 
the  inhabitants  to  exclude  Tigranes.  So  the  Jewish  ambassadors  interceded  witli 
him,  and  entreated  him  that  he  would  determine  nothing  that  was  severe  about 
their  queen  or  nation.  He  commended  them  for  the  respects  they  paid  him  at 
so  o-reat  a  distance  ;  and  gave  them  good  hopes  of  his  favour.  But  as  soon  as 
Ptolemais  was  taken,  news  came  to  Tigranes,  that  Lucullus,  in  his  pursuit  of 
Mithridates,  could  not  light  upon  him,  who  was  fled  into  Iberia,  but  was  laying 
waste  Armenia,  and  besieging  its  cities.  Now,  when  Tigranes  knew  this,  he  re- 
turned home. 

5.  After  this,  when  the  queen  was  fallen  into  a  dangerous  distemper,  Aristo- 
bulus  resolved  to  attempt  the  seizing  of  the  government ;  so  he  stole  away  se- 
cretly by  night,  with  only  one  of  his  servants,  and  went  to  the  fortresses,  wherein 
his  friends,  that  were  such  from  the  days  of  his  father,  were  settled  :  for  as  he  had 
been  a  great  while  displeased  at  his  mother's  conduct,  so  he  was  now  much  more 
afraid,  lest,  upon  her  death,  their  whole  family  should  be  under  the  power  of  the 
Pharisees,  for  he  saw  the  inability  of  his  brother  who  was  to  succeed  in  the  go- 
vernment: nor  was  any  one  conscious  of  what  he  was  doing  but  only  his  wife, 
whom  he  left  at  Jerusalem  with  theijr  children.     He  first  of  all  came  to  Agaba, 
where  was  Galestes,  one  of  the  potent  men  beforementioned,  and  was  received 
by  him.     When  it  was  day,  the  queen  perceived  that  Aristobulus  was  fled  ;  and 
for  some  time  she  supposed  that  his  departure  was  not  in  order  to  make  any  in- 
novation ;  but  when  messengers  came  one  after  another,  with  the  news  tliat  he 
had  secured  the  first  place,  the  second  place,  and  all  the  places,  for  as  soon  a:? 
one  had  begun,  they  all  submitted  to  his  disposal,  then  it  was  that  the  queen  and 
the  nation  were  in  the  greatest  disorder ;  for  they  were  aware  that  it  would  not 
be  long  ere  Aristobulus  would  be  able  to  settle  himself  firmly  in  the  government. 
What  they  were  principally  afraid  of  was  this,  that  he  would  inflict  punishment 
upon  them  for  the  mad  treatment  his  house  had  had  from  them.  So  they  resolved  to 
take  his  wife  and  children  into  custody,  and  keep  them  in  the  fortress  thatf  was 
over  the  temple.     Now  there  was  a  mighty  conflux  of  the  people  that  came  to 
Aristobulus  from  all  parts,  insomuch  that  he  had  a  kind  of  royal  attendance  about 
him  ;   for  in  httle  more  than  fifteen  days,  he  got  twenty-two  strong  places,  which 
gave  him  the  opportunity  of  raising  an  army  from  Libanus  and  TrachonJtis,  and 
the  monarchs;  for  men  are  easily  led  by  the  greater  number,  and  easily  submit 
to  them.    And  besides  this,  that  by  aflording  them  their  assistance,  when  he  could 
not  expect  it,  they,  as  well  as  he,  should  have  the  advantages  that  would  come 
by  his  being  king,  because  they  had  been  the  occasion  of  his  gaining  the  king- 
dom.    Now  the  elders  of  the  Jews,  and  Hyrcanus  with  them,  went  in  unto  the 
queen,  and  desired,  "  That  she  would  give  them  her  sentiments  about  the  present 
posture  of  aff"airs,  for  that  Aristobulus  was  in  effect  lord  of  almost  all  the  kingdom, 
by  possessing  of  so  many  strong  holds,  and  that  it  was  absurd  for  them  to  take 
any  counsel  by  themselves,  how   ill  soever  she  were,  while  she  was  alive,  and 
that  the  danger  w-ould  be  upon  them  in  no  long  time."     But  she  "  bid  them  do 

*  The  number  ofoOO.OOO,  or  cvrn  "00,000,  as  oneGrrek  Copy,  willi  the  Latin  copies,  liavc  it,  for  Ti- 
pranp'sarinv,  tlint  caniooiit  of  A  nnciiia  into  Svria  and  .hiriea,  set'ins  mucli  too  ]ari.i;e.  \\'e  have  liad  al- 
ready several  such  eMravaijaiit  imiiibers  in  .lospphus's  prrsenl  copies,  which  are  not  to  be  at  all  ascribed 
to  liini.     Accordin'^lv  I  inrliu'^  to  Dr.  Hudson's  emendation  here,  which  supposes  thoni  but  40,000. 

t  The  fortress,  castle,  citadel,  or  tower,  whitlier  the  wife  and  children  of  Aristobulus  were  now  sent, 
and  which  overlooked  the  t<Mnpl->,  could  be  no  other  than  what  Hyrcanus  I.  built,  Antiq.  B.  xviii.  ch.  iv» 
iect.  3,  and  Herod  the  (Ireat  rel)u;h,  and  called  the  Tower  ofAnlonin,  Antiq.  I>.  xv.  ch.  xi.  sect.  5. 


C.  XVI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  ^Qj 

what  they  tlionght  proper  to  be  done:  that  they  had  many  circumstances  in  their 
favour  still  remaining,  a  nation  in  good  heart,  an  army,  and  money  in  their  seve- 
ral treasuries,  tor  that  she  had  small  concern  about  public  afiairs  now,  when  the 
strength  of  her  bodv  already  failed  her." 

6.  Now  a  little  while  after  she  had  said  this  to  them  she  died,  when  she  had 
reigned  nine  years,  and  had  in  all  lived  seventy-three.  A  woman  she  was  who 
showed  no  signs  of  the  weakness  of  her  se.\,  for  she  was  sagacious  to  the  greatest 
degree  in  her  ambition  of  governing;  and  demonstrated  by  her  doings  at  once, 
that  her  mind  was  fit  for  action,  and  that  sometimes  men  themselves  show  the 
little  understanding  they  have  by  the  frequent  mistakes  they  make  in  point  of 
government:  for  she  always  preferred  the  present  to  futurity,  and  preferred 
the  power  of  an  imperious  dominion  above  all  things,  and  in  comparison  of 
that  had  no  regard  to  what  was  good,  or  what  was  right.  However,  she 
brought  the  afiairs  of  her  house  to  such  an  unfortunate  condition,  that  she 
was  the  occasion  of  the  taking  away  that  authority  from  it,  and  that  in  no 
long  time  afterward,  which  she  had  obtained  by  a  vast  number  of  hazards 
and  misfortunes,  and  this  out  of  a  desire  of  what  docs  not  belong  to  a  wo- 
man,  and  all  by  a  compliance  in  her  sentiments  with  those  that  bear  ill-will  to 
their  family,  and  bv  leaving  the  administration  destitute  of  a  proper  support  of 
great  men:  And  indeed  her  management  dm-ing  the  administration,  while  she 
was  alive,  was  such  as  filled  the  palace  after  her  death  with  calamities  and  dis- 
turbance. However,  although  this  had  been  her  wav  of  governing,  she  preserved 
the  nation  in  peace.     And  this  is  the  conclusion  of  the  affairs  of  Alexandria. 


40g  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIII. 


BOOK  XIV. 


CONTAINING  THE  INTEEVAL  OF  THIRTY-TWO  YEARS. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  QUEEJV  ALEXAJVDRA  TO  THE  DEATH  OF 
AJVTIGOMUS. 


CHAP.  I. 

The  War  between  Aristobuliis  and  Hyrcanus  about  the  Kingdom;  and  how  they 

made  an  Agreement,  that  Aristohulus  should  be  King,  and  Hyrcanus  live  a 

•private  Life;  as  also  how  Hyrcanus  a  little  afterward  was  persuaded  by 

Antipaier  to  fly  to  Aretas. 

§  1.  We  have  related  the  affairs  of  queen  Alexandra,  and  her  death  in  the 
foregoing  book,  and  will  now  speak  of  what  followed,  and  was  connected  with 
these  histories,  declaring  before  we  proceed,  that  we  have  nothing  so  much  at 
heart  as  this,  that  we  may  omit  no  facts*  either  through  ignorance  or  laziness ; 
for  we  are  upon  the  history  and  explicationof  such  things  as  the  greatest  part  are 
unacquainted  withal,  because  of  their  distance  from  our  times;  and  we  aim  to  do 
it  with  a  proper  beauty  of  style,  so  far  as  that  is  derived  from  proper  words  bar- 
monically  disposed,  and  from  such  ornaments  of  speech  also  as  may  contribute 
to  the  pleasure  of  our  readers,  that  they  may  entertain  the  knowledge  of  what  we 
write  with  some  agreeable  satisfaction  and  pleasure.  But  the  principal  scope  that 
authors  ought  to  aim  at  above  all  the  rest,  is  to  speak  accurately,  and  to  speak 
truly,  for  the  satisfaction  of  those  that  are  otherwise  unacquainted  with  such  trans- 
actions, and  obliged  to  believe  what  these  writers  inform  them  of. 

2.  Hyrcanus  then  began  his  high  priesthood  on  the  third  year  of  the  hundred 
seventy-seventh  olympiad,  when  Quintus  Hortensius  and  Quintus  Metellus,  who 
was  called  Metellus  of  Crete,  were  consuls  at  Rome  ;  when  presently  Aristobukis 
began  to  make  war  against  him,  and  as  it  came  to  a  battle  with  Hyrcanus  at  Jeri- 
cho, many  of  his  soldiers  deserted  him,  and  went  over  to  his  brother:  upon  which 
Hyrcanus  fled  into  the  citadel,  where  Aristobulus's  wife  and  children  were  impri- 
soned  by  their  mother,  as  we  have  said  already,  and  attacked  and  overcame  those 
his  adversaries  that  tied  thither,  and  lay  within  the  walls  of  the  temple.  So  when 
he  had  sent  a  message  to  his  brother  about  agreeing  the  matters  between  them,  he 
laid  aside  his  enmity  to  him  on  these  conditions,  that  Aristobukis  should  be  king  ; 
that  he  should  live  without  intermeddling  with  public  afliairs,  and  quietly  enjoy  the 
estate  he  had  acquired.  When  they  had  agreed  upon  these  terms  in  the  temple, 
and  had  confirmed  the  agreement  with  oaths,  and  the  giving  one  another  their 
right  hands,  and  embracing  one  another  in  the  sight  of  the  whole  multitude,  they 
departed,  the  one,  Aristohulus  to  the  palace,  and  Hyrcanus  as  a  private  man  to 
the  former  house  of  Aristohulus. 

3.  But  there  was  a  certain  friend  of  Hyrcanus's  an  Idumean,  called  Antipater, 
who  was  very  ricli,  in  his  nature  an  active  and  a  seditious  man ;  who  was  at  en- 
mity  with  Aristohulus,  and  had  diflerences  with  him  on  account  of  his  good-will 

*  Reland  takes  notice  here,  veryjustly,  liow  Josephus's  declaration,  that  it  was  his  great  concern  not 
only  to  write  an  agreeable,  an  accurate,  and  a  true  liistory,  but  also  distinctly  not  to  omit   any  thing  [of 
eonsequcnce]  either  throiii4h  ignorance  or  laziiiess,  implies  that  he  could  not,  consistently  with  that  reso-  , 
lution,  omit  the  mention  of  [so  famous  a  person  as]  Jesus  Ckriit. 


C.  I.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  459 

to  Hyrcanus.  It  is  true  that  Nicolaus  of  Damascus  says,  that  Antipater  was  of 
the  stock  of  the  principal  Jews  who  came  out  of  Babylon  into  Judea ;  but  that 
assertion  of  his  was  to  gratify  Herod,  wlio  was  his  son,  and  wlio,  by  certain  revo- 
lutions  of  fortune,  came  afterward  to  be  king  of  the  Jews,  whose  history  we  shall 
give  you  in  its  proper  place  hcreafier.  However,  this  Antipater  was  at  first  called 
Antipas,*  and  that  was  his  father's  name  also;  of  whom  they  relate  this,  that  king 
Alexander  and  his  wife  made  him  general  of  all  Idumea,  and  that  he  made  a 
league  of  friendship  with  those  Arabians,  and  Gazites,  and  Ascalonites,  that  were 
of  his  own  party,  and  had,  by  many  and  large  presents,  made  them  his  fast 
friends.  But  now,  this  younger  Antipater  was  suspicious  of  the  power  of  Aristo- 
bulus,  and  was  afraid  of  some  mischief  he  might  do  him,  because  of  his  hatred 
to  him,  so  he  stirred  up  the  most  powerful  of  the  Jews,  and  talked  against  him  to 
them  privately;  and  said,  that  "it  was  unjust  to  overlook  the  conduct  of  Aristo- 
bulus,  who  had  gotten  the  government  unrighteously,  and  had  ejected  his  brother 
out  of  it,  who  was  the  elder,  and  ought  to  retain  what  belonged  to  him  by  prero- 
gative of  his  birth."  And  the  same  speeches  he  perpetually  made  to  Hyrcanus  ; 
and  told  him,  that  his  own  life  would  be  in  danger,  unless  he  guarded  himself, 
and  got  shut  of  Aristobulus ;  for  he  said,  that  the  friends  of  Aristobuhis  omitted 
no  opportunity  of  advising  him  to  kill  him,  as  being  then,  and  not  before,  sure  to 
retain  his  principality.  Hyrcanus  gave  no  credit  to  these  words  of  his,  as  being 
of  a  gentle  disposition,  and  one  that  did  not  easily  admit  of  calumnies  against 
other  men.  This  temper  of  his  not  disposing  him  to  meddle  with  public  atfairs, 
and  want  of  spirit,  occasioned  him  to  appear  to  spectators  to  be  degenerous  and 
unmanly;  while  Aristobulus  was  of  a  contrary  temper,  an  active  man,  and  one  of 
a  great  and  generous  soul. 

4.  Since  therefore  Antipater  saw  that  Hyrcanus  did  not  attend  to  what  he  said, 
he  never  ceased,  day  by  day,  to  charge  feigned  crimes  upon  Aristobulus,  and  to 
calumniate  him  before  him,  as  if  he  had  a  mind  to  kill  him;  and  so,  by  urging 
him  perpetually,  he  advised  him,  and  persuaded  him  to  fly  to  Aretas,  the  king  of 
Arabia;  and  promised  that  if  he  would  comply  with  his  advice,  he  would  also 
himself  assist  him,  [and  go  with  him.]  When  Hyrcanus  heard  this,  he  said  that 
it  was  for  his  advantage  to  fly  away  to  Aretas.  Now,  Arabia  is  a  country  that 
borders  upon  Judea.  However,  Hyrcanus  sent  Antipater  first  to  the  king  of 
Arabia,  in  order  to  receive  assurances  from  him,  that  when  he  should  come  in  the 
manner  of  a  supplicant  to  him,  he  will  not  deliver  him  up  to  his  enemies.  So  An- 
tipater, having  received  such  assurances,  returned  to  Hyrcanus  to  Jerusalem.  A 
while  afterward  he  took  Hyrcanus,  and  stole  out  of  the  city  by  night,  and  went  a 
great  journey,  and  came  and  brought  him  to  the  city  called  Petra,  where  the  pa- 
lace  of  Aretas  was;  as  he  was  a  very  familiar  friend  of  that  king's,  he  persuaded 
him  to  bring  back  Hyrcanus  into  Judea,  and  this  persuasion  he  continued  every 
day  without  any  remission.  He  also  proposed  to  make  him  presents  on  that  ac- 
count. At  length  he  prevailed  with  Aretas  in  his  suit.  Moreover,  Hyrcanus 
promised  him,  that  when  ho  had  been  brought  thither,  and  had  received  his  king, 
dom,  he  would  restore  that  countrv,  and  those  twelve  cities  which  his  father  A- 
lexander  had  taken  from  the  Arabians,  which  were  these,  Medaba,  Naballo,  Li- 
bias,  Tharabasa,  Agalla,  Athene,  Zoar,  Orone,  Marissa,  Rudda,  Lussa,  and  Oruba. 

*  That  the  famous  Antipaier's  or  Aiitipas's  father  was  also  Antipater  or  Aiiiipas,  which  two  may 
justly  be  esteeme'l  ntie  and  tlie  same  name,  the  former  with  a  Greek  or  Gentile,  the  latter  with  a  Hebrew 
or  Jewish  teriuination,  Josephus  hero  assures  us,  though  Eusebius  indeed  says  it  was  Herod. 


470  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIV. 


CHAP.  II. 

How  Aretas  and  Hyrcanus  made  an  Expedition  against  Aristohulus,  ajid  besieged 

Jenisalein  ;  and  how  Scaurus  the  Roman  General  raised  the  Siege. 

Concerning  the  Death  of  Onias. 

§  1.  After  these  promises  had  been  given  to  Aretas,  he  made  an  expedition 
against  Aristobulus,  with  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  horse  and  foot,  and  beat  him 
in  the  battle.  And  when  after  that  victory  many  went  over  to  Hyrcanus  as  de- 
serters,  Aristobidus  was  left  desolate,  and  fled  to  Jerusalem  ;  upon  which  the 
king  of  Arabia  took  all  his  army  and  made  an  assault  upon  the  temple,  and  be- 
sieged Aristobulus  therein,  the  people  still  supporting  Hyrcanus,  and  assisting 
him  in  the  siege,  while  none  but  the  priests  continued  with  Aristobulus.  So 
Aretas  united  the  forces  of  the  Arabians  and  of  the  Jews  together,  and  pressed 
on  the  siege  vigorously.  As  this  happened  at  the  season  when  the  feast  of  un- 
leavened bread  was  celebrated,  which  we  call  the  Passover,  the  principal  men 
among  the  Jews  left  the  country,  and  fled  into  Egypt.  Now  there  was  one, 
whose  name  was  Onias,  a  righteous  man  he  was,  and  beloved  of  God,  who,  in 
a  certain  drought,  had  prayed  to  God  to  put  an  end  to  the  intense  heat,  and 
whose  prayers  God  had  heard,  and  had  sent  them  rain.  This  man  had  hid  him- 
self,  because  he  saw  that  this  sedition  would  last  a  great  while.  However,  they 
brought  him  to  the  Jewish  camp,  and  desired,  that  as  by  his  prayers  he  had  once 
put  an  end  to  the  drought,  so  he  would  in  like  manner  make'  imprecations  on 
Aristobulus  and  those  of  his  faction.  And  when,  upon  his  refusal,  and  the  ex- 
cuses that  he  made,  he  was  still  by  the  multitude  compelled  to  speak,  he  stood 
up  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  said,  "  O  God,  the  king  of  the  whole  world  !  since 
those  that  stand  now  v/ith  me  are  thy  people,  and  those  that  are  besieged  are 
also  thy  priests,  I  beseech  thee  that  thou  wilt  neither  hearken  to  the  prayers  of 
those  against  these,  nor  bring  to  efiect  what  these  pray  against  those."  Where- 
upon such  wicked  Jews  as  stood  about  him,  as  soon  as  he  had  made  this  prayer, 
stoned  him  to  death. 

2.  But  God  punished  them  immediately  for  this  their  barbarity,  and  took  ven- 
geance  of  them  for  the  murder  of  Onias,  in  the  manner  following  :  while  the 
priests  and  Aristobulus  were  besieged,  it  happened  that  the  feast  called  the  Pas. 
sover  was  come,  at  which  it  is  our  custom  to  offer  a  great  number  of  sacrifices  to 
God ;  but  those  that  were  with  Aristobulus  wanted  sacrifices,  and  desired  that 
their  countrymen  without  would  furnish  them  with  such  sacrifices,  and  assured 
them  they  should  have  as  much  money  for  them  as  they  should  desire  ;  and 
when  they  required  them  to  pay  a  thousand  drachma)  for  each  head  of  cattle, 
Aristobulus  and  the  priests  willingly  undertook  to  pay  for  them  accordingly,  and 
tliose  within  let  down  the  money  over  the  walls,  and  gave  it  them.  But  when 
the  others  had  received  it,  they  did  not  deliver  the  sacrifices,  but  arrived  at  that 
heigh;  of  wickedness  as  to  break  the  assurances  they  had  given,  and  to  be  guilty 
of  impiety  towards  God,  by  not  furnishing  those  that  wanted  them  with  sacrifi- 
ces. And  when  the  priests  found  they  had  been  cheated,  and  that  the  agree- 
meiits  they  had  made  were  violated,  they  prayed  to  God,  that  he  would  avenge 
them  on  their  countrymen.  Nor  did  he  delay  that  their  punishment,  but  sent  a 
strong  and  vehement  storm  of  wind  that  destroyed  the  fruits  of  the  whole  coun- 
try,^ till  a  modius  of  wheat  was  then  bought  for  eleven  drachma. 

3.  In  the  meantime  Pompcysent  Scaurus  into  Syria,  while  he  was  himself  in 
Armenia,  and  making  war  with  Tigranes  :  but  when  Scaurus  was  come  to  Da. 
mascus,  and  found  that  Lollius  and  I\Ietellus  had  newly  taken  the  city,  he  came 
himself  hastily  into  Judea.  And  when  he  was  come  thither,  ambassadors  came 
to  him,  both  from  Aristobulus  and  Hyrcanus,  and  both  desired  he  would  assist 
them.     And  when  both  of  t'.iem  promised  to  give  him  money,  Aristobulus  four 


cm.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  47I 

hundred  talents,  and  Hyrcanus  no  less,  he  accepted  of  Aristobulus's  promise,  for 
he  was  rich  and  had  a  great  soid,  and  desired  to  obtain  nothing  but  what  was 
moderate  ;  whereas  the  other  was  poor,  and  tenacious,  and  made  incredible  pro- 
mises in  hopes  of  greater  advantages  ;  for  it  \sas  not  the  same  thing  to  take  a 
city,  that  was  exceeding  strong  and  powerful,  as  it  was  to  eject  out  of  tbe  coun- 
try some  fugitives,  witb  a  greater  number  of  Nabateans,  who  were  no  very  war- 
like people.  He  therefore  made  an  agreement  with  Aristol)uhi;-;,  for  the  reasons 
before  mentioned,  and  took  his  money,  and  raised  the  siege,  and  ordered  Aretas 
to  depart,  or  else  ho  should  be  declared  an  enemy  to  the  Romans.  So  Scaurus 
returned  to  Damascus  again  ;  and  Aristobulus,  with  a  groat  army,  made  war 
with  Aretas  and  Hyrcanus,  and  fought  them  at  a  place  called  Papyron,  and  beat 
them  in  the  battle,  and  slew  about  six  thousand  of  the  enemy ;  with  whom  feh 
Phalion  also,  the  brother  of  Antipater. 


CHAP.  HI. 

How  Arisfoholus  and  Hyrcanus  came  to  Pompey,  in  order  io  arrrue  wJio  ought  to 

have  the  Kingdom :  and  how,  upon  the  Flight  of  Aristobolus  to  the  Fortress 

of  Alexandrium,  Pompcy  led  his  Army  against  him,   and  ordered  him  to 

deliver  up  the  Fortresses  whereof  he  was  possessed. 

§  1.  A  LITTLE  afterward  Pompey  came  to  Damascus,  and  marched  over  Cele- 
syria ;  at  which  time  there  came  ambassadors  to  him  from  all  Syria  and  Egypt, 
and  out  of  Judea  also,  for  Aristobolus  had  sent  him  a  great  present,  whicli  was  a 
golden  vine,*  of  the  value  of  five  hundred  talents.  Now  Strabo  of  Cappadocia 
mentions  this  present  in  these  words  :  "  There  came  also  an  embassage  out  of 
Egypt,  and  a  crown  of  the  value  of  four  thousand  pieces  of  gold  ;  and  out  of  Judea 
there  came  another,  whether  you  call  it  a  vine  or  a  garden:  thev  called  tbe  thing 
Terpule,  The  Delight.  However,  we  ourselves  saw  that  present  reposited  at 
Rome,  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  with  this  inscription,  The  gift  of 
Alexander  the  King  of  the  Jeics.  It  was  valued  at  five  hundred  talents  ;  and  the 
report  is,  that  Aristobolus,  the  governor  of  the  Jews,  sent  it." 

2.  In  a  little  time  afterward  came  ambassadors  again  to  him,  Antipater  from 
Hyrcanus,  and  Nicodemus  from  Aristobidus  ;  which  last  also  accused  such  as 
had  taken  bribes,  first  Gabinius,  and  then  Scaurus,  the  one  three  hundred  talents, 
and  the  other  four  hundred  ;  by  which  procedure  ho  made  these  two  iiis  enemies, 
besides  those  he  had  before.  And  Mhen  Pompey  had  ordered  those  that  had  con- 
troversies one  with  another  to  come  to  him  in  the  beginning  of  the  spring,  he 
brought  his  army  out  of  their  winter  quarters,  and  marched  into  the  country  of 
Damascus  ;  and  as  ho  went  along,  he  demohshcd  the  citadel  that  v.'as  at  Apamia, 
which  Antiochus  Cyzicenus  had  built,  and  took  cognizance  of  the  country  of  Pto- 
lemy Menneus,  a  wicked  man,  and  not  less  so  than  Dionysius  of  Tripoli,  who  luul 
been  beheaded,  who  was  also  his  relation  by  marriage;  yet  did  ho  buy  off  the 
punishment  of  his  crimes  for  a  thousand  talents,  with  which  money  Pompey  paid 
the  soldiers  their  wages.  He  also  conquered  the  place  called  Lysias,  of  which 
Silas  a  Jew  was  tyrant.     And  when  he  had  passed  over  the  cities  of  Ileliopolis 

*  This  noUlcn  vine  nrs^nrrkn,  scnn  by  Strabo  at  Rome,  hns  its  in=criptinn  hrrc,  ns  if  ifwtrc  1I10  cift  of 
Alcvaiuipr,  the  fathor  of  Aristobulus,  and  not  of  Aristobulus  liimsolf,  10  whoiti  yet  .toseplnis  ascrilii"?  it  ; 
and  ill  order  to  prove  tbe  trutb  of  tbat  part  1  if  bis  bi?-torv,  introduces  this  testinonv  of  Sirabo's  ;  sn  ilial  tlic 
ordinarv  copies  socm  to  be  here  eitber  erroneous  or  defeelivp,  and  ibo  ori;;MiaI  reading  seemslo  bave  l)eerr 
eitlier  Aristohnhis,  instead  of  Alrrnndcr,  witii  one  Creek  copv,  or  chc  Arislolnilii.t,  the  son  nf.illtxan' 
der,  with  tlie  f.atin  cofiies  ;  n-bich  last  seems  to  me  tbe  most  probable  :  for  as  to  Arrlibisbnp  Usher's  con- 
icctures,  tbat  Alexander  made  it,  and  dedicated  it  to  (iod  in  tbe  temple,  and  that  thence  Aristobolus  look 
it,  and  s(>nt  it  to  I'ouipev,  they  are  both  very  improbable,  and  no  way  ar^rceable  to  Josephns,  who  woukl 
hardly  have  avoided  the  recording;  both  liioso  uncommon  points  of  lii->tory,  had  he  known  any  thini^  of 
them  ;  nor  would  cither  tb.e  Jewish  nation,  or  even  I'onij^ey  hi;:'.t:LU",  tluii  have  reiislied  such  a  tlajranl 
instance  of  sacrilege 


472  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIV. 

and  Chalcis,  and  got  over  the  mountain  which  is  on  the  limit  of  Celesyria,  he 
came  from  Pclla  to  Damascus  ;  and  there  it  was  that  he  heard  the  causes  of  the 
Jews  and  of  their  governors  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobohis,  who  were  at  difference 
one  with  another;  as  also  of  the  nation  against  them  both,  which  did  not  desiro 
fo  be  under  kingly  government,  because  the  form  of  government  they  received 
from  (heir  forefathers  was  that  of  subjection  to  the  priest  of  that  God  whom  they 
worshiped  ;  and  [they  complained,]  that  though  these  two  were  the  posterity  ot 
priests,  yet  did  they  seek  to  change  the  government  of  their  nation  to  anothei 
form,  in  order  to  enslave  them.  Hyrcanus  complained,  that  although  he  were 
the  elder  brother,  he  was  deprived  of  the  prerogative  of  his  birth  by  Aristobulus, 
and  that  he  hath  but  a  small  part  of  the  country  under  him,  Aristobulus  having 
taken  away  V.ie  rest  from  him  by  force.  He  also  accused  him,  that  the  incursions 
which  had  been  made  into  their  neighbours'  countries,  and  the  piracies  that  had 
been  at  sea,  were  owing  to  him ;  and  that  the  nation  would  not  have  revolted,  un- 
less  Aristobulus  had  been  a  man  given  to  violence  and  disorder  ;  and  there  were 
no  fewer  than  a  thousand  Jews,  of  the  best  esteem  among  them,  who  confirmee? 
this  accusation  ;  which  confirmation  was  procured  by  Antipater.  But  Aristobo 
lus  alleged  against  him,  that  it  was  Hyrcanus's  own  temper,  which  was  inactive 
and  therefore  on  that  account  contemptible,  which  caused  him  to  be  deprived  of 
the  government;  and  that  for  himself,  he  was  necessitated  to  take  it  upon  him, 
for  fear  lest  it  should  be  transferred  to  others.  And  that  as  to  his  title  [of  king,] 
it  was  no  other  than  what  his  father  had  taken  [before  him.]  He  also  called 
for  witnesses  of  what  he  said,  some  persons  who  were  both  young  and  insolent; 
whose  purple  garments,  fine  heads  of  hair,  and  other  ornaments  were  detested" 
[by  the  court,]  and  which  they  appeared  in,  not  as  though  they  were  to  plead 
their  cause  in  a  court  of  justice,  but  as  if  they  were  m-arching  in  a  pompous  pro 
cession. 

3.  When  Pompey  had  heard  the  causes  of  these  two,  and  had  condemned 
Aristobulus  for  his  violent  procedure,  he  then  spake  civilly  to  them,  and  sent  them 
away  ;  and  told  them  that  when  he  came  again  into  their  country,  he  would  set- 
tle all  their  affairs,  after  he  had  first  taken  a  view  of  the  affairs  of  the  Nabateans. 
In  the  mean  time,  he  ordered  them  to  be  quiet ;  and  treated  Aristobulus  civilly, 
lest  he  should  make  the  nation  revolt,  and  hinder  his  return  :  which  yet  Aristo- 
bulus did  ;  for  without  expecting  any  further  determination,  which  Pompey  had 
promised  them,  he  went  to  the  city  Delius,  and  thence  marched  into  Judea. 

4.  At  this  behaviour  Pompey  was  angry  ;  and  taking  with  him  that  army  which 
he  was  leading  against  the  Nabateans,  and  the  auxiliaries  that  came  from  Da- 
mascus, and  the  other  parts  of  Syria,  with  the  other  Roman  legions  which  he 
had  with  him,  he  made  an  expedition  against  Aristobulus ;  but  as  he  passed  by 
Pella  and  Scythopolis,  he  came  to  Corese,  which  is  the  first  entrance  into  Judea 
when  one  passes  over  the  midland  countries  ;  where  he  came  to  a  most  beautiful 
fortress  that  was  built  on  the  top  of  a  mountain  called  Alexandrmm,  whither 
Aristobulus  had  fled :  and  thence  Pompey  sent  his  commands  to  him,  that  he 
should  come  to  him.  Accordingly,  at  the  persuasion  of  many,  that  he  would  not 
make  war  with  the  Romans,  he  came  down :  and  when  he  had  disputed  with  his 
brother  about  the  right  to  the  government,  he  went  up  again  to  the  citadel,  as 
Pompey  gave  him  leave  to  do  ;  and  this  he  did  two  or  three  times,  as  flattering 
himself  with  the  hopes  of  having  the  kingdom  granted  to  him  ;  so  that  he  still 
pretended  he  would  obey  Pompey  in  whatsoever  he  commanded,  although  at  the 
same  time  he  retired  to  his  fortress,  that  he  might  not  depress  himself  too  low, 
and  that  he  might  be  prepared  for  a  war,  in  case  it  should  prove,  as  he  feared, 
that  Pompey  would  transfer  the  government  to  Hyrcanus.  But  when  Pompey  • 
enjoined  Aristobulus  to  deliver  up  the  fortresses  he  held,  and  to  send  an  injunctiof  ■ 
to  their  governors,  under  his  own  hand,  for  that  purpose,  for  they  had  been  for- 
bidden to  deliver  them  up  upon  any  other  commands,  he  submitted  indesd  to  dc 
so,  but  still  he  retired  in  displeasure  to  Jerusalem,  and  made  preparation  tor  war. 


C.  (V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  473 

A  little  after  this,  certain  persons  came  out  of  Pontus,  and  informed  Pompey, 
as  he  was  on  the  way,  and  conducting  his  army  against  Aristobulus,  that  AliUi- 
ridates  was  dead,  and  was  slain  by  his  son  Pliarnaccs. 


CHAP.  IV. 

How  Pompey,  when  the  Citizens  of  Jerusalem  shut  the  Gates  against  him,  besieged 
the  City,  and  took  it  by  Force  ;  as  also  what  ether  Things  he  did  in  Judca. 

§  1.  Now  wlien  Pompey  had  pitched  his  camp  at  Jericho  (where  the  palm-tree* 
grows,  and  that  balsam  which  is  an  ointment  of  all  the  most  precious,  which 
upon  any  incision  made  in  the  wood  with  a  sharp  stone,  distils  out  thence  like  a 
juice,)  he  marched  in  the  morning  to  Jerusalem.  Hereupon  Aristobuius  repented 
of  wiiat  he  was  doing,  and  came  to  Pompey,  and  [promised  to]  give  him  money, 
and  received  him  into  Jerusalem,  and  desired  that  he  would  leave  off  the  war, 
and  do  what  he  pleased  peaceably.  So  Pompey,  upon  his  entreaty,  forgave  hiui, 
and  sent  Gabinius,  and  soldiers  with  him,  to  receive  the  money  and  the  city  : 
yet  was  no  part  of  this  performed,  but  Gabinius  came  back,  being  both  excluded 
out  of  the  city,  and  receiving  none  of  the  money  promised,  because  Aristobu- 
lus's  soldiers  would  not  permit  the  agreements  to  be  executed.  At  this  Pompey 
was  very  angry,  and  put  Aristobulus  into  prison,  and  came  himself  to  the  city, 
which  was  strong  on  every  side  excepting  the  north,  which  was  not  so  well  for- 
tified ;  for  there  was  a  broad  and  deep  ditchf  that  encompassed  the  city,  and  in- 
cluded within  it  the  temple,  which  Mas  itself  encompassed  about  with  a  very 
strong  stone  wall. 

2.  Now  there  was  a  sedition  of  the  men  that  were  within  the  city,  who  did  not 
agree  what  was  to  be  done  in  their  present  circumstances,  while  some  thought  it 
best  to  deliver  up  the  city  to  Pompe}^  ;  but  Aristobulus's  party  exhorted  them  lo 
shut  the  gates,  because  he  was  kept  in  prison.  Now  these  prevented  the  others, 
and  seized  upon  the  temple,  .and  cut  ofl*  the  bridge  which  reached  from  it  to  the 
city,  and  prepared  themselves  to  abide  a  siege  ;  but  the  others  admitted  Pompey's 
army  in,  and  delivered  up  both  the  city  and  the  king's  palace  to  him.  So  Pom- 
pey sent  his  lieutenant  Piso  with  an  army,  and  placed  garrisons  both  in  the  city 
and  in  the  palace,  to  secure  them,  and  fortified  tlie  houses  that  joined  to  the  tern- 
pie  ;  and  all  those  which  were  more  distant,  and  without  it.  And  in  the  first 
place,  he  ofliered  terms  of  accommodation  to  those  within  ;  but  when  they  would 
not  comply  with  what  was  desired,  he  encompassed  all  the  -places  thereabout 
with  a  wall,  wherein  Hyrcanus  did  gladly  assist  him  on  all  occasions  ;  but  Pom- 
pey  pitched  his  camp  within  [the  wall,]  on  the  north  part  of  the  temple,  where  it 
was  most  practicable  ;  but  even  on  that  side  there  were  great  towers,  and  a  ditch 
had  been  dug,  and  a  deep  valley  begirt  it  round  about,  for  on  the  ])arts  towards 
the  city  were  precipices,  and  the  bridge  on  which  Pompey  had  gotten  in,  w:i-j 
broken  down  ;  however,  a  bank  was  raised  day  by  day,  with  a  great  deal  of  la- 

*  These  cx|)re5.s  testimonies  of  Jo^cphns  liere,  and  Antiq.  B.  viii.  ch.  vi.  sect.  6,  and  B.  xv.  rh.  iv. 
sect.  2,  tliat  the  only  balsam  gardens,  and  the  best  palm-trees,  were,  at  lea>t  in  his  days,  near  Jerirti;> 
nnd  En;;addi,  about  the  north  part  of  the  Dead  .'^ea  (whereabout  also  Alexander  the  (iirat  paw  the  bal- 
sam drop,)  show  the  mistake  of  those  that  understand  Eusebiusand  Jerom,  as  if  one  of  those  cardens 
were  at  the  south  part  of  that  sea;  at  Zoar  or  ."^cgor ;  whereas  they  must  either  mean  nnoihiT  Zoar  or 
Se;or,  which  was  Ijetween  .lericlio  and  En^addi,  a';reeahly  to  Josephus,  which  yet  they  do  not  apj'xTir 
to  do  ;  or  else  they  directly  contradict  Josephus,  and  were  therein  greatly  mistaken  ;  I  mean  this,  unlov^ 
tliat  haNam,  and  the  hc-t  palm-trees,  ercw  much  more  .southward  in  Judea  in  the  days  ot  Eusebiu*  uiul 
JtTOm  than  ihcv  did  in  the  divs  of  .'osephus. 

+  Tiie  particular  dejith  and  breadth  of  this  ditch,  whence  the  stones  for  the  wall  about  the  temple  were 
probably  taken,  are  ondttcd  iu  our  copie.<:  of  Josephus,  but  set  down  by  ."^trabo,  U.  xvi.  p.  7i)3,  frtmi  whout 
we  learn,  that  tliis  ditch  was  t'lO  feet  deep,  and  ioO  feet  bread.  However,  its  depth  is,  in  the  next  sec- 
lion,  said  by  Josepliusto  be  hnmcii<:c,  whichexar.tlv  af^recs  to  Siraho's  do'ci  iption,  and  tvhicll  nunibori  in 
Straboarea  siroui>  confirniatiun  of  the  truth  of  Josppl'us's  descrntion  al»a 

\  OL.  I.  3  0 


474  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIV. 

bour,  while  the  Romans  cut  down  materials  for  it  from  the  places  round  about ; 
and  when  this  bank  was  sutHciently  raised,  and  the  ditch  hlled  up,  though  but 
poorlv,  bv  reason  of  its  immense  depth,  he  brought  his  mechanical  engines  and 
batterin"-  rams  from  Tyre,  and  placing  them  on  the  bank,  he  battered  the  temple 
with  the  stones  that  were  thrown  against  it.  And  had  it  not  been  our  practice,  trom 
the  days  of  our  tbrefathers,  to  rest  on  the  seventh  day,  this  bank  could  never 
have  been  perfected,  by  reason  of  the  opposition  the  Jews  would  have  made  ;  for 
thoiiph  our  law  gives  us  leave  then  to  defend  ourselves  against  those  that  begin 
to  ii"-bt  with  us,  and  assault  us,  yet  does  it  not  permit  us  to  meddle  with  our  ene- 
mies while  they  do  any  thing  else. 

3.  Which  thing  when  the  Romans  understood,  on  those  days  which  we  call 
Sabbaths,  they  threw  nothing  at  the  Jews,  nor  came  to  any  pitched  battle  with 
them,  but  raised  up  their  earthen  banks,  and  brought  their  engines  into  such  for- 
wardness, that  they  might  do  execution  the  next  days.  And  any  one  may  hence 
learn  how  very  great  piety  we  exercise  towards  God,  and  the  observance  of  his 
law's,  since  the  priests  were  not  all  hindered  from  their  sacred  ministrations,  by 
their  fear  during  this  siege,  but  did  still  twice  a  day,  in  the  morning,  and  about 
the  ninth  hour,  offer  their  sacrifices  on  the  altar  ;  nor  did  they  omit  those  sacri- 
Jices,  if  any  melancholy  accident  happened,  by  the  stones  that  were  thrown  among 
them ;  for  although  the  city  were  taken  on  the  third*  iTionth,  on  the  day  of  the 
feast,  upon  the  hundred  and  seventy-ninth  olympiad,  when  Caius  Antonius  and 
Marcus  Tullius  Cicero  were  consuls,  and  the  enemy  then  fell  upon  them,  and 
cut  the  throats  of  those  that  were  in  the  temple,  yet  could  not  those  that  offered 
the  sacrifices  be  compelled  to  run  away,  neither  by  the  fear  they  were  in  of  theii 
own  lives,  nor  by  the  number  that  were  already  slain,  as  thinking  it  better  to  suf- 
fer  whatever  came  upon  them,  at  their  very  altars,  than  to  omit  any  thing  thai 
their  laws  required  of  them.  And  that  this  is  not  a  mere  brag,  or  an  encomium 
to  manifest  a  degree  of  our  piety  that  was  false,  but  is  the  real  truth,  I  appeal  to 
those  that  have  written  the  acts  of  Pompey  ;  and  among  them  to  Strabo  and  Ni 
colaus  [of  Damascus  ;]  and  besides  these  two,  Titus  Livius,  the  writer  of  the  Ro- 
man history,  who  will  bear  witness  to  this  thingf. 

4.  But  when  the  battering  engine  was  brought  near,  the  greatest  of  the  two 
towers  was  shaken  by  it,  and  fell  down,  and  brake  down  a  part  of  the  fortifica- 
tions ;  so  the  enemy  poured  in  apace ;  and  Cornelius  Faustus,  the  son  of  Sylla, 
Yiith  his  soldiers,  first  of  all  ascended  the  wall,  and  next  to  him  Furius  the  centu- 
rion, with  those  that  followed,  on  the  other  part ;  while  Fabius,  who  was  also  a 
centurion,  ascended  it  in  the  middle,  with  a  great  body  of  men  after  him.  But 
now  all  was  full  of  slaughter ;  some  of  the  Jews  being  slain  by  the  Romans,  and 
some  by  one  another  ;  nay,  some  there  were  who  threw  themselves  down  the 
precipices,  or  put  fire  to  their  houses,  and  burnt  them,  as  not  able  to  bear  the  mi- 
series they  were  under.  Of  tlie  Jews  there  fell  twelve  thousand,  but  of  the  Ro- 
mans  very  few.  Absalom,  who  was  at  once  both  uncle  and  father-in-law  to 
Aristobulus,  was  taken  captive.  And  no  small  enormities  were  committed  about 
tiiG  temple  itself,  which  in  former  ages  had  been  inaccessible,  and  seen  by  none  ; 
for  Pompey  went  into  it,  and  not  a  few  of  those  that  were  with  him  also,  and  saw 
all  that  which  it  was  unlawful  for  any  other  men  to  see  but  only  for  the  high 
l>nests.  There  were  in  that  temple  the  golden  table,  the  holy  candlestick,  and 
the  pouring  vessels,  and  a  great  quantity  of  spices  ;  and  besides  these,  there 

*  That  is,  on  the  23rl  of  Sivan,  the  annual  fast  for  the  defection  and  idolatr3'of  Jeroboam,  who  made 
hrtul  in  sift  ;  or  possilily  some  oUiei  fast  ini<;ht  lall  inlo  that  nioiilh,  bcforo  and  in  tl)e  davs  of  Johe|)hus. 

T  It  deserves  here  to  he  noted,  that  this  liiarisaical  superstitions  notion,  tiiat  offensive  ligliting  was  un- 
lawfnl  to  Jews,  even  under  the  inmost  necessil}',  on  the  J^abhalh  day,  of  which  we  hear  nothnig  before 
'be  limes  of  the  iMaccahces,  was  tliu  proper  occasion  of  Jerusalem's  being  taken  by  I-'ojnpey,  Sosias,  and 
by  i'itns,  as  appears  from  ttie  places  already  ipioted  in  the  note  on  Anliq.  li.  xiii.  ch.  viii.  sect.  1 :  which 
scrupulous  superstition,  as  lo  the  obsi^rvaiion  i.>f  such  a  ri'iorous  rest  upon  the  .Sabbath  da}-,  our  Saviour 
always  opposed,  when  tl-.e  I'liarisaieal  Jews  insisted  on  it,  as  is  evident  in  many  places  in  the  New  Tes 
tiimeut,  though  lie  still  intimated  how  pernicious  that  superstition  might  prove  to  them  in  their  flight  from 
the  Komans,  Mau.  x.w.  2U. 


I 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  475 

were  among  the  treasures  two  thousand  talents  of  sacred  money  :  yet  did  Pom- 
pey  touch  nothing*  of  all  this,  on  account  of  his  rc<;ard  to  religion  ;  and  in  this 
point  also  he  acted  in  a  manner  tiiat  was  worthy  of  his  virtue.  The  next  day  he 
gave  order  to  those  that  had  the  cliarge  of  the  temple  to  cleanse  it,  and  to  brinfr 
what  ollerings  the  law  required  to  God  ;  and  restored  the  high  priesthood  to  Ilyr- 
canus,  both  because  he  had  been  useful  to  him  in  other  respects,  and  because'he 
hindered  the  Jews  in  the  country  from  giving  Aristobuhis  any  assistance  in  his 
war  against  him.  He  also  cut  oil'  those  that  had  been  the  authors  of  that  war  ; 
and  bestowed  proper  rewards  onFaustus,  and  those  others  that  mounted  the  wall 
with  such  alacrity;  and  he  made  Jerusalem  tributary  to  the  Komans;  and  took 
away  those  cities  of  Celesyria  which  the  inhabitants  of  Judea  had  subdued,  and 
put  them  under  the  government  of  tiie  Roman  president,  aiid  conhncd  the  whole 
nation,  which  had  elevated  itself  so  high  before,  within  its  own  bounds.  ]\Iore. 
over,  he  rebuilt  Gadara,f  which  had  been  demolished  a  little  before,  to  gratify 
Demetrius  Gadara,  who  was  his  freedman,  and  restored  the  rest  of  the  cities, 
Hippos,  and  Scythnpolis,  and  Pclla,  and  Dios,  and  Samaria,  as  also  Marissa,  and 
Ashdod,  and  Jamnia,  and  Arethusa,  to  their  own  inhabitants  ;  these  were  in  the 
inland  parts  ;  besides  those  that  had  been  demolished  ;  and  also  of  the  maritime 
cities,  Gaza  and  Joppa,  and  Dora,  and  Strato's  Tower ;  which  last  Herod  rebuilt 
after  a  glorious  manner,  and  adorned  with  havens,  and  temples,  and  changed  its 
name  to  Cesarea.  All  these  Pompey  left  in  a  state  of  freedom,  and  joined  them 
to  the  province  of  Syria. 

5.  Now  the  occasions  of  this  misery  which  came  upon  Jerusalem  were  Hvr- 
canus  and  Aristobuhis,  by  raising  a  sedition  one  against  the  other;  for  now  we 
lost  our  liberty,  and  became  subject  to  the  Romans,  and  were  deprived  of  that 
country  whicli  we  had  gained  by  our  arms  from  the  Syrians,  and  were  compelled 
to  restore  it  to  the  Syrians.  Moreover,  the  Romans  exacted  of  us,  in  a  little 
time,  above  ten  thousand  talents.  And  the  royal  authority,  which  was  a  dignity 
formerly  bestowed  on  those  that  were  high  priests  by  the  right  of  their  family, 
became  the  property  of  private  men.  But  of  these  matters  we  shall  treat  in 
their  proper  places.  Now  Pompey  committed  Celesyria,  as  far  as  the  river 
Euphrates  and  Egypt,  to  Scaurus,  with  two  Roman  legions,  and  then  went  away 
to  Cilicia,  and  made  haste  to  Rome.  He  also  carried  bound  along  with  him 
Aristobulus  and  his  children  ;  for  he  had  two  daughters,  and  as  many  sons  ;  the 
one  of  which  ran  away,  but  the-  younger,  Antigonus,  was  carried  to  Rome,  toge- 
ther  with  his  sisters. 


CHAP.  V. 

How  Scaurus  made  a  League  of  mutual  Assistance  wifhAretas,  and  what  Gahinius 
did  in  Judea,  after  he  had  conquered  Alexander,  the  Son  of  Aristobulus. 

§  1.  Scaurus  made  now  an  expedition  against  Petrea,  in  Arabia,  and  set  on  fire 
all  the  places  round  about  it,  because  of  the  great  ditficulty  of  access  to  it.  And 
as  his  army  was  pinched  by  famrne,  Antipatcr  furnished  him  with  corn  out  of 
Judea,  and  with  whatever  else  he  wanted,  at  the  command  of  Hyrcanus.  And 
when  he  was  sent  to  Aretas,  as  an  ambassador  by  Scaurus,  because  he  had  lived 
with  him  formerly,  he  persuaded^  Aretas  to  give  Scaurus  a  sum  of  money,  to 
prevent  the  burning  of  his  country  ;  and  undertook  to  be  his  surety  for  three 
hundred  talents.  So  Scaurus,  upon  these  terms,  ceased  to  make  war  any  longer  ; 
wliich  was  done  as  much  at  Scaurus's  desire,  as  at  the  desire  of  Aretas. 

*  This  is  fuUv  confirmed  by  tlie  testimony  of  Cicero,  wlio  says,  in  iiis  oration  for  Flarcus,  that  "  Cne- 
ius  Pompeius,  when  lie  was  conqueror,  and  liad  taken  Jerusalem,  did  not  touch  any  thing  belonging  to 
that  temple." 

+  Of  this  destruction  of  Gadara  here  presupposed,  and  its  restoration  by  Pompey,  see  the  note  on  tht 
War,  B.  i.  ch.  vii.  sect.  7. 
302 


470 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XJV. 


2.  Some  tims  after  this,  when  Alexander,  the  son  of  Aristobulus,  made  an 
incursion  into  Jutloa,  Gabinius  came  from  Rome  to  Syria,  as  commander  of  *he 
Roman  forces.  He  did  many  considerable  actions  ;  and  particularly  made  war 
with  Alexander,  since  Hyrcanus  was  not  yet  able  to  oppose  his  power,  but  was 
already  attempting  to  rebuild  the  wall  of  Jerusalem,  which  Pompey  had  over- 
thrown althoufh  tiie  Romans,  which  were  there,  restrained  him  from  that  his 
design.  However,  Alexander  went  over  all  the  country  round  about,  and  armed 
many  of  the  Jews,  and  suddenly  got  together  ten  thousand  armed  footmen,  and 
fifteen  hundred  horsemen,  and  fortified  Alexandrium,  a  fortress  near  to  Coreai 
and  Macherus,  near  the  mountains  of  Arabia.  Gabinus  therefore  came  upon 
him,  having  sent  Marcus  Antonius,  with  other  commanders,  before.  These  armed 
such  Romans  as  followed  them  ;  and,  together  with  them,  such  Jews  as  were 
subject  to  them,  whose  leaders  were  Pitholaus  and  Malichus,  and  they  took  with 
them  also  their  friends  that  were  with  Antipater,  and  met  Alexander,  while  Gabi. 
nius  himself  followed  with  his  legion.  Hereupon  Alexander  retired  to  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Jerusalem,  where  they  fell  upon  one  another,  and  it  came  to  a  pitch, 
ed  battle,  in  which  the  Romans  slew  of  their  enemies  about  three  thousand,  and 
took  a  like  number  alive. 

3.  At  which  time  Gabinius  came  to  Alexandrium,  and  invited  those  that  were 
in  it  to  deliver  it  up  on  certain  conditions,  and  promised  that  then  their  former  of- 
fences should  be  forgiven  :  but  as  a  great  number  of  the  enemy  had  pitched 
their  camp  before  the  fortress,  whom  the  Romans  attacked,  Marcus  Antonius 
fought  bravely,  and  slew  a  great  number,  and  seemed  to  come  off  with  the  great- 
er ..honour.  So  Gabinius  left  part  of  his  army  there,  in  order  to  take  the  place, 
and  he  himself  went  into  other  parts  of  Judea,  and  gave  order  to  rebuild  all  the 
cities  that  he  met  with  that  had  been  demohshed;  at  which  time  were  rebuilt 
Samaria,  Ashdod,  Scythopolis,  Anthedon,  Raphia,  and  Dora  ;  Marissa  also,  and 
Gaza,  and  not  a  few  others  besides.  And  as  the  men  acted  according  to  Ga- 
binius's  command,  it  came  to  pass,  that  at  this  time  these  cities  were  securely 
inhabited,  which  had  been  desolate  for  a  long  time. 

4.  When  Gabinius  had  done  thus  in  the  country,  he  returned  to  Alexandrium ; 
and  when  he  urged  on  the  siege  of  the  place,  Alexander  sent  an  embassage  to 
him,  desiring  that  he  would  pardon  his  former  offences;  he  also  delivered  up  the 
fortresses  Hyrcania  and  Macherus,  and  at  last  Alexandrium  itself,  which  for- 
tresses  Gabinius  demolished.  But  when  Alexander's  mother,  who  was  of  the  side 
of  the  Romans,  as  having  her  husband  and  other  children  at  Rome,  came  to  him, 
he  granted  her  whatsoever  she  asked;  and  when  he  had  settled  matters  with  her, 
ho  brought  Hyrcanus  to  Jerusalem,  and  committed  the  care  of  the  temple  to  him. 
And  when  he  had  ordained  five  councils,  he  distributed  the  nation  into  the  same 
number  of  parts:  so  these  councils  governed  the  people  ;  the  first  was  at  Jeru- 
salem, the  second  at  Gadara,  the  third  at  Amathus,  the  fourth  at  Jericho,  and 
the  filth  at  Sepphoris,  in  Galilee.  So  the  Jews  were  now  freed  from  monarchic 
authority;  and  were  governed  by  an  aristocracy,* 


CHA.P.  VI. 

JIoiD  Gabinius  caught  Aristohvhts  after  he  had  Jied  from  Rome,  and  sent  him  hack 

to  Rome  again :  And  Iww  the  same  Gabinius,  as  he  relumed  out  of  Egypt,  over- 

came  Alexander  and  the  Nabateans  in  battle. 

§  1.  Now  Aristobulus  ran  away  from  Rome  to  Judea,  and  set  about  the  rebuild- 
ing of  Alexandrium,  which  had  been  newly  demolished  :  hereupon  Gabinius  sent 

•  Denn  Pridraux  well  observes,  tliat  "  notwithstrmdin;;  the  clamour  against  Gabinius  at  Konie,  Jose- 
phiK  gives  him  a  laudiihle  cliaracter,  as  if  lie  Imd  ncquiitod  hiinBelf  witli  honour  in  the  charge  cominittod 
\o  Iiliu"  [in  Judea.]     See  at  ihe  ^-etir  .05. 


C.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  477 

iSoldiers  against  him,  and  for  their  commanders  Sisenna,  and  Antonius,  and  Ser- 
viHus,  in  order  to  hinder  him  from  getting  possession  of  tiie  country,  and  to  take 
him  again.  And  indeed  many  of  the  Jews  ran  to  Aristohuliis,  on  account  of  his 
former  glory,  as  also  because  ihey  sliould  he  glad  of  an  innovation.  Now,  there 
was  one  Pitholaus,  a  lieutenant  at  Jerusalem,  who  deserted  to  liiin  with  a  thousand 
men,  although  a  great  number  of  those  that  came  to  him  were  unarmed ;  and  when 
Aristobulus  liad  resolved  to  go  to  Machcrus,  he  dismissed  tliose  people,  because 
they  were  unarmed;  for  they  could  not  be  useful  to  liim  in  what  actions  he  was 
going  about;  but  he  took  with  him  eight  thousand  that  were  armed,  and  marched 
on  :  and  as  the  Romans  fell  upon  them  severelv,  the  Jews  fought  valiantly,  but 
were  beaten  in  the  battle;  and  when  they  had  fought  with  alacrity,  but  were  over- 
borne by  the  enemy,  they  were  put  to  flight;  of  wliom  were  slain  about  five  thou- 
sand,  and  the  rest  being  dispersed  tried,  as  well  as  they  were  able,  to  save  tiicm- 
selves.  However  Aristobulus  had  with  him  still  above  a  thousand,  and  with  them 
he  fled  to  Macherus,  and  fortified  the  place,  and  though  he  had  ill  success,  he 
still  had  good  hope  of  his  affairs :  but  when  lie  had  struggled  against  the  siege 
for  two  days'  time,  and  had  received  many  wounds,  he  was  brought  as  a  captive 
to  Gabinius,  with  his  son  Antigonus,  who  also  fled  with  him  from  Rome.  And 
this  was  the  fortune  of  Aristobulus,  who  was  sent  back  again  to  Rome,  and  was 
there  retained  in  bonds,  having  been  both  king  and  high  priest  for  three  years 
and  six  months;  and  was  indeed  an  eminent  person,  and  one  of  a  great  soul. 
However  the  senate  let  his  children  go,  upon  Gabinius's  writing  to  them,  that  he 
had  promised  their  mother  so  much  when  she  delivered  up  the  fortresses  to  him; 
and  accordingly  they  then  returned  into  Judea. 

2.  Now  when  Gabinius  was  making  an  expedition  against  the  Parthians,  and 
had  already  passed  over  Euphrates,  he  changed  his  mind,  and  resolved  to  return 
into  Egypt,  in  order  to  restore  Ptolemy  to  his  kingdom.*  This  hath  also  been 
related  elsewhere.  However,  Antipater  supplied  his  army,  which  he  sent  against 
Archelaus,  with  corn,  and  weapons,  and  money.  He  also  made  those  Jews,  who 
were  above  Pelusium,  his  friends  and  confederates,  and  had  been  the  guardians 
of  the  passes  that  led  into  Egypt.  But  when  he  came  back  out  of  Egypt,  he  found 
Syria  in  disorder  with  seditions  and  troubles;  for  Alexander,  the  son  of  Aristo- 
bulus, having  seized  on  the  government  a  second  time  by  force,  made  many  of 
the  Jews  revolt  to  him ;  and  so  he  marched  over  the  country  with  a  great  army, 
and  slew  all  the  Romans  he  could  light  upon,  and  proceeded  to  besiege  the  moun- 
tain called  Gerizzim,  whither  they  had  retreated. 

3.  But  when  Gabinius  found  Syria  in  such  a  state,  he  sent  Antipater,  who  was 
a  prudent  man,  to  those  that  were  seditious,  to  try  whether  he  could  cure  them 
of  their  madness,  and  persuade  them  to  return  to  a  better  mind ;  and  when  he 
came  to  them,  he  brought  many  of  them  to  a  sound  mind,  and  induced  them  to 
do  what  they  ought  to  do:  but  he  could  not  restrain  Alexander;  for  he  had  an 
army  of  thirty  thousand  Jews,  and  met  Gabinius,  and  joining  battle  with  him,  was 
beaten,  and  lost  ten  thousand  of  his  men,  about  Mount  Tabor. 

4.  So  Gabinius  settled  the  affairs  which  belonged  to  the  city  Jerusalem,  as  was 
agreeable  to  Antipater's  inclination,  and  went  against  the  Nabateans,  and  over- 
came them  in  battle.  He  also  sent  away  in  a  friendly  manner  Mithridates  and 
Orsanes,  who  wore  Parthian  deserters,  and  came  to  liim,  though  the  report  went 
abroad  that  they  had  run  away  from  him.  And  when  Gabinius  had  performed 
great  and  glorious  actions  in  his  management  of  the  affairs  of  war,  he  returned 
to  Rome,  and  delivered  the  government  to  Crassus.  Now  Nicolaus  of  Damascus, 
and  Strabo  of  Cappadocia,  both  describe  the  expeditions  of  Pompey  and  Gabi- 
nius against  the  Jews  ;  while  neither  of  them  say  any  thing  new  which  is  not  in 
the  other. 

»*  Tills  history  is  bpst  illuftialed  by  Dr.  Hudson  out  of  Livy,  who  says,  "That  A.  Gabinius  the  pro« 
consul  restored  Ptolemy  to  his;  kinstlom  of  Egj-pt,  and  ejected  Archelaus,  whom  they  had  ict  up  for 
{king,"  SiC.  Sea  Prid.  at  the  years  64  and  65. 


478  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIV. 


CHAP.  VII. 

How  Crassus  came  into  Judea,  and  pillaged  the   Temple;  and  then    marched 
a<^ainst.  the  Parthians,  and  perished  with  his  Army.     Also  how  Cassias  ob- 
tained Syria,  and  put  a  Stop  to  tlie  Parthians,  and  then  went  up  to  Judea. 

§  1.  Now  Crassus,  as  he  was  going  upon  his  expedition  against  the  Parthians, 
came  into  Judea,  and  carried  otT  the  money  that  vvas  in  the  temple,  which  Pom- 
pey  had  left,  heing  two  thousand  talents;  and  was  disposed  to  spoil  it  of  all  the 
gold  belonging  to  it,  which  was  eight  thousand  talents.  He  also  took  a  beam 
which  was  made  of  solid  beaten  gold,  of  the  weight  of  three  hundred  niinae  ; 
each  of  which  weighed  two  pounds  and  a  half.  It  was  the  priest  who  was  guar- 
dian  of  the  sacred  treasures,  and  whose  name  was  Eleazar,  that  gave  him  this 
beam  ;  not  out  of  a  wicked  design,  for  he  was  a  good  and  a  righteous  man  ;  but 
being  intrusted  with  the  custody  of  the  veils  belonging  to  the  temple,  which  were 
of  admirable  beauty,  and  of  very  costly  workmanship,  and  hung  down  from  this 
beam,  when  he  saw  that  Crassus  was  busy  in  gathering  money,  and  was  in  fear 
for  the  entire  ornaments  of  the  temple,  he  gave  him  this  beam  of  gold,  as  a  ran- 
som  for  the  whole  ;  but  this  not  till  he  had  given  his  oath  that  he  would  remove 
nothing  else  out  of  the  temple,  but  be  satisfied  with  this  only  which  he  should 
give  him,  being  worth  many  ten  thousand  [shekels.]  Now,  this  beam  was  con- 
tained in  a  wooden  beam  that  was  hollow,  but  was  known  to  no  others,  but  Ele- 
azar alone  knew  it.  Yet  did  Crassus  take  away  this  beam,  upon  the  condition 
of  touching  nothing  else  that  belonged  to  the  temple  ;  and  then  brake  his  oath, 
and  carried  away  all  the  gold  that  was  in  the  temple. 

2.  And  let  no  one  wonder  that  there  was  so  much  wealth  in  our  temple,  since 
all  the  Jews  throughout  the  habitable  earth,  and  those  that  worshiped  God,  nay, 
even  those  of  Asia  and  Europe,  sent  their  contributions  to  it,  and  this  from  very 
ancient  times.  Nor  is  the  largeness  of  these  sums  without  its  attestation  ;  nor 
is  that  greatness  owing  to  our  vanity,  as  raising  it  without  ground  to  so  great  a 
height ;  but  there  are  many  witnesses  to  it,  and  particularly  Strabo  of  Cappado- 
cia,  who  says  thus  :  "  Mithridates  sent  to  Coss,  and  took  the  money,  which  queen 
Cleopatra  had  deposited  there,  as  also  eight  hundred  talents  belonging  to  the 
Jews."  Now,  we  have  no  public  money  but  only  what  appertains  to  God  ;  and 
it  is  evident  that  the  Asian  Jews  removed  this  money  out  of  fear  of  Mithridates  ; 
for  it  is  not  probable  that  those  of  Judea,  who  had  a  strong  city  and  temple, 
should  send  their  money  to  Coss ;  nor  is  it  likely  that  the  Jews,  v/ho  are  inhal)i- 
tants  of  Alexandria,  should  do  so  neither,  since  they  were  in  no  fear  of  Mithri- 
dates. And  Strabo  himself  bears  witness  to  the  same  thing  in  another  place  ; 
that  at  the  same  time  that  Sylla  passed  over  into  Greece,  in  order  to  fight  against 
Mithridates,  he  sent  Lucullus  to  put  an  end  to  a  sedition  that  our  nation,  of  whom 
the  habitable  earth  is  full,  had  raised  in  Cyrene  ;  where  he  speaks  thus  :  "  There 
were  four  classes  of  men  among  those  of  Cyrene,  that  of  citizens,  that  of  hus- 
bandmen, the  third  of  strangers,  and  the  fourth  of  Jews.  Now  these  Jcavs  are 
already  gotten  into  all  cities,  and  it  is  hard  to  find  a  place  in  the  habitable  earth 
that  hath  not  admitted  this  tribe  of  men,  and  is  not  possessed  by  it :  and  it  hath 
come  to  pass  that  Egypt  and  Cyrene,  as  having  the  same  governors,  and  a  great 
ntnnber  of  other  nations,  imitate  their  way  of  living,  and  maintain  great  bodies 
of  these  Jews  in  a  peculiar  manner,  and  grow  up  to  greater  prosperity  with  them, 
and  make  use  of  the  same  laws  with  that  nation  also.  Accordingly  the  Jews 
have  places  assigned  them  in  Egypt,  wherein  they  inhabit,  besides  what  is  pe- 
culiarly  allotted  to  this  nation  at  Alexandria,  which  is  a  large  part  of  that  city. 
There  is  also  an  ethnarch  allowed  them,  who  governs  the  nation,  and  distributes 
justice  to  them,  and  takes  care  of  their  contracts,  and  of  the  laws  to  them  be- 
longing,  as  if  he  were  the  ruler  of  a  free  republic.     In  Egj'pt,  therefore,  this 


C.  VIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  479 

nation  is  powerful,  because  the  Jews  were  originally  Egyptians,  and  because  the 
land  wherein  they  inhabit  since  they  went  thence  is  near  to  Egvpt.  They  also 
removed  into  Cyrene,  because  that  this  land  adjuiiied  to  the  government  of  Egvpt, 
as  Vvell  as  does  Judea,  or  rather  was  formerly  under  the  same  government."  And 
this  is  wliat  Strabo  says. 

3.  So  when  Crassus  had  settled  all  things  as  he  himself  pleased,  he  marched 
into  Parthia,  where  both  he  himself  and  all  his  army  perished,  as  hath  been  re. 
lated  elsewhere.  But  Cassius,  as  he  lied  from  Rome  to  Syria,  took  po.sse.ssion 
of  it,  and  was  an  impediment  to  the  Parthians,  who,  by  reason  of  their  victory 
over  Crassus,  made  incursions  upon  it;  and  as  he  came  back  to  Tyre,  he  went 
up  into  Judea  also,  and  fell  upon  Tarichcte,  and  presently  took  it,  and  carried 
about  thirty  thousand  Jews  captives  ;  and  slew  Pitholaus,  who  succeeded  xVristo- 
bulus  in  his  seditious  practices;  and  tiiat  by  the  persuasion  of  Aniipater,  who 
proved  to  have  great  interest  in  him,  and  was  at  that  time  in  great  repute  with 
the  Idumeans  also  :  out  of  which  nation  he  married  a  wife,  who  was  the  dauirliter 
of  one  of  their  eminent  men,  and  her  name  was  Cypros;*  by  whom  he  had  four 
sons,  Phasael,  and  Herod,  who  was  afterwards  made  king,  and  Joseph,  and  Plie- 
roras  ;  and  a  daughter  named  Salome.  This  Antipater  cultivated  also  a  iVicnd- 
ship  and  mutual  kindness  with  other  potentates,  but  especially  with  the  king  of 
Arabia,  to  whom  he  committed  his  children,  while  he  fought  against  Aristobulus. 
So  Cassius  removed  his  camp,  and  marched  to  Euphrates,  to  meet  those  that 
were  coming  to  attack  him  ;  as  hath  been  related  by  others. 

4.  But  some  time  afterward,  CaBsar,  when  he  had  taken  Rome,  and  after  Pom- 
pey  and  the  senate  were  fled  beyond  the  Ionian  sea,  freed  Aristobulus  from  his 
bonds,  and  resolved  to  send  him  into  Syria ;  and  delivered  two  legions  to  him, 
that  he  might  set  matters  right,  as  being  a  potent  man  in  that  country :  but  Aris- 
tobulus had  no  enjoyment  of  what  he  hoj)ed  for  from  the  power  that  was  given 
him  by  Caesar:  for  those  of  Pompey's  party  prevented  it,  and  destroyed  him  by 
poison,  and  those  of  Caesar's  party  buried  him.  His  dead  body  also  lay  for  a 
good  while  embalmed  in  honey,  till  Antony  afterward  sent  it  to  Judea,  and  caused 
him  to  be  buried  in  the  royal  sepulchre.  But  Scipio,  upon  Pompey's  sending 
him  to  slay  Alexander,  the  son  of  Aristobulus,  because  the  young  man  was  ac- 
cused of  what  offences  he  had  been  guilty  of  at  first  ajjainst  the  Romans,  cut  oft' 
his  head  ;  and  thus  did  he  die  at  Antioch.  But  Ptolemy,  the  son  of  Mcnneus, 
who  was  the  ruler  of  Chalcis,  under  Mount  Lihanus,  took  his  brethren  to  him, 
and  sent  his  son  Philippion  to  Askelori  to  Aristobulus's  wife,  and  desired  her  to 
send  back  with  him  her  son  Antigonus,  and  her  daughters  ;  the  one  of  which, 
whose  name  was  Alexandra,  Philipj)ion  fell  in  love  with,  and  married ;  though 
afterward  his  father  Ptolemy  slew  him,  and  married  Alexandra,  and  continued  to 
take  care  of  her  brethren. 


CHAP.  vnr. 

The  Jews  become  Confederates  with  Caesar  when  he  fought  asrainst  Ep]/p('     The 
glorious  Actions  of  Antipater,  and  his  Friendship  with  Casar.     T/ie  Ho- 
nours which  the  Jews  received  from  the  Romans  and  Athenians. 

§  1.  Now  after  Pompey  was  dead,  and  after  that  victory  CaDsar  had  gained  over 
him,  Antipater,  who  manased  the  Jewish  aflairs,  became  very  useful  to  Ca'sar 
when  he  made  war  against  Egypt,  and  that  by  the  order  of  Hyrcanus  :  for  when 
Mithridates  of  Pergamus  was  bringing  bis  auxiliaries,  and  was  not  able  to  con- 
tinue his  march  through  Pelusium,  i)ut  obliged  to  stay  at  Askelon,  Antipater  came 
to  him,  conducting  three  thousand  of  the  Jews  armed  men :  he  had  also  taken  care 

*Dr.  Hudson  observes,  that  the  natneofthis  wifeof  Antipaier's  in  Joscph-js  was  Ci/pnis,  as  a  Hebrew 
termination,  but  not  Cypris,  the  Greek  name  for  Venus,  as  some  critics  were  ready  to  correct  it. 


4go  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XlV, 

the  principal  men  of  the  Arabians  should  come  to  his  assistance  ;  and  on  his  ac       ! 
count  it  was  that  all  the  Syrians  assisted  him  also,  as  not  willing  to  appear  behind 
hand  in  their  alacrity  for  CiEsar  ;  viz.  Jamblicus  the  ruler,  and  Ptolemy  his  son, 
and  Tholomy  the  son  of  Sohemus  who  dwelt  at  Mount  Libanus,  and  almost  all 
the  cities.     So  Mithridates  marched  out  of  Syria,  and  came  to  Pelusium ;  and 
when  its  inhabitants  would  not  admit  him,  he  besieged  the  city.     Now  Antipatci 
sio-nalized  himself  here,  and  was  the  first  who  plucked  down  a  part  of  the  wall, 
and  so  opened  a  way  to  the  rest,  whereby  they  might  enter  the  city,  and  by  this 
means  Pelusium  was  taken  ;  but  it  happened  that  the  Egyptian  Jews,  who  dwelt 
in  the  country  called  Onion,  would  not  let  Antipater  and  Mithridates,  whh  their 
soldiers,  pass  to  Caesar ;  but  Antipater  persuaded  them  to  come  over  to  their 
party,  because  he  Avas  of  the  same  people  with  them ;    and  that  chiefly  by 
showing  them  the  epistles  of  Hyrcanus  the  high  priest,  wherein  he  exhorted  them 
to  cultivate  friendship  with  Caesar,  and  to  supply  his  army  with  money,  and  all 
sorts  of  provisions  which  they  wanted  :  and  accordingly,  when  they  saw  Antipa- 
ter and  the  high  priest  of  the  same  sentiments,  they  did  as  they  were  desired. 
And  when  the  Jews  about  Memphis  heard  that  these  Jews  were  come  over  to 
Caesar,  they  also  invited  Mithridates  to  come  to  them ;  so  he  came  and  received 
them  also  into  his  army. 

2.  And  when  Mithridates  had  gone  over  all  Delta,  as  the  place  is  called,  he 
came  to  a  pitched  battle  whh  the  enemy,  near  the  place  called  the  Jewish  Camp. 
Now  Mithridates  had  the  right  wing,  and  Antipater  the  left ;  and  when  it  came 
to  a  fight,  that  wing  where  Mithridates  was  gave  way,  and  was  likely  to  suffer 
exti'emely,  unless  Antipater  had  come  running  to  him  with  his  own  soldiers  along 
the  shore,  when  he  had  already  beaten  the  enemy  that  opposed  him  ;  so  he  de- 
,  livered  Mithridates,  and  put  those  Egyptians  who  had  been  too  hard  for  him  to 
flight.  He  also  took  their  camp  and  continued  in  the  pursuit  of  them.  He  also 
recalled  Mithridates,  who  had  been  worsted,  and  was  retired  a  great  way  off;  of 
whose  soldiers  eight  hundred  fell,  but  of  Antipater's  fifty.  So  Mithridates  sent 
an  account  of  this  battle  to  Ceesar,  and  openly  declared,  that  Antipater  was  the 
author  of  this  victory,  and  of  his  own  preservation,  insomuch  that  Caesar  commen- 
ded Antipater  then,  and  made  use  of  him  all  the  rest  of  that  war  in  the  most  ha- 
zardous undertakings  ;  he  happened  also  to  be  wounded  in  one  of  those  engage- 
ments. 

3.  However,  when  Caesar,  after  some  time,  had  finished  that  war,  and  was 
sailed  away  for  Syria,  he  honoured  Antipater  greatly,  and  confirmed  Hyrcanus 
in  the  high  priesthood ;  and  bestowed  on  Antipater  the  privilege  of  a  citizen  of 
Rome,  and  a  freedom  from  taxes  every  where  :  and  it  is  reported  by  many,  that 
Hyrcanus  went  along  with  Antipater  in  this  expedition,  and  came  himself  into 
Egypt.  And  Strabo  of  Cappadocia  bears  witness  to  this,  when  he  says  thus,  in 
the  name  of  Asinius :  "After  Mithridates  had  invaded  Egypt,  and  with  him  Hyr- 
canus the  high  priest  of  the  Jews."  Nay,  the  same  Strabo  says  thus  again,  in 
another  place,  in  the  name  of  Hypsicrates,  that  "Mithridates  at  first  went  out 
alone,  but  that  Antipater,  who  had  the  care  of  the  Jewish  afl^airs,  was  called  by 
him  to  Askelon,  and  that  he  had  gotten  ready  three  thousand  soldiers  to  go  along 
with  him,  and  encouraged  other  governors  of  the  country  to  go  along  with  him 
also  ;  and  that  Hyrcanus  the  high  priest  was  also  present  in  this  expedition." 
This  is  what  Strabo  says. 

4.  But  Antigonus,  the  son  of  Aristobulus,  came  at  this  time  to  Caesar,  and 
"lamented  his  father's  fate;  and  complained,  that  it  was  by  Antipater's  means 
that  Aristobulus  was  taken  oft' by  poison,  and  his  brother  was  beheaded  by  Scipio  ; 
and  desired  that  he  would  take  pity  of  him  who  had  been  ejected  out  of  that  prin- 
fipality  which  was  due  to  him."  He  also  accused  Hyrcanus  and  Antipater  as 
governing  the  nation  by  violence,  and  oflering  injuries  to  himself.  Antipater  was 
present,  and  made  his  defence  as  to  the  accusations  that  were  laid  against  him. 
He  dcmo)iatrated,  that  "  Antigonus  and  his  party  were  given  to  innovation,  and 


C.  Vin.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


481 


were  seditious  persons.  He  also  put  Csesar  in  mind  what  difficult  services  ho  had 
undergone  when  he  assisted  him  in  his  wars,  and  discoursed  about  what  he  was  a 
witness  of  himself.  He  added,  that  Aristobuhis  was  justly  carried  awavto  Rome 
as  one  that  was  an  enemy  to  the  Romans,  and  could  never  be  broiio-jit  to  be  a 
friend  to  them  ;  and  that  his  brotlier  had  no  more  than  he  deserved  from  Scipio 
as  being  seized  in  committing  robberies  ;  and  that  his  punishment  was  not  inllicted 
on  him  in  a  way  o-f  violence  or  injuslice  by  him  that  did  it." 

5.   When  Antipater  had  made  this  speech,  Cajsar  appointed  Hyrcanus  to  be 
high  priest;  and  gave  Antipater  what  principality  he  himself  should  choose,  lea- 
ving the  determination  to  himself:  so  he  made  him  procurator  of  .ludea.   He  also 
gave  Hyrcanus  leave  to  raise  up  the  walls  of  his  own  city,  upon  his  askino-  that 
favour  of  him,  for  they  had  been  demolished  by  Pompey.     And  this  o-rant  he  sent 
to  the  consuls  of  Rome,  to  be  engraven  in  the  capitol.     The  decree  of  the  senate 
was  this  that  follows  :  "*  Lucius  Valerius,  the  son  of  Lucius  the  pretor,  referred 
this  to  the  senate,  upon  the  ides  of  December,  in  the  temple  of  Concord.  There 
were  present  at  the  writing  of  this  decree,  Lucius  Coponius,  the  son  of  Lucius 
of  the  Colline  tribe,  and  Papirius  of  the   Quirine  tribe,  concerning  the  affairs 
which  Alexander  the  son  of  Jason,  and  Numenius  the  son  of  Antiochus    and  A- 
lexander  the  son  of  Dositheus,  ambassadors  of  the  Jews,  good  and  worthy  men 
proposed  ;  Avho  came    to  renew  that  league  of  good-will  and  friendship  with  the 
Romans  which  was  in  being  before.     They  also  brought  a  shield  of  gold,  as  a 
mark  of  confederacy,   valued  at  fifty  thousand  pieces  of  gold  ;  and  desired  that 
letters  might  be  given  them,  directed  both  to  the  free  cities  and  to  the  kino-s  that 
their  country  and  their  havens  might  be  at  peace,  and  that  no  one  amon°  them 
might  receive  any  injury.     It  therefore  pleased  [the  senate]  to  make  a  league  of 
friendship  and  good. will  with  them,  and  to  bestow  on  them  whatsoever  they  stood 
in  need  of,  and  to  accept  of  the  shield  which  was  brought  by  them.     This  was 
done  in  the  ninth  year  of  Hyrcanus  the  high  priest  and  ethnarch,  in  the  month 
Panemus."     Hyrcanus  also   received  honours   from  the  people  of  Athens    as 
having  been  useful  to  them  on  many  occasions.     And  when  thev  wrote  to  him 
they  sent  him  this  decree,  as  it  here  follows  :     "  Under  the  prutaneia  and  priest- 
hood ofDionysius,  the  son  of  Esculapius,  on  the  fifth  day  of  the  latter  part  of  the 
month   Panemus,  this  decree  of  the  Athenians  was  given  to  their  commanilers 
when   Agathocles  was  archon,  and   Eucles,  the  son  of  Mcnander  of  Alimusia 
was  the  scribe.     In  the  month  JVIunychion,  on  the  eleventh  day  of  the  prutaneia, 
a  council  of  the  presidents  was  held  in  the  theatre.     Dorothcus  the  high  priest 
and  the  fellow  presidents  with  him,  put  it  to  the  vote  of  the  people.     Dionvsius 
the  sonof  Dionysius,  gave  ihe  sentence  :  Since  Hyrcanus,  the  son  of  Alexander 
the  high  priest  and  ethnarch  of  the  Jews,  continues  to  bear  good-will  to  our  peo- 
ple in  general,  and  to  every  one  of  our  citizens^  in  particular,  and  treats  them 
with  all  sorts  of  kindness;  and  when   any  of  the  Athenians  come  to  him,  eUher 
as  ambassadors  or  on  any  occasion  of  their  own,  he  receives  them  in  an  oblicine 
mnnncr,  and  sees  that  they  are  conducted  back  in  safety,  of  which  we  liavo 
hid  several  former  testimonies ;  it  is  now  also  decreed,  at  the  report  of  Theo. 
dosius,  the  son  ofThcodorus,  and  upon  his  puttin<r  the  people  in  mind  of  the  vir- 
tue  of  this  man,  and  that  his  purpose  is  to  do  us  all  the  good  that  is  in  his  power, 
10  honour  him  with  a  crown  of  gold,  the  usual  reward  according  to  the  law,  and 
to  erect  his  statue  in  brass  in  the  temple  of  Demus,  and  of  the  Graces ;  and  that 

*  Tiike  Dr.  TTiiHson's  iinip  upon  this  place,  which  I  suppose  to  be  tiic  tnrth  :  "  Here  is  some  mifiakfl 
in  .fn.-ephus  ;  for  when  he  hari  pioiiiised  a  decree  (ov  the  restoration  of  Jeriisnleni,  he  brings  in  a  Hccrra 
of  fnr  (greater  aiitiquitv,  and  that  a  lea;j;uc  of  friendship  and  union  only.  One  may  easily  hclieve  that 
.losephiis^ave  order  for  one  thint;,  and  his  amanuensis  performed  another,  bv  transposing  decrees  tiiat 
concerned  the  Hyrcani.  and  as  deluded  l)y  the  sameness  of  their  names:  fortliat  belongs  to  the  fh'sihi"h 
priest  of  this  name  [John  Hyrcanus]  which  .Jo?ephus  here  ascribes  to  oiie  that  lived  Infer  riivrcanus 
the  son  of  Alexander  J^.nnens.]  However,  the  decree  which  he  proposes  to  set  down  follnwaliitlo  low- 
er, in  thccolle<:tinn  of  Roman  decrees,  tlut  concerned  tl:v  Jews,  and  is  that  dated  when  Caesar  was  con 
sul  the  fifth  time.  Sec  chap.  x.  sect.  5. 
VOL.  I.  3  P 


482  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIV. 

this  present  of  a  crown  shall  be  proclaimed  publicly  in  the  theatre,  in  the  Dyoni- 
sian  shows  while  the  new  tragedies  are  acting ;  and  in  the  Panathenean  and 
Eleusinian,  and  Gymnical  shows  also  ;  and  that  the  commanders  shall  take  care, 
while  he  continues  in  his  friendship,  and  preserves  his  good-will  to  us,  to  return 
ail  possible  honour  and  favour  to  the  man  for  his  affection  and  generosity  ;  that 
by  this  treatment  it  may  appear  how  our  people  receive  the  good  kindly,  and 
repay  them  a  suitable  reward  ;  and  he  may  be  induced  to  proceed  in  his  affection 
towards  us,  by  the  honours  we  have  already  paid  him.  That  ambassadors  be 
also  chosen  out  of  all  the  Athenians,  who  shall  carry  this  decree  to  him,  and 
desire  him  to  accept  of  the  honours  we  do  him,  and  to  endeavour  always  to  be  do- 
ing some  good  to  our  city."  And  this  shall  suffice  us  to  have  spoken  as  to  the 
honours  that  were  paid  by  the  Romans  and  the  people  of  Athens  to  Hyrcanus. 


CHAP.  IX. 

How  Antipaier  committed  the  care  of  Galilee  to  Herod,  and  that  of  Jerusalem  to 
Phasaelus  :  as  also  how  Herod,  upon  the  Jews'  Envy  at  Antipater,  was  accused 

before  Hyrcanus. 

§  1.  Now  when  Caesar  had  settled  the  affairs  of  Syria,  he  sailed  away;  and  as 
soon  as  Antipater  had  conducted  Csesar  out  of  Syria,  he  returned  to  Judea.  He 
then  immediately  raised  up  the  wall  which  had  been  thrown  down  by  Pompey  ; 
and,  by  coming  thither,  he  pacified  that  tumult  which  had  been  in  the  country, 
and  this  by  both  threatening  and  advising  them  to  be  quiet:  for  that,  "  if  they 
would  be  of  Hyrcanus's  side,  they  would  live  happily,  and  lead  their  lives  without 
disturbance,  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  own  possessions;  but  if  they  were  addicted 
to  the  hopes  of  what  might  come  by  innovation,  and  aimed  to  get  wealth  thereby, 
they  should  have  him  a  severe  master  instead  of  a  gentle  governor,  and  Hyrcanus 
a  tyrant  instead  of  a  king,  and  the  Romans,  together  with  Csesar,  their  bitter 
enemies  instead  of  rulers ;  for  that  they  would  never  bear  him  to  be  set  aside 
whom  they  had  appointed  to  govern."  And  when  Antipater  had  said  this  to  them, 
he  himself  settled  the  affairs  of  this  country. 

2.  And  seeing  that  Hyrcanus  was  of  a  slow  and  slothful  temper,  he  made  Pha- 
saelus, his  eldest  son,  governor  of  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  places  that  we're  about 
it,  but  committed  Galilee  to  Herod,  his  next  son,  who  was  then  a  very  young 
Bian,  for  he  was  but  fifteen*  years  of  age  :  but  that  youth  of  his  was  no  impedi- 
ment to  him  ;  but  as  he  was  a  youth  of  a  great  mind,  he  presently  met  with  an 
opportunity  of  signalizing  his  courage  ;  for  finding  that  there  was  one  Hezekias, 
a  captain  of  a  band  of  robbers,  who  overran  the  neighbouring  parts  of  Syria  with 
a  great  troop  of  them,  he  seized  him,  and  slew  him,  as  well  as  a  great  number  of 
the  other  robbers  that  were  with  him;  for  which  action  he  was  greatly  beloved 
by  the  Syrians  ;  for  when  they  were  very  desirous  to  have  their  country  freed 
from  their  nest  of  robbers,  he  purged  it  of  them  :  so  they  sung  songs  in  his  com- 
mendation, in  their  villages  and  cities,  as  having  procured  them  peace,  and  the 
secure  enjoyment  of  their  possessions  ;  and  on  this  account  it  was  that  he  became 
known  to  Sextus  Caesar,  v/ho  was  a  relation  of  the  great  Caesar's,  and  was  now 
president  of  Syria.  Now  Phasaelus,  Herod's  brother,  was  moved  with  emulation 
at  his  actions,  and  envied  the  fame  he  had  thereby  gotten,  and  became  ambitious 
not  to  be  behindhand  with  him  in  deserving  it ;  so  he  made  the  inhabitants  of  Je- 
rusalem bear  him  the  greatest  good  will,  while  he  held  the  city  himself,  but  did 

•  Tliose  who  will  carefully  olisefve  the  several  occasional  numhers  and  chronological  characters  in  the 
life  and  death  of  this  Herod,  and  of  his  children,  hereafter  noted,  will  see,  that  twenty-Jii>e  years,  and 
uot  Jl/'teen,  must  for  certain  have  been  here  Josephus's  own  number  for  the  age  of  Herod,  when  he  was 
innde  governor  of  G.nlilee.  See  ch.  xxiii.  sect.  5,  and  ch.  xxiv.  sect.  7,  and  particularly  Antiq.  B.  xvi* 
ch.  viii.  sect.  1.  where  about  44  years  afterwards  Herod  dies  an  old  man  at  about  70. 


C.  IX.    .  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  483 

neither  manage  its  affiurs  improperly,  nor  a,buse  his  authority  therein.  This 
conduct  procured  from  tlie  nation  to  Antipater  such  respect  as  is  due  to  kings,  and 
such  honours  as  he  might  partake  of  if  he  were  an  absohite  lord  of  the  country. 
Yet  did  not  this  splendour  of  his,  as  frequently  happens,  in  tiie  least  diminish  in 
him  that  kindness  and  fidehty  which  he  owed  to  Hyrcanus, 

3.  But  now  the  principal  men  among  the  Jews,  when  tliey  saw  Antipater  and 
his  sons  grow  so  much  in  the  good  will  the  nation  bear  to  them,  and  in  the  re- 
venues  which  they  received  out  of  Judea,  andout  of  Hyrcanus'sown  wealth,  they 
became  ill  disposed  to  him:  lor  indeed  Antipater  had  contracted  a  friendship 
with  the  Roman  emperors:  and  when  he  had  prevailed  with  Hyrcanus  to  send 
them  money,  he  took  it  to  himself,  and  purloined  the  present  intended,  and  sent 
it,  as  if  it  were  his  own,  and  not  Ilyrcanus's  gift  to  them.  Hyrcanus  heard  of 
this  his  management,  but  took  no  care  about  it;  nay,  he  rather  was  very  glad  of 
it:  but  the  chief  men  of  the  Jews  were  therefore  in  fear,  because  they  saw  that 
Herod  was  a  violent  and  bold  man,  and  very  desirous  of  acting  tyrannically;  so 
they  came  to  Hyrcanus,  aud  now  accused  Antipater  openly,  and  said  to  him, 
"  liow  long  wilt  thou  be  quiet  under  such  actions  as  are  now  done  ?  Or  dost  thou 
not  see  that  Antipater  and  his  sons  have  already  seized  upon  the  government  ? 
and  that  it  is  only  the  name  of  a  king  which  is  given  thee  ?  But  do  not  thou  suf- 
fer  these  things  to  be  hidden  from  thee ;  nor  do  thou  think  to  escape  danger,  by 
being  so  careless  of  thyself  and  of  thy  kingdom;  for  Antipater  and  his  sons  are 
not  now  stewards  of  thine  ailuirs;  do  not  thou  deceive  thyself  with  such  a  notion: 
they  are  evidently  absolute  lords:  for  Herod,  Antipater's  son,  hath  slain  Heze- 
kiah  and  those  that  were  with  him;  and  hath  thereby  transgressed  our  law,  which 
hath  forbidden  to  slay  any  man,  even  though  he  were  a  wicked  man,  unless  he 
had  lieen  first  condemned  to  suilcr  death  by  the  sanhedrim;*  yet  luith  he  been  so 
insoleut  as  to  do  this,  and  that  without  any  authority  from  thee." 

4.  Upon  Hyrcanus's  hearing  this,  lie  complied  with  them.  The  mothers  also 
of  those  that  had  been  glain  by  Herod  raised  his  indignation  ;  for  these  women 
continued  every  day  in  the  temple,  persuading  the  king  and  the  people,  that  He- 
rod  might  undergo  a  trial  before  the  sanliedrim  for  what  he  had  done.  Hyrcanus 
Was  so  moved  by  these  complaints,  that  he  summoned  Herod  to  come  to  his  trial, 
for  what  was  charged  upon  him.  Accordingly  he  came  :  but  his  father  had  per- 
suaded  him  to  come  not  like  a  private  man,  but  with  a  guard,  for  the  security  of 
his  person  ;  and  that  when  he  had  settled  the  aflairs  of  CJalilee  in  the  best  man- 
ner he  could  tor  his  own  advantage,  he  should  come  to  his  trial,  but  still  with  a 
body  of  men  sufliciont  for  his  security  on  his  journey,  yet  so  that  he  should  not 
come  with  so  great  a  force  as  might  look  like  terrifying  Hyrcanus,  but  still 
such  a  one  as  might  not  expose  him  naked  and  unguarded  [to  his  enemies.] 
However,  Sextus  Caesar,  president  of  Syria,  wrote  to  Hyrcanus,  and  desired 
him  to  clear  Herod,  and  dismiss  him  at  his  trial,  and  threatened  him  beforehand, 
if  he  did  not  do  it.  Which  epistle  of  his  was  the  occasion  of  Hyrcanus's  de- 
livering  Herod  from  suOcring  any  harm  from  the  sanhedrim,  for  he  loved  him 
as  his  own  son.  But  when  Herod  stood  before  the  sanhedrim,  with  his  body  of 
men  about  him,  he  affrighted  them  all,  and  no  one  of  his  former  accusers  durst 
after  that  bring  any  charge  against  him  ;  but  there  was  a  deep  silence,  and  no- 
body knew  what  was  to  be  done.  When  affairs  stood  thus,  one  wiiose  name  was 
Sameas,-\  a  righteous  man  he  was,  and  for  that  reason  above  all  fear,  who  rose 
up  and  said  :  "  O  you  that  are  assessors  with  me,  and  O  thou  that  art  our  king, 

*  It  is  here  worth  our  while  to  remarlc,  tliat  none  coiilrl  l)c  jHit  to  death  in  Judea  hut  by  the  approba- 
tion of  the  Jewish  sanhedrim,  there  heing  an  excellent  piovision  in  the  law  of  Moses,  that  even  in  crimi- 
nal causes,  and  particularly  where  life  was  concerned,  an  appeal  should  lie,  from  tlie  lesser  councils  o 
seven  in  the  other  cities,  to'the  supreme  council  of  seventy-one  at  Jerusalem.  .And  this  is  exactly  accor- 
ding to  our  Saviour's  words,  when  he  says,  It  could  not  be  that  a  prophet  should  perish  out  of  Jerusalem, 
Luke,  xiii.  33. 

•f  This  account,  asReland  observes,  is  confirmed  by  the  TalmuJists,  who  call  this  Sameai,  Simeon  <A4 
son  qf  Shetach. 
3  P2 


484 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XlV. 


I  neither  have  ever  myself  known  such  a  case,  nor  do  I  suppose  that  any  of  you 
can  name  its  parallel,  that  one  who  is  called  to  take  his  trial  by  us  ever  stood  in 
such  a  manner  before  us ;  but  every  one,  whosoever  he  be,  that  comes  to  be  tried 
bv  tliis  sanhedrim,  presents  himself  in  a  submissive  manner,  and  like  one  that  is 
in  fear  of  liimself,  and  that  endeavours  to  move  us  to  compassion,  with  his  hair 
dishevelled,  and  in  a  black  and  mournmg  garment;  but  this  admirable  man  He- 
rod,  who  is  accused  of  murder,  and  called  to  answer  so  heavy  an  accusation, 
stands  here  clothed  in  purple,  and  with  the  hair  of  his  head  finely  trimmed, 
and  with  his  armed  men  about  him  ;  that  if  we  shall  condemn  him  by  our  law, 
he  may  slay  us,  and  by  overbearing  justice  may  himself  escape  death.  Yet  do 
not  I  make  this  complaint  against  Herod  himself;  he  is  to  be  sure  more  concerned 
for  himself  than  for  the  laws  ;  but  my  complaint  is  against  yourselves,  and  your 
king,  who  gave  him  a  licence  so  to  do.  However,  take  you  notice,  that  God  is 
great,  and  that  this  very  man,  whom  you  are  going  to  absolve  and  dismiss,  for 
the  sake  of  Hyrcanus,  will  one  day  punish  both  you  and  your  king  himself  also." 
Nor  did  Sameas  mistake  in  any  part  of  this  prediction :  for  when  Herod  had  re- 
ceived  the  kingdom,  he  slew  all  the  members  of  this  sanhedrim,  and  Hyrcanus 
himself  also,  excepting  Sameas  :  for  he  had  a  great  honour  for  him  on  account 
of  his  righteous!iess,  and  because,  when  the  city  was  afterwards  besieged  by 
Herod  and  Sosius,  he  persuaded  the  people  to  admit  Hei'od  into  it ;  and  told 
them,  "  That  for  their  sins  they  would  not  be  able  to  escape  his  hands."  Which 
things  will  be  related  by  us  in  their  proper  places. 

5.  But  when  Hyrcanus  saw  that  the  members  of  the  sanhedrim  were  ready  to 
pronounce  the  sentence  of  death  upon  Herod,  he  put  oif  the  trial  to  another  day, 
and  sent  privately  to  Herod,  and  advised  him  to  fly  out  of  the  city,  for  that  by 
this  means  he  might  escape.  So  he  retired  to  Damascus,  as  though  he  fled  from 
the  king  :  and  when  he  had  been  with  Sextus  Ca;sar,  and  had  put  his  own  affairs 
in  a  sure  posture,  he  resolved  to  do  thus,  that  in  case  he  were  again  summoned 
before  the  sanhedrim  to  take  his  trial,  he  would  not  obey  that  summons.  Here- 
upon  the  members  of  the  sanhedrim  had  great  indignation  at  this  posture  of  af- 
fairs, and  endeavoured  to  persuade  Hyrcanus,  that  all  these  things  were  against 
him.  Which  state  of  matters  he  was  not  ignorant  of;  but  his  temper  was  so  un- 
manly, and  so  foolish,  that  he  was  able  to  do  nothing  at  all.  But  when  Sextus 
had  made  Herod  general  of  the  army  of  Celesyria,  for  he  sold  him  that  post  for 
nioney,  Hyrcanus  was  in  fear  lest  Herod  should  make  war  upon  him  ;  nor  was 
the  effect  of  what  he  feared  long  in  coming  upon  him ;  for  Herod  came,  and 
brought  an  army  along  with  him,  to  fight  with  Hyrcanus,  as  being  angry  at  the 
trial  he  had  been  summoned  to  undergo  before  the  sanhedrim  :  but  his  father 
Antipater,  and  his  brother  [Phasaelus,  j  met  him,  and  hindered  him  from  assault- 
ing Jerusalem.  They  also  pacified  liis  vehement  temper,  and  persuaded  him  to 
do  no  overt  action  ;  but  only  to  affright  them  with  threatenings,  and  to  proceed 
no  farther  against  one  Avho  had  given  him  the  dignity  he  had :  they  also  desired 
him  not  to  be  angr}'  that  he  was  summoned  and  obliged  to  come  to  trial,  but  to 
remember  withal,  how  he  was  dismissed  without  condemnation,  and  how  he 
ought  to  give  Hyrcanus  thanks  for  the  same  ;  and  that  he  was  not  to  regard  only 
what  was  disagreeable  to  him,  and  be  unthankful  for  his  deliverance.  So  they 
desired  him  to  consider,  that  since  it  is  God  that  turns  the  scales  of  war,  there 
In  grca*  uncertainty  in  the  issue  of  battles,  and  that  therefore  he  ought  not  to  ex- 
poct  the  victory,  v  hen  he  should  figlit  with  his  king,  and  him  that  had  supported 
liiiM,  and  bestowed  many  benefits  upon  him,  and  had  done  nothing  itself  veiy 
t^cverc  to  him  ;  for  that  his  accusation,  which  was  derived  from  evil  counsellors, 
and  not  from  hiinsolf,  !>ad  ratlier  the  suspicion  of  some  severity,  than  any  thing 
really  severe  in  it.  Herod  was  persuaded  by  these  arguments,  and  believed  that 
it  was  suiTicient  for  his  future  hopes  to  ha\e  made  a  show  of  his  strength  before 
the  nation,  and  done  no  more  to  it :  and  in  this  state  were  the  affairs  of  Judea 
bt  tills  time. 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  485 

CHAP,  X. 

The  Honours  thai  icere  paid  to  the  Jews ;  and  the  Leagues  that  were  made  by  the 
llonuDis  and  other  JSations  with  tlieni. 

§  1.  Now  when  Cyesar  was  come  to  Rome,  he  was  ready  to  sail  into  Africa  to 
tight  against  Scipio  and  Cato,  when  Ilyrcanus  sent  amhassadors  to  liim,  and  by 
them  desired  that  he  would  ratify  tiiat  league  of  friendship  and  mutual  alliance 
which  was  between  them.  And  it  seems  to  me  to  be  necessary  here  to  give  an 
account  of  all  the  honours  that  the  Romans  and  their  emperors  paid  to  our  na- 
tion, and  of  the  leagues  of  mutual  assistance  they  have  made  witii  it  ;  that  all  the 
rest  of  mankind  may  know  what  regard  the  kings  of  Asia  and  Europe  have  had 
to  us,  and  that  they  have  been  abundantly  satisfied  of  our  courage  and  fidelity  ; 
for,  whereas  many  will  not  believe  what  hath  heen  written  about  us  by  the  Per- 
siaus  and  Macedonians,  because  those  writings  are  not  every  where  to  be  met 
with,  nor  do  lie  in  public  places,  but  among  us  ourselves,  and  certain  other  bar- 
barous nations ;  while  there  is  no  contradiction  to  be  made  against  the  decrees 
of  the  Romans,  for  they  are  laid  up  in  the  public  places  of  the  cities,  and  are  ex- 
tant still  in  the  capitol,  and  engraven  upon  pillars  of  brass  ;  nay,  besides  this,  Ju- 
lius Cajsar  made  a  pillar  of  brass  for  the  Jews  at  Alexandria,  and  declared  pub- 
licly that  they  were  citizens  of  Alexandria.  Out  of  these  evidences  will  I  demon, 
strate  what  I  say ;  and  will  ik)w  set  down  the  decrees  made  both  by  the  senate, 
and  by  Julius  Coesar,  which  relate   to  Hyrcanus  and  to  our  nation. 

2.  "  Caius  Julius  Cajsar,  imperator  and  high  priest  and  dictator  the  second 
time,  to  the  magistrates,  senate,  and  people  of  Sidon,  sendeth  greeting  :  If  you  be 
in  health  it  is  well ;  I  also  and  the  army  are  well.  I  have  sent  you  a  copy  of  that 
decree,  registered  on  the  tables,  Avhicli  concerns  Hyrcanus,  the  son  of  Alexander, 
the  high  priest  and  ethnarch  of  the  Jews,  that  it  may  be  laid  up  among  the  |)ublic 
records  :  and  I  will  that  it  be  openly  proposed  in  a  table  of  brass,  both  in  Greek 
and  in  Latin.  It  is  as  follows :  I  Julius  Caesar,  imperator  the  second  time,  and 
high  priest,  have  made  this  decree,  with  the  approbation  of  the  senate  :  Whereas 
Hyrcanus,  the  son  of  Alexander  the  Jevv',  hath  demonstrated  his  fidelity  and  dili- 
gence about  our  aflairs ;  and  this  both  now  and  in  former  times,  both  in  peace 
and  in  war;  as  many  of  our  generals  have  borne  witness  :  and  came  to  our  as- 
sistance in  the  last*  Alexandrian  war  with  fifteen  hundred  soldiers  ;  and  when  ho 
was  sent  by  me  to  Mithridates,  showed  himself  superior  in  valour  to  all  the  rest 
of  that  army:  for  these  reasons  I  will,  that  Hyrcanus,  the  son  of  Alexander,  and 
his  children,  be  cthnarchs  of  the  Jews,  and  have  the  high  priesthood  of  the  Jews 
for  ever,  according  to  the  customs  of  tlicir  forefathers,  and  that  he  and  his  sons  be 
our  confederates  ;  and  that,  besides  this,  every  one  of  them  be  reckoned  among 
our  particular  friends.  I  also  ordain,  that  he  and  his  children  retain  whatsoever 
privileges  belong  to  the  oflice  of  high  priest,  or  whatsoever  favours  have  been 
hitherto  granted  them.  And  if  at  any  time  hereafter  there  arise  any  questions 
about  the  Jewish  customs,  I  will  that  he  determine  the  same.  And  I  think  it  not 
proper  that  they  should  be  obliged  to  find  us  winter-quarters,  or  that  any  money 
should  be  required  of  them." 

3.  "The  decrees  of  Caius  Caesar,  consul,  containing  what  hath  been  granted 
and  determined,  arc  as  follow:  That  Hyrcanus  and  his  children  bear  rule  over 
the  nation  of  the  Jews,  and  have  the  profits  of  the  places  to  them  bequeathed  ;  and 
that  he,  as  himself  the  high  priest  and  ethnarch  of  the  Jews,  defend  those  that  are 
injured.  And  that  ambassadors  be  sent  to  Hyrcanus  the  son  of  Alexander,  the 
high  priest  of  the  Jews,  that  may  discourse  with  him  about  a  league  of  friendship 

*  That  Hyrcanus  was  himself  in  Egj'pt,  along  with  Aiitipaier  at  this  time,  to  wiiom  accordingly  the 
bold  and  jirudcnt  actions  of  iiis  deputy  Antipaler  arc  iiere  ascribed,  as  this  decree  of  Julius  C';rsar  su[>- 
poses,  we  are  farther  assured  by  the  testimony  of  Sirabo,  fihcady  produced  by  Joscphiis,  cli.  viii.  sect.  3. 


486 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIV: 


and  mutual  assistance ;  and  that  a  table  of  brass,  containing  the  premises,  be 
openly  proposed  in  the  capitol,  and  at  Sidon,  and  Tyre,  and  Askelon,  and  in  the 
temple,  engraven  in  Roman  and  Greek  letters  :  that  this  decree  may  also  be  com- 
municated  to  the  questors  and  pretors  of  the  several  cities,  and  to  the  friends  of 
the  Jews:  and  that  the  ambassadors  may  have  presents  made  them,  and  that  these 
decrees  be  sent  every  where." 

4.  "  Caius  Caesar,  imperator,  dictator,  consul,  hath  granted,  that  out  of  regard 
to  the  honour,  and  virtue,  and  kindness  of  the  man,  and  for  the  advantage  of  the 
senate  and  of  the  people  of  Rome,  Hyrcanus,  the  son  of  Alexander,  both  he  and 
his  children,  be  high  priests  and  priests  of  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  Jewish  nation, 
by  the  same  right,  and  according  to  the  saine  laws,  by  which  their  progenitors 
have  held  the  priesthood." 

5.  "Caius  Cajsar,  consul  the  fifth  time,  hath  decreed,  that  the  Jews  shall  pos- 
sess Jerusalem,  and  may  encompass  that  city  with  walls  ;  and  that  Hyrcanus,  the 
son  of  Alexander,  the  high  priest  and  ethnarch  of  the  Jews,  retain  it  in  the  manner 
he  himself  pleases  ;  and  that  the  Jews  be  allowed  to  deduct  out  of  their  tribute 
every  second  year  the  land  is  let  [in  'he  Sabbatic  period]  a  corns  of  that  tribute ; 
and  that  the  tribute  they  pay  be  not  let  to  farm,  nor  that  they  pay  always  the 
same  tribute." 

6.  "  Caius  Coesar,  imperator  the  second  time,  hath  ordained,  that  all  the  coun- 
try of  the  Jews,  excepting  Joppa,  do  pay  a  tribute  yearly  for  the  city  Jerusalem, 
excepting  the  seventh,  which  they  call  the  Sabbatical  year,  because  thereon  they 
neither  receive  the  fruits  of  their  trees,  nor  do  they  sow  their  land;  and  that  tliey 
pay  their  tribute  in  Sidon  on  the  second  year  [of  that  Sabbatical  period,]  the 
fourth  part  of  what  was  sown  ;   and  besides  this,  they  ai'c  to  pay  the  same  tithes 
to  Hyrcanus  and  his  sons,  which  they  paid  to  their  forefathers.     And  that  no  one, 
neither  president,  nor  lieutenant,  nor  ambassador,  raise  auxiliaries  within   the 
bounds  of  Judea,  nor  my  soldiers  exact  money  of  them  for  winter-quarters,  or  un- 
der any  other  pretence,  but  that  they  be  free  from  all  sorts  of  injuries :  and  that 
whatsoever  they  shall  hereafter  have,  and  are  in  possession  of,  or  have  bought, 
they  shall  retain  them  all.     It  is  also  our  pleasure,  that  the  city  Joppa,  which  the 
Jews  had  originally  when  they  made  a  league  of  friendship  with  the  Romans,  shall 
belong  to  them,  as  it  formerly  did  ;  and  tliat  Hyrcanus,  the  son  of  Alexander,  and 
his  sons,  have  as  tribute  of  that  city  from  those  that  occupy  the  land  for  the  coun- 
try,  and  for  what  they  export  every  year  to  Sidon,  twenty  thousand  six  hundred 
and  seventy-five  modii  everj^  year ;  the  seventli  year,  which  they  call  the  Sab- 
batic year,  excepted,  whereon  they  neither  plough,  nor  receive  the  product  of 
their  trees.     It  is  also  the  pleasure  of  the  senate,  that  as  to  the  villages  which  are 
in  the  great  plain,  whicii  Hyrcanus  and  his  forefathers  formerly  possessed,  Hyr. 
canus  and  the  Jews  have  them  with  the  same  privileges  with  which  they  formerly 
had  them  also;  and  that  the  same  original  ordinances  remain  still  in  force,  which 
concern  the  Jews,  with  regard  to  their  high  priests;  and  that  they  enjoy  the  same 
benefits  which  tliey  have  had  formerly  by  the  concession  of  the  people  and  of  the 
senate:  and  let  them  enjoy  the  like  privileges  in  Lydda.     It  is  the  pleasure  also 
of  the  senate,  tiiat  Hyrcanus  the  ethnarch,  and  the  Jews,  retain  those  places, 
countries,  and  villages,  which  belong  to  the  kings  of  Syria  and   Phoenicia,  the 
confederates  of  the  Romans,  and  which  they  had  bestowed  on  them  as  their  free 
Itifts.     It  is  also  granted  to  Hyrcanus,  and  to  his  sons,  and  to  the  ambassadors  by 
them  sent  to  us,  that  in  the  fights  between  single  gladiators,  and  in  those  with 
beasts,  they  shall  sit  among  the  senators  to  see  those  shows ;  and  that  when  they 
desire  an  audience,  they  shall  be  introduced  into  the  senate  by  the  dictator,  or  by 
the  general  of  the  horse ;  and  when  they  have  introduced  them,  their  answers 
shall  be  returned  to  them  in  ten  days  at  the  farthest,  after  the  decree  of  the  senate 
is  made  about  their  affairs." 

7.  "Caius  Ca;sar,  imperator,  dictator  the  fourth  time,  and  consul  the   fifth 
time,  declared  to  be  perpetual  dictator,  made  this  speech  concerning  the  rights 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  437 

and  privileges  of  Hyrcanus  the  son  of  Alexander,  the  hi^h  priest  and  ethnarch  of 
the  Jews.  Shice  those  imperators*  that  have  been  in  the  provinces  before  me 
have  borne  witness  to  Hyrcanus,  the  higli  priest  of  the  Jews,  and  to  the  Jews 
themselves,  and  this  before  the  senata  and  people  of  Rome,  wlien  the  people  and 
senate  returned  their  tlianks  to  them,  it  is  good  that  we  also  now  remember  the 
same,  and  provide  that  a  requital  be  made  to  Hyrcanus,  to  the  nation  of  the  Jews, 
and  to  tlie  sons  of  Hyrcanus,  by  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome ;  and  that  suitably 
to  what  good  will  they  have  shown  us,  and  to  the  benetits  they  have  bestowed 
upon  us." 

8.  "  Julius  Caius,  pretor  [consul]  of  Rome  to  the  magistrates,  senate,  and  pco- 
pie  of  the  Parians,  sendetli  greeting  :  The  Jews  of  Delos,  and  some  other  Jews 
that  sojourn  there,  in  the  presence  of  your  ambassadors,  signified  to  us,  that  bv  a 
decree  of  yours,  you  forbid  them  to  make  use  of  the  customs  of  their  forefathers, 
and  their  way  of  sacred  worship.  Now  it  does  not  please  me,  that  such  decrees 
should  be  made  against  our  friends  and  confederates,  whereby  they  are  forbidden 
to  live  according  to  their  own  customs,  or  to  bring  in  contributions  for  common 
suppers  and  holy  festivals ;  while  they  are  not  forbidden  so  to  do  even  at  Rome 
itself;  for  even  Caius  Ca;sar,  our  imperator  and  consul,  in  that  decree  wherein 
he  forbade  the  Bacchanal  rioters  to  meet  in  the  city,  did  yet  permit  these  Jews, 
and  these  only,  both  to  bring  in  their  contributions,  and  to  make  their  common 
suppers.  Accordingly,  when  I  forbid  other  Bacchanal  rioters,  I  permit  these  Jews 
to  gather  themselves  together,  according  to  the  customs  and  laws  of  their  fore 
fathers,  and  to  persist  therein.  It  will  be  therefore  good  for  you,  that  if  vou 
have  made  any  decree  against  these  our  friends  and  conl'ederatos,  to  abro'^ate 
the  same,  by  reason  of  their  virtue,  and  kind  dis])osition  towards  us." 

9.  Now  after  Caius  was  slain,  when  Marcus  Antonius,  and  Publius  Dolabella, 
were  consuls,  they  both  assembled  the  senate,  and  introduced  Hyrcanus's  ambas- 
sadors into  it,  and  discoursed  of  v/hat  they  desired,  and  made  a  league  of  friend- 
ship with  them.  The  senate  also  decreed  to  grant  tiiem  all  they  desired.  I  add 
the  decree  itself,  that  those  who  read  the  present  work  may  have  ready  by  them 
a  demonstration  of  the  truth  of  what  we  say.     The  decree  was  this  : 

10.  "  The  decree  oi'  the  senate,  copied  out  of  the  treasury,  from  the  public 
tables  belonging  to  the  questors,  when  Quintus  Rutilius  and  Caius  Corneilius  were 
questors,  and  taken  out  of  the  second  table  of  the  first  class,  on  the  third  day  be- 
fore  the  ides  of  April,  in  the  temple  of  Concord.  There  were  present  at  the 
writing  of  this  decree,  Lucius  Calpurnius  Piso,  of  the  3Ienenian  tribe  ;  Servius 
Papinius  Potitus,  of  the  Lemonian  tribe  ;  Caius  Caninius  Rebilius,  of  the  Tarcu- 
tinc  tribe;  Publius  Tidetius  ;  Lucius  Apulinus,  the  son  of  Lucius,  of  the  Sergian 
tribe  ;  Flavius,  the  son  of  Lucius,  of  the  Lemonian  tribe  ;  Publius  Platius,  the 
son  of  Publius,  of  the  Papyrian  tribe  ;  i\Iarcus  Acilius,  the  son  of  Marcus,  of  the 
Mecian  tribe;  Lucius  Erucius,  the  son  of  Lucius,  of  the  Stellatine  tribe;  .Marcus 
Quintius  Plancillus,  the  son  of  Marcus,  of  the  Pollian  tribe  ;  and  Publius  Scrius. 
Publius  Dolabella,  and  Marcus  Antonius,  the  consuls,  made  this  reference  to  the 
senate,  that  as  to  those  things  which,  by  the  decree  of  the  senate,  Caius  Cajsar 
had  adjudged  about  the  Jews,  and  yet  had  not  hitherto  that  decree  been  brought 
into  the  treasury,  it  is  our  will,  as  it  is  also  the  desire  of  Publius  Dolabella  and 
Marcus  Antonius,  our  consuls,  to  have  these  decrees  put  into  the  public  tables, 
and  brought  to  the  city  questors,  that  they  may  take  care  to  have  them  put  upon 
the  double  tables.  This  was  done  before  the  fifth  of  the  ides  of  February,  in  the 
temple  of  Concord.  Now  the  ambassadors  from  Hvrcanus  the  high  priest  were 
these:  Lysimachus,  the  son  of  Pausanias  ;  ,Al(.'.\ander,  the  son  of  Tiieodorus  ; 
Patroclus,  the  son  of  Choreas  ;  and  Jonathan  the  son  of  Onias." 

*  Dr.  Hudson  justly  supposes,  that  tliese  Roman  iiii|)cratnrs,  or  gcnorals  of  armies,  monnt  I)oth  :.crc 
atifl  sect.  2,  who  gavu  testimony  to  Hyrcanus's  and  the  Jews'  iailhluliiCrsand  good  will  to  the  Ixoniarnt 
before  the  senate  and  people  ot  Koine,  were  principally  r<iinpey,  Sciiuru.-!,  and  Ualiiniiis  ;  of  all  wnom 
Joscphus  had  already  given  us  the  history,  so  far  as  the  Jews  were  conccmed  with  thein. 


488  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIV. 

11..  Hyrcanus  sent  also  one  of  these  ambassadors  to  Dolabella,  who  was  then 
the  prefect  of  Asia,  and  desired  him  to  dismiss  the  Jews  from  the  military  ser- 
vices, and  to  preserve  to  them  the  customs  of  their  forefathers,  and  to  permit  them 
to  Hve  according  to  them.  And  when  Dolabella  had  received  Hyrcanus's  letter, 
without  any  farther  deliberation,  he  sent  an  epistle  to  all  the  Asiatics,  and  parti, 
cularly  to  the  city  of  Ephesians,  the  metropolis  of  Asia,  about  the  Jews :  a  copy 
of  which  epistle  here  follows: 

12.  "  When  Artemon  was  prytanis,  on  the  first  day  of  the  month  Leneon,  Do- 
labella,  imperator,  to  the  senate,  and  magistrates,  and  people  of  the  Ephesians, 
sendeth  greeting :  Alexander,  the  son  of  Theodorus,  the  ambassador  of  Hyrcanus, 
the  son  of  Alexander  the  high  priest  and  ethnarch  of  the  Jews,  appeared  before 
me,  to  show  that  his  countrymen  could  not  go  into  their  armies,  because  they  are 
not  allowed  to  bear  arms,  or  to  travel,  on  the  Sabbath  days,  nor  there  to  procure 
themselves  those  sorts  of  food  which  they  have  been  used  to  eat  from  the  times 
of  their  forefathers  ;  I  do  therefore  grant  them  a  freedom  from  going  into  the 
army,  as  the  former  prefects  have  done,  and  permit  them  to  use  the  customs  of 
their  forefathers,  in  assembling  together  for  sacred  and  religious  purposes,  as  their 
law  requires,  and  for  collecting  oblations  necessary  for  sacrifices  ;  and  my  will 
is,  that  you  write  this  to  the  several  cities  under  your  jurisdiction." 

13.  And  these  were  the  concessions  that  Dolabella  made  to  our  nation,  when 
Hyrcanus  sent  an  embassage  to  him.  But  Lucius  the  consul's  decree  ran  thus  : 
"  I  have  at  my  tribunal  set  these  Jews,  who  are  citizens  of  Rome,  and  follow  the 
Jewish  religious  rites,  and  yet  live  at  Ephesus,  free  from  going  into  the  armv,  on 
account  of  the  superstition  they  are  under.  This  was  done  before  the  twelfth  of 
the  calends  of  October,  when  Lucius  Lentulus,  and  Caius  Marcellus,  were  con- 
suls, in  the  presence  of  Titus  Appius  Balgus,  the  son  of  Titus,  and  lieutenant  of 
the  Horatian  tribe  ;  of  Titus  Tongius,  the  son  of  Titus,  of  the  Crustamine  tribe  ; 
of  Quintus  Resius,  the  son  of  Quintus;  of  Titus  Pompeius  Longinus,  the  son  of 
Titus  ;  of  Caius  Servilius,  the  son  of  Caius  of  the  Tarentine  tribe ;  of  BraccJuis 
the  military  tribune  ;  of  Publius  Lucius  Callus,  the  son  of  Publius,  of  the  Vetu- 
dan  tribe  ;  of  Caius  Sentius,  the  son  of  Caius,  of  the  Sabbatine  tribe  ;  of  Titus 
Artilius  Bulbus,  the  son  of  Titus,  lieutenant  and  vice-pretor  ;  to  the  magistrates, 
senate,  and  people  of  the  Ephesians,  sendeth  greeting  :  Lucius  Lentulus,  the  con- 
sul, freed  the  Jews  that  are  in  Asia  from  going  into  the  armiey,  at  my  interces- 
sion for  them.  And  when  I  had  made  the  same  petition  some  time  afterward  to 
Phanius,  the  imperator,  and  to  Lucius  Antonius,  the  vice-questor,  I  obtained  that 
privilege  of  them  also  ;  and  my  will  is,  that  you  take  care  that  no  one  give  them 
any  disturbance," 

II.  The  decree  of  the  Delians.  "The  answer  of  the  prefers,  when  Beotus 
was  archon,  on  the  twentieth  day  of  the  month  Thargeleon  :  While  Marcus  Piso 
the  lieutenant  lived  in  our  city,  who  was  also  appointed  over  the  choice  of  the 
soldiers,  he  called  us,  and  many  others  of  the  citizens,  and  gave  order,  that  if  there 
be  here  any  Jews,  who  are  Roman  citizens,  no  one  is  to  give  them  any  distur- 
bance about  going  into  the  army,  because  Cornelius  Lentulus,  the  consial,  freed 
tlie  Jews  from  going  into  the  army,  on  account  of  the  superstition  they  are  under; 
you  are  therefore  obliged  to  submit  to  the  pretor."  And  the  like  decree  was 
niadc  by  the  Sardians  about  us  also. 

15.  "  Caius  Phanius,  the  son  of  Caius,  imperator  and  consul,  to  the  magis- 
trates  of  Cos,  sendeth  greeting  :  I  would  have  you  know  that  the  ambassadors  of 
the  Jews  have  been  with  me,  and  desired  they  might  have  those  decrees  which 
tlie  senate  had  made  about  them;  which  decrees  are  here  subjoined.  My  will 
i^',  that  yo\i  have  a  regard  to,  and  take  care  of  these  men,  according  to  the  se- 
nate s  decree,  that  they  may  be  safely  conveyed  home  through  your  country." 

10.  Tlie  declaration  of  Lucius  Lentulus,  the  consul:  "  I  have  dismissed  those 
Jews  who  are  Roman  citizens,  and  v.ho  appear  to  me  to  have  llieir  rehgious  rites, 
aim  to  observe  the  laws  uf  the  Jews  at  Ephesus,  on  account  of  the  superstition 


I 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  4g^ 

fhey  arc  under.    Tliis  act  was  done  before  the  thirteenth  of  the  calends  of  Octo. 
ber." 

17.  "  Lucius  Antonius,  the  son  of  Marcus,  vice-qucstor,  and  vice-pr6tor,  to 
the  magistrates,  senate;  and  people  of  the  Sardonians,  scndeth  greeting  :  Those 
Jews  that  are  our  fellow  citizens  of  Rome,  came  to  me,  and  demonstrated  that 
they  had  an  assembly  of  their  own,  according  to  the  laws  of  their  forefathers ;  and 
this  from  the  beginning :  as  also  a  place  of  their  own,  wherein  they  determined 
their  suits  and  controversies  with  one  another :  upon  their  petition  therefore  to 
nie,  that  these  might  be  lawful  for  them,  1  give  order  that  these  their  privileges 
be  preserved,  and  they  be  permitted  to  do  accordingly." 

18.  The  declaration  of  Marcus  Publius,  the  son  of  Spurius,  and  of  Marcus,  the 
son  of  Marcus,  and  of  Lucius,  the  son  of  Publius  :  "  We  went  to  the  proconsul, 
and  informed  him  of  what  Dositheus,  the  son  of  Clcopatrida  of  Alexandria  desired, 
that,  if  he  thought  good,  he  would  dismiss  those  Jews  who  were  Roman  citizens, 
and  were  wont  to  observe  the  rites  of  the  Jewish  religion,  on  account  of  the  su- 
perstition  they  were  under.  Accordingly  he  did  dismiss  them.  This  was  done  be- 
fore the  thirteenth  of  the  calends  of  October." 

19.  "  In  the  month  Quintilis,  when  Lucius  Lentulus  and  Caius  Marcellus  were 
consuls ;  and  there  were  present  Titus  Appius  Balbus,  the  son  of  Titus,  lieutenant 
of  the  Horatian  tribe ;  Titus  Tongius,  of  the  Cmstamine  tribe  ;  Quintus  Resius> 
the  son  of  Quintus ;  Titus  Pompeius,  the  sen  of  Titus ;  Cornelius  Longinus  ; 
Caius  Servilius  Bracchus,  the  son  of  Caius,  a  military  tribune,  of  the  Tarentine 
tribe  ;  Publius  Clusius  Gallus,  the  son  of  Publius,  of  the  Veturian  tribe  ;  Caius 
Teutius,  the  son  of  Caius,  a  military  tribune  of  the  Emilian  tribe  ;  Sextus  Atilius 
Serranus,  the  son  of  Sextus,  of  the  Esquilinc  tribe  ;  Caius  Pompeius,  the  son  of 
Caius,  of  the  Sabbatine  tribe  ;  Titus  Appius  Mcnander,  the  son  of  Titus;  Publius 
Servilius  Strabo,  th-e  son  of  Publius  ;  Lucius  Paccius  Capito,  the  son  of  Luciusj 
of  the  Colline  tribe;  Aulus  Furius  Teritus,  the  son  of  Aulus;  and  Appius  Menas. 
Li  the  presence  of  these  it  was  that  Lentulus  pronounced  this  decree  :  I  have  be- 
fore the  tribunal  dismissed  those  Jews  that  are  Roman  citizens,  and  are  accus* 
tomed  to  observe  the  sacred  rites  of  the  Jews  at  Ephesus,  on  account  of  the  su* 
perstition  they  arc  under." 

20.  "The  magistrates  of  the  Laodiceans  to  Caius  Rubilius,  the  son  of  Caius 
the  consul,  sendeth  greeting:  Sopater,  the  ambassador  of  Hyrcanus  the  high 
priest,  hath  delivered  us  an  epistle  from  thee,  whereby  he  lets  us  know,  that  cer-i 
tain  ambassadors  were  come  from  Hyrcanus,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  and 
brought  an  epistle  written  concerning  their  nation  ;  wherein  they  desire  that  tho 
Jews  may  be  allowed  to  observe  their  Sabbaths,  and  other  sacred  rites,  accordihg 
to  the  laws  of  their  forefathers  ;  and  that  they  may  be  under  no  command  ;  be- 
cause they  are  our  friends  and  confederates,  and  that  nobody  may  injure  them  in 
our  provinces.  Now  although  the  Trallians  there  present  contradicted  them,  and 
were  not  pleased  with  these  decrees,  yet  didst  thou  give  order  that  they  should 
be  observed,  and  informedst  us  that  thou  hadst  been  desired  to  write  this  to  us 
about  them.  We  therefore,  in  obedience  to  the  injunctions  we  have  received 
from  thee,  have  received  the  epistle  which  thou  sentest  us,  and  have  laid  it  up  by 
itself  among  our  public  records.  And  as  to  the  other  things  about  which  thou 
didst  send  to  us,  we  will  take  care  that  no  complaint  be  made  against  us/' 

21.  "Publius  Servilius,  the  son  of  Publius,  of  the  Galban  tribe,  the  proconsul 
to  the  magistrate,  senate,  and  people  of  the  Milesians,  sendeth  greeting:  Pryta- 
nes,  the  son  of  Hermes,  a  citizen  of  yours,  came  to  me  when  1  was  at  Trallrs, 
and  held  a  court  there,  and  informed  me  thiit  you  used  the  Jews  in  a  May  diffe- 
rent from  my  opinion,  and  forbade  them  to  celebrate  their  Sabbaths,  and  to  per- 
form  the  sacred  rites  received  from  their  forefatliers,  and  to  manage  the  fruits  of 
tlie  land  according  to  their  ancient  custom,  and  that  he  bad  himself  been  the 
promulger  of  your  decree,   according  as  your  laws  require  :  I  would  therefore 

VOL.1.  3Q 


^JJO  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIV. 

have  you  know,  that  upon  hearing  the  pleadings  on  both  sides,  I  give  sentence 
that  the  Jews  should  not  be  prohibited  to  make  use  of  their  own  customs." 

22.  The  decree  of  those  of  Pergamus.  When  Cratippus  was  prytanis,  on 
the  first  day  of  the  month  Desius,  the  decree  of  the  pretors  was  this  :  "Since  the 
Romans,  following  the  conduct  of  their  ancestors,  undertake  dangers  for  the 
common  safety  of  all  mankind,  and  are  ambitious  to  settle  their  confederates  and 
friends  in  happiness,  and  in  firm  peace  ;  and  since  the  nation  of  the  Jews,  and 
their  high  priest  Hyrcanus,  sent  as  ambassadors  to  them  Strato,  the  son  of  Theo- 
datus,  and  Apollonius,  the  son  of  xVlexander,  and  Eneas,  the  son  of  Antipater, 
and  Aristobulus,  the  son  of  Amyntas,  and  Sosipater,  the  son  of  Philip,  worthy 
and  good  men,  who  gave  a  particular  account  of  their  aftairs  ;  the  senate  there- 
upon made  a  decree  about  what  they  had  desired  of  them,  that  Antiochus  the 
king,  the  son  of  Antiochus,  should  do  no  injury  to  the  Jews,  the  confederates  of 
the  Romans  ;  and  that  the  fortresses,  and  the  havens,  and  the  country,  and  what- 
soever  else  he  had  taken  from  them,  should  be  restored  to  them ;  and  that  it  may 
be  lawful  for  them  to  export  their  goods  out  of  their  own  havens ;  and  that  no 
king  nor  people  may  have  leave  to  export  any  goods,  either  out  of  the  country 
of  Judca,  or  out  of  their  havens,  without  paying  customs,  but  only  Ptolemy  the 
king  of  Alexandria,  because  he  is  our  confederate  and  friend;  and  that,  according 
to  their  desire,  the  garrison  that  is  in  Joppa  may  be  ejected.  Now  Lucius  Pet- 
tius,  one  of  our  senators,  a  worthy  and  good  man,  gave  order  that  we  should  take 
care  that  these  things  should  be  done  according  to  the  senate's  decree ;  and  that 
we  should  take  care  also  that  their  amoassadors  might  return  home  in  safety. 
Accordingly  Ave  admitted  Theodorus  into  our  senate  and  assembly,  and  took  the 
epistle  out  of  his  hands,  as  well  as  the  decree  of  the  senate  :  and  as  he  discoursed 
with  great  zeal  about  the  Jews,  and  described  Hyrcanus's  virtue  and  generosity, 
and  how  he  was  a  benefactor  to  all  men  in  common,  and  particularly  to  every 
body  that  comes  to  him,  we  laid  up  the  epistle  in  our  public  records ;  and  made 
a  decree  ourselves,  that  since  we  also  are  in  confederacy  with  the  Romans,  we 
would  do  every  thing  we  could  for  the  Jews,  according  to  the  senate's  decree. 
Theodorus  also,  who  brought  the  epistle,  desired  of  our  pretors,  that  they  would 
send  Hyrcanus  a  copy  of  that  decree,  as  also  ambassadors  to  signify  to  him  the 
aflection  of  our  people  to  him,  and  to  exhort  them  to  preserve  and  augment  their 
friendship  for  us,  and  be  ready  to  bestow  other  benefits  upon  us,  as  justly  expecting 
to  receive  proper  requitals  from  us ;  and  desiring  them  to  remember  that  our  an- 
cestors* were  friendly  to  the  Jews  even  in  the  days  of  Abraham,  who  was  the  fa- 
ther of  all  the  Hebrews,  as  we  have  [also]  found  it  set  down  in  our  public  records." 

23.  The  decree  of  those  of  Halicaruussus.  When  Memnon,  the  son  of  Ores- 
tidas  by  descent,  but  by  adoption  of  Eunonymus,  was  priest,  on  the  ***  day  of 
the  month  Aristerion,  the  decree  of  the  people,  upon  the  representation  of  Mar- 
cus Alexander,  was  this  :  "  Since  we  have  ever  a  great  regard  to  piety  towards 
God,  and  to  holiness  ;  and  since  we  aim  to  follow  the  people  of  the  Romans,  who 
are  the  benefactors  of  all  men,  and  what  they  have  written  to  us  about  a  league 
of  friendship  and  mutual  assistance  between  the  Jews  and  our  city,  and  that  their 
sacred  offices,  and  accustomed  festivals  and  assemblies  may  be  observed  by  them  ; 
we  have  decreed,  that  as  many  men  and  women  of  the  Jews  as  are  willing  so  to 
do  may  celebrate  their  Sabbaths,  and  perform  their  holy  offices,  according  to  the 

*  We  liave  here  a  most  remarkable  p.iv\  aullientic  attestation  of  the  citizens  of  Pergamus,  that  Abra- 
ham was  the  fatlicr  of  all  the  Hebrews  ;  that  tlieir  own  ancestors  were,  in  the  olrlest  times,  the  friends  of 
tliose  Hebrews;  and  tliat  the  ])iiblic  acts  of  tlieir  city,  then  extant,  con.'irmed  the  same  ;  which  evidence 
is  too  strong  to  1)6  evaded  by  our  present  ignorance  of  the  jiarticular  occasion  of  such  ancient  friendship 
and  alliance  between  those  people.  See  the  like  full  evidence  of  the  kindred  of  the  Lacedemonians  and 
the  .lews  ;  and  tliat  becaupe  tiicy  were  both  the  jmsterity  of  Abraham,  by  a  public  epistle  of  these  people 
to  the  Jews,  preserved  in  the  fust  book  of  the  iMaccabees,  xii.  VJ — 23,  and  thence  by  Josephus,  Anliq.  B. 
xn.  ch.  iv.  sect.  10  ;  both  which  authentic  records  are  highly  valuable.  It  is  ■also  well  worthy  of  obser. 
vation.wiiat  Moses  riiorenensis,  the  ]jrincipal  . Armenian  historian,  informs  us  of,  p.  83,  that  Arsaces, 
who  raised  the  Parthian  Empire,  was  of  tlie  seed  of  Abraham  by  Keti:iah  ;  and  that  thereby  was  accom- 
plislicd  ihut  prediction  which  said,  kings  lJ' nations  shall j'locecd from  thee,  Geu.  xvii.  6. 


C.  X.  ANTIQUrriES  OF  THE  JEWS.  ^gj 

Jewish  laAVs ;  and  may  make  their  proseuchaj  at  tiic  seaside,  according  to  the 
customs  of  their  forofiitlicrs  ;  and  if  any  one,  whether  he  be  a  magistrate'or  pri. 
vate  person,  hindercth  them  from  so  doing,  he  siiull  be  hable  to  a  line,  to  be  ap. 
phed  to  the  uses  of  the  city." 

24.  The  decree  of  the  Sardians.  Tliis  decree  was  made  by  the  senate  and 
people,  upon  the  representation  of  the  pretors  :  "  Wjiereas  those  Jews  who  are 
our  fellow-citizens  and  Hve  with  us  iij  this  city,  have  ever  had  great  benefits 
heaped  upon  them  by  the  people,  and  have  comenow  into  the  senate,  and  desired 
of  the  people,  that  upon  the  restitution  of  their  law,  and  their  liberty,  by  the  senate 
and  people  of  Rome,  tliey  may  assemble  together  according  to  their  ancient  legal 
custom  ;  and  that  we  will  not  bring  any  suit  against  them  about  it ;  and  that  a 
place  may  be  given  them  where  they  may  have  their  congregations,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  and  may  oifer,  as  did  their  forefathers,  "their  pravers  and 
sacrifices  to  God  :  now  the  senate  and  people  have  decreed  to  permit  them  to  as- 
semble  together  on  the  days  formerly  appointed,  and  to  act  according  to  their  own 
laws ;  and  that  such  a  place  be  set  apart  for  them  by  the  pretors  for  the  building 
and  inhabiting  the  same,  as  they  shall  esteem  lit  for  that  purpose  ;  and  that  those 
that  take  care  of  the  provisions  for  the  city  shall  take  care  that  such  sorts  of  food 
as  they  esteem  fit  for  their  eating,  may  be  imported  into  the  city." 

25.  The  decree  of  tlie  Ephesians.  When  Menophilus  was  prytanis,  on  the 
first  day  of  the  month  Artemisius,  this  decree  was  made  by  the  people  :  "  Nica- 
nor,  the  son  of  Euphemus,  pronounced  it,  upon  the  representation  of  the  pretors. 
Since  the  Jews  that  dwell  in  this  city  have  petitioned  Marcus  Julius  Pompcius, 
the  son  of  Brutus,  the  proconsul,  that  they  may  be  allowed  to  observe  their  Sab- 
baths, and  to  act  in  all  things  according  to  the  customs  of  their  forefathers,  with- 
out impediment  from  any  body,  the  pretor  hath  granted  their  petition.  Accord- 
mgly  it  was  decreed,  by  the  senate  and  people,  that  in  this  afiair  that  concerned 
the  Romans,  no  one  of  them  should  be  hindered  from  keeping  the  Sabbath  day, 
nor  be  fined  for  so  doing,  but  that  they  be  allowed  to  do  all  things  according  to 
their  own  laws." 

26.  Now  there  are  many  such  decrees*  of  the  senate  and  imperators  of  the 
Romans,  and  those  ditferent  from  those  before  us,  which  have  been  made  in  fa- 
vour of  Hyrcanus,  and  of  our  nation  ;  as  also,  there  have  been  more  decrees  of 
the  cities,  and  rescripts  of  the  pretors,  to  such  epistles  as  concerned  our  ri"-hts 
and  privileges  :  and  certainly  such  as  are  not  ill  disposed  to  what  we  write,  may 
believe  that  they  are  all  to  this  purpose,  and  that  by  the  specimens  which  we  have 
inserted  ;  for  since  we  have  produced  evident  marks,  that  may  still  be  seen,  of 
the  friendship  we  have  had  with  the  Romans,  and  demonstrated  that  those  marks 
are  engraven  upon  columns  and  tables  of  brass  in  the  capitol,  that  are  still  in  be- 
ing, and  preserved  to  this  day,  we  have  omitted  to  set  them  all  down,  as  needless 
and  disagreeable  ;  for  I  cannot  suppose  any  one  so  perverse  as  not  to  believe  the 
friendship  we  have  had  with  the  Romans,  while  they  have  demonstrated  the 
same  by  such  a  great  number  of  their  decrees  relating  to  us  ;  nor  will  they  doubt 
of  our  fidelity  as  to  the  rest  of  those  decrees,  since  we  have  showed  the  same 
in  those  we  have  produced.  And  thus  have  we  sufficiently  explained  that  friend, 
ship  and  confederacy  we  at  those  times  had  with  the  Romans. 

*  If  we  compare  Joseplius's  promise  in  sect.  1,  to  produce  all  tlie  piil)lic  decrees  of  tlic  Romans  in  fa- 
vour of  the  Jews  witli  his  exxusc  liere  for  omittin;:;  iiuinx/  of  them,  we  may  observe,  that  when  lie  ramo 
to  transcribe  all  those  decrees  he  had  collected,  he  found  them  so  numerous  iliat  lie  thought  he  should  too 
much  tire  his  readers  if  lie  had  attempted  it,  which  he  thought  a  sufficient  apologj*  for  his  omitting  the 
rcstoftliem;  yet  do  those  l)y  him  produced  afford  sucii  a  strong  confirmation  to  his  history,  and  give 
such  groat  light  to  even  the  Roman  antiquities  themselves,  that  I  believe  the  curious  are  not  a  little  sorry 
for  such  his  omissions. 


492  ANTIQUITIES  GF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XiV; 


CHAP.  XI, 

Jlmo  Marcos*  succeeded  Sexius  when  he  had  been  slain  hy  Bassus^s   Treachery  ; 

and  how,  after  the  Death  of  CcBsar,   Cassius  came  into  Syria,  and  distressed 

Judea ;  as  also,  how  Malichus  slew  Antipater,  and  was  himself  slaiji  by 

Herod. 

§  1.  Naw  it  so  fell  out,  that  about  this  very  time  the  affairs  of  Syria  were  in 
great  disorder,  and  this  on  the  occasion  following  :  Cecilius  Bassus,  one  of  Pom- 
pey's  party,  laid  a  treacherous  design  against  Sextus  Caesar,  and  slew  him,  and 
then  took  his  army,  and  got  the  management  of  public  affairs  into  his  own  hand  ; 
so  there  arose  a  great  war  about  Apamia,  while  Casar's  generals  came  against 
him  with  an  army  of  horsemen  and  footmen  :  to  these  Antipater  also  sent  suc- 
cours, and  his  sons  with  them,  as  calling  to  mind  the  kindnesses  they  had  re- 
ceived from  Cossar,  and  on  that  account  he  thought  it  but  just  to  require  punish. 
meat  for  him,  and  to  take  vengeance  on  the  man  that  had  murdered  him.  And 
as  the  war  was  drawn  out  into  a  great  length,  Marcus  came  from  Rome  to  take 
Sextus's  government  upon  him,  but  Ccesar  was  slain  by  Cassius  and  Brutus  in  the 
senate-house,  after  he  had  retained  the  government  three  years  and  six  months. 
This  fact,  however,  is  related  elsewhere. 

2.  As  the  war  that  arose  upon  the  death  of  Caesar  was  now  begun,  and  the 
principal  men  were  all  gone,  some  one  way  and  some  another,  to  raise  armies, 
Cassius  came  from  Rome  into  Syria,  in  oi"der  to  receive  the  [army  that  lay  in 
the]  camp  at  Apamia  :  and  having  raised  the  siege,  he  brought  over  both  Bassus 
and  Marcus  to  his  party.  He  then  went  over  the  cities,  and  got  together  wea- 
pons and  soldiers,  and  laid  great  taxes  upon  those  cities  ;  and  he  chiefly  oppres- 
sed Judea,  and  exacted  of  it  seven  hundred  talents  :  but  Antipater,  when  he  saw 
the  state  to  be  in  so  great  consternation  and  disorder,  he  divided  the  collection 
of  that  sum,  and  appointed  his  two  sons  to  gather  it,  and  so  that  part  of  it  was  to 
be  exacted  by  Malichus,  who  was  ill-disposed  to  him,  and  part  by  others.  And 
because  Herod  did  exact  what  was  required  of  him  from  Galilee  before  others,  ho 
was  in  the  greatest  favour  with  Cassius  :  for  he  thought  it  a  part  of  prudence  to 
cultivate  a  friendship  with  the  Romans,  and  to  gain  their  good-will  at  the  expense 
of  others  j  whereas  the  curators  of  the  other  cities,  with  their  citizens,  were  sold 
for  slaves ;  and  Cassius  reduced  four  cities  into  a  state  of  slavery,  the  two  most 
potent  of  which  were  Gophna  and  Emmaus  ;  and,  besides  these,  Lydda  and 
Thanina.  Nay,  Cassius  was  so  very  angry  at  Malichus  that  he  had  killed  him 
(for  he  assaulted  him,)  had  not  Hyrcanus,  by  the  means  of  Antipater,  sent  him  a 
hundred  talents  of  his  own,  and  thereby  pacified  his  anger  against  him. 

3.  But  afler  Cassius  was  gone  out  of  Judea,  Malichus  laid  snares  for  Antipater, 
as  thinking  that  his  death  would  be  the  preservation  of  Hyrcanus's  government : 
but  his  design  was  not  unknown  to  Antipater,  which,  when  he  perceived,  he  retired 
beyond  Jordan,  and  got  together  an  army,  partly  of  Arabs,  and  partly  of  his  own 
countrymen.  However  Malichus,  being  one  of  great  cunning,  denied  that  he  had 
laid  any  snares  for  him,  and  made  his  defence  with  an  oath,  both  to  himself  and 
his  sons  ;  and  said,  that  while  Phasaelus  had  a  garrison  in  Jerusalem,  and  Herod 
had  the  weapQps  of  war  in  custody,  he  could  never  have  a  thought  of  any  such 
thing.  So  Antipater,  perceiving  the  distress  that  Malichus  was  in,  was  recon- 
ciled to  him,  and  made  an  agreement  with  hinn  :  this  was  when  Marcus  was  pre- 
sident of  Syria  ;  wl)o  yet  perceiving  that  tliis  Malichus  was  making  a  disturbance 
in  Judea,  proceeded  so  far  tliat  he  had  almost  killed  him,  but  still,  at  the  interces- 
sion of  Antipater,  he  saved  hiin. 

'  For  MaiTus,  the  presiilent  of  Syria,  sent  as  siicce?For  tn  Sextus  0531-,  tlie  Konian  historians  require 
us  to  read  Mtfrcus  in  Jost>|)lius,  anil  this  perpetually,  both  lu  these  Antiquities,  and  in  Ihe  liistory  of  the 
>\  ar,  as  the  learned  t;eiierally  agree. 


C.  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWa  493 

4.  However,  Antipater  little  thought  that  by  saving  Malichus  he  had  saved  his 
own  murderer;  for  now  Cassius  and  Marcus  had  got  together  an  army,  and  in- 
trusted the  entire  care  of  it  with  Herod,  and  made  him  general  of  the  forces  of 
Celesyria,  and  gave  him  a  fleet  of  ships,  and  an  army  of  liorsemen  and  footmen: 
and  promised  him,  that  after  the  war  was  over,  they  would  make  him  king  of  Ju- 
dca,  for  a  war  was  already  begun  between  Antony  and  the  younger  Cassar;  but 
as  Malichus  was  most  afi'aid  of  Antipater,  he  took  him  out  of  the  way ;  and,  by 
the  offer  of  money,  persuaded  the  butler  of  Hyrcanus,  with  whom  they  were  both 
to  feast,  to  kill  him  by  poison.  This  being  done,  and  he  having  armed  men  with 
him,  settled  the  aliUirs  of  the  city.  But  when  Antipater's  sons,  Herod  and  Pha- 
saelus,  were  ac(juaintcd  with  this  conspiracy  against  their  father,  and  had  indig- 
nation at  it,  Malichus  denied  all,  and  utterly  renounced  any  knowledge  of  the 
murder.  And  thus  died  Antipater,  a  man  that  had  distinguished  himself  for  piety 
and  justice,  and  love  to  his  country.  And  whereas  one  of  his  sons,  Herod,  re- 
solved immediately  to  revenge  their  father's  death,  and  was  coming  upon  Mali- 
chus with  an  army  for  that  purpose,  the  elder  of  his  sons,  Phasaelus,  thought  it 
best  rather  to  get  this  man  into  their  hands  by  policy,  lest  they  should  appear  to 
begin  a  civil  war  in  the  country ;  so  he  accepted  of  Malichus's  defence  for  him- 
self, and  pretended  to  believe  him  that  he  had  had  no  hand  in  the  violent  death  of 
Antipater  his  father,  but  erected  a  fine  monument  for  him.  Herod  also  went  to 
Samaria  ;  and  when  he  found  them  in  great  distress,  he  revived  their  spirits,  and 
composed  their  differences. 

5.  However,  a  little  after  this,  Herod,  upon  the  approach  of  a  festival,  came 
with  his  soldiers  into  the  city,  whereupon  Malichus  was  affrighted,  and  persuaded 
Hyrcanus  not  to  permit  him  to  come  into  the  city.  Hyrcanus  complied  ;  and,  for 
a  pretence  of  excluding  him,  alleged  that  a  rout  of  strangers  ought  not  to  be  ad- 
mitted, while  the  muUitude  were  purifying  themselves.  But  Herod  had  little  re- 
gard  to  the  messengers  that  were  sent  to  him,  and  entered  the  city  in  the  night 
time,  and  affrighted  IMalichus ;  yet  did  he  remit  nothing  of  his  former  dissimula- 
tion, but  wept  for  Antipater,  and  bewailed  him  as  a  friend  of  his  with  a  loud  voice : 
but  Herod  and  his  friends  thought  it  proper,  not  openly  to  contradict  Malichus's 
hypocrisy,  but  to  give  him  tokens  of  mutual  friendship,  in  order  to  prevent  his 
suspicion  of  them. 

G.  However,  Herod  sent  to  Cassius,  and  informed  him  of  the  murder  of  his 
father ;  who,  knowing  what  sort  of  man  Malichus  was  as  to  his  morals,  sent  him 
back  word  that  he  should  revenge  his  father's  death ;  and  also  sent  privately  to  the 
commanders  of  his  army  at  Tyre,  with  orders  to  assist  Herod  in  the  execution  of 
a  very  just  design  of  his.  Now  when  Cassius  had  taken  Laodicea,  they  all  went 
together  to  him,  and  carried  him  garlands  and  money :  and  Herod  thought  that 
MaUchus  might  be  punished  while  he  was  there  ;  but  he  was  some\\  hat  appro- 
hensiveof  the  thing,  and  designed  to  make  some  great  attempt;  and  because  his 
son  was  then  an  hostage  at  Tyre,  he  went  to  that  city,  and  resolved  to  steal  him 
away  privately,  and  to  march  thence  into  Judea :  and  as  Cassius  was  in  haste  to 
march  against  Antony,  he  thought  to  bring  the  country  to  revolt,  and  to  procure 
the  government  for  himself.  But  Providence  opposed  his  counsels  ;  and  Herod 
being  a  shrewd  man,  and  perceiving  what  his  intention  was,  he  sent  thither  be- 
forehand a  servant;  in  appearance  indeed  to  got  a  supper  ready,  for  he  had  said 
before,  that  he  would  feast  them  all  there ;  but  in  reality  to  the  commanders  of  the 
armv,  whom  he  persuaded  to  go  out  against  Malichus  whh  their  daggers.  So  they 
went  out  and  met  the  man  near  the  city,  upon  the  seashore,  and  stabbed  him. 
Whereupon  Hyrcanus  was  so  astonished  at  what  had  happened,  that  his  speech 
failed  him:  and  when,  after  some  difhculty,  he  had  recovered  himself,  he  asked 
Herod  what  the  matter  could  be,  and  who  it  was  that  slew  Malichus;  and  when 
Ije  said  that  it  was  done  by  the  command  of  Cassius,  he  commended  the  ac- 
Ijon :  for  that  Malichus  was  a  very  wicked  man,  and  one  that  conspired  against 


^g^  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIV. 

his  own  country.     And  this  was  the  punishment  that  was  inflicted  on  Malichus  for 
what  he  wickciilv  did  to  Antipater. 

7.  But  when  Cassius  was  niarclied  out  of  Syria,  disturbances  arose  in  Judea  : 
for  Fehx,  who  was  left  at  JcrusaU;m  witli  an  army,  made  a  sudden  attempt 
ao-ainst  Phasaleus,  and  the  people  themselves  rose  in  arms  ;  but  Herod  went  to 
Fabius,  the  prefect  of  Damascus,  and  was  desirous  to  run  to  his  brother's  assis- 
lance,  but  was  hindered  by  a  distemper  that  seized  upon  him,  till  Phasaelus  by 
himself  had  been  too  hard  for  Felix,  and  had  shut  him  up  in  the  tower,  and  there, 
on  certain  conditions,  dismissed  him.  Phasaelus  also  complained  of  Hyrcanus, 
that  although  he  had  received  a  great  many  benefits  from  them,  yet  did  he  sup- 
port  their  enemies :  for  Malichus's  brother  had  made  many  places  to  revolt,  and 
kept  garrisons  in  them,  and  particularly  Massado,  the  strongest  fortress  of  them 
all.  In  the  mean  time,  Herod  was  recoverd  of  his  disease,  and  came  and  took 
from  Felix  all  the  places  he  had  gotten  ;  and,  upon  certain  conditions,  dismissed 
him  also. 


CHAP.  xn. 

Herod  ejects  Antigonvs,  the  Son  of  ArislohuTus,  out  of  Judea,  and  gains  the  Friend- 
ship of  Antony,  ivho  was  now  come  into  Syria,  by  sending  him  much  Money  : 
on  which  Account  he  would  not  admit  of  those  that  tcoidd  have  accused 
Herod  :  and  what  it  was  that  Antony  wrote  to  the  Tyrians  in  Behalf 
of  the  Jews. 

§  1.  Now*  Ptolemy,  the  son  of  Menneus,  brought  back  into  Judea  Antigonus, 
the  son  of  Aristobulus,  who  had  already  raised  an  army,  and  had,  by  money, 
made  Fabius  to  be  his  friend,  and  this  because  he  Avas  of  kin  to  him.  Marion  also 
gave  him  assistance.  He  had  been  left  by  Cassius  to  tyrannize  over  Tyre  :  for 
this  Cassius  was  a  man  that  seized  on  Syria,  and  then  kept  it  under,  in  the  way 
of  a  tyrant.  Marion  also  marched  into  Galilee,  which  lay  in  his  neighbourhood, 
and  took  three  of  its  fortresses,  and  put  garrisons  into  them  to  keep  them.  But 
when  Herod  came,  he  took  all  from  him  :  but  the  Tyrian  garrison  he  dismissed 
in  a  very  civil  manner;  nay,  to  some  of  the  soldiers  he  made  presents,  out  of  the 
good-will  he  bare  to  that  city.  When  he  had  dispatched  these  affairs,  and  was 
gone  to  meet  Antigonus,  he  joined  battle  with  him,  and  beat  him,  and  drove 
him  out  of  Judea  presently,  when  he  was  just  come  into  its  borders.  But  when 
he  was  come  to  Jerusalem,  Hyrcanus  and  the  people  put  garlands  about  his  head ; 
for  he  had  already  contracted  an  affinity  with  the  family  of  Hyrcanus  by  having 
espoused  a  descendant  of  his,  and  for  that  reason  Herod  took  the  greater  care  of 
him.  as  being  to  marry  the  daugliter  of  Alexander,  the  son  of  Aristobulus,  and  the 
grand-daughter  of  Hyrcanus  ;  by  which  wife  he  became  the  father  of  three  male 
and  two  female  children.  He  had  also  married  before  this  another  wife,  out  of  a 
lower  family  of  his  own  nation,  whose  name  was  Doris ;  by  -whom  he  had  his 
eldest  son  Antipater. 

2.  Now  Antonius  and  Caesar  had  beaten  Cassius  near  Philippi,  as  others  have 
related  ;  but  after  tlie  victory,  Ca?sar  went  into  Gaul  [Italy,]  and  Antony  march- 
fid  for  Asia,  who  when  he  was  arrived  at  Bithynia,  he  had  ambassadors  that  met 
]\\m  from  all  parts.  The  principal  men  also  of  the  Jews  came  thither,  to  accuse 
Phasaelus  and  Herod,  and  they  said  that  Hyrcanus  had  indeed  the  appearance 
of  reignuig,  but  that  liicse  men  had  all  the  power  ;  but  Antony  paid  great  respect 

*  In  this  and  the  following;  cliapters,  tlie  reader  will  easily  remark  how  truly  Gronovius  observes,  in 
his  notes  on  the  Roman  dccn-es  in  I'avour  of  tlie  Jews,  that  iheir  rights  and  privileges  were  commonly 
purr.hasp.cl  of  the  lioiimns  with  money.  ftJany  examples  of  this  so^t,  lioth  as  to  the  Romans  and  others 
III  authority,  will  occur  in  our  Josephus,  both  now  and  iiereaftcr,  and  need  not  to  be  taken  particular  no- 
tice of  on  the  several  occasions  in  these  notes.  Accordingly  tlie  chief  captain  confesses  to  St.  Paul,  that 
vnthn  great  sum  lie  had  olituincd  his  freedom,  Acts,  xxii.  28,  as  had  St.  Paul's  ancestors,  very  probably, 
purcha£ud  the  like  freedom  for  their  family  by  money,  as  the  same  author  justly  concludes  also. 


C.  XII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  495 

to  Herod,  wlio  was  come  to  him  to  make  his  defence  against  his  accusers,  on 
Avhich  account  his  adversaries  could  not  so  much  as  obtain  a  liearing  ;  which  fa- 
vour  Herod  had  gained  of  Antony  hy  nioney.  But  still,  when  Antony  was  come 
to  E[)liesus,  Hyrcanus  the  high  priest,  and  our  nation,  sent  an  embassage  to  him, 
wiiich  carried  a  crown  of  gold  with  them,  and  desired  that  he  would  write  to  the 
governors  of  the  provinces,  to  set  those  Jews  free  who  had  been  carried  captive 
by  Cassius,  and  tiiis  without  their  having  fought  against  him  ;  and  to  restore  them 
to  tliat  country  which,  in  the  days  of  Cassius,  had  been  taken  from  them.  Antony 
thought  tlie  Jews'  desires  were  just,  and  wrote  immediately  to  Hyrcanus,  and  to 
the  Jews.  He  also  sent,  at  the  same  time,  a  decree  to  the  Tyrians;  the  con- 
tents of  which  were  to  the  same  purpose. 

3.  "  Marcus  Antonius,  imperator,  to  Hyrcanus  the  high  priest  and  ethnarch  of 
the  Jews,  seudeth  greeting:  If  you  be  in  health,  it  is  well;  I  am  also  in  health, 
with  the  army.  Lysimaclms,  the  son  of  Pausanius,  and  Josephus,  the  son  of 
Menneus,  and  Alexander,  the  son  of  Theodorus,  your  ambassadors,  met  me  at 
Ephesus,  and  have  renewed  that  embassage  which  they  had  formerly  been  upon 
at  Rome  ;  and  have  diligently  acquitted  themselves  of  the  present  embassage, 
which  thou  and  thy  nation  have  intrusted  to  them,-  and  have  fully  declared  the  good 
will  thou  hast  for  us.  I  am  therefore  satisfied,  both  by  your  actions  and  your 
words,  that  you  are  well  disposed  to  us:  and  I  understand  that  your  conduct  of 
life  is  constant  and  religious  ;  so  I  reckon  upon  you  as  our  own  ;  but  when  those 
that  were  adversaries  to  3'ou,  and  to  the  Roman  people,  and  abstained  neither 
from  cities  nor  temples,  and  did  not  observe  tlie  agreement  they  had  confirmed 
by  oath,  it  was  not  only  on  account  of  our  contest  with  them,  but  on  account  of 
all  mankind  in  common,  that  we  have  taken  vengeance  on  those  who  have  been 
the  authors  of  great  injustice  towards  men,  and  of  great  wickedness  towards  the 
gods ;  for  the  sake  of  which  we  suppose  it  was  that  the  sun  turned  away  its 
light  from  us,*  as  unwilling  to  view  the  horrid  crime  they  were  guilty  of  in 
the  case  of  Caesar.  We  have  also  overcome  their  conspiracies,  which  threat- 
ened the  gods  themselves ;  which  iMacedonia  received,  as  it  is  a  climate  peculi- 
arly proper  for  impious  and  insolent  attempts  ;  and  we  have  overcome  that  con- 
fused rout  of  men,  half  mad  with  spite  against  us,  v.liich  they  got  together  at  Phi- 
hppi,  in  Macedonia,  when  they  seized  on  the  places  that  were  proper  for  their 
purpose,  and,  as  it  were,  walled  them  round  with  the  mountains  to  the  very  sea, 
and  where  the  passage  was  open  only  through  a  single  gate.  This  victory  we 
gained,  because  the  gods  had  condemned  these  men  for  their  wicked  enterprises. 
Now  Brutus,  when  he  had  iled  as  far  as  Philippi,  was  shut  up  by  us,  and  became 
a  partaker  of  the  same  perdition  with  Cassius  ;  and  now  these  have  received 
their  punishment,  we  suppose  that  we  may  enjoy  peace  for  the  time  to  come,  and 
that  Asia  may  be  at  rest  from  war.  We  therefore  make  that  peace  which  God 
hath  given  us  common  to  our  confederates  also  ;  insomuch  that  the  body  of  Asia 
is  now  recovered  out  of  that  distemper  it  was  under  by  the  means  of  our  victory. 
I  therefore,  bearing  in  mind  both  thee  and  your  nation,  shall  take  care  of  what 
may  be  for  your  advantage.  I  have  also  sent  epistles  in  v/riting  to  the  several 
cities,  that  if  any  persons,  whether  freemen  or  bondmen,  have  been  sold  under 
the  spear  by  Caius  Cassius,  or  his  subordinate  officers,  they  may  be  set  free.  And 
I  will  that  yon  kindly  make  use  of  the  favours  which  I  and  Dolabella  have  granted 
you.  I  also  forbid  the  Tyrians  to  use  any  violence  with  you  ;  and  lor  what  places 
of  the  Jews  they  now  possess,  I  order  them  to  restore  them.  I  have  withal  ac- 
cepted of  the  crown  which  thou  sentest  me." 

4.  "  Marcus  Antonius,  imperator,  to  the  magistrates,  senate,  and  people  of 
Tyre,  sendeth  greeting  :  The  Ambassadors  of  ilyrcauus,  the  high  i)riest  and 

*  Tliis  clause  pkilnly  alludes  to  that  well  known  Init  unusual  and  very  lon^  darkness  of  the  sun,  wliicli 
liappcned  upon  tlie  murder  of  .1  ulius  C;esar  liy  IJrutus  and  (ajsius  ;  wiiich  is  laken  ureal  notice  of  l^y 
Viigil,  I'linv,  and  other  Romuu  autliots.  See  Virgil's  Geor^iics,  Look  i.  jusl  before  ihc  end  ;  and  I'liny's 
Nat.  Hist.  ii.  u.  ch.  x.\.\. 


490 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.'  B.  XlV. 


ethnarch  [of  the  Jews,]  appeared  before  me  at  Ephesus,  and  told  me,  that  you  are 
in  possession  of  part  of  their  country,  which  you  entered  upon  under  the  govern- 
ment of  our  adversaries.  Since,  therefore,  we  have  undertaken  a  war  for  the  ob- 
tainiii"-  the  government,  and  have  taken  care  to  do  what  was  agreeable  to  piety  and 
justice,  and  have  brought  to  punishment  those  that  had  neither  any  remembrance  of 
tlie  kindnesses  they  had  received,  nor  have  kept  their  oaths,  I  will  that  you  be  at 
peace  with  those  that  are  our  confederates  ;  as  also,  that  what  you  have  taken 
by  the  means  of  our  adversaries  shall  not  be  reckoned  your  own,  but  be  returned 
to  those  from  Avhom  you  took  them,  for  none  of  them  took  their  provinces  or  their 
armies  by  the  gift  of  the  senate  ;  but  they  seized  them  by  force,  and  bestowed 
them  by  violence  upon  such  as  became  useful  to  them  in  their  unjust  proceed- 
ings. JSince,  tlierefore,  those  men  have  received  the  punishment  due  to  them,  we 
desire  that  our  confederates  may  retain  whatsoever  it  was  that  the)^  formerly 
possessed  without  disturbance ;  and  that  you  restore  all  the  places  which' 
belonged  to  Hyrcanus  the  ethnarch  of  the  Jews,  which  you  have  had,  though  it 
were  but  one  day  before  Caius  Cassius  began  an  unjustifiable  war  against  us  ; 
and  entered  into  our  province  ;  nor  do  you  use  any  force  against  him,  in  order 
to  weaken  him,  that  he  may  not  be  able  to  dispose  of  that  which  is  his  own  j  but 
if  5'ou  have  any  contest  with  him  about  your  respective  rights,  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  you  to  plead  your  cause  when  we  come  upon  the  places  concerned  ;  for  we 
shall  alike  preserve  the  rights,  and  hear  all  the  causes  of  our  confederates." 

5.  "  Marcus  Antonius,  imperator,  to  the  magistrates,  senate,  and  people  of 
Tyre,  sendeth  greeting  :  I  have  sent  you  my  decree,  of  which  I  will  that  ye  take 
care  that  it  be  engraven  on  the  public  tables,  in  Roman  and  Greek  letters,  and 
that  it  stand  engraven  in  the  most  illustrious  places,  that  it  may  be  read  by  all." 
Marcus  Antonius,  imperator,  one  of  the  triumvirate  over  the  public  affairs,  made 
this  declaration  :  "  Since  Caius  Cassius,  in  this  revolt  he  hath  made,  hath  pil- 
laged that  province  which  belonged  not  to  him,  and  was  held  by  garrisons  there 
encamped,  while  they  wei'e  our  confederates,  and  hath  spoiled  that  nation  of  the 
Jews  that  was  in  friendship  with  the  Roman  people,  as  in  war ;  and  since  we 
have  overcome  his  madness  by  arms,  we  now  correct  by  our  decrees  and  judicial 
determinations  what  he  hath  laid  waste,  that  those  things  may  be  restored  to  our 
confederates.  And  as  for  what  hath  been  sold  of  the  Jewish  possessions,  whe- 
ther they  be  bodies  or  possessions,  let  them  be  released ;  the  bodies  into  that 
state  of  freedom  they  were  originally  in,  and  the  possessions  to  their  former 
owners.  I  also  will,  that  he  who  shall  not  comply  with  this  decree  of  mine  shall 
be  punished  for  his  disobedience  ;  and  if  such  a  one  be  caught,  I  will  take  care 
that  the  oflender  suffer  condign  punishment." 

G.  Tiie  same  thing  did  Antony  write  to  the  Sidonians,  and  the  Antiochians,  and 
the  Aradians.  We  have  produced  these  decrees,  therefore,  as  marks  for  futurity 
of  the  truth  of  what  we  have  said,  that  the  Romans  had  a  great  concern  about  our 
nation. 


CHAP.  XIII. 

How  Antony  made  Herod  and  Phasaelus  Tetrarchs,  after  they  had  been  accused  to 
no  Purpose :  and  hoio  the  Parthians,  ivhen  they  brought  Antigonus  into  Judea, 
took  Hyrcanufi  and  Phasaelus  Captives.    Herod's  Flight ;  and  what 
A^ictions  Hyrcanus  and  Phasaelus  endured. 

^  1.  WiiErf  after  this  Antony  came  into  Syria,  Cleopatra  met  him  in  Cilicia,  and 
l)ro\ight  liim  to  fall  in  love  with  her.  And  there  came  now  also  a  hundred  of  the 
Tuost  potent  of  the  Jews  to  accuse  Herod  and  those  about  him,  and  set  the  men 
<»t  the  greatest  eloquence  among  them  to  speak.  But  Messala  contradicted  them, 
oa  bchait  of  the  young  men;  and  all  this  in  the  presence  of  Hyrcanus,  who  was 


C.  Xnr.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  497 

Herod's  father-in-law  already.*  When  Antony  had  heard  both  sides  at  Dadhne, 
he  asked  Hyrcanus  who  they  were  that  governed  the  nation  best  ?  He  replied, 
Herod  and  his  friends.  Hereupon  Antony,  by  reason  of  the  old  hospitable  friend- 
ship he  had  made  with  his  father  [Antipator,]  at  that  time  when  he  was  with  Ga- 
binius,  he  made  both  Herod  and  Phasaelus  tetrarchs,  and  committed  the  public 
affairs  of  the  Jews  to  them,  and  Avrote  letters  to  that  purpose.  He  also  bound 
fifteen  of  their  adversaries,  and  was  going  to  kill  them,  but  that  Herod  obtained 
their  pardon. 

2.  Yet  did  not  these  men  continue  quiet  when  they  were  com.e  back,  but  a 
thousand  of  the  Jews  came  to  Tyre  to  meet  him  there,  whitlier  the  report  was 
that  he  would  come.  But  Antony  was  corrupted  by  the  money  which  Herod  and 
his  brother  had  given  him;  and  so  he  gave  orders  to  the  governor  of  the  place 
to  punish  the  Jewish  ambassadors,  who  were  for  making  innovations,  and  to  settle 
the  government  upon  Herod  :  but  Herod  went  out  hastily  to  them,  and  Hyrcanus 
was  with  him  (for  they  stood  upon  the  sliore  before  the  city ;)  and  he  charged  them 
to  go  their  ways,  because  great  mischief  would  befall  them  if  they  went  on  with 
their  accusation.  But  they  did  not  acquiesce  :  whereupon  the  Romans  ran  upon 
them  with  their  daggers,  and  slew  some,  and  wounded  more  of  them ;  and  the  rest 
fled  away,  and  went  home,  and  lay  still  in  great  consternation :  and  when  the 
people  made  a  clamour  against  Herod,  Antony  was  so  provoked  at  it  that  he  slew 
the  prisoners. 

3.  Now,  in  the  second  year,  Pacorus,  the  king  of  Parthia's  son,  and  Barza- 
pharnes,  a  commander  of  the  Parthians,  possessed  themselves  of  Syria.  Ptolemy, 
the  son  of  Menneus,  was  also  now  dead,  and  Lysanius  his  son  took  his  govern- 
ment, and  made  a  league  of  friendship  with  Antigonus,  the  son  of  Aristobulus  ; 
and  in  order  to  obtain  it,  inade  use  of  that  commander,  who  had  great  interest 
in  him.  Now  Antigonus  had  promised  to  give  the  Parthians  a  thousand  talents, 
and  five  hundred  women,  upon  condition  tiiey  would  take  the  government  away 
from  Hyrcanus,  and  bestow  it  upon  him,  and  withal  killed  Herod.  And  although 
he  did  not  give  them  what  he  had  promised,  yet  did  the  Parthians  make  an 
expedition  into  Judea  on  that  account,  and  carried  Antigonus  with  them. 
Pacorus  went  along  the  maritime  parts,  but  the  commander  Barzapharnes  through 
the  midland.  Now  the  Tyrans  excluded  Pacorus,  but  the  Sidonians  and  those  of 
Ptolemais  received  him.  However,  Pacorus  sent  a  troop  of  horsemen  into  Judea, 
to  take  a  view  of  the  state  of  the  country,  and  to  assist  Antigonus ;  and  sent  also 
the  king's  butler,  of  the  same  name  with  himself.  So  when  the  Jews  that  dwelt 
about  Mount  Carmel  came  to  Antigonus,  and  were  ready  to  march  with  him  into 
Judea,  Antigonus  hoped  to  get  some  part  of  the  country  by  their  assistance.  The 
place  is  called  Drymi ;  and  when  some  others  came  and  met  them,  the  men  pri- 
vately fell  upon  Jerusalem;  and  when  some  more  were  come  to  them,  they  got 
together  in  great  numbers,  and  came  against  the  king's  palace,  and  besieged  it. 
But  as  Phasaelus's  and  Herod's  party  came  to  the  other's  assistance,  and  a  baitle 
happened  between  them  in  the  market-place,  the  young  men  beat  their  enemies, 
and  pursued  them  into  the  temple,  and  sent  some  armed  men  into  the  adjoining 
houses,  to  keep  them  in  ;  who  yet  being  destitute  of  such  as  should  support  them, 
were  burnt,  and  the  houses  with  them,  by  the  people  who  rose  up  against  them. 
But  Herod  was  revenged  on  these  seditious  adversaries  of  his  a  little  afterward 
for  this  injury  they  had  offered  him,  when  he  fought  with  them,  and  glew  a  great 
number  of  them. 

4.  But  while  there  were  daily  skirmishes,  the  enemy  waited  for  the  coming  of 
the  multitude  out  of  the  country  to  Pentecost,  a  feast  of  ours  so  called  :  and  when 
that  day  was  come,  many  ten  thousands  of  the  people  were  gathered  together 

*  We  may  here  take  notice,  that  espousals  alone  were  of  old  esteemed  a  sufficient  foiindalion  for  nffi' 
hiiy,  Hvrcatiiisbeina;  lierc  cMcA  faiher-iyi-laxo  to  Herod,  liecaiise  his  graiid-dau;;i)ier  iMariainiie  was  be- 
trothed to  him,  allhuugh  llie  marriage  were  not  completed  till  four  years  afterward.     See  Matt.  i.  IG. 
VOL.  I.  n  3 


498 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIV. 


about  the  tcmplo,  some  in  armour,  and  some  without.  Now  those  that  came 
ffuarded  both  the  temple  and  the  city,  excepting  what  belonged  to  the  palace, 
which  Herod  guarded  with  a  i^ew  of  his  soldiers;  and  Phasaelas  had  the  charge 
of  the  wall,  while  Herod,  with  a  body  of  his  men,  sallied  out  upon  the  enemy, 
who  lay  in  the  suburbs,  and  fought  courageouslj^,  and  put  many  ten  thousands  to 
flio-ht ;  some  flying  into  the  city,  and  some  into  the  temple,  and  some  into  the 
outer  fortifications  ;  for  some  such  fortifications  that  were  in  that  place.  Phasae- 
lus  came  also  to  his  assistance ;  yet  was  Pacorus,  the  general  of  the  Parthians, 
at  the  desire  of  Antigonus,  admitted  into  the  city,  with  a  few  of  his  horsemen, 
under  pretence  indeed  as  if  he  would  still  the  sedition,  but  in  reality  to  assist  An- 
tigonus in  obtaining  the  government.  And  when  Phasaelus  met  him,  and  received 
hun  kindly,  Pacorus  persuaded  him  to  go  himself  as  ambassador  to  Barzaphar- 
nes,  which  was  done  fraudulently.  Accordingly  Phasaelus,  suspecting  no  hann, 
complied  with  his  proposal;  while  Herod  did  not  give  his  consent  to  what  was 
done,  because  of  the  perfidiousness  of  these  barbarians,  but  desired  Phasaelus 
rather  to  fight  those  that  were  come  into  the  city. 

5.  So  both  Hyrcanus  and  Phasaelus  went  on  the  embassage  ;  but  Pacorus  left 
with  Herod  two  hundred  horsemen,  and  ten  men,  who  were  called  the  Freemen, 
and  conducted  the  others  on  their  journey ;  and  when  they  were  in  Galilee,  the 
governors  of  the  cities  there  met  them  in  their  arms.  Barzapharnes  also  received 
them  at  the  first  with  cheerfulness,  and  made  them  presents,  though  he  after- 
wards conspired  against  them  ;  and  Phasaelus,  with  his  horsemen,  were  con. 
ducted  to  the  seaside  :  but  when  they  heard  that  Antigonus  had  promised  to  give 
the  Parthians  a  thousand  talents,  and  five  hundred  women,  to  assist  him  against 
them,  they  soon  had  a  suspicion  of  the  barbarians.  Moreover,  there  was  one  who 
informed  him  that  snares  were  laid  for  them  by  night,  while  a  guard  came  about 
them  secretly,  and  they  had  then  been  seized  upon,  had  not  they  waited  for  the 
seizure  of  Herod  by  the  Parthians  that  were  about  Jerusalem,  lest,  upon  the 
slaughter  of  Hyrcanus  and  Phasaelus,  he  should  have  an  intimation  of  it,  and  es- 
cape out  of  their  hands.  And  these  were  the  circumstances  they  were  now  in  ; 
and  they  saw  who  they  were  that  guarded  them.  Some  persons  indeed  would 
have  persuaded  Phasaelus  to  fly  away  immediately  on  horseback,  and  not  stay 
any  longer  ;  and  there  was  one  Ophellius  who,  above  all  the  rest,  was  earnest 
with  him  to  do  so ;  for  he  had  heard  of  this  treachery  from  Samarilla,  the  richest 
of  all  the  Syrians  at  that  time,  who  also  promised  to  provide  him  ships  to  carry 
him  off;  for  the  sea  was  just  by  them  :  but  he  had  no  mind  to  desert  Hyrcanus, 
nor  bring  his  brother  into  danger ;  but  he  went  to  Barzapharnes,  and  told 
him  he  did  not  act  justly  when  he  made  such  a  contrivance  against  them,  for  that 
if  he  "wanted  money,  he  would  give  him  more  than  Antigonus  ;  and  besides,  that 
it  was  a  horrible  thing  to  slay  those  that  came  to  him  upon  the  security  of  their 
oaths,  and  that  when  they  had  done  them  no  injury.  But  the  barbarians  swore 
to  him,  that  there  was  no  truth  in  any  of  his  suspicions,  but  that  he  was  troubled 
with  nothing  but  false  supposals,  and  then  went  away  to  Pacorus. 

6.  But  as  soon  as  he  was  gone  away,  some  men  came  and  bound  Hyrcanus  and 
Phasaelus,  while  Phasaelus  greatly  reproached  the  Parthians  for  their  perjury. 
However,  that  butler  who  was  sent  against  Herod,  had  it  in  command  to  get  him 
without  the  walls  of  the  city,  and  seize  upon  him  ;  but  messengers  had  been  sent 
by  Phasaelus  to  inform  Herod  of  the  perfidiousness  of  the  Parthians :  and  when 
he  knew  that  the  enemy  had  seized  upon  them,  he  went  to  Pacorus,  and  to  the 
most  potent  of  the  Parthians,  as  to  tiie  lords  of  the  rest,  who,  although  they  knew 
the  whole  matter,  dissembled  with  him  in  a  deceitful  way;  and  said,  "That  he 
ought  to  go  out  with  them  before  the  walls,  and  meet  those  which  were  bringing 
him  his  letters  :  for  that  they  were  not  taken  by  his  adversaries,  but  were  coming 
to  give  him  an  accoinit  of  the  good  snr<;ess  Piiasaehis  had  had."  Herod  did  not 
give  credit  to  what  tliey  said  ;  for  he  liud  heard  that  his  brother  was  seized  upon 


C.  XIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  499 

by  others  also  :  and  tlic  daughter  of  Hyrcanus,  v/hosc  daughter  he  had  espoused, 
was  his  monitor  also  [not  to  credit  tlicm,]  which  made  him  still  more  suspicious 
of  the  Parthians  ;  for  although  other  people  did  not  give  heed  to  her,  yet  did  he 
believe  her  as  a  woman  oi'  very  great  wisdom. 

7.  Now  while  the  Parthians  were  in  consultation  what  was  fit  to  be  done,  for 
they  did  not  think  it  proper  to  make  an  open  attempt  upon  a  person  of  his  cha- 
racter ;  and  while  they  put  oil*  the  determination  to  the  next  day,  Herod  was  un- 
der great  disturbance  of  mind,  and  rather  inclining  to  believe  the  reports  he  heard 
about  his  brother  and  tiie  Parthians,  than  to  give  heed  to  what  was  said  on  the 
other  side,  he  determined,  that  when  the  evening  came  on,  he  would  make  use  of 
it  for  his  flight,  and  not  make  any  longer  delay,  as  if  the  dangers  from  the 
enemy  were  not  yet  certain.  He  therefore  removed  with  the  armed  men  whom 
he  had  with  him  ;  and  set  his  wives  upon  the  beasts,  as  also  liis  mother  and  sis- 
ter,  and  her  whom  he  was  about  to  many  [Mariamne,]  the  daughter  of  Alexan- 
der,  the  son  of  Aristobulus,  with  her  mother,  the  daughter  of  Hyrcanus,  and  his 
youngest  brother,  and  all  their  servants,  and  the  rest  of  the  multitude  that  was 
whh  him  ;  and  without  the  enemy's  privity  pursued  his  way  to  Idumea  ;  nor 
could  any  enemy  of  his  who  then  saw  him  in  this  case,  be  so  hard  hearted,  but 
would  have  commiserated  his  fortune  ;  while  the  women  drew  along  their  infant 
children,  and  left  their  own  country,  and  their  friends  in  prison,  with  tears  in  their 
eyes,  and  sad  lamentations,  and  in  expectation  of  nothing  but  what  was  of  a  me- 
lancholy nature. 

8.  But  for  Herod  himself,  he  raised  his  mind  above  the  miserable  state  he  was 
in,  and  was  of  good  courage  in  the  midst  of  his  misfortunes ;  and,  as  he  passed 
along,  he  bid  them  every  one  to  be  of  g_ood  cheer,  and  not  to  give  themselves  up 
to  sorrow,  because  that  would  hinder  them  in  their  flight,  wliich  was  now  the  only 
hope  of  safety  that  they  had.  Accordingly  they  tried  to  bear  with  patience  the 
calamity  they  were  under,  as  he  exhorted  them  to  do  ;  yet  was  he  onco  almost 
going  to  kill  himself,  upon  the  overthrow  of  a  wagon,  and  the  danger  his  mother 
Avas  then  in  of  being  killed  ;  and  this  on  two  accounts,  because  of  his  great  con- 
cern for  her,  and  because  he  was  afraid  lest,  by  this  delay,  the  enemy  should 
overtake  him  in  the  pursuit ;  but  as  he  was  drawing  his  sword,  and  going  to  kill 
himself  therewith,  those  that  were  present  restrained  him  ;  and  being  so  many  in 
number,  were  too  hard  for  him,  and  told  him,  that  he  ought  not  to  desert  them, 
and  leave  them  a  prey  to  their  enemies,  for  that  it  was  not  the  part  of  a  brave 
man  to  free  himself  from  the  distresses  he  was  in,  and  to  overlook  his  friends  that 
were  in  the  same  distresses  also.  So  he  was  compelled  to  let  that  horrid  attempt 
alone,  partly  out  of  shame  at  what  they  said  to  him,  and  partly  out  of  regard  to 
the  great  number  of  those  that  would  not  permit  him  to  do  what  he  intended.  So 
he  encouraged  his  mother,  and  took  all  the  care  of  her  the  time  would  allow,  and 
proceeded  on  the  way  he  proposed  to  go  with  the  utmost  haste ;  and  that  was  to 
the  fortress  of  Massada.  And  as  he  had  many  skirmishes  with  such  of  the  Par. 
thians  as  attacked  him,  and  pursued  him,  he  was  conqueror  in  them  all. 

9.  Nor  indeed  was  he  free  from  the  Jews  all  along  as  he  was  in  his  flight  :  for 
by  the  time  he  was  gotten  sixty  furlongs  out  of  the  city,  and  was  upon  the  road, 
they  fell  upon  him,  and  fought  hand  to  hand  with  him  ;  whom  he  also  put  to  flight, 
and  overcame,  not  like  one  that  was  in  distress  and  in  necessity,  but  like  one  that 
was  excellently  prepared  for  war,  and  had  what  he  wanted  in  great  plenty.  And 
in  this  very  place  where  he  now  overcame  the  .lews  it  was  that  he  some  time  af- 
forward  built  a  most  excellent  palace,  and  a  city  round  about  it,  and  called  it 
Herodium,  And  when  he  was  come  to  Idumea,  at  a  place  called  Thrcssa,  his 
brother  Joseph  met  him  ;  and  he  then  held  a  council  to  take  advice  about  all  his 
affairs,  and  what  was  fit  to  be  done  in  his  circumstances  ;  since  he  had  a  great 
multitude  that  followed  him,  besides  his  mercenary  soldiers,  and  the  place  Mas. 
sada,  whither  he  proposed  to  fly,  was  too  small  to  contain  so  great  a  multitude  : 
so  he  sent  away  the  greater  part  of  his  company,  being  above  nine  thousand, 


500  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIV. 

niid  bid  them  go,  some  one  way,  and  some  another,  and  to  save  themselves  in 
Idumea  ;  and  gave  them  what  would  buy  them  provisions  in  their  journey ;  but 
he  took  with  him  those  that  were  least  encumbered,  and  were  most  intimate  with 
him,  and  came  to  the  fortress,  and  placed  there  his  wives  and  his  followers,  be. 
ino' eio^ht  hundred  in  number,  there  being  in  the  place  a  sufficient  quantity  of 
corn  and  water,  and  other  necessaries,  and  went  directly  for  Petra  in  Arabia. 
But  when  it  was  day,  the  Parthians  plundered  all  Jerusalem,  and  the  palace,  and 
abstained  from  nothing  but  Hyrcanus's  money,  which  was  three  hundred  talents. 
A  great  deal  of  Herod's  money  escaped,  and  principally  all  that  the  man  had 
been  so  provident  as  to  send  into  Idumea  betbrehand  :  nor  indeed  did  what  was 
in  the  city  suffice  the  Parthians  ;  but  they  went  out  into  the  country,  and  plun- 
dered it,  and  demolished  the  city  Marissa. 

10.  And  thus  was  Antigonus  brought  back  into  Judea,  by  the  king  of  the 
Parthians,  and  received  Hyrcanus  and  Phassaelus  for  his  prisoners  ;  but  he  was 
greatly  cast  down  because  the  women  had  escaped,  whom  he  intended  to  have 
given  the  enemy,  as  having  promised  they  should  have  them,  with  the  money, 
for  their  reward  :  but  being  afraid  that  Hyrcanus,  who  was  under  the  guard  of  the 
Parthians,  might  have  his  kingdom  restored  to  him  by  the  multitude,  he  cut  off 
his  ears,  and  thereby  took  care  that  the  high  priesthood  should  never  come  to 
him  any  more,  because  he  was  maimed  ;  while  the  law*  required  that  this  dig- 
nity should  belong  to  none  but  such  as  had  all  their  members  entire.  But  now 
one  cannot  but  here  admire  the  fortitude  of  Phasaelus,  who,  perceiving  that  he 
was  to  be  put  to  death,  did  not  think  death  any  terrible  thing  at  all  ;  but  to  die 
thus  by  the  means  of  his  enemy,  this  he  thought  a  most  pitiable  and  dishonour, 
able  thing  ;  and  therefore  since  he  had  not  his  hands  at  liberty,  but  the  bonds  he 
was  in  prevented  him  from  killing  himself  thereby,  he  dashed  his  head  against 
a  great  stone,  and  thereby  took  away  his  own  life,  which  he  thought  to  be  the 
best  thing  he  could  do  in  such  a  distress  as  he  was  in,  and  thereby  put  it  out  of 
the  power  of  the  enemy  to  bring  him  to  any  death  he  pleased.  It  is  also  re- 
ported,  that  when  he  had  made  a  great  wound  in  his  head,  Antigonus  sent  phy- 
sicians to  him,  in  order  to  cure  it,  and  by  ordering  them  to  infuse  poison  into  the 
wound  killed  him.  However  Phasaelus  hearing,  before  he  was  quite  dead,  by  a 
certain  woman,  that  his  brother  Hei'od  had  escaped  the  enemy,  underwent  his 
death  cheerfully,  since  he  now  left  behind  him  one  who  would  revenge  his  death, 
and  who  was  able  to  inflict  punishment  on  his  enemies. 


CHAP.  XIV. 

How  Herod  got  away  from  the  King  of  Arabia,  and  made  haste  to  go  into  Egypt, 
and  thence  went  in  haste  also  to  Rome  ;  and  how,  by  ■promising  a  great  deal  of 
Money  to  Antony,  he  obtained  of  the  Senate,  and  of  Coisar,  to  he  made 
King  of  the  Jews. 

^  1.  As  for  Herod,  the  great  miseries  he  was  in  did  not  discourage  him,  but 
made  him  sharp  in  discovering  surprising  undertakings  ;  for  he  went  to  Malchus, 
king  of  Arabia,  whom  he  had  formerly  been  very  kind  to,  in  order  to  receive 
somewhat  by  way  of  requital,  now  he  was  in  more  than  ordinary  want  of  it,  and 
desired  ho  would  let  him  have  some  money,  either  by  way  of  loan,  or  as  his 
free  gift,  on  account  of  the  many  benefits  he  had  received  from  him  ;  for  not 
knowing  what  was  become  of  his  brother,  he  was  in  haste  to  redeem  him  out  of 
tlie  hand  of  his  enemies,  as  willing  to  give  three  hundred  talents  for  the  price  of 
bis  redemption.  He  also  took  with  him  the  son  of  Phasaelus,  who  was  a  child 
of  but  seven  years  of  age,  for  this  very  reason,  that  he  might  be  an  hostage  for 

*  Tliis  law  (if  M.ises,  that  the  priests  were  to  be  without  blemish,  as  to  all  the  parts  of  their  bodies,  is 
in  Lev.  \x\.  37— 2 1.  '  r  > 


C.  XIV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS. 


501 


the  repayment  of  the  money  :  but  there  came  messengers  from  Malchus  to  meet 
him,  by  whom  he  was  desired  to  be  gone,  for  that  the  Parthians  had  laid  a 
charge  upon  him  not  to  entertain  Herod.  This  was  only  a  pretence,  which  ho 
made  use  of  that  he  might  not  be  obliged  to  repay  him  what  he  owed  him  ;  and 
this  he  was  farther  induced  to  by  the  principal  men  among  the  Arabians,  that 
they  might  cheat  him  of  what  sums  they  had  received  from  [his  father]  Anti- 
pater,  and  which  ho  had  committed  to  their  fidelity.  He  made  answer,  that  he 
did  not  intend  to  be  troublesome  to  them  by  bis  coming  thither,  but  that  he  de- 
sired  only  to  discourse  with  them  about  certain  alfairs  that  were  to  him  of  the 
greatest  importance. 

2.  Hereupon  he  resolved  to  go  away,  and  did  go  very  prudently  the  road  to 
Egypt ;  and  tlien  it  was  that  he  lodged  in  a  certain  temple,  for  he  had  left  a  great 
many  of  liis  followers  there.  On  the  next  day  he  came  to  Rhidncolura ;  and 
there  it  was  that  he  heard  what  was  befallen  his  brother.  Though  Malchus  sooa 
repented  of  what  he  had  done,  and  came  running  after  Herod,  but  Avith  no  man- 
ner  of  success,  for  he  was  gotten  a  very  great  way  off,  and  made  haste  into  the 
road  to  Pelusium  ;  and  when  the  stationary  ships  that  lay  there  hindered  him  from 
sailing  to  Alexandria,  he  went  to  their  captains ;  by  whose  assistance,  and  that 
out  of  much  reverence  of,  and  great  regard  to  him,  he  was  conducted  into  the 
city  [Alexandria,]  and  was  retained  there  by  Cleopatra  ;  yet  was  she  not  able 
to  prevail  with  him  to  stay  there,  because  he  was  making  haste  to  Rome,  even 
though  the  weather  was  stormy,  and  he  was  informed  that  the  affairs  olTtaly  were 
very  tumultuous,  and  in  great  disorder. 

3.  So  he  set  sail  from  thence  for  Pamphylia,  and  falling  into  a  violent  storm, 
he  had  much  ado  to  escape  to  Rhodes,  with  the  loss  of  the  ship's  burden  ;  and 
there  it  was  that  two  of  his  friends,  Sappinas  and  Ptolemcus,  met  with  him  :  and 
as  he  found  that  city  very  much  damaged  in  the  war  against  Cassius,  though  he 
were  in  necessity  himself,  he  neglected  not  to  do  it  a  kindness,  but  did  what  he 
could  to  recover  it  to  its  former  stale.  He  also  built  there  a  three-decked  ship, 
and  set  sail  thence,  with  his  friends,  for  Italy,  and  came  to  the  port  of  Brundu- 
sium :  and  when  he  was  come  from  thence  to  Rome,  he  first  related  to  Antony 
what  had  befallen  him  in  Judea,  and  how  Phasaelus  his  brother  was  seized  on 
by  the  Parthians,  and  put  to  death  by  them,  and  how  Hyrcanus  was  detained  cap- 
tive by  them,  and  how  they  had  made  Antigonus  king,  wiio  had  promised  them 
a  sum  of  money,  no  less  than  a  thousand  talents,  with  live  hundred  women,  who 
were  to  be  of  the  principal  families,  and  of  the  Jewish  stock,  and  that  he  had 
carried  off  the  women  by  night,  and  that,  by  undergoing  a  great  many  hard- 
ships,  he  had  escaped  the  hands  of  his  enemies ;  as  also,  that  his  own  relations 
were  in  danger  of  being  besieged  and  taken,  and  that  he  had  sailed  through  a 
storm,  and  contemned  all  these  terrible  dangers  of  it,  in  order  to  come,  as  soon 
as  possible,  to  him,  who  was  his  hope  and  only  succour  at  this  time. 

4.  This  account  made  Antony  commiserate  the  change  that  had  happened  in 
Herod's  condition  ;*  and  reasoning  with  himself  that  this  was  a  common  case 
among  those  that  are  placed  in  such  great  dignities,  and  that  they  are  liable  to  the 
mutations  that  come  from  fortune,  he  was  very  ready  to  give  him  the  assistance  he 
desired  ;  and  this  because  he  called  to  mind  the  triendship  he  had  had  with  Anti- 
pater,  because  Herod  offered  him  money  to  make  him  king,  as  he  had  for- 
merly given  it  him  to  make  him  tetrarch,  and  chiefly  because  of  his  hatred  to  An- 
tigonus  ;  for  he  took  him  to  be  a  seditious  person,  and  an  enemy  to  the  Romans. 
Caesar  was  also  the  forwarder  to  raise  Herod's  dignity,  and  to  give  him  his  as- 
sistance in  what  he  desired,  on  account  of  the  toils  of  war  which  he  had  himself 
undergone  with  Antipater  his  father  in  Egypt,  and  of  the  hosjxitality  he  had  treated 

*  Concerning  the  chronology  of  Herod,  and  the  time  when  he  was  first  made  king  at  Rome,  and  con- 
cerning the  time  when  lie  began  his  second  reign,  without  a  rival,  upon  the  conquest  and  slaughter  of  An- 
tigonus, both  (irincipally  derived  from  this  and  the  two  next  cliapicrsin  Joscphus,  see  tlienote  on  sect  6, 
and  chap.  xv.  sect.  10. 


gQ2  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS,  B.  XIV.  '\ 

him  withal,  and  the  kindness  he  had  always  showed  him,  as  also  to  gratify  An. 
tony,  who  was  very  zealous  for  Herod.  So  a  senate  was  convocated  ;  and  Mes- 
sala  first,  and  then  Atratinus,  introduced  Herod  into  it ;  and  enlarged  upon  the 
benefits  they  had  received  from  his  father,  and  put  them  in  mind  of  the  good  will 
he  had  borne  the  Romans.  At  the  same  time  they  accused  Antigonus,  and  de- 
Glared  him  an  enemy,  not  only  because  of  his  former  opposition  to  them,  but  that 
he  had  now  overlooked  the  Romans,  and  taken  the  government  from  the  Parthi- 
ans.  Upon  this  the  senate  was  irritated  ;  and  Antony  informed  them  farther,  that 
it  was  for  their  advantage  in  the  Parthian  war,  that  Herod  should  be  king.  Tliis 
seemed  good  to  all  the  senators  ;  and  so  they  made  a  decree  accordingly. 

5.  And  this  was  the  principal  instance  of  Antony's  affection  for  Herod,  that  he 
not  only  procured  him  a  kingdom  which  he  did  not  expect  (for  he  did  not  come 
with  an  intention  to  ask  the  kingdom  for  himself,  which  he  did  not  suppose  the 
Romans  would  grant  him,  who  used  to  bestow  it  on  some  of  the  royal  family,  but 
intended  to  desire  it  for  his  wife's  brother,  who  was  grandson  by  his  father  to 
Aristobulus,  and  to  Hyrcanus  by  his  mother,)  but  that  he  procured  it  for  him  so 
suddenly  that  he  obtained  what  he  did  not  expect,  and  departed  out  of  Italy  in  so 
few  a  days  as  seven  in  all.  This  young  man  [the  grandson]  Herod  afterward  took 
care  to  have  slain,  as  we  shall  show  in  its  proper  place.  But  when  the  senate  was 
dissolved,  Antony  and  Ca?sar  went  out  of  the  senate-house,  with  Herod  between 
them,  and  with  the  consuls  and  other  magistrates  before  them,  in  order  to  ofler 
sacrifices,  and  lay  up  their  decrees  in  the  capitol.  Antony  also  feasted  Herod  the 
first  day  of  his  reign.  And  thus  did  this  man  receive  the  kingdom,  having  ob- 
tained it  on  the  hundred  and  eighty-fourth  olympiad,  when  Caius  Domitius  Cal- 
vinus  was  consul  the  second  time,  and  Caius  Asinius  Polho  [the  first  time.] 

6.  All  this  while  Antigonus  besieged  those  that  were  in  Massada,  who  had 
plenty  of  all  other  necessaries,  but  were  only  in  want  of  water,*  insomuch  that  on 
this  occasion  Josephus,  Herod's  brother,  was  contriving  to  run  away  from  it,  with 
two  hundred  of  his  dependants,  to  the  Arabians;  for  he  had  heard  that  Malchus 
repented  of  the  ofiences  he  had  been  guilty  of  with  regard  to  Herod ;  but  God,  by 
sending  rain  in  the  night  time,  prevented  his  going  away,  for  their  cisterns  were 
thereby  filled,  and  he  was  imder  no  necessity  of  running  away  on  that  account; 
but  they  were  now  of  good  courage,  and  the  more  so,  because  the  sending  that 
plenty  of  water  which  they  had  been  in  want  of  seemed  a  mark  of  divine  provi- 
dence ;  so  they  made  a  sally,  and  fought  hand  to  hand  with  Antigonus's  soldiers, 
with  some  openly,  with  some  privately,  and  destroj^ed  a  great  number  of  them. 
At  the  same  time,  Vcntidius,  the  general  of  the  Romans,  was  sent  out  of  Syria,  to 
drive  the  Parthians  out  of  it,  and  marched  after  them  into  Judea,  in  pretence  in- 
deed to  succour  Joseph,  but  in  reality,  the  whole  affair  was  no  more  than  a  stra- 
tagem in  order  to  get  money  of  Antigonus  ;  so  they  pitched  their  camp  very  near 
to  Jerusalem,  and  wiped  Antigonus  of  a  great  deal  of  money,  and  then  he  retired 
himself  with  the  greater  jxirt  of  the  army ;  but  that  the  wickedness  he  had  been 
guilty  of  might  not  be  found  out,  he  left  Silo  there  with  a  certain  part  of  his  sol- 
diers  ;  with  whom  also  Antigonus  cultivated  an  acquaintance,  that  he  might  cause 
him  no  disturbance  ;  and  Was  still  in  hopes  that  the  Parthians  would  come  again 
and  defend  him. 


CHAP.  XV. 

How  Jlcrod  sailed  out  of  Italy  to  Judea,  and  fougJit  with  Antigonus ;  and  what  other 
Things  happened  in  Judea  about  that  Time. 

§  1.  By  this  time  Herod  had  sailed  out  of  Italy  to  Ptolemais,  and  had  gotten  to 

-Jl.T?"  f  ['^^;°V^  "'^^'"  of  wntcr  ni  Mn'^sada,  till  the  place  had  like  to  have  been  taken  by  the  Parthians, 
mentioned  both  here,  and  Of  the  \Vai-,  I],  i.  ch.  sv.  sect.  1,  is  an  indication  that  it  was  now  summertime. 


C.  XV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  5O3 

gether  no  small  army,  both  of  strangers  and  of  his  own  countr}'men  ;  and  marched 

through  GaUlee  against  Antigonus.  Silo  also,  and  Vcntidius,  came  and  assisted 
him,  being  persuaded  by  DeUius,  who  was  sent  by  Antony  to  assist  in  bringing 
back  Ilerod.  Now  for  Ventidius,  he  was  employed  in  composing  the  disturbances 
that  had  been  made  in  the  cities  by  the  means  of  the  Partiiians  ;  and  for  Silo,  he 
was  in  Judea  indeed,  but  corrupted  by  Antigonus.  However,  as  Herod  went 
along,  his  army  increased  everyday,  and  all  (jiahlee,  witli  some  small  exception, 
joined  him  :  but  as  he  was  marching  to  those  that  were  in  Massada,  for  he  was 
obliged  to  endeavour  to  save  those  that  were  in  that  fortress,  now  they  were  be- 
sieged, because  they  were  his  relations,  Joppa  was  a  hinderance  to  him;  for  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  take  that  place  first,  it  being  a  city  at  variance  with  him, 
that  no  strong  hold  might  be  left  in  his  enemies'  liands  beiiind  liim  when  he  should 
go  to  Jerusalem  :  and  when  Silo  made  tliis  a  pretence  for  rising  up  from  Jeru- 
salem, and  was  thereupon  pursued  by  the  Jews,  Herod  fell  upon  them  witii  a  small 
body  of  men,  and  both  put  the  Jews  to  Hight  and  saved  Silo,  when  he  was  very 
poorly  able  to  defend  himself;  but  wiien  Herod^ad  taken  Joppa,  he  made  haste 
to  set  free  those  of  his  family  that  were  in  Massada.  Now  of  the  people  of  the 
country,  some  joined  him  because  of  the  friendship  they  had  with  his  father,  and 
some  because  of  the  splendid  appearance  he  made,  and  others  by  way  of  requital 
for  the  benefits  they  had  received  from  both  of  them ;  but  the  greatest  number 
came  to  him  in  hopes  of  getting  somewhat  from  him  afterward,  if  he  were  once 
firmly  settled  in  the  kingdom. 

2.  Herod  had  now  a  strong  army ;  and  as  he  marched  on,  Antigonus  laid  snares 
and  ambushes  in  the  passes  and  places  most  proper  for  them ;  but  in  truth,  he 
thereby  did  little  or  no  damage  to  the  enemy;  so  Herod  received  those  of  his  fa- 
mily out  of  Massada,  and  the  fortress  Ressa,  and  then  went  on  for  Jerusalem. 
The  soldiery  also  that  was  with  Silo  accompanied  him  all  along,  as  did  many  of 
the  citizens,  being  afraid  of  his  power;  and  as  soon  as  he  had  pitched  his  camp 
on  the  west  side  of  the  city,  the  soldiers  that  were  set  to  guard  that  part  shot  their 
arrows  and  threw  their  darts  at  him ;  and  when  some  sallied  out  in  a  crowd,  and 
came  to  fight  hand  to  hand  with  the  first  ranks  of  Herod's  army,  he  gave  orders 
that  they  should,  in  the  first  place,  make  proclamation  about  the  wall,  that  "  he 
came  for  the  good  of  the  people,  and  for  the  preservation  of  the  city,  and  not  to 
bear  any  old  grudge  at  even  his  most  open  enemies,  but  ready  to  forget  the  olfen- 
ces  which  his  greatest  adversaries  had  done  him."  But  Antigonus,  by  way  of 
reply  to  what  Herod  had  caused  to  be  proclaimed,  and  this  beibre  the  Romans, 
and  before  Silo  also,  said,  that  "they  would  not  do  justly,  if  they  gave  the  king- 
dom to  Herod,  who  was  no  more  than  a  private  man,  and  an  Idumean,  i.  e.  a  half 
Jew;*  whereas  they  ought  to  bestow  it  on  one  of  the  royal  family,  as  their  cus- 
tom was  ;  for,  that  in  case  they  at  present  bear  an  ill  will  to  him,  and  had  resol- 
ved to  deprive  him  of  the  kingdom,  as  having  received  it  i'rom  the  Parthians,  yet 
were  there  many  others  of  his  lainily  that  might  by  their  law  lake  it,  and  these 
such  as  had  no  way  offended  the  Romans,  and  being  of  the  sacerdotal  family,  it 
would  be  an  unworthy  thing  to  put  them  by."  Now,  while  they  said  thus  one  to 
another,  and  fell  to  reproaching  one  another  on  both  sides,  Antigonus  permitted 
his  own  men  that  were  upon  the  wall  to  defend  themselves;  who  using  their  bows, 
and  showing  great  alacrity  against  their  enemies,  easily  drove  them  away  from 
the  towers. 

3.  And  now  it  Avas  that  Silo  discovered  that  he  had  taken  bribes :  for  he  set  a 
good  number  of  his  soldiers  to  complain  aloud  of  the  want  of  provisions  they  were 

*  This  affirmation  of  Antigonus,  spoken  in  the  (inys  of  ileiod,  and  in  a  inamier  tohrs  farn,  that  he  was 
an  Tdwaean,  i.  c.  a  half  Jew,  seems  to  me  ofiiiucli  <;renter  authoiitv  than  that  pretence  of  his  favourite 
and  fiaiterer  Nicolaiis  of  Damascus,  that  lie  derived  his  pedigree  from  Jews  as  far  backward  as  the  IJa- 
bylonish  captivity,  cliap.  i.  sect.  3.  Accordiii!;ly  Joscpiius  always  esteems  liim  an  Idumean,  tliouph  l)0 
says  his  fatlier  A  niipater  was  of  the  same  people  with  the  .lews,  ch.  yiii.  sect.  1,  and  by  t)irth  a  Jew, 
Antiq.  13.  sx.  ch.  viii.  sect.  7  :  as  indeed  all  such  proielylcs  of  junicc  as  the  Idunieans  were  in  time  es- 
teemed the  very  sanie  peoj)lo  with  the  Jews. 


504 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEW'S.  B.  XV* 


in  and  to  require  money  to  buy  them  food,  and  that  it  was  fit  to  let  them  go  into 
places  proper  for  winter  quarters,  since  the  places  near  the  city  were  a  desert, 
bv  reason  that  Antigonus's  soldiers  had  carried  all  away:  so  he  set  the  army  upon 
removin'T,  and  endeavoured  to  march  away:  but  Herod  pressed  Silo  not  to  de- 
part ;  and  exhorted  Silo's  captains  and  soldiers  not  to  desert  him,  when  Caesar 
and  Antony,  and  the  senate  had  sent  him  thither ;  for  that  he  would  provide  them 
plenty  of  all  the  things  they  wanted,  and  easily  procure  them  a  great  abundance  of 
what  they  required  ;  after  which  entreaty  he  immediately  went  out  into  the  coun- 
trv,  and  left  not  the  least  pretence  to  Silo  for  his  departure ;  for  he  brought  an 
unexpected  quantity  of  provisions,  and  sent  to  those  friends  of  his  who  inhabited 
about  Samaria,  to  bring  down  corn,  and  wine,  and  oil,  and  cattle,  and  all  other 
provisions  to  Jericho,  that  there  might  be  no  want  of  a  supply  for  the  soldiers  for 
the  time  to  come.  Antigonus  was  sensible  of  this,  and  sent  presently  over  the 
country  such  as  might  restrain  and  lie  in  ambush  for  those  that  went  out  for  pro- 
visions. So  these  men  obeyed  the  orders  of  Antigonus,  and  got  together  a  great 
number  of  armed  men  about  Je'richo.  and  sat  upon  the  mountains,  and  watched 
those  that  brought  the  provisions.  However,  Herod  was  not  idle  in.  the  mean 
time :  for  he  took  tep  bands  of  soldiers,  of  whom  five  were  of  the  Romans  and  five 
of  the  Jews,  with  some  mercenaries  among  them,  and  with  some  few  horsemen, 
and  came  to  Jericho ;  and  as  they  found  the  city  deserted,  but  that  five  hundred 
of  them  had  settled  themselves  on  the  tops  of  the  hills,  with  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren, those  betook  and  sent  away;  but  the  Romans  fell  upon  the  city  and  plun- 
dered it,  and  found  the  houses  full  of  all  sorts  of  good  things.  So  the  king  left 
a  garrison  at  Jericho,  and  came  back  again  ;  and  sent  the  Roman  army  to  take 
their  winter  quarters  in  the  countries  that  were  come  over  to  him,  Judea,  and 
tialilee,  and  Samaria.  And  so  much  did  Antigonus  gain  of  Silo  for  the  bribes  he 
gave  him,  that  part  of  the  army  should  be  quartered  at  Lydda,  in  order  to  please 
Antony.  So  the  Romans  laid  their  weapons  aside,  and  lived  in  plenty  of  all 
things. 

4.  But  Herod  was  not  pleased  with  lying  still,  but  sent  out  his  brother  Joseph 
against  Idumea  with  two  thousand  armed  footmen  and  four  hundred  horsemen  ; 
while  he  himself  came  to  Samaria,  and  left  his  mother  and  his  other  relations 
there,  for  they  were  already  gone  out  of  Massada ;  and  went  into  Galilee  to  take 
certain  places  which  were  held  by  the  garrisons  of  Antigonus  ;  and  he  passed  on 
to  Seppboris,  as  God  sent  a  snow,  while  Antigonus's  garrisons  withdrew  them- 
selves, and  had  great  plenty  of  provisions.  He  also  went  thence,  and  resolved 
to  destroy  those  robbers  that  dwelt  in  the  caves,  and  did  much  mischief  in  the 
country ;  so  he  sent  a  troop  of  horsemen,  and  three  companies  of  armed  footmen 
against  them.  They  were  very  near  to  a  village  called  Arbela;  and  on  the  for- 
tietli  day  after,  he  came  himself  with  his  whole  army :  and  as  the  enemy  sallied 
out  boldly  upon  him,  the  left  wing  of  his  army  gave  way;  but  he  appearing  with 
a  body  of  men  put  those  to  flight  who  were  already  conquerors,  and  recalled  his 
men  that  ran  away.  He  also  pressed  upon  his  enemies,  and  pursued  them  as  far 
as  the  river  Jordan,  though  they  ran  away  by  different  roads.  So  he  brought 
over  to  him  all  Galilee,  excepting  those  that  dwelt  in  the  caves,  and  distributed 
money  to  eveiy  one  of  his  soldiers,  giving  them  a  hundred  and  fifty  drachmae  a 
piece,  and  mucli  more  to  their  captains,  and  sent  them  into  winter  quarters, :  at 
which  time  Silo  came  to  him,  and  his  commanders  whh  him,  because  Antigonus 
Would  not  give  them  provisions  any  longer,  for  he  supplied  them  for  no  more  than 
one  month  ;  nay,  he  had  sent  to  all  the  country  about,  and  ordered  them  to  carry 
otr  the  provisions  that  were  there,  and  retire  to  the  mountains,  that  the  Romans 
might  have  no  provisions  to  live  upon,  and  so  might  perish  by  famine ;  but  Herod 
oonnnittcd  the  care  of  that  matter  to  Pheroras,  his  youngest  brother:  and  ordered 
him  to  repair  Alexandrium  also.  Accordingly  he  quickly  made  the  soldiers  abound 
wish  great  plenty  of  provisions,  and  rebuilt  Alexandrium,  which  had  been  before 
desolate. 


C.  XV  ANTIQUITEES  OF  THE  JEWS.  505 

5.  About  lliis  time  it  was  that  Antony  continued  sonio  time  at  Athens,  and 
that  Ventidius,  who  was  now  in  Syria,  sent  for  Silo,  and  commanded  him  to  as- 
sist Herod  in  the  lirst  place  to  finish  the  present  war,  and  then  to  send  for  their  con. 
federates  for  the  war  they  were  themselves  engaged  in ;  but  as  for  Ilerod,  he  went 
in  haste  against  the  robbers  that  were  in  the  caves,  and  sent  Silo  away  to  V^enti- 
dius,  while  he  marched  against  them.  Tlicse  caves  were  in  mountains  that  were 
exceeding  abrupt,  and  in  their  middle  were  no  other  tlian  precipices,  with  certain 
entrances  i[)to  the  caves,  and  those  caves  were  encompassed  with  sharp  rocks, 
and  in  these  did  the  robbers  he  concealed,  with  all  tiicir  families  about  them;  but 
the  ]<ing  caused  certain  chests  to  be  inade  in  order  to  destroy  them,  and  to  be 
hung  down,  bound  about  with  iron  chains,  by  an  engine  from  the  top  of  the  moun- ■ 
tain,  it  being  not  possible  to  get  up  to  them  by  reason  of  the  sharp  ascent  of  the 
mountains,  nor  to  creep  down  to  them  from  above.  Now  these  chests  were  fil. 
led  with  armed  men,  wlio  had  long  hooks  in  their  hands,  by  which  they  might  pull 
out  such  as  resisted  them,  and  then  tumble  them  down,  and  killed  them  by  so  do. 
ing  ;  but  the  letting  the  chests  down  proved  to  be  a  matter  of  great  danger  because 
of  the  vast  depth  they  were  to  be  let  down,  although  they  had  their  provisions  ia 
the  chests  themselves :  but  when  the  chests  were  let  down,  and  not  one  of  those 
in  the  mouths  of  the  caves  durst  come  near  them,  but  lay  still  out  of  fear,  some 
of  the  armed  men  girt  on  their  armour,  and  by  both  tlieir  hands  took  hold  of  the 
chain  by  wiiich  the  chests  were  let  down  and  went  into  the  mouths  of  the  caves,  be- 
cause they  fretted  that  such  delay  was  made  by  the  robbers  not  daring  to  come  out 
of  the  caves;  and  when  they  were  at  any  of  those  mouths,  they  first  killed  many 
of  those  that  were  in  the  mouths  with  their  darts,  and  afterwards  pulled  those  to 
them  that  resisted  them  with  their  hooks,  and  tumbled  them  down  the  precipices, 
and  afterwards  went  into  the  caves  and  killed  many  more,  and  then  went  into 
their  chests  again,  and  lay  still  there;  but  npon  this  terror  seized  the  rest,  when 
they  heard  the  lamentations  that  were  made,  and  they  despaired  of  escaping : 
however,  when  the  night  came  on,  that  put  an  end  to  the  whole  work  ;  and  as  the 
king  proclaimed  pardon  by  a  herald  to  such  as  delivered  themselves  up  to  iiim, 
many  accepted  of  the  offer.  The  same  method  of  assault  was  made  use  of  the  next 
day  ;  and  they  went  farther,  and  got  out  in  baskets  to  fight  them,  and  fought  them  at 
their  doors,  and  sent  fire  among  them  and  set  their  caves  on  fire,  for  there  was 
a  great  deal  of  combustible  matter  within  them.  Now  there  was  one  old  man  who 
was  caught  within  one  of  these  caves,  with  seven  children  and  a  wife ;  these 
prayed  him  to  give  them  leave  to  go  out,  and  yield  themselves  up  to  the  enemy  ; 
but  he  stood  at  the  cave's  mouth,  and  always  slew  that  child  of  his  who  went  out, 
till  he  had  destroyed  them  every  one  ;  and  alter  that  he  slew  his  wife,  and  cast 
their  dead  bodies  down  the  precipice,  and  himself  after  them  ;  and  so  underwent 
death  rather  than  slavery  :  but  before  he  did  this,  he  greatly  reproached  Herod 
with  the  meanness  of  his  family,  although  he  was  then  king.  Jlerod  also  saw  what 
he  was  doing,  and  stretched  out  his  hand  and  offered  him  all  manner  of  security 
for  his  life.     By  which  means  all  these  caves  were  at  length  subdued  entirely. 

(5.  And  when  the  king  had  set  Ptol(>my  over  these  parts  of  the  country  as  his 
general,  he  went  to  Samaria  with  six  himdrcd  horsemen  and  three  thousand  arm- 
ed footmen,  as  intending  to  fight  Antigonus.  But  still  this  command  of  the  army 
did  not  succeed  well  with  Ptolemy  ;  but  those  that  iuid  been  troublesome  to  Gali- 
lee before  attacked  him,  and  slew  him  ;  and  when  they  had  done  this,  they  fled 
among  the  lakes  and  places  almost  inaccessible,  laying  waste  and  plunderinir 
whatsoever  thev  could  come  at  in  those  places.  But  Herod  soon  returned,  and 
})unished  them  for  what  thev  had  done  ;  for  some  of  these  rebels  he  slew,  and 
otiiers  of  them,  who  had  fled  to  the  strong  holds,  he  besieged,  anil  both  slew  them, 
and  demolished  their  strong  holds:  and  when  he  had  thus  put  an  end  to  their  re- 
beUion,  he  laid  a  fin-j  upon  the  cities  of  a  hundred  talents. 

7.  In  the  mean  time  Pacorus  was  fallen  in  a  battle,  and  the  Parthians  were 
defeated,  when  Ventidius  sent  Macherus  to  the  assistance  of  Herod,  with  two 

VOL.  I.  3  S 


006  AxNTlQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XIV. 

lecrions,  and  a  thousand  horsemen,  while  Antony  encouraged  him  to  Aiake  haste. 
But  Macherus,  at  the  instigation  of  Antigonus,  without  the  approbation  of  Herod, 
as  being  corrupted  by  money,  went  about  to  take  a  view  of  his  affairs  :  but  Anti- 
gonus, suspecting  this  intention  of  his  coming,  did  not  admit  him  into  the  city, 
but  kept  him  at  a  distance  with  slinging  stones  at  him,  and  plainly  showed  what 
he  himself  meant.  But  when  Macherus  was  sensible  that  Herod  had  given  him 
good  advice,  and  that  he  had  made  a  mistake  himself  in  not  hearkening  to  that 
advice,  he  retired  to  the  city  Emmaus  ;  and  what  Jews  he  met  with  he  slew  them, 
•whether  they  were  enemies  or  friends,  out  of  the  rage  he  was  in  at  the  hardships 
he  had  undergone.  The  king  was  provoked  at  this  conduct  of  his,  and  went  to 
Samaria,  and  resolved  to  go  to  Antony  about  these  affairs,  and  to  inform  him  that 
he  stood  in  no  need  of  such  helpers,  who  did  him  more  mischief  than  they  did 
his  enemies,  and  that  he  was  able  of  himself  to  beat  Antigonus;  but  Macherus 
followed  him,  and  desired  that  he  would  not  go  to  Antony,  or,  if  he  was  resolved 
to  go,  that  he  would  join  his  brother  Joseph  with  him,  and  let  them  fight  against 
Antigonus  :  So  he  was  reconciled  to  Macherus,  upon  his  earnest  entreaties.  Ac 
cordingly  he  left  Joseph  there  with  his  army,  but  charged  him  to  run  no  hazards, 
nor  to  quarrel  with  Macherus. 

8.  But  for  his  own  part,  he  made  haste  to  Antony  (who  was  then  at  the  siege 
of  Samosata,  a  place  upon  Euphrates,)  with  his  troops,  both  horsemen  and  foot- 
men, to  be  auxiliaries  to  him :  and  when  he  came  to  Antioch,  and  met  there  a 
great  number  of  men  gotten  together  that  were  very  desirous  to  go  to  Antony, 
but  durst  not  venture  to  go  out  of  fear,  because  the  barbarians  fell  upon  men  on 
the  road,  and  slew  many,  so  he  encouraged  them,  and  became  their  conductor 
upon  the  road.  Now  when  they  Avere  within  two  days'  march  of  Samosata,  the 
barbarians  had  laid  an  ambush  there  to  disturb  those  that  came  to  Antony ;  and 
where  the  woods  made  the  passes  narrow,  as  they  led  to  the  plains,  there  they 
laid  not  a  few  of  their  horsemen,  who  were  to  lie  still  until  those  passengers 
were  gone  by  into  the  wide  place.  Now  as  soon  as  the  first  ranks  wexe  gone  by 
(for  Herod  brought  on  the  rear,)  those  that  lay  in  ambush,  who  were  about  five 
hundred,  fell  upon  them  on  the  sudden  ;  and  when  they  had  put  the  foremost  to 
flight,  the  king  came  riding  hard,  with  the  forces  that  were  about  him,  and  im- 
mediately drove  back  the  enemy  ;  by  which  means  he  made  the  minds  of  his 
own  men  courageous,  and  emboldened  them  to  go  on,  insomuch  that  those  who 
ran  away  before  now  returned  back,  and  the  barbarians  were  slain  on  all  sides. 
The  king  also  went  on  killing  them,  and  recovered  all  the  baggage,  among  which 
were  a  great  number  of  beasts  for  burden,  and  of  slaves,  and  proceeded  on  in 
his  march  ;  and  whereas  there  were  a  great  number  of  those  in  the  woods  that 
attacked  them,  and  were  near  the  passage  that  led  into  the  plain,  he  made  a 
sally  upon  these  also  with  a  strong  body  of  men  ;  and  put  them  to  flight,  and 
slew  many  of  them,  and  thereby  rendered  the  way  safe  for  those  that  came  after ; 
and  these  called  Herod  their  saviour  and  protector. 

9.  And  when  he  was  near  to  Samosata,  Antony  sent  out  his  army  in  all  their 
proper  habiliments  to  meet  him,  in  order  to  pay  Herod  this  respect,  and  because 
of  the  assistance  he  had  given  him  ;  for  he  had  heard  what  attacks  the  barbarians 
had  made  upon  him  [in  Judea.]  He  also  was  very  glad  to  see  him  there,  as 
having  been  made  acquainted  with  the  great  actions  he  had  performed  upon  the 
road  :  so  he  entertained  him  very  kindly,  and  could  not  but  admire  his  courage. 
Antony  also  embraced  him  as  soon  as  he  saw  him,  and  saluted  him  after  a  most 
aBectionate  manner,  and  gave  him  the  upper  hand,  as  having  himself  lately  made 
him  a  king  ;  and  in  a  little  time  Antiochus  delivered  up  the  fortress,  and  on  that 
account  this  war  was  at  an  end  ;  then  Antony  committed  the  rest  to  Sosius,  and  gave 
him  orders  to  assist  Herod,  and  went  himself  to  Egypt.  Accordingly  Sosius  sent 
two  legions  before  into  Judea  to  the  assistance  of  Herod,  and  he  followed  him- 
self with  the  body  of  the  army. 

10.  Now  Joseph  was  already  slain  in  Judea,  in  the  manner  following  :  he  for- 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  507 

got  what  charge  his  brother  Herod  had  given  him  wnen  he  went  to  Antony  ;  and 
when  he  had  pitched  his  camp  among  the  mountains,  for  Macherus  had  lent  him 
five  regiments,  with  these  he  went  hastily  to  Jericho,  in  order  to  reap  the  corn 
(hereto  belonging ;  and  as  the  Roman  regiments  were  but  newly  raised,,  ajid 
were  unskilful  in  war,  for  they  were  in  great  part  collected  out  of  Syria,  he  was 
attacked  by  the  enemy,  and  caught  in  those  places  of  difliculty,  and  was  himself 
slain,  as  he  was  fighting  bravely,  and  the  whole  army  Avas  lost  ;  for  there  were 
six  regiments  slain.  So  when  Antigonus  had  got  possession  of  the  dead  bodies, 
he  cut  off  Joseph's  head,  although  Pheroras  his  brother  would  have  redeemed 
it  at  the  price  of  fifty  talents.  After  which  defeat,  the  Galileans  revolted  from 
their  commanders,  and  took  those  of  Herod's  party,  aijd  drowned  them  in  the 
lake,  and  a  great  part  of  Judea  was  become  seditious  ;  but  Macherus  fortified 
the  place  Gitta  [in  Samaria.] 

11.  At  this  time  messengers  came  to  Herod,  and  informed  him  of  what  had 
been  done  ;  and  when  he  was  come  to  Daphne  by  Antioch,  they  told  him  of  the 
ill  fortune  that  had  befallen  his  brother  ;  which  yet  he  expected,  from  certain 
visions  that  appeared  to  him  in  his  dreams,  which  clearly  foreshowed  his  brother's 
death.  So  he  hastened  his  march  ;  and  when  he  came  to  Mount  Libanus,  he 
received  about  eight  hundred  of  the  men  of  that  place,  having  already  with  him 
also  one  Roman  legion  ;  and  with  these  he  came  to  Ptolemais.  He  also  marched 
thence  by  night  with  his  army,  and  proceeded  along  Galilee.  Here  it  was  that 
the  enemy  met  him  and  fought  him,  and  were  beaten,  and  shut  up  in  the  same 
place  of  strength  whence  they  had  sallied  out  the  day  before.  So  he  attacked 
the  place  in  the  morning;  but,  by  reason  of  a  great  storm  that  was  then  very 
violent,  he  was  able  to  do  nothing,  but  drew  off  his  army  into  the  neighbouring 
villages  ;  yet  as  soon  as  the  other  legion  that  Antony  sent  him  was  come  to  his 
assistance,  those  that  were  in  garrison  in  the  place  were  afraid,  and  deserted  it 
in  the  night  time.  Then  did  the  king  march  hastily  to  Jericho,  intending  to 
avenge  himself  on  the  enemy  for  the  slaughter  of  his  brother  ;  and  when  he  had 
pitched  his  tents,  he  made  a  feast  for  the  principal  commanders ;  and  after  this 
collation  was  over,  and  he  had  dismissed  his  guests,  he  retired  to  his  own  cham- 
ber.  And  here  may  one  see  What  kindness  God  had  for  the  king  ;  for  the  upper 
part  of  the  house  fell  down  when  nobody  was  in  it,  and  so  killed  none,  insomuch 
that  all  the  people  believed  that  Herod  was  beloved  of  God,  since  he  had  esca- 
ped such  a  great  and  surprising  danger. 

12.  But  tlie  next  day  six  thousand  of  the  enemy  came  down  from  the  tops  of 
the  mountains  to  fight  the  Romans,  wliich  greatly  terrified  them  ;  and  the  soldiers 
that  were  in  light  armour  came  near  and  pelted  the  king's  guards  that  were  come 
out  with  darts  and  stones,  and  one  of  them  hit  him  on  the  side  with  a  dart.  An- 
tigonus also  sent  a  commander  against  Samaria,  whose  name  was  Pappus,  with 
some  forces,  being  desirous  to  show  the  enemy  how  potent  he  was,  and  that  he 
had  men  to  spare  in  his  war  with  them :  he  sat  down  to  oppose  Macherus ;  but 
Herod,  when  he  had  taken  five  cities,  took  such  as  were  left  in  them,  being  about 
two  thousand,  and  slew  them,  and  burnt  the  cities  themselves,  and  then  returned 
to  go  against  Pappus,  who  was  encamped  at  a  village  called  Isanas  :  and  there 
ran  in  to  him  many  out  of  Jericho  and  Judea,  near  to  which  places  he  was;  and 
the  enemy  fell  upon  his  men,  so  stout  were  they  at  this  time,  and  joined  battle  with 
them,  but  he  beat  them  in  the  fight ;  and  in  order  to  be  revenged  on  them  for  the 
slaughter  of  his  brother,  he  pursued  them  sharply,  and  killed  them  as  they  ran 
away:  and  as  the  houses  were  full  of  armed  men,  and  many  of  them  ran  as  far 
as  the  tops  of  the  houses,*  he  got  them  under  his  power,  and  pulled  down  the 

*  It  may  be  worth  our  observation  here,  that  these  soldiers  of  Herod's  could  not  have  gotten  upon  the 
tops  of  tliese  houses  which  were  full  of  eiieiniea,  in  order  to  pull  up  the  upper  floore,  and  destroy  them  be- 
neath, but  by  ladders  from  the  outside  ;  which  illustrates  some  texts  in  the  New  Testament,  by  which  it 
appears  that  men  used  to  ascend  tliiiher  by  ladders  on  the  outside.     See  Mat.  xxiv.  17  ;  Mark,  xiii.  15 
Luke,  V.  19,  xvii.  31. 
352 


508  ANTIQUITIES  OF   THE  JCWS^  B.  XIV. 

roofs  of  the  houses;  and  saw  the  lower  rooms  full  of  soldiers  that  were  caufrht, 
and  lay  all  on  a  heap ;  so  they  threw  stones  down  upon  them  as  they  lay  piled  one 
upon  another,  and  thereby  killed  them  :  nor  was  there  a  more  frightful  spectacle 
in  all  the  war  than  this,  where  beyond  the  walls  an  immense  multitude  of  dead 
men  lay  heaped  one  upon  another,  Tliis  action  it  was  which  chiefly  brake  the 
spirits  of  the  enemy,  who  expected  now  what  would  come ;  for  there  appeared  a 
mighty  number  of  people  that  came  from  places  far  distant,  that  were  now  about 
the  village,  but  then  ran  away;  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  depth  of  winter,  which 
then  restrained  them,  the  king's  army  had  presently  gone  to  Jerusalem,  as  being 
very  courageous  at  this  good  success,  and  the  whole  work  had  been  done  im-  ' 
mediately,  for  Antigonus  was  already  looking  about  how  he  might  fly  away,  and 
leave  the  city. 

13.  At  this  tune  the  king  gave  order  that  the  soldiers  should  go  to  supper,  for 
it  was  late  at  night,  while  he  went  into  a  chamber  to  use  the  bath,  for  he  was  very 
weary ;  and  here  it  was  that  he  was  in  the  greatest  danger,  which  yet,  by  God's 
providence,  he  escaped  ;  for  as  he  was  naked,  and  had  but  one  servant  that  fol- 
lowed him,  to  be  with  him  while  he  was  bathing  in  an  inner  room,  certain  of  the 
enemy,  who  were  in  their  armour,  and  had  fled  thither  out  of  fear,  were  then  in 
the  place  :  and  as  he  was  bathing,  the  first  of  them  came  out  with  his  naked  sword 
drawn,  and  went  out  at  the  doors,  and  after  him  a  second,  and  a  third,  armed  in 
like  manner,  and  were  under  such  a  consternation  that  they  did  no  hurt  to  the 

(.king,  and  thought  themselves  to  have  come  off  very  well  in  sufiei'ing  no  harm  them- 
selves,  iu  thejr  getting  out  of  the  house.  However,  on  the  next  day,  he  cut  ofl"  the 
head  of  Pappus,  for  he  was  already  slain,  and  sent  it  to  Pheroras,  as  a  punishment 
of  what  their  brother  had  suffered  by  his  means;  for  he  was  the  man  that  slew 
llim  with  his  own  hand, 

14.  When  the  rigour  of  winter  was  over,  Herod  removed  his  army,  and  came 
near  to  Jerusalem,  and  pitched  his  camp  hard  by  the  city.  Now  this  was  the 
third  year  since  he  had  been  made  king  at  Rome  ;  and  as  he  removed  his  camp, 
and  came  near  that  part  of  the  wall  where  it  could  be  most  easily  assaulted,  he 
pitched  that  camp  before  the  temple,  intending  to  make  his  attacks  in  the  same 
manner  as  did  Pompey :  so  he  encompassed  the  place  with  three  bulwarks,  and 
erected  towers,  and  employed  a  great  many  hands  about  the  work,  and  cut  down 
the  trees  that  were  round  about  the  city;  and  when  he  had  appointed  proper  per- 
sons to  oversee  the  works,  even  while  the  army  lay  before  the  city,  he  himself 
went  to  Samaria,  to  complete  his  marriage,  and  to  take  to  wife  the  daughter  of 
Alexander,  the  son  of  Arjstobulus ;  toi'  he  had  betrothed  her  already,  as  I  have 
befofp  related? 


CHAP.  XVI. 

JIoio  Herod,  when  he  had  married.  Mariamne,  took  Jerusalem,  uitli  the  Assistance  of 
&osiiis,  by  Farce;  and  how  the  Government  of  the  Asamoneans  was  put  an  End  to. 

§  1.  After  the  wedding  was  over,  came  Sosius  through  Phoenicia,  having  sent 
out  his  army  before  him  over  the  midland  parts.  He  also,  who  was  their  com- 
mander, came  himself,  with  a  great  number  of  horsemen  and  footmen.  The  king 
also  came  himself  from  Samaria,  and  brought  with  him  no  small  army,  besides 
that  which  was  there  before,  for  they  were  about  thirty  thousand  ;  and  tlicy  all 
met  together  at  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  encamped  at  the  north  wall  of  the 
city,  being  now  an  army  of  eleven  legions,  armed  men  on  foot,  and  six  thousand 
horsemen,  with  other  auxiliaries  out  of  Syria.  The  generals  were  tv.o  ;  Sosius, 
sent  by  Antony  to  assist  Herod ;  and  Herod  on  his  own  account,  in  order  to  lake 
the  government  from  Anligonus,  who  was  declared  an  enemy  at  Pome,  and  that 
he  might  himself  be  king,  according  to  the  decree  of  the  senate. 


C.  XVr.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  509 

2.  Now  the  Jews  that  were  enclosed  within  the  walls  of  the  city  fought  against 
Herod  with  great  alacrity  and  zeal  (for  the  whole  nation  was  gathered  together  ;) 
they  also  gave  out  many  prophecies   about  the  temple,  and  many  things  agree- 
able  to  the  people,  as  it'  God  would   deliver  them  out  of  the  dangers  they  were 
in  ;  they  liad  also  carried  off  what  was  out  of  the  city,  that  they  might  not  leave 
any  thing  to  aiford  sustenance  either  for  men  or  for  beasts ;  and  by  private  rob- 
beries, they  made  the  want  of  necessaries   greater.     When   Herod  understood 
this,  he  opposed  ambushes  in  ',he  fittest  places  against  their   private  robberies, 
and  he  sent  legions  of  armed  men  to  bring  in  provisions,  and  that  from  remote 
places,  so  that  in  a  little  time  they  had  great  plenty  of  provisions.     Now  the 
three  bulwarks  were  easily  erected,  because  so  many  hands  were   continually 
at  work  upon  it ;  for  it  was  summer  time  ;  and  there  was  nothing  to  hinder  them 
in  raising  their  works,  neither  Irom  the  air  nor  from  the  workmen :   so   they 
brought  their  engines  to  bear,  and  shook  the  walls  of  the  city,  and  tried  all  man- 
ner of  ways  to  get  in  ;  jet  did  not  those   within  discover  any  fear,  but  they  also 
contrived  not  a  few  engines  to  oppose  their  engines  withal.     They  also  sallied 
out,  and  burnt  not  only  those  engines  that  were  not  yet  perfected,  but  those  that 
were  ;  and  when  they  came  hand  to  hand,  their  attempts  were  not  less  bold  than 
those  of  the  Romans,  though  they  were  behind  them  in  skill.     They  also  erected 
new  works  when  the  former  v.ere  ruined :  and  making  mines  underground,  they 
met  each  other,  and   fought  there  ;  and  making  use  of  brutish  courage  leather 
than  of  prudent  valour,  they  persisted  in  this  war  to  the  very  last :  and  this  they 
did  while  a  mighty  army  lay  round  about  them,  and  while  they  were   distressed 
by  famine  and  the  want  of  necessaries,  for  this  happened  to  be  a  Sabbatic  year. 
The  first  that  scaled  the  walls  were  twenty  chosen  men,  the  next  were  Soisus's 
centurions  ;  for  the  first  wall  was  taken  in  forty  days,  the  second  in  fifteen  more ; 
ivhen  some  of  the  cloisters  that  were  about  the  temple  were  burnt ;  which  Herod 
gave  out  to  have  been  burnt  by  Antigonus,  in  order  to  expose  him  to  the  hatred 
of  the  Jews.     And  when  the  outer  court  of  the  temple,  and  the  lower  city  were 
taken,  the  Jews  fled  into  the  inner  court  of  the  temple,  and  into  the  upper  city; 
but  now,  fearing  lest  the  Romans  should  hinder  them  from  otfcring  their  daily 
sacrifices  to  God,  they  sent  an  embassage,  and   desired  that  they  would  only 
permit  them  to  bring  in  beasts  for  sacrifices  ;  which  Herod  granted,  hoping  they 
were  going  to  yield  :  but  when  he  saw  that  they  did  nothing  of  what  he   sup- 
posed, but  bitterly  opposed  him,  in  order  to  preserve  the  kingdom  to  Antigonus, 
he  made  an  assault  upon  the  city  and  took  it  by  storm ;  and  now  all  parts  were 
full  of  those  that  were  slain,  by  the  rage  of  the  Romans  at  the  long  duration  of 
tiie  siege,  and  by  the  zeal  of  the  Jews  that  v/cre  on  Herod's  side,  who  were  not 
willing  to  leave  one  of  their  adversaries  alive  ;  so  they  were  murdered  continually 
in  the  narrow  streets,  and  in  the  houses  by  crowds,  and  as  they  were  flying  to 
the  temple  for  shelter  ;  and  there  was  no  pity  taken  of  either  infants  or  the  aged, 
nor  did  they   spare  so   much  as   the  weaker  sex  ;  nay,  although  the  king  sent 
about,  and  besought  them  to  spare  the  people,  yet  nobody  restrained  their  hand 
from  slaughter,  but,  as  if  they  were  a  company  of  madmen,  they  fell  upon  per- 
sons  of  all  ages,  without  distinction;  and  then  Antigonus,  without  regard  to  either 
his  past  or  present  circumstances,  came  down  from  the  citadel,  and  fell  down  at 
the  feet  of  Sosius  ;  who  took  no  pity  of  him  in  the  change  of  his  fortune,  but  in- 
sulted him  beyond  measure,  and  called  him  Antigone  [i.  e.  a  woman,  and  not  a 
man,]  yet  did  he  not  treat  him  as  if  he  were  a  woman,  by  letting  him  go  at  li- 
berty ;  but  put  him  into  bonds,  and  kept  him  in  close  custody. 

3.  And  now  Herod,  having  overcome  his  enemies,  his  care  was  to  govern  those 
foreigners  who  had  been  his  assistants  ;  for  the  crowd  of  strangers  rushed  to  see 
the  temple,  and  the  sacred  things  in  the  temple  ;  bflt  the  king,  thinking  a  vic- 
tory to  be  a  more  severe  affliction  than  a  defeat,  if  any  of  those  things  which  it 
was  not  lawful  to  see  should  be  seen  by  them,  used  entreaties  and  threatenings, 
and  even  sometimes  force  itself,  to  postrain  them      He  al^o  prohibited  the  ravage 


510  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B,  XIV. 

that  was  made  in  the  city,  and  many  times  asked  Sosius,  whether  the  Romans 
would  empty  the  city  both  of  money  and  men,  and  leave  him  king  of  a  desert  ? 
and  told  him,  that  he  esteemed  the  dominion  over  the  whole  habitable  earth  as 
by  no  means  an  equivalent  satisfaction  for  such  a  murder  of  his  citizens  :  and 
when  he  said  that  this  plunder  was  justly  to  be  permitted  the  soldiers,  for  the  siege 
they  had  undergone,  he  replied,  that  he  would  give  every  one  their  reward  out 
of  his  own  money  :  and  by  this  means  he  redeemed  what  remained  of  the  city 
from  destruction ;  and  he  performed  what  he  had  promised  him,  for  he  gave  a 
noble  present  to  every  soldier,  and  a  proportionable  present  to  their  comman- 
ders,  but  a  most  royal  present  to  Sosius  himself,  till  they  all  went  away  full  of 
money. 

4.  This  destruction*  befell  the  city  of  Jerusalem  when  Marcus  Agrippa  and 
Caninius  Gallus  were  consuls  of  Rome,  on  the  hundred  and  eighty  and  fifth 
olympiad,  on  the  third  month,  on  the  solemnity  of  the  fast ;  as  if  a  periodical  re- 
volution of  calamities  had  returned,  since  that  which  befell  the  Jews  under  Pom- 
pey  ;  for  the  Jews  were  taken  by  him  on  the  same  day  ;  and  this  was  after  twen- 
ty-seven  years'  time.  So  w  hen  Sosius  had  dedicated  a  crown  of  gold  to  God, 
he  marched  away  from  Jerusalem,  and  carried  Antigonus  with  him  in  bonds  to 
Antony  :  but  Herod  was  afraid  lest  Antigonus  should  be  kept  in  prison  [only]  by 
Antony,  and  that  when  he  was  carried  to  Rome  by  him,  he  might  get  his  cause 
to  be  heard  by  the  senate,  and  might  demonstrate,  as  he  was  himself  of  the 
royal  blood,  and  Herod  but  a  private  man,  that  therefore  it  belonged  to  his  sons, 
however,  to  have  the  kingdom,  on  account  of  the  family  they  were  of,  in  case 
he  had  himself  offended  the  Romans  by  what  he  had  done.  Out  of  Herod's 
fear  of  this  it  was,  that  he,  by  giving  Antony  a  great  deal  of  money,  endeavoured 
to  persuade  him  to  have  Antigonus  slain,  which  if  it  were  once  done,  he  should 
be  free  from  that  fear.  And  thus  did  the  government  of  the  Asamoneans  cease, 
a  hundred  twenty  and  six  years  after  it  was  first  set  up.  This  family  was  a 
splendid  and  an  illustrious  one,  both  on  account  of  the  nobihty  of  their  stock, 
and  of  the  dignity  of  the  high  priesthood,  as  also  for  the  glorious  actions  their 
ancestors  had  performed  for  our  nation  :  but  these  men  lost  the  government  by 
their  dissensions  one  with  another ;  and  it  came  to  Herod  the  son  of  Antipater, 
who  was  of  no  more  than  a  vulgar  lamily,  and  of  no  eminent  extraction,  but  one 
that  was  subject  to  other  kings  :  and  this  is  what  history  tells  us  was  the  end  of 
the  Asamonean  family. 

*  Note  here,  that  Josephus  fully  and  frequently  assures  us  that  there  passed  above  three  years  between 
Herod's  first  obtaining  the  kingdom  at  Rome,  and  his  second  obtaining  it  upon  the  taking  of  Jerusalem, 
and  death  of  Antigonus.  The  present  history  of  tliis  interval  twice  mentions  the  army's  going  into  win- 
ter quart-ers,  which  perhaps  belonged  to  two  several  winters,  ch.  xv.  sect.  3,  4  ;  and  though  Josephus  says 
nothing  how  long  they  lay  iu  those  quarters,  yet  does  he  give  such  an  account  of  the  long  and  studied  de- 
lays of  Ventidius,  Silo,  and  iViacherus,  who  were  to  see  Herod  settled  in  his  new  kingdom  (but  seem  not 
to  have  had  sufficient  forces  for  that  purpose,  and  were  for  certain  all  corrupted  by  Antigonus  to  make 
the  longest  delays  possible,)  and  gives  us  such  particular  accounts  of  the  many  great  actions  of  Herod  du- 
ring the  same  interval,  as  fairly  imply  that  interval,  before  Herod  went  to  Samosata,  to  have  been  veiry 
considerable.  However,  wliat  is  wanting  in  Joseplius  is  fully  supplied  by  Moses  Chorenensis,  the  Ar- 
menian historian,  in  his  history  of  the  same  interval,  B.  ii.  ch.  xviii.  where  he  directly  assures  us,  that 
Tigraiies,  then  king  of  Armenia,  and  the  principal  manager  of  this  Parthian  war,  reigned  two  years  after 
Herod  was  made  king  at  Rome  :  and  yet  Antony  did  not  hear  of  his  death,  in  that  very  neighbourhood, 
at  Samosata,  till  he  was  come  thither  to  besiege  it ;  after  which  Herod  brought  him  an  army,  which  was 
340  miles  march,  and  through  a  difiicult  country,  full  of  enemies  also,  and  joined  with  him  in  the  siege  of 
Samosata,  till  that  city  was  taken  ;  then  Herod  and  Sosius  march  back  with  their  large  armies  the  same 
number  of  340  miles,  and  when  in  a  little  time  they  sat  down  to  besiege  Jerusalem,  they  were  not  able  to 
take  it,  but  by  a  siege  of  five  months.  All  which  put  together  fully  supplies  what  is  wanting  in  Josephus, 
and  secures  the  entire  chronology  of  these  times  beyond  contradiction. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  61 1 


BOOK  XV. 


CONTAINING  THE  INTERVAL  OF  EIGHTEEN  TEARS. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  AJVTIGOJ\"US  TO  THE  FIJ^ISHIJVG  OF  THE 
TEMPLE  BY  HEROD. 


CHAP.  I. 

Concerning  Pollio  and  Sameas.     Herod  slays  the  principal  of  Aniigonus's  Friends, 
and  spoils  the  City  of  its  Wealth.     Antony  beheads  Antigonus. 

§  1.  How  Sosius  and  Herod  took  Jerusalem  by  force ;  and  besides  that,  how  they 
took  Antigonus  captive,  has  been  related  by  us  in  the  foregoing  book.  We  will 
now  proceed  in  the  narration.  And  since  Herod  had  now  the  government  of  all 
Judea  put  into  his  hands,  he  promoted  such  of  the  private  men  in  the  city  as  had 
been  of  his  party,  but  never  left  off  avenging  and  punishing  every  day  those  that 
had  chosen  to  be  of  the  party  of  his  enemies.  But  Pollio  the  Pharisee,  and  Sa- 
meas, a  disciple  of  his,  were  honoured  by  him  above  all  the  rest ;  for  when  Jeru- 
salem was  besieged,  they  advised  the  citizens  to  receive  Herod,  for  which  advice 
they  were  well  requited ;  but  this  Pollio,  at  the  time  when  Herod  was  once  upon 
his  trial  of  life  and  death,  foretold,  in  way  of  reproach,  to  Hyrcanus  and  the  other 
judges,  how  this  Herod,  whom  they  suffered  now  to  escape,  would  afterward  in- 
flict punishment  on  them  all ;  which  had  its  completion  in  time,  while  God  fulfil- 
led the  words  he  had  spoken. 

2.  At  this  time  Herod,  now  he  had  got  Jerusalem  under  his  power,  carried  off 
all  the  royal  ornaments,  and  spoiled  the  wealthy  men  of  what  they  had  gotten ;  and 
when,  by  these  means,  he  had  heaped  together  a  great  quantity  of  silver  and  gold, 
he  gave  it  all  to  Antony,  and  his  friends  that  were  about  him.  He  also  slew 
forty.five  of  the  principal  men  of  Antigonus's  party,  and  set  guards  at  the  gates 
of  the  city,  that  nothing  might  be  carried  out  together  with  their  dead  bodies. 
They  also  searched  the  dead,  and  whatsoever  was  found,  either  of  silver  or  gold, 
or  other  treasure,  it  Avas  carried  to  the  king;  nor  was  there  any  end  of  the  mise- 
ries he  brought  upon  them;  and  this  distress  was  in  part  occasioned  by  tlte  co- 
vetousness  of  the  prince  regent,  who  was  still  in  want  of  more,  and  in  part,  by  the 
Sabbatic  year,  which  was  still  going  on,  and  forced  the  country  to  lie  still  uncul- 
tivated since  we  are  forbidden  to  sow  our  land  in  that  year.  Now  when  Antony 
had  received  Antigonus  as  his  captive,  he  determined  to  keep  him  against  liis 
triumph  ;  but  when  he  heard  that  the  nation  grew  seditious,  and  that,  out  of  their 
hatred  to  Herod,  they  continued  to  bear  good  will  to  Antigonus,  he  resolved  to 
behead  him  at  Antioch,  for  otherwise  the  Jews  could  no  way  be  brought  to  be 
quiet.  And  Strabo  of  Cappadocia  attests  to  what  I  have  said,  when  he  thus 
speaks :  "  Antony  ordered  Antigonus  the  Jew  to  be  brought  to  Antioch,  and  there 
to  be  beheaded ;  and  this  Antony  seems  to  me  to  have  been  the  very  first  man 
who  beheaded  a  king,  as  supposing  he  could  no  other  way  bend  the  minds  of  the 
Jews,  so  as  to  receive  Herod,  whom  he  had  made  king  in  his  stead;  for  by  no 
torments  could  they  be  forced  to  call  him  king,  so  great  a  fondness  they  had  for 
their  former  king;  so  he  thought  that  this  dishonourable  death  would  diminish  the 
value  they  had  for  Antigonus's  memory,  and  at  the  same  time  wowld  diminish 
their  hatred  they  bare  to  Herod."     Thus  far  Strabo, 


512  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS,  B.  XV. 


CHAP.  II. 

How  Hyrcanus  was  set  at  Liberty  by  the  Parthians,  and  returned  to  Herod  ;  and 
what  Alexandra  did  when  she  heard  that  Ananelus  was  made  High  Priest. 

§  1.  Now  after  Herod  was  in  possession  of  the  kingdom,  Hyrcanus  the  hi'j-h 
priest,  who  was  then  a  captive  among  the  Parthians,  came  to  him  again,  and  was 
set  free  from  his  captivity  in  the  manner  following :  Barzapharnes  and  Pacorus, 
the  generals  of  the  Parthians,  took  Hyrcanus,  who  was  first  made  high  priest 
and  afterward  king,  and  Herod's  brother,  Phasaelus,  captives,  and  were  carrying 
them  away  into  Parthia.  Phasaelus  indeed  could  not  bear  the  reproach  of  being 
in  bonds  :  and,  thinking,  that  death  with  glory  was  better  than  any  life  whatso- 
ever, he  became  his  own  executioner,  as  I  have  formerly  related. 

2.  But  when  Hyrcanus  was  brought  into  Parthia,  the  king  Phraates  treated 
him  after  a  very  gentle  manner,  as  having  already  learned  of  what  an  illustrious 
family  he  was  ;  on  which  account  he  set  him  free  from  his  bonds,  and  gave  him  nn 
habitation  at  Babylon,*  where  there  were  Jews  in  great  numbers.  These  Jews 
honoured  Hyrcanus  as  their  high  priest  and  king  ;  as  did  all  the  Jewish  nation 
that  dwelt  as  far  as  Euphrates  ;  Avhich  respect  was  very  much  to  his  satisfaction. 
But  when  he  was  informed  that  Herod  had  received  the  kingdom,  new  hopes 
came  upon  him,  as  having  been  himself  gtill  of  a  kind  disposition  towards  him  ; 
and  expecting  that  Herod  would  bear  in  mind  what  favour  he  had  received  from 
him,  and  when  he  was  upon  his  trial,  and  when  he  was  in  danger  that  a  capital 
sentence  would  be  pronounced  against  him,  he  delivered  him  from  that  danger, 
and  from  all  punishment.  Accordingly,  he  talked  of  that  matter  with  the  Jews 
that  came  often  to  him  with  great  afiection ;  but  they  endeavoured  to  retain  him 
among  them,  and  desired  that  he  would  stay  with  them,  putting  him  in  mind  of  the 
kind  offices  and  honours  they  did  him  ;  and  that  those  honours  they  paid  him  were 
not  at  all  inferior  to  what  they  could  pay  either  to  their  high  priests  or  their 
kings  :  and  what  was  a  greater  motive  to  determine  him,  they  said,  was  this,  that 
he  could  not  have  those  dignities  [in  Judea,]  because  of  that  maim  in  his  body 
which  had  been  inflicted  on  him  by  Antigonus :  and  that  kings  do  not  use  to  re- 
quite men  for  those  kindnesses  which  they  received  when  they  were  private  per- 
sons ;  the  height  of  their  fortune  making  usually  no  small  changes  in  them. 

3.  Nov/,  although  they  suggested  these  arguments  to  him  for  his  own  advan- 
tage, yet  did  Hyrcanus  still  desire  to  depart.  Herod  also  wrote  to  him,  and  per- 
suaded him  to  desire  of  Phraates,  and  the  Jews  that  were  there,  that  they  should 
not  grudge  him  the  royal  authority,  which  he  should  have  jointly  with  himself,- 
for  that  now  was  the  proper  time  for  himself  to  make  him  amends  for  the  favours 
he  had  received  from  him,  as  having  been  brought  up  by  him,  and  saved  by  him 
also,  as  well  as  for  Hyrcanus  to  receive  it.  And  as  he  wrote  thus  to  Hyrcanus,  so 
did  he  send  also  Saramallas,  his  ambassador  to  Phraates,  and  many  presents 
with  him ;  and  desired  him,  in  the  most  obliging  way,  that  he  would  be  no  hin- 
derance  to  his  gratitude  towards  his  benefactor.  But  this  zeal  of  Herod's  did  not 
flow  from  that  principle:  but  because  he  had  been  made  governor  of  that-country 
without  having  any  just  claim  to  it,  he  was  afraid,  and  that  upon  reasons  good 
enough,  of  a  change  in  liis  condition,  and  so  made  what  haste  he  could  to  get 
Hyrcanus  into  his  power,  or  indeed  to  put  him  quite  out  of  the  way :  w  hich  last 
thing  he  compassed  afterward. 

4.  Accordingly,  when  Hyrcanus  came,  full  of  assurance,  by  the  permission 
of  the  king  of  Parthia,  and  at  the  expense  of  the  Jews,  who  supplied  him  with 

•  The  city  here  called  Babylon  by  Josephus  seems  to  be  one  which  was  built  by  some  of  the  Seleiicidis 
upon  the  Tigris,  which,  long  after  the  utter  desolation  of  Old  Babylon,  wascoinmonly  so  called  ;  and,  I 
suppose,  fioi  far  from  Seleucia  :  just  as  the  later  adjoining  city  Bagdat  has  been,  and  is  often  called  by 
tlie  Stune  old  name  of  Babylon  till  this  very  day. 


C.  ir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  5|3 

money,  Herod  received  him  with  all  possible  respect,  and  gave  him  the  upper 
place  at  public  meetings,  and  set  hiui  above  all  the  rest  at  feasts,  and  thereby 
deceived  him.  He  called  him  his  father  ;  and  endeavoured,  by  all  the  ways  pos. 
sible,  that  he  might  have  no  suspicion  of  any  treacherous  de:^ign  against  him.  He 
dlso  did  other  things,  in  order  to  secure  his  government,  which  yet  occasioned  a 
sedition  in  his  own  family;  for,  being  cautious  how  he  made  any  illustrious  per- 
son the  high  priest  of  God,  he  sent  for  an  obscure  priest  out  of  Babylon,  whose 
name  was  Ananelus,  and  bestowed  the  high  priesthood  upon  him.* 

5.  However,  Alexandra,  the  daughter  of  Hyrcanus  and  wife  of  Alexander,  the 
son  of  Aristobulus  the  king,  who  had  also  brought  Alexander  [two]  children, 
could  not  bear  this  indignity.  Now  this  son  was  one  of  the  greatest  comeliness, 
and  was  called  Aristobulus  ;  and  the  daughter,  Mariamne,  was  married  to  Herod, 
and  eminent  for  her  beauty  also.  This  Alexandra  was  much  disturbed,  and  took 
this  indignity  offered  to  her  son  exceeding  ill,  that  while  he  was  alive,  any  one 
else  should  be  sent  for  to  have  the  dignity  of  the  high  priesthood  conferred  upon 
him.  Accordingly  she  wrote  to  Cleopatra  (a  musician  assisting  her  in  taking 
care  to  have  her  letters  carried,)  to  desire  her  intercession  with  Antony,  in  order 
to  gain  the  high  priesthood  for  her  son. 

6.  But  as  Antony  was  slow  in  granting  this  request,  his  friend  Delliusf  came 
into  Judea  upon  some  affairs,  and  when  he  saw  Aristobulus,  he  stood  in  admira- 
tion at  the  tallness  and  handsomeness  of  the  child,  and  no  less  at  Mariamne,  the 
king's  wife,  and  was  open  in  his  commendations  of  Alexandra,  as  the  mother  of 
most  beautiful  children  ;  and  when  she  came  to  discourse  with  him,  he  persua- 
ded her  to  get  pictures  drawn  of  them  both,  and  to  send  them  to  Antony,  for  that 
when  he  saw  them,  he  would  deny  her  nothing  that  she  would  ask.  Accordingly 
Alexandra  was  elevated  with  these  words  of  his,  and  sent  the  pictures  to  Antony, 
Dellius  also  talked  extravagantly,  and  said,  that  "  these  children  seemed  not  de- 
rived from  men,  but  from  some  god  or  other."  His  design  in  doing  so  was  to 
entice  Antony  into  lewd  pleasures  with  them,  who  was  ashamed  to  send  for  the 
damsel,  as  being  the  wife  of  Herod,  and  avoided  it,  because  of  the  reproaches  he 
should  have  from  Cleopatra  on  that  account :  but  he  sent,  in  the  most  decent 
manner  he  could,  for  the  young  man,  but  added  this  withal,  "  unless  he  thought 
it  hard  upon  him  so  to  do-"  When  this  letter  was  brought  to  Herod,  he  did  not 
think  it  safe  for  him  to  send  one  so  handsome  as  was  Aristobulus,  in  the  prime 
of  his  life,  for  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  of  so  noble  a  family,  and  parti- 
cularly not  to  Antony,  the  principal  man  among  the  Romans,  and  one  that  would 
abuse  him  in  his  amours ;  and  besides,  one  that  openly  indulged  himself  in  such 
pleasures,  as  his  power  allowed  him,  without  control.  He  therefore  wrote  back 
to  him,  that  "  if  this  boy  should  only  go  out  of  the  country,  all  would  be  in  a  state 
of  war  and  uproar  ;  because  the  Jews  v/ere  in  hopes  of  a  change  in  the  govern- 
ment, and  to  have  another  king  over  them." 

7.  When  Herod  had  thus  excused  himself  to  Antony,  he  resolved  that  he  would 
not  entirely  permit  the  child  or  Alexandra  to  be  treated  dishonourably:  but  his 
wife  Mariamne  lay  vehemently  at  him  to  restore  the  high  priesthood  to  her  bro- 
ther,  and  he  judged  it  was  for  his  advantage  so  to  do ;  because,  if  he  once  had 
that  dignity,  he  could  not  go  out  of  the  country.  So  he  called  his  friends  together, 
and  told  them,  that  "  Alexandra  privately  conspired  against  his  royal  authority, 
and  endeavoured,  by  the  means  of  Cleopatra,  so  to  bring  it  about,  that  he  might 

*  Here  we  have  an  eminent  example  ofHerod's  wordlyand  profane  politics;  when,  by  the  abuse  of 
his  unlawful  niul  usurped  )iowcr,  to  niai<e.  whom  he  pleased  hi{!;h  priesit,  in  the  person  of  Ananelus,  he 
occasioned  sucli  distuibanr es  in  his  kingdom,  and  in  liis  own  family,  as  suffered  him  to  enjoy  no  lasting 
peace  or  tranquillity  ever  afterward  :  and  such  is  frequently  the  effect  of  profane  court  politics  about  mat- 
ters of  reliction  in  otiicr  ajjes  and  nations.  The  Old  Testament  is  full  of  the  miseries  oi"  the  people  of  the 
Jews  derived  from  such  court  politics,  especially  in  and  after  the  days  of  Jeroboam  the  son  of  iVeJi.it, 
toho  made  Israel  to  sin  ;  who  f^ave  liie  most  pernicious  e.xample  of  it  ;  who  brou:;;hl  on  the  srossest  coi- 
ruption  of  religion  by  it ;  and  tiie  punislinient  of  whose  family  for  it  was  most  remarkable.  The  case  it 
too  well  known  to  stand  in  need  of  particular  citations. 

f  Of  this  wicked  Dellius,  see  the  note  on  the  War,  B.  i.  ''■h.  xv.  sect.  3. 
VOL.  r.        3  T 


514  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV. 

be  deprived  of  the  government,  and  that  by  Antony's  means  this  youth  might  have 
the  management  of  public  affairs  in  his  stead ;  and  that  this  procedure  of  hers 
was  unjust,  since  she  would  at  the  same  time  deprive  her  daughter  of  the  dignity 
she  now  liad,  and  would  bring  disturbances  upon  the  kingdom  ;  for  which  he  had 
taken  a  great  deal  of  pains,  and  had  gotten  it  with  extraordinary  hazards  :  that 
yet,  while  he  well  remembered  her  wicked  practices,  he  would  not  leave  off"  do- 
ing what  was  right  himself,  but  would  even  now  give  the  youth  the  high  priest, 
hood ;  and  that  he  formerly  set  up  Ananelus,  because  Aristobulus  was  then  so 
very  young  a  child."  Now  when  he  had  said  this,  not  at  random,  but  as  he 
thought  with  the  best  discretion  he  had,  in  order  to  deceive  the  women,  and  those 
friends  whom  he  had  taken  to  consult  withal,  Alexandra,  out  of  the  great  joy  she 
had  at  this  unexpected  promise,  and  out  of  fear  from  the  suspicions  she  lay  under, 
fell  a  weeping  ;  and  made  the  following  apology  for  herself,  and  said,  that  "  as 
to  the  [high]  priesthood,  she  was  very  much  concerned  for  the  disgrace  her  son 
was  under ;  and  so  did  her  utmost  endeavours  to  procure  it  for  him  :  but  that  as 
to  the  kingdom  she  had  made  no  attempts,  and  that  if  it  were  offered  her  [for  her 
son,]  she  would  not  accept  it ;  and  that  she  would  now  be  satisfied  with  her  son's 
dignity,  while  he  himself  held  the  civil  government,  and  she  had  thereby  the  se- 
curity that  arose  from  his  peculiar  ability  in  governing,  to  all  the  remainder  of 
her  family ;  that  she  was  now  overcome  by  his  benefits ;  and  thankfully  accept- 
ed  of  this  honour  showed  by  him  to  her  son,  and  that  she  would  hereafter  be 
entirely  obedient :  and  she  desired  him  to  excuse  her,  if  the  nobility  of  her  fa- 
mily, and  that  freedom  of  acting  which  she  thought  that  allowed  her,  had  made 
her  act  too  precipitately  and  imprudently  in  this  matter.  So,  when  they  had 
spoken  thus  to  one  another,  they  came  to  an  agreement,  and  all  suspicions,  so 
far  as  appeared,  were  vanished  away. 


CHAP.  III. 

How  Herod,  upon  Jiis  making  Aristohuhis  High  Priest,  tooTc  Care  that  he  should  he 
3       murdered  in  a  little  Time  ;  and  zchat  Apology  he  made  to  Antony  about 
Aristohulus :  as  also  concerning  Joseph  and  Mariamne, 

§  1.  So  king  Herod  immediately  took  the  high  priesthood  away  from  Ananelus, 
■who,  as  we  said  before,  was  not  of  this  country,  but  one  of  those  Jews  that  had 
been  carried  captive  beyond  Euphrates  :  for  there  were  not  a  few  ten  thousands 
of  this  people  that  had  been  carried  captives,  and  dwelt  about  Babylonia,  whence 
Ananelus  came.  He  was  one*  of  the  stock  of  the  high  priests,  and  had  been  of 
old  a  particular  friend  of  Herod's  ;  and  when  he  was  first  made  king,  he  confer- 
red that  dignity  upon  him,  and  now  put  him  out  of  it  again,  in  order  to  quiet  the 
troubles  in  his  family  ;  though  what  he  did  was  plainly  unlawful,  for  at  no  other 
tim.e  [of  old]  was  any  one  that  had  once  been  in  that  dignity  deprived  of  it.  It 
was  Antiochus  Epiphanes  who  first  brake  that  law,  and  deprived  Jesus,  and  made 
his  brother  Onias  high  priest  in  his  stead.  Aristobulus  was  the  second  that  did 
so,  and  took  that  dignity  from  his  brother  [Hyrcanus  :]  and  this  Herod  was  the 
third  who  took  that  high  office  away  [from  Ananelus,]  and  gave  it  to  this  youn^ 
man,  Aristobulus,  in  his  stead. 

*  When  Josephus  Faysliere,  that  this  Ananelus,  the  new  high  priest,  was  of  the  stock  of  the  high 
priests,  and  since  he  had  been  just  telling  us  that  he  was  a  priest  of  an  obsctn-e  family  or  character,  ch. 
ji.  sect.  4,  it  is  not  at  all  probable  that  he  could  so  soon  say  that  he  was  of  the  stuck  of  the  high  priests. 
However,  Josephus  iiere  makes  a  reiiiarkable  observation,  that  this  Ananelus  was  the  third  that  was  ever 
unjustly  and  wickedly  turned  out  of  the  high  priesthood  by  the  civil  power  ;  no  king  or  governor  having 
ventured  to  do  £0  that  Jotenhus  knew  of,  but  that  heathen  tyrant  and  persecutor  Antiociius  Epiphanes; 
that  barbarous  parricide  Aristobulus,  the  first  that  took  royal  authority  among  the  Maccabees;  and  tiiis 
tyrant  kh)g  Herod  the  Great ;  although  afterward  that  infamous  practice  became  frequent,  till  the  very 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  when  theolRceof  high  priestliood  was  at  an  end. 


C.  III.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  515 

2.  And  now  Herod  seemed  to  have  healed  tlic  divisions  in  his  family  ;  3^ct  was 
he  not  without  suspicion,  as  is  frequently  the  case  of  people  seeming  to  be  recon- 
oiled  to  one  another,  but  thought  that,  as  Alexandra  had  already  made  attempts 
tending  to  innovations,  so  did  he  fear  that  she  would  go  on  therein,  if  she  found 
a  fit  opportunity  for  so  doing  :  so  he  gave  a  command,  that  she  should  dwell  in 
the  palace,  and  meddle  with  no  public  aflairs  :  her  guards  also  were  so  careful 
that  nothing  she  did  in  private  life  every  day  was  concealed.  All  these  hardships 
put  her  out  of  patience,  by  Ijttle  and  little,  and  she  began  to  hate  Herod;  for  as 
she  had  the  pride  of  a  woman  to  the  utmost  degree,  she  had  great  indignation  at 
this  suspicious  guard  that  was  about  her,  as  desirous  ratiier  to  undergo  any  thing 
that  could  befall  her  than  to  be  deprived  of  her  liherty  of  speech  ;  and,  under  the 
notion  of  an  honorary  guard,  to  live  in  a  state  of  slavery  and  terror  :  she  therefore 
sent  to  Cleopatra,  and  made  a  long  complaint  of  the  circumstances  she  was  in, 
and  entreated  her  to  do  her  utmost  for  her  assistance.  Cleopatra  hereupon  ad- 
vised her  to  take  her  son  with  her,  and  come  away  immediately  to  her  into  Egypt. 
This  advice  pleased  her,  and  she  had  this  contrivance  for  getting  away :  she  got 
two  coffins  made,  as  if  they  were  to  carry  away  two  dead  bodies,  and  put  herself 
into  one,  and  her  son  into  the  other,  and  gave  orders  to  such  of  her  servants  as 
knew  of  her  intentions,  to  carry  them  away  in  the  night-time.  Now  their  road 
was  to  be  tlience  to  the  seaside,  and  there  was  a  ship  ready  to  carry  them  into 
Egypt.  Now  ^sop,  one  of  her  servants,  happened  to  fall  upon  Sabbion,  one  of 
her  friends,  and  spake  of  this  matter  to  him,  as  thinking  he  had  known  of  it  be- 
fore. When  Sabhion  knew  this  (who  had  formerly  been  an  enemy  of  Herod's 
and  been  esteemed  one  of  those  that  laid  snares  for,  and  gave  the  poison  to  [his 
father]  Antipater,)  he  expected  that  this  discovery  would  change  Herod's  hatred 
into  kindness ;  so  he  told  the  king  of  this  private  stratagem  of  Alexandra's  : 
whereupon  he  suffered  her  to  proceed  to  the  execution  of  her  project,  and  caught 
her  in  the  very  fact :  but  still  he  passed  by  her  offence  ;  and  though  he  had  a 
great  mind  to  do  it,  he  durst  not  inflict  any  thing  that  was  severe  upon  her ;  for 
he  knew  that  Cleopatra  would  not  bear  that  he  should  have  her  accused,  on  ac- 
count of  her  hatred  to  him  :  but  made  a  show  as  if  it  were  rather  the  generosity 
of  his  soul,  and  his  groat  moderation  that  made  him  forgive  them.  However,  he 
fully  proposed  to  himself  to  put  this  young  man  out  of  the  way  by  one  means  or 
other ;  but  he  thought  he  might  in  probabilitj^  be  better  concealed  in  doing  it,  if 
he  did  it  not  presently,  nor  immediately  after  what  had  lately  happened. 

3.  And  now,  upon  the  approach  of  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  which  is  a  festival 
very  much  observed  among  us,  he  let  those  days  pass  over,  and  both  he  and  the 
rest  of  the  people  were  therein  very  merry  ;  yet  did  the  envy,  which  at  this  time 
arose  in  him,  cause  him  to  make  haste  to  do  what  he  was  about,  and  provoke  him 
to  it ;  for  when  this  youth  Aristobulus,  who  was  now  in  the  seventeenth  year  of 
his  age,  went  up  to  the  altar,  according  to  the  law,  to  offer  the  sacrifices,  and  this 
with  the  ornaments  of  his  high  priesthood,*  and  when  he  performed  the  sacred 
offices,  he  seemed  to  be  exceeding  comely,  and  taller  than  men  usually  were  at 
that  age,  and  to  exhibit  in  his  countenance  a  great  deal  of  that  high  family  he  was 
sprung  from,  and  a  warm  /cal  and  aflcction  towards  him  appeared  among  the 
people,  and  the  memory  of  the  actions  of  his  grandfather  Aristobulus  was  fresliin 
their  minds  ;  and  their  affections  got  so  far  the  mastery  of  them  that  they  could 
not  forbear  to  show  their  inclinations  to  him.  Thoi'  at  once  rejoiced,  and  were 
confounded,  and  mingled  with  good  wishes  their  joyful  acclamations  which  they 
made  to  him,  till  the  good  will  of  the  multitude  was  made  too  evident,  and  they 
more  rashly  proclaimed  the  happiness  they  had  received  from  his  family  than  was 
fit  under  a  monarchy  to  have  done.  Upon  all  this,  Herod  resolved  to  complete 
what  he  had  intended  against  the  young  man.     When  therefore  the  festival  was 

*  This  entirely  confutes  the  TahTiudisls,  who  pretend  that  no  one  under  iioentyyezTS  of  age  could  of' 
ficiate  as  high  priest  among  the  Jews. 
3T2 


152  g  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV. 

over,  and  he  was  feasting  at  Jericho*  with  Alexandra,  who  entertained  him 
there,  he  was  then  very  pleasant  with  the  young  man,  and  drew  him  into  a  lonely 
place,  and  at  the  same  time  played  with  him  in  a  juvenile  and  ludicrous  manner. 
Now  the  nature  ot'  that  place  was  hotter  than  ordinary ;  so  they  went  out  in  a 
body,  and  of  a  sudden,  and  in  a  vein  of  madness,  and  as  they  stood  by  the  fish 
ponds,  of  which  there  were  large  ones  about  the  house,  they  went  to  cool  them- 
selves [by  bathing,]  because  it  was  in  the  midst  of  a  hot  day.  At  first  they  were 
only  spectators  of  Herod's  servants  and  acquaintance  as  they  were  swimming;  but 
after  a  while,  the  young  man,  at  the  instigation  of  Herod,  went  into  the  water 
among  them,  while  such  of  Hei-od's  acquaintance,  as  he  had  appointed  to  do  it, 
dipped  him,  as  he  was  swimming,  and  plunged  him  under  water,  in  the  dark  of 
the  evening,  as  if  it  had  been  done  in  sport  only,  nor  did  they  desist  till  he  was 
entirely  suffocated;  and  thus  was  Aristobulus  murdered,  having  lived  no  more  in 
all  than  "[eighteen  years,  and  kept  the  high  priesthood  one  year  only :  which  high 
priesthood  Ananelus  now  recovered  again. 

4.  Wlien  this  sad  accident  was  told  the  women,  their  joy  was  soon  changed  to 
lamentation,  at  the  sight  of  the  dead  body  that  lay  before  them,  and  their  sorrow 
was  immoderate.  The  city  also  [of  Jerusalem,]  upon  the  spreading  of  this  news, 
were  in  very  great  grief,  every  family  looking  on  this  calamity  as  if  it  had  not 
belonged  to  another,  but  that  one  of  themselves  was  slain :  but  Alexandra  was 
more  deeply  aflTected,  upon  her  knowledge  that  he  had  been  destroyed  [on  pur- 
pose.] Her  sorrow  was  greater  than  that  of  others,  by  her  knowing  how  the 
murder  was  committed  ;  but  she  was  under  a  necessity  of  bearing  up  under  it,  out 
of  her  prospect  of  a  greater  mischief  that  might  otherwise  follow:  and  she  often, 
times  came  to  an  inclination  to  kill  herself  with  her  own  hand,  but  still  she  re- 
strained herself,  in  hopes  she  might  live  long  enough  to  revenge  the  unjust  murder 
thus  privately  committed;  nay,  she  further  resolved  to  endeavour  to  live  longer, 
and  to  give  no  occasion  to  think  she  suspected  that  her  son  was  slain  on  purpose; 
and  supposed  that  she  might  thereby  be  in  a  capacity  of  revenging  it  at  a  proper 
opportunity.  Thus  did  she  restrain  herself,  that  she  might  not  be  noted  for  en- 
tertaining  any  such  suspicion.  However,  Herod  endeavoured  that  none  abroad 
should  believe  that  the  child's  death  was  caused  by  any  design  of  his  :  and  for 
this  purpose  he  did  not  only  use  the  ordinary  signs  of  sorrow,  but  fell  into  tears 
also,  and  exhibited  a  real  confusion  of  soul,  and  perhaps  his  affections  were  over- 
come on  this  occasion,  when  he  saw  the  child's  countenance  so  young  and  so 
beautiful,  although  his  death  were  supposed  to  tend  to  his  own  security  ;  so  far 
at  least  this  grief  served  as  to  make  some  apology  for  him  :  and  as  for  his  funeral, 
that  he  took  care  should  be  very  magnificent,  by  making  great  preparations  of  a 
sepulchre  to  lay  his  body  in,  and  providing  a  great  quantity  of  spices,  and  burying 
many  ornaments  together  with  him  ;  till  the  very  women,  who  were  in  such  deep 
sorrow,  were  astonished  at  it,  and  received  in  this  way  some  consolation. 

5,  However,  no  such  things  could  overcome  Alexandra's  grief,  but  the  remem- 
brance  of  this  miserable  case  made  her  sorrow  both  deep  and  obstinate.  Ac 
cordingly  she  wrote  an  account  of  this  treacherous  scene  to  Cleopatra,  and  how 
her  son  was  murdered ;  but  Cleopatra,  as  she  had  formerly  been  desirous  to  give 
her  what  satisfaction  she  could,  and  commiserating  Alexandra's  misfortunes,  made 
the  case  her  own,  and  would  not  let  Antony  be  quiet,  but  excited  him  to  punish 
the  child's  murder;  for  that  it  was  an  unworthy  thing  that  Herod,  who  had  been 
by  him  made  king  of  a  kingdom  that  no  way  belonged  to  him,  should  be  guilty  of 
such  horrid  crimes  against  those  that  were  cf  the  royal  blood  in  reality.  Antony 
was  persuaded  by  these  arguments;  and  when  he  came  to  Laodicea,  he  sent  and 

*  A  Hfibrew  chronide.citpd  by  Reland,  says  this  drowning  was  at  Jor(/an,  not  at  Jericho,  and  this 
even  wiien  lie  (niotps  Joseplius.  I  suspect  the  transcriber  of  the  Hebrew  chronicle  niisiooli  the  name,  and 
wrote  Jurd.in  lor  Jericho. 

t  The  rea(liii;i  of  ooe  of  Josephus's  Greek  MSS.  seems  here  to  be  right,  that  Aristobulus  was  not  eigh- 
teen ytars  old,  when  he  was  drowned  ;  for  he  was  not  seventeen  when  he  was  made  high  priest,  ch.  ii.  sect 
b ;  ch.  111.  sect.  3  ;  and  he  continued  in  that  office  but  one  year,  as  in  tlie  place  before  us 


C.  III.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  517 

commanded  Herod  to  come  and  make  his  defence,  as  to  what  he  had  done  to 
Avistobuius ;  for  that  such  a  treacherous  design  was  not  well  done,  if  he  had  anv 
hand  in  it.  Herod  was  now  in  fear,  both  of  the  accusation,  and  of  Cleopatra's  ill 
will  to  him  ;  which  was  such,  that  she  was  ever  endeavouring  to  make  Antony 
hate  him.  He  therefore  determined  to  obey  his  summons,  for  he  had  no  possible 
way  to  avoid  it ;  so  he  left  his  uncle  Joseph  procurator  for  his  government,  and 
the  public  atiairs;  and  gave  him  a  private  charge,  that  if  Antony  should  kill  him, 
he  also  should  kill  Mariamne  immediately  :  for  that  he  had  a  tender  affection  for 
this  his  wife,  and  was  afraid  of  the  injury  that  should  be  ofiered  him,  if,  after  his 
deatli,  she,  for  her  beauty,  should  be  engaged  to  some  other  man:  but  this  inti- 
mation was  nothing  but  this  at  the  bottom,  that  Antony  had  fallen  in  love  with  her, 
when  he  had  formerly  heard  somewhat  of  her  beauty.  So  when  Herod  had  given 
Joseph  this  charge,  and  had  indeed  no  sure  hopes  of  escaping  with  his  life,  he 
went  away  to  Antony. 

0.  But  as  Joseph  was  administering  the  public  affairs  of  the  kingdom,  and 
for  that  reason  was  very  frequently  with  Mariamne  ;  both  because  his  business 
required  it,  and  because  of  the  respects  he  ought  to  pay  to  the  queen,  he  fre- 
quently let  himself  into  discourses  about  Herod's  kindness,  and  great  affection 
towards  her  ;  and  when  the  women  especially  Alexandra,  used  to  turn  his  dis- 
courses  into  feminine  raillery,  Joseph  was  so  over  desirous  to  demonstrate  the 
king's  inclinations  that  he  proceeded  so  far  as  to  mention  the  charge  he  had  receiv- 
ed ;  and  thence  drew  his  demonstration,  that  Herod  was  not  able  to  live  without  her ; 
and  that  if  he  should  come  to  any  ill  end,  he  could  not  endure  a  separation  from 
her,  even  after  he  was  dead.  Thus  spake  Joseph.  But  the  women,  as  was  na- 
tural,  did  not  take  this  to  be  an  instance  of  Herod's  strong  afiection  for  them,  but 
of  his  severe  usage  of  them,  that  they  could  not  escape  destruction,  nor  a  tyran- 
nical death,  even  when  he  was  dead  himself:  and  this  saying  [of  Joseph's]  was 
a  foundation  for  the  women's  severe  suspicions  about  him  afterwards. 

7.  At  this  time  a  report  went  about  the  city  Jerusalem,  among  Herod's  ene- 
mies, that  Antony  had  tortured  Herod,  and  put  him  to  death.  This  I'eport,  as  is 
natural,  disturbed  those  that  were  about  the  palace,  but  chiefly  the  women  :  upon 
which  Alexandra  endeavoured  to  persuade  Joseph  to  go  out  of  the  palace,  and 
fly  away  with  them  to  the  ensigns  of  the  Roman  legion,  which  then  lay  encamp- 
ed about  the  city,  as  a  guard  to  the  kingdom,  imder  the  command  of  Julius  ;  for 
that  by  this  moans,  if  any  disturbance  should  happen  about  the  palace,  they 
should  be  in  greater  security,  as  having  the  Romans  favourable  to  them  ;  and 
that,  besides,  they  hoped  to  obtain  the  highest  authority,  if  Antony  did  but  once 
see  Mariamne,  by  whose  means  they  should  recover  the  kingdom,  and  want 
nothing  which  was  reasonable  for  them  to  hope  for,  because  of  their  royal  ex- 
h'action. 

8.  But  as  they  were  in  the  midst  of  these  deliberations,  letters  were  brought 
from  Herod  about  all  his  affairs,  and  proved  contrary  to  the  report,  and  of  what 
they  before  expected  ;  for  when  he  was  come  to  Antony,  he  soon  recovered  his 
interest  with  him,  by  the  presents  he  made  him,  which  he  had  brought  with  him 
from  Jerusalem,  and  he  soon  induced  him,  upon  discoursing  with  him,  to  leave 
off  his  indiguation  at  him  ;  so  that  Cleopatra's  persuasions  had  less  force  than 
the  arguments  and  presents  he  brought,  to  regain  his  friendship  :  for  Antony 
said,  that  '•  it  was  not  good  to  require  an  account  of  a  king,  as  to  the  affairs  of 
his  government ;  for  at  this  rate  he  could  be  no  king  at  all,  but  that  those  who 
had  given  him  that  authority  ought  to  permit  him  to  make  use  of  it."  He  also 
said  the  same  things  to  Cleopatra,  that  it  would  be  best  for  her  not  busily  to  med- 
dle with  the  acts  of  the  king's  government.  Herod  wrote  an  account  of  these 
things  ;  and  "  enlarged  upon  the  other  honours  which  he  had  received  from  An- 
tony :  how  he  sat  by  him  at  his  hearing  causes,  and  took  his  diet  with  him  every 
day,  and  that  he  enjoyed  those  favours  from  him,  notwithstanding  the  reproaches 
that  Cleopatra  so  severely  laid  against  him,  who,  having  a  great  desire  of  his 


518  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV: 

country,  and  earnestly  entreating  Antony  that  the  kingdom  might  be  given  to  her, 
laboured  with  her  utmost  dihgence  to  have  him  out  of  the  way  ;  but  that  he  still 
found  Antony  just  to  him,  and  had  no  longer  any  apprehensions  of  hard  treat- 
ment from  liim  ;  and  that  he  was  soon  upon  his  return,  with  a  firmer  additional 
assurance  of  his  favour  to  him,  in  his  reigning  and  managing  pubhc  affairs  ;  and 
that  there  was  no  longer  any  hopes  for  Cleopatra's  covetous  temper,  since  An- 
tony  had  given  her  Celesyria  instead  of  what  she  desired  ;  by  which  means  he 
had  at  once  pacified  her,  and  got  clear  of  the  entreaties  which  she  made  him, 
to  have  Judea  bestowed  upon  her. 

9.  When  these  letters  were  brought,  the  women  left  off  their  attempt  for  fly- 
ing  to  the  Romans,  which  they  thought  of  while  Herod  was  supposed  to  be  dead  ; 
yet  was  not  that  purpose  of  theirs  a  secret :  but  when  the  king  had  condacted 
Antony  on  his  way  against  the  Parthians,  he  returned  to  Judea,  when  both  his  sis. 
ter  Salome  and  his  mother  informed  him  of  Alexandra's  intentions.  Salome  also 
added  somewhat  farther  against  Joseph,  though  it  were  no  more  than  a  calumny, 
that  he  had  often  had  criminal  conversation  with  Mariamne.  The  reason  of  her 
saying  so  was  this,  that  she  lor  a  long  time  bare  her  ill  will ;  for  when  they  had 
differences  with  one  another,  Mariamne  took  great  freedoms,  and  reproached  the 
rest  for  the  meanness  of  their  birth.  But  Herod,  whose  aflection  to  Mariamne 
was  always  very  warm,  was  presently  disturbed  at  this,  and  could  not  bear  the 
torments  of  jealousy  ;  but  was  still  restrained  from  doing  any  rash  thing  to  her 
by  the  love  he  had  for  her  :  yet  did  his  vehement  affection  and  jealousy  together 
make  him  ask  Mariamne  by  herself  about  this  matter  of  Joseph  ;  but  she  denied 
it  upon  her  oath,  and  said  all  that  an  innocent  woman  could  possibly  say  in  her 
own  defence  ;  so  that  by  little  and  little  the  king  was  prevailed  upon  to  drop  the 
suspicion,  and  left  off  his  anger  at  her  ;  and  being  overcome  with  his  passion 
tor  his  wife,  he  made  an  apology  to  her  for  having  seemed  to  believe  what  he  had 
heard  about  her,  and  returned  her  a  great  many  acknowledgments  of  her  modest 
behaviour  and  professed  the  extraordinary  affection  and  kindness  he  had  for  her, 
till  at  last,  as  is  usual  between  lovers,  they  both  fell  into  tears,  and  embraced  one 
another  with  a  most  tender  affection.  But  as  the  king  gave  more  and  more  as. 
surances  of  his  belief  of  her  fidelity,  and  endeavoured  to  draw  her  to  a  like  con- 
fidence  in  him,  Mariamne  said,  "  Yet  was  not  that  command  thou  gavest,  that 
if  any  harm  came  to  thee  from  Antony,  I,  who  had  been  no  occasion  of  it, 
should  perish  with  thee,  a  sign  of  thy  love  to  me."  When  these  words  were 
fallen  from  her,  the  king  was  shocked  at  them,  and  presently  let  her  go  out  of 
his  arms,  and  cried  out,  and  tore  his  hair  with  his  own  hands,  and  said  that  now 
he  had  an  evident  demonstration  that  Joseph  had  had  criminal  conversation  with 
his  wife  ;  for  that  he  would  never  have  uttered  what  he  had  told  him  alone  by 
himself,  unless  there  had  been  such  a  great  familiarity  and  firm  confidence  be- 
tween  them."  And  while  he  was  in  this  passion  he  had  like  to  have  killed  his 
wife  ;  but,  being  still  overborne  by  his  love  to  her,  he  restrained  this  his  passion, 
though  not  without  a  lasting  grief,  and  disquietness  of  mind.  However,  he  gave 
order  to  slay  Joseph,  without  permitting  him  to  come  into  his  sight :  and  as  for 
Alexandra,  he  bound  her,  and  kept  her  in  custody  as  the  cause  of  all  this  mischief. 


CHAP.  IV. 

How  Cleopatra,  when  she  had  gotten  from  Antony  some  Parts  of  Judea  and  Arabia, 

came  into  Judea;  and  how  Herod  gave  her  many  Presents,  and  conducted  her 

on  her  Way  hack  to  Egypt. 

§  1.  Now  at  this  (imo  the  affairs  of  Syria  were  in  confusion  by  Cleopatra's  con- 
stant persuasions  to  Antony  to  make  an  attempt  upon  every  body's  dominions ;  for 


C.  IV  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  519 

she  persuaded  him  to  take  those  dominions  away  from  their  several  princes,  and 
bestow  them  upon  her;  and  she  had  a  mighty  influence  upon  him,  by  reason  of  his 
being  enslaved  to  her  by  his  affections.  She  was  also  by  nature  very  covetous, 
and  stuck  at  no  wickedness.  She  had  already  poisoned  lier  brother,  because  she 
knew  that  he  was  to  be  king  of  Egypt,  and  this  when  he  was  but  fifteen  years  old  : 
and  she  got  her  sister  Arsinoe  to  be  slain  by  the  means  of  Antony,  when  she  was 
a  suppliant  at  Diana's  temple  at  Ephesus  ;  for  if  there  were  but  any  hopes  of 
getting  money,  she  would  violate  both  temples  and  sepulchres.  Nor  was  there 
any  holy  place,  that  was  esteemed  the  most  inviolable,  from  which  she  would  not 
fetch  the  ornaments  it  had  in  it;  nor  any  place  so  profane,  but  was  to  suffer  the 
most  flagitious  treatment  possible  from  her,  if  it  could  but  contribute  somewhat  to 
the  covetous  humour  of  this  wicked  creature  :  yet  did  not  all  this  suffice  so  ex- 
travagant a  woman,  who  was  a  slave  to  her  lusts,  but  she  still  imagined  that  she 
wanted  every  thing  she  could  think  of,  and  did  her  utmost  to  gain  it ;  for  which 
reason  slie  hurried  Antony  on  perpetually  to  deprive  others  of  their  dominions,  and 
give  them  to  her.  And  as  she  went  over  Syria  with  him,  she  contrived  to  get  it 
into  her  possession  ;  so  he  slew  Lysanias,  the  son  of  Ptolemv,  accusing  him  of  his 
bringing  the  Parthians  upon  those  countries.  She  also  petitioned  Antony  to  give 
her  Judea  and  Arabia  ;  and,  in  order  thereto,  desired  him  to  take  these  countries 
away  from  their  present  governors.  As  for  Antony,  he  was  so  entirely  overcome 
by  tins  woman  that  one  v/ould  not  think  her  conversation  only  could  do  it,  but  that 
he  was  some  way  or  other  bewitched  to  do  whatsoever  she  would  have  liim ;  yet 
did  the  grossest  parts  of  her  injustice  make  him  so  ashamed  that  he  would  not  al- 
ways hearken  to  her,  to  do  those  flagrant  enormities  she  would  have  persuaded 
him  to.  That  therefore  he  might  not  totally  deny  her,  nor,  by  doing  every  thing 
that  she  enjoined  him,  appear  openly  to  be  an  ill  man,  he  took  some  parts  of  each 
of  those  countries  away  from  their  tormer  governors,  and  gave  them  to  her. 
Thus  he  gave  her  the  cities  that  were  within  the  river  Eleutherus,  as  far  as  Egypt, 
excepting  Tyre  and  Sidon,  which  he  knew  to  have  been  free  cities  from  their  an- 
cestors, although  she  pressed  him  very  often  to  bestow  those  on  her  also. 

2.  When  Cleopatra  had  obtained  thus  much,  and  had  accompanied  Antony  in 
his  expedition  to  Armenia,  as  far  as  Euphrates,  she  returned  back,  and  came  to 
Apamia  and  Damascus,  and  passed  on  to  Judea,  where  Herod  met  her,  and  farmed 
of  her  her  parts  of  Arabia,  and  those  revenues  that  came  to  her  from  the  region 
about  Jericho.  This  country  bears  that  balsam  which  is  the  most  precious  drug 
that  is  there,  and  grows  there  alone.  The  place  bears  also  palm  trees,  both  many 
in  number,  and  those  excellent  in  their  kind.  AVhen  she  was  there,  and  was  very 
often  with  Herod,  she  endeavoured  to  have  criminal  conversation  with  the  king: 
nor  did  she  affect  secrecy  in  the  indulgence  of  such  sort  of  pleasures  ;  and  per- 
haps she  had  in  some  measure  a  passion  of  love  to  him,  or  rather,  what  is  most 
probable,  she  laid  a  treacherous  snare  for  him,  by  aiming  to  obtain  such  adulte- 
rous conversation  from  him:  however,  upon  the  whole,  she  seemed  overcome  with 
love  to  him.  Now  Hei'od  had  a  great  while  borne  no  good  will  to  Cleopatra,  as 
knowing  that  she  was  a  woman  irksome  to  all ;  and  at  that  time  he  thought  her 
particularly  worthy  of  his  hatred,  if  this  attempt  proceeded  out  of  lust :  he  had  also 
thought  of  preventing  her  intrigues,  by  putting  her  to  death,  if  such  were  her  en- 
deavours. However,  he  refused  to  comply  with  her  proposals,  and  called  a  coun- 
cil of  his  friends  to  consult  with  them,  "  Whether  he  should  not  kill  her,  now  ho 
h:ul  lier  in  his  power  ?  for  that  he  should  thereby  deliver  all  those  from  a  multitude 
of  evils  to  whom  she  was  already  become  irksome,  and  was  expected  to  be  still  so 
for  the  time  to  come  ;  and  that  this  very  thing  would  be  much  for  the  advantage 
of  Antony  himself,  since  she  would  certainly  not  be  faithful  to  hini,  in  case  any 
such  season  or  necessity  should  come  upon  him  as  that  he  should  stand  in  need  of 
her  fidelity."  But  when  he  thought  to  follow  this  advice,  ids  I'riends  would  not  let 
him ;  and  told  him,  "in  the  first  place,  it  was  not  right  to  attempt  so  great  a  thing, 
and  run  himself  thereby  into  the  utmost  dtuigcr  :  and  they  laid  hard  at  him,  and 


520  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV. 

begged  of  him  to  undertake  nothing  rashly;  for  that  Antony  would  never  bear  it, 
no  not  though  any  one  should  evidentlj^  lay  before  his  eyes  that  it  was  for  his  own 
advantage;  and  that  the  appearance  of  depriving  him  of  her  conversation  by  this 
violent  and  treacherous  method,  would  probably  set  his  affections  more  on  a  tlame 
than  before.  Nor  did  it  appear  that  he  could  offer  any  thing  of  tolerable  weight 
in  his  defence,  this  attempt  being  against  such  a  woman  as  was  of  the  highest  dig- 
nity of  any  of  her  sex  at  that  time  in  the  world:  and  as  to  any  advantage  to  be  ex- 
pected from  such  an  undertaking,  if  any  such  could  be  supposed  in  this  case,  it 
would  appear  to  deserve  condemnation,  on  account  of  the  insolence  he  must  take 
upon  him  in  doing  it.  Which  considerations  made  it  very  plain  that  in  so  doing 
he  would  find  his  government  filled  with  mischiefs,  both  great  and  lasting,  both  to 
himself  and  his  posterity:  whereas  it  was  still  in  his  power  to  reject  that  wicked- 
ness she  would  persuade  him  to,  and  to  come  ofi' honourably  at  the  same  time." 
So  by  thus  affrighting  Herod,  and  representing  to  him,  the  hazard  he  must,  in  all 
probability,  run  by  this  undertaking,  they  restrained  him  from  it.  So  he  treated 
Cleopatra  kindly,  and  made  her  presents,  and  conducted  her  on  her  way  to 
Egypt. 

3.  But  Antony  subdued  Armenia,  and  sent  Artabazcs,  the  son  of  Tigranes, 
in  bonds,  with  his  children  and  procurators,  to  Egypt,  and  made  a  present  of 
them,  and  of  all  the  royal  ornaments  which  he  had  taken  out  of  that  kingdom  to 
Cleopatra.  And  Artaxias,  the  eldest  of  his  sons,  who  had  escaped  at  that  time, 
took  the  kingdom  of  Armenia ;  who  yet  was  ejected  by  Archelaus  and  Nero  Csesar, 
"when  they  restored  Tigranes,  his  younger  brother,  to  that  kingdom:  but  this 
happened  a  good  while  afterward. 

4.  But  then,  as  to  the  tributes  which  Herod  was  to  pay  Cleopatra  for  that 
country  which  Antony  had  given  her,  he  acted  fairly  with  her,  as  deeming  it  not 
safe  for  him  to  afford  any  cause  for  Cleopatra  to  hate  him.  As  for  the  king  of 
Arabia,  whose  tribute  Herod  had  undertaken  to  pay  her  ;  for  some  time  indeed 
he  paid  him  as  much  as  came  to  two  hundred  talents;  but  he  afterward  became 
very  niggardly,  and  slow  in  his  payments,  and  could  hardly  be  brought  to  pay 
tome  parts  of  it,  and  was  not  willing  to  pay  even  then  without  some  deductions. 


CHAP.  V. 

How  Herod  made  War  with  the  King  of  Arabia,  and,  after  they  had  fought  many 

Battles,  at  length  conquered  him,  and  was  chosen  by  the  Arabs  to  be  Governor 

of  that  Nation :  as  also  concerning  a  great  Earthquake. 

§  1.  HerexjpojV  Herod  held  himself  ready  to  go  against  the  king  of  Arabia,  be- 
cause of  his  ingratitude  to  him,  and  because,  after  all,  he  would  do  nothing  that 
was  just  to  him,  although  Herod  made  the  Roman  war  an  occasion  of  delaying 
his  own  ;  for  the  battle  at  Actium  was  now  expected,  which  fell  into  the  hundred 
eighty  and  seventh  olympiad,  where  Caesar  and  Antony  were  to  fight  for  the  su- 
preme power  of  the  world  ;  but  Herod,  having  enjoyed  a  country  that  was  very 
fruitful,  and  that  now  for  a  long  time,  and  having  received  great  taxes,  and  raised 
great  armies  therewith,  got  together  a  body  of  men,  and  carefully  furnished  them 
with  all  necessaries,  and  designed  them  as  auxiliaries  lor  Antony :  but  Antony 
said  he  had  no  want  of  his  assistance  ;  but  he  commanded  him  to  punish  the  king 
of  Arabia  ;  for  he  had  heard,  both  from  him  and  from  Cleopatra,  how  perfidious 
he  was  ;  for  this  was  what  Cleopatra  desired,  who  thought  it  for  her  own  advan- 
tage  that  these  two  kings  should  do  one  another  as  great  mischief  as  possible. 
Upon  this  message  from  Antony,  Herod  returned  back:  but  kept  his  army  with 
him,  in  order  to  invade  Arabia  immediately.  So  when  his  army  of  horsemen  and 
footmen  was  ready,  he  marched  to  Diospolis,  whither  the  Arabians  came  also  to 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  521 

meet  them,  for  they  were  not  unapprized  of'this  war  that  was  coming  upon  them  ; 
and,  after  a  great  battle  had  been  fought,  the  Jews  had  (he  victory  :  but  after- 
ward tiiere  were  gotten  togetiier  anotlier  numerous  army  of  the  Arabians,  at  Ca- 
na,  which  are  |daces  of  Celesyria.  Herod  was  intbrmed  of  this  beforeliand  ;  so 
he  came  marching  against  them  with  the  greatest  part  of  the  forces  he  hud  ;  and 
Avhen  he  was  come  near  to  Cana,  he  resolved  to  encamp  himself,  and  he  cast  up  a 
bulwark,  that  he  might  take  a  proper  season  for  attacking  the  enemy  ;  but  as  he 
was  giving  those  orders,  the  multilude  of  the  Jews  cried  out  that  he  should  make 
no. delay,  hwt  lead  them  against  the  Arabians.  They  went  with  great  spirit,  as 
believing  they  were  in  very  good  order,  and  those  especially  were  so  that  had 
been  in  the  former  battle,  and  had  been  conquerors,  and  had  not  permitted  their 
enemies  so  much  as  to  come  to  a  close  hght  with  them.  And  when  they  were  so 
tumultuous,  and  showed  such  great  alacrit}^,  the  king  resolved  to  make  use  of  that 
zeal  the  multitude  then  exhibited  ;  and  when  he  had  assured  them  he  would  not 
be  behindhand  with  them  hi  courage,  he  led  them  on,'  and  stood  before  them  all 
in  his  armour,  ail  the  regiments  following  him  in  their  several  ranks:  whereupon 
a  consternation  fell  upon  the  Arabians  ;  for  when  they  perceived  that  the  Jews 
were  not  to  be  conquered,  and  were  full  of  spirit,  the  greater  part  of  them  ran 
away,  and  avoided  fighting  ;  and  they  had  been  quite  destroyed,  had  not  Athenio 
fallen  upon  the  Jews,  and  distressed  them  ;  for  this  man  was  Cleopatra's  general 
over  the  soldiers  she  had  there,  and  was  at  enmity  with  Herod,  and  very  wistfully 
looked  on  to  see  what  the  event  of  the  battle  would  be  :  he  had  also  resolved,  that 
in  case  the  Arabians  did  any  thing  that  was  brave  and  successful,  he  would  lie 
still ;  but  in  case  they  were  beaten,  as  it  really  happened,  he  would  attack  the 
Jews  with  those  forces  he  had  of  his  own,  and  with  those  that  the  country  had 
gotten  together  for  him  :  so  he  fell  upon  the  Jews  unexpectedly,  when  they  were 
fatigued,  and  thought  they  had  already  vanquished  the  enemy,  and  made  a  Treat 
slaughter  of  them  :  for  as  the  Jews  had  spent  their  courage  upon  their  known 
enemies,  and  were  about  to  enjoy  themselves  in  quietness  after  their  victory,  ihev 
were  easily  beaten  by  these  that  attacked  them  afresh  :  and  in  particular  received 
a  great  loss  in  places  where  the  horses  could  not  be  of  service,  and  which  were 
very  stony,  and  where  those  that  attacked  them  were  better  acquainted  with  the 
places  than  themselves.  And  when  the  Jews  had  suifered  this  loss,  the  Arabians 
raised  their  spirits  after  their  defeat,  and,  returning  back  again,  slew  those  that 
were  already  put  to  flight ;  and  indeed  all  sorts  of  slaughter  were  now  frequent, 
and  of  those  that  escaped  a  few  only  returned  into  the  camp.  So  kino-  Herod, 
when  he  despaired  of  the  buttle,  rode  up  to  them  to  bring  them  assistance  ;  yet  did 
he  not  come  time  enough  to  do  them  any  service,  though  he  laboured  hard  to  do 
it ;  but  the  Jewish  camp  was  taken,  so  that  the  Arabians  had  unexpectedly  a  most 
glorious  success,  having  gained  that  victory  which  of  themselves  they  were  no 
way  likely  to  have  gained,  and  claying  a  great  part  of  the  enemy's  army  :  whence 
afterward  Herod  could  only  act  like  a  private  robber,  and  make  excursions  upon 
many  parts  of  Arabia,  and  distress  them  by  sudden  incursions,  while  he  encamped 
among  the  mountains,  and  avoided  by  any  means  to  come  to  a  pitched  battle  ;  yet 
did  he  greatly  harass  the  enemy  by  his  assiduity,  and  the  hard  labour  he  took  in 
this  matter.  He  also  took  great  care  of  his  own  forces,  and  used  all  the  means  he 
could  to  restore  his  affairs  to  their  old  state. 

2.  At  this  time  it  was  that  the  fight  happened  at  Actium,  between  Octavius 
Caisar  and  Antony,  in  the  seventh*  year  of  the  reign  of  Herod;  and  then  it  was 
also  that  there  was  an  earthquake  in  Judea,  such  a  one  as  had  not  happened  at 
any  other  time,  and  which  earthquake  brought  a  great  destruction  upon  the  cat- 
tie  in  that  country.  About  ten  thousand  men  also  perished  by  the  fall  of  houses  : 

»  The  reader  is  hoie  to  take  notire.  that  this  aevenfk  year  of  the  reign  of  Herod,  and  all  the  oihervears 
■of  h.s  re.gn,  n.  Josephns,  ari-  dated  from  the  death  of  Antij;o,ius,  or  at  the  soot.c^t  from  the  connue.t  of 
Aiitwonus,  and  the  taking  of  Jerusalem  a  lew  months  before,  and  never  front  his  fir<=t  obtainin-  the  king- 
dom at  Rome  above  three  years  l»foro,  as  some  liave  very  weakly  and  injudicioii.lv  done        '" 
VOL.  I.  3  U  .-  /  . 


5'22  Ai\TIQUIT!ES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV. 

but  the  army,  which  lodged  in  the  field,  received  no  damage  by  this  sad  accident. 
"When  the  Arabians  were  informed  of  this,  and  when  those  that  hated  the  Jews, 
and  pleased  themselves  with  aggravating  the  reports,  told  them  of  it,  they  raised 
their  spirits,  as  if  their  enemy's  country  was  quite  overthrown,  and  the  men  were 
utterly  destroj'ed,  and  thought  there  now  remained  nothing  that  could  oppose 
them.  Accordingly,  they  took  the  Jewish  ambassadors,  who  came  to  them  after 
all  tliis  had  happened,  to  make  peace  with  them,  and  slew  them,  and  came  with 
great  alacrity  against  their  army  ;  but  the  Jews  durst  not  withstand  them,  and 
were  so  cast  down  by  the  calamities  they  were  under,  that  they  took  no  care  of 
their  affairs,  but  gave  up  themselves  to  despair  ;  for  they  had  no  hope  that  ihey 
should  be  upon  a  level  with  them  again  in  battles,  nor  obtain  any  assistance  else- 
where, while  their  aft'airs  at  home  were  in  such  great  distress  also.  When  matters 
were  in  this  condition,  the  king  persuaded  the  commanders  by  his  words,  and  tried 
to  raise  their  spirits,  which  were  quite  sunk ;  and  first  he  endeavoured  to  encou- 
rage and  embolden  some  .of  the  better  sort  beforehand,  and  then  ventured  to 
make  a  speech  to  the  multitude,  which  he  had  before  avoided  to  do,  lest  he 
should  find  them  uneasy  thereat,  because  of  the  misfortunes  which  had  happened ; 
so  he  made  a  consolatory  speech  to  the  multitude,  in  the  manner  following  : 

3.   "  You  are  not  unacquainted,  my  fellow-soldiers,  that  we  have  had  not  long 
fiincc  many  accidents  that  have  put  a  stop  to  what  we  are  about ;  and  it  is  pro- 
bable, that  even  those  that  are  most  distinguished  above  others  tor  their  courage 
can  hardly  keep  up  their  spirits  in   such  circumstances :  but  since  we  cannot 
avoid  fighting,  and  nothing  that  hath  happened  is  of  such  a  nature  but  it  may  by 
yourselves  be  recovered  into  a  good  state,  and  this  by  one  brave  action  only  well 
pertbrmed,  I  have  proposed  to  myself  both  to  give  you  some  encouragement,  and 
at  the  same  time,  some  information,  both  which  parts  of  my  design  will  tend  to 
this  point,  that  you  may  still  continue  in  your  own  proper  fortitude.     I  will  then, 
in  the  first  place,  demonstrate  to  you,  that  this  war  is  a  just  one  on  our  side,  and 
that  on  this  account  it  is  a  war  of  necessity,  and  occasioned  by  the  injustice  of 
our  adversaries  ;  for  if  jou  be  once  satisfied  of  this,  it  will  be  a  real  cause  of 
ulacrity  to  you  :  after  which  I  will  farther  demonstrate  that   the  misfortunes 
we  are  under  are   of  no  great  consequence,   and  that  we  have  the  greatest 
reason  to  hope  for  victory.     I  shall  begin  with  the  first,  and  appeal  to  jour- 
selves   as  witnesses  to  what  I  shall  say.     You   are   not  ignorant  certainly  of 
the  wickedness  of  the  Arabians,  which  is  to  that  degree  as  to  appear  incredible 
to  all  other  men,  and  to  include  somewhat  that  shows  the  grossest  barbarity  and 
ignorance  of  Cod.    Their  chief  things  wherein  they  have  atironted  us  have  arisen 
from  covetousness  and  envy,  and  they  have  attacked  us  in  an  insidious  manner, 
and  on  the  sudden.     And  what  occasion  is  there  for  me  to  mention  many  instan- 
ces of  such  their  procedure  ?    When  they  were  in  danger  of  losing  their  own  go- 
vernment of  themselves,  and  of  being  slaves  to  Cleopatra,  what  others  were  they 
that  freed  them  from  that   fear?     For  it  was  the  friendship  I  had  with  Antony, 
and  the  kind  disposition  he  was  in  towards  us,  that  hath  been  the  occasion  that 
even  these  Arabians  have  not  been  utterly  undone ;  Antony  being  unwilling  to 
undertake  any  thing  which  might  be  suspected  by  us  of  unkindness:  but  when  he 
b.ad  a  mind  to  bestow  some  parts  of  each  of  our  dominions  on  Cleopatra,  I  also 
managed  that  matter  so,  that  by  giving  him  presents  of  my  own,  I  might  obtain 
security  to  both  nations,  while  I  undertook  myself  to  answer  for  the  money, 
and  gave  him  two   hundred  talents,  and   became  surety  for  those  two  hundred 
more,  which  were  imposed  upon  the  land  that  W'as  subject  to  this  tribute  :  and 
tliis  they  have  defrauded  us  of,  although  it  war.  not  reasonable  that  Jews  should 
pay  tribute  to  any  man  living,  or  allow  part  of  their  land  to  be  taxable  ;  but  al- 
though thai  was  to  be,  yet  ought  vvc  not  to  pay  tribute  for  these  Arabians,  whom  we 
Isave  ourselves  preserved  ;  nor  is  it  fit  that  they  who  have  professed,  and  that  with 
great  integrity  and  sense  of  our  kindness,  that  it  is  by  our  means  that  (hey  keep 
tlitir  principality,  should  injurs  us,  and  deprive  us  of  what  is  our  due  ;  and  this 


C.  V.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  523 

while  we  have  been  still  not  their  enemies  but  their  fiionds.  And  whereas  ob- 
servation of  covenants  takes  place  among  the  bitterest  enemies,  but  among  tnenda 
is  absoliitely  necessary,  tliis  is  not  observed  among  these  men,  who  think  gain 
to  be  tlie  best  of  all  things,  let  it  be  by  any  means  niiatsocver  ;  and  that  injustice  is 
no  harm,  il"  they  may  but  get  money  by  it.  fs  !<■  thcref^')rc  a  question  with  you, 
Whether  the  unjust  are  to  be  punished  or  not?  when  God  himself  hath  declared 
his  mind  that  so  it  ought  to  be,  and  ha'h  commanded  that  we  ever  should 
hate  injuries  and  injustice  ;  which  is  not  '■nly  just  but  necessary  in  wars  between 
several  nations  :  for  these  Arabians  hr-ve  done  what  both  the  Greeks  and  barba- 
rians own  to  be  an  instance  of  the  grossest  wickedness,  with  regard  to  our  am- 
bassadors, which  they  have  behepded,  while  the  Greeks  declare  that  such  am- 
bassadors* are  sacred  and  invio'able.  And  lor  ourselves,  we  have  learned  from 
God  the  most  excellent  of  O't  doctrines,  and  the  most  holy  part  of  our  law  by 
angels,  or  ambassadors ;  fo  this  name  brings  God  to  the  knowledge  of  mankind, 
and  is  suflicient  to  rcrop  :ilc  enemies  one  to  another.  What  wickedness  then  can 
be  greater  than  the  s'nughter  of  ambassadors,  who  come  to  treat  about  doing 
what  is  right?  And  when  such  have  been  their  actions,  how  is  it  possible  they 
can  either  live  s'-.curely  in  common  life,  or  be  successful  iu  war  ?  In  my  opinion 
this  is  imiiosy-ble.  But  perhaps  some  will  say,  that  what  is  holy  and  what  is 
righteous  's  indeed  on  our  side,  but  that  the  Arabians  are  either  more  courageous 
or  mo*'e  numerous  than  we  are.  Now,  as  to  this,  in  the  iirst  place,  it  is  not 
fit  for  us  to  say  so ;  for  with  whom  is  v*'hat  is  righteous,  with  them  is  God  him- 
self; now,  where  God  is,  there  is  both  multitude  and  courage.  But  to  examine 
our  own  circumstances  a  little  :  we  were  conquerors  in  the  first  battle  ;  and  when 
we  fought  again,  they  were  not  able  to  oppose  us,  but  ran  away,  and  could  not 
endure  our  attacks  or  our  courage  ;  but  when  we  had  conquered  them,  then  came 
Athenion,  and  made  war  against  us  without  declaring  it ;  and  pray,  is  this  an  in- 
stance of  their  manhood?  or  is  it  not  a  second  instance  of  their  wickedness  and 
treachery  ?  Why  are  we  therefore  of  less  courage,  on  account  of  that  which 
ought  to  inspire  us  with  stronger  hopes  ;  and  why  are  we  terrified  at  these,  who, 
when  they  fight  upon  the  level,  are  continually  beaten ;  and  when  they  seem  to 
be  conquerors,  they  gain  it  by  wickedness?  And  if  we  suppose  that  any  one 
should  deem  them  to  be  men  of  real  courage,  will  not  he  be  excited  by  that  very  con- 
sideration to  do  his  utmost  against  them?  for  true  valour  is  not  shown  by  fightin<T 
against  weak  persons,  but  in  being  able  to  overcome  the  most  hardy.  JBut  then, 
if  the  distresses  we  are  ourselves  under,  and  the  miseries  that  have  ctome  by  the 
earthquake,  have  aftrighted  any  one,  let  him  consider  in  the  first  place  that  this 
very  thing  will  deceive  the  Arabians,  by  their  supposal  that  v>'hat  hath  befallen 
us  is  greater  than  it  really  is.  Moreover  it  is  not  right  that  the  same  thing  that 
emboldens  them  should  discourage  us  ;  for  these  men,  you  see,  do  not  derive 
their  alacrity  from  any  advantageous  virtue  of  their  own,  but  from  their  hope  as 
to  us,  that  we  are  quite  cast  down  by  our  misfortunes  :  but  when  we  boldly  march 
against  them,  we  shall  soon  pull  down  their  insolent  conceit  of  themselves,  and 
shall  gain  this  by  attacking  them,  that  they  will  not  be  so  insolent  when  we  come  to 
the  battle  ;  for  our  distresses  are  not  so  great,  nor  is  what  hath  happened  an  in- 
dication of  the  anger  of  God  against  us,  as  some  imagine;  for  such  things  are 
accidental,  and  adversities  that  come  in  the  usual  course  of  things:  and  if  we  al- 
low  that  this  was  done  by  the  will  of  (lod,  we  must  allow  that  it  is  now  over  by  his 
will  also  ;  and  that  he  is  satisfied  with  what  hath  already  happened;  for  had  he 
been  willing  to  alliict  us  still  more  thereby,  he  had  not  changed  his  mind  so  soon. 
And  as  for  the  war  we  are  engaged  in,  he  hath  himself  demonstrated,  that  he  is 
willing  it  should  go  on,  and  that  he  knows  it  to  be  a  just  war  ;  for  while  some  of 
the  people  in  the  country  have  perished,  all  you  who  were  in  arms  have  suffered 

*  Herod  says  here,  that  as  ambassadors  were  sacrerl  when  they  carried  messages  to  others,  so  did  the 
laws  of  tlie  Jews  derive  a  sacred  authority  by  being  delivered  from  God  by  angels  [ox  divine  ambassa-K 
dors,]  which  is  St.  i'aul's  expression  about  the  same  laws,  Gal.  iii.  VJ;  HcU.  ii.  Z 
3U2 


524  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS,  B.  XV. 

nothing,  but  are  all  preserved  alive ;  Avhereby  God  makes  it  plain  to  us,  that  if 
you  had  universally,  with  your  children  and  wives,  been  in  the  army,  it  had  como 
to  pass,  that  you  had  not  undergone  any  thing  that  would  have  much  hurt  you. 
Consider  these  things,  and  what  is  more  than  all  the  rest,  that  you  have  God  at 
all  times  for  your  protector;  and  prosecute  these  men  with  a  just  bravery,  who, 
in  point  of  friendship  are  unjust,  in  their  battles  perfidious,  towards  ambassadors 
impious,  and  always  inferior  to  you  in  valour." 

4.  When  the  Jews  heard  this  speech  they  were  much  raised  in  their  minds, 
and  more  disposed  to  fight  than  before.  So  Herod,  when  he  had  offered  the 
sacrifices*  appointed  by  the  law,  made  haste,  and  took  them,  and  led  them  against 
the  Arabians ;  and  in  order  t  o  that  passed  over  Jordan,  and  pitched  his  camp  near 
to  that  of  the  enemy.  He  also  thought  fit  to  seize  upon  a  certain  castle  that  lay 
in  the  midst  of  them,  as  hoping  it  v/ould  be  for  his  advantage,  and  would  the 
sooner  produce  a  battle ;  and  that  if  there  were  occasion  for  delay,  he  should  by 
it  have  his  camp  fortified.  And  as  the  Arabians  had  the  same  intentions  upon 
that  place,  a  contest  arose  about  it:  at  first  they  were  but  skirmishes,  after  which 
there  came  more  soldiers,  and  it  proved  a  sort  of  fight,  and  some  fell  on  both 
sides,  till  those  of  the  Arabian  side  were  beaten,  and  retreated.  This  was  no 
small  encouragement  to  the  Jews  immediately ;  and  when  Herod  observed  that 
the  enemy's  army  were  disposed  to  any  thing  rather  than  to  come  to  an  engage- 
ment, he  ventured  boldly  to  attempt  the  bulwark  itself,  and  to  pull  it  to  pieces,  and 
so  to  get  nearer  to  their  camp,  in  order  to  fight  them ;  for  when  they  were  forced 
out  of  their  trenches,  they  went  out  in  disorder,  and  had  not  the  least  alacrity,  or 
hope  of  victory:  yet  did  they  fight  hand  to  hand,  because  they  were  more  in 
number  than  the  Jews,  and  because  they  were  in  such  a  disposition  of  war  that 
tliey  were  under  a  necessity  of  coming  on  boldly  ;  so  they  came  to  a  terrible  bat- 
tle, while  not  a  few  fell  on  each  side.  However,  at  length  the  Arabians  fled ;  and 
so  great  a  slaughter  was  made  upon  their  being  routed,  that  they  were  not  only 
killed  by  their  enemies,  but  became  the  authors  of  their  own  deaths  also,  and 
were  trodden  down  by  the  multitude,  and  the  great  current  of  people  in  disoi'der, 
and  were  destroyed  by  their  own  armour;  so  five  thousand  men  lay  dead  upon  the 
spot,  while  the  rest  of  the  multitude  soon  ran  within  the  bulwark  [for  safety,]  but 
had  no  firm  hope  of  safety,  by  reason  of  their  want  of  necessaries,  and  especially 
of  water.  The  Jews  pursued  them  ;  but  could  not  get  in  with  them,  but  sat  round 
about  the  bulwark,  and  watched  any  assistance  that  would  get  into  them,  and 
prevented  any  there,  that  had  a  mind  to  it,  from  running  away, 

5.  When  the  Arabians  were  in  these  circumstances,  they  sent  ambassadors 
to  Herod,  in  the  first  place  to  propose  terms  of  accommodation ;  and  after  that  to 
offer  him,  so  pressing  was  their  thirst  upon  them,  to  undergo  whatsoever  ho 
pleased,  if  he  would  iiee  them  from  their  present  distress;  but  he  would  admit 
of  no  ambassadors,  of  no  price  of  redemption,  nor  of  any  other  moderate  terms 
whatever,  being  very  desirous  to  revenge  those  unjust  actions  which  they  had 
been  guilty  of  towards  his  nation.  So  they  were  necessitated  by  other  motives, 
and  paiticularly  by  their  thirst,  to  come  out,  and  deliver  themselves  up  to  him,  to  bo 
carried  away  captives;  and  in  five  days'  time,  the  number  of  four  thousand  were 
taken  prisoners,  while  all  the  rest  resolved  to  make  a  sally  upon  their  enemies, 
and  to  fight  it  out  with  them ;  choosing  rather,  if  so  it  must  be,  to  die  therein, 
than  to  perish  gradually  and  ingloriously.  When  they  had  taken  this  resolution, 
lliey  came  out  of  their  trenches,  but  could  no  way  sustain  the  fight,  being  too 

*  This  piece  of  relii^ion,  the  supplicating  God  with  sacrifices  by  Herod,  before  he  went  to  tins  fight 
with  the  Arabians,  taken  iio'ice  ol  also  in  the  first  book  Of  the  War,  ch.  xix.  sect.  5,  is  worth  remarking, 
because  it  is  tiieonly  example  of  this  nature,  so  far  as  I  remember,  tliat  Jcsephus  ever  mentions  in  all  his 
h>rue  nni!  pariiciilar  acconnts  of  this  tiorod:  and  it  was  when  he  had  been  in  mlglity  distress,  and 
(iifcoiiraiied  l)y  a  great  defeat  of  his  former  anny,  and  by  a  very  great  earthquake  inJndea;  such 
times  of  affliction  making  men  most  reDgioiis:  nor  was  ne  disappointed  of  liis  iiopes  here,  but  iinme- 
iliatcly  gained  a  most  signal  victory  over  the  Arabians;  while  they  who  just  before  had  been  so  great 
victors,  and  so  much  elevated  upon  the  earthquake  in  Judea  as  to  venture  to  slay  the  Jewish  ambassa- 
dors, weru  now  under  a  strange  consternation," and  hardly  able  to  fight  at  all. 


C.  Vr.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  525 

much  disabled,  both  in  mind  and  body,  and  having  not  room  to  exert  themselves, 
and  thought  it  an  advantage  to  be  killed,  and  a  misery  to  survive:  so  at  the  first 
onset  there  fell  about  seven  thousand  of  them;  after  which  stroke  they  let  all  the 
courage  they  had  put  on  before  fall,  and  stood  amazed  at  Herod's  warlike  spirit 
under  his  own  calamities;  so  for  the  future  they  yielded,  and  made  him  ruler  of 
their  nation  ;  whereupon  he  was  greatly  elevated  at  so  seasonable  a  success,  and 
returned  home,  taking  great  authority  upon  him,  on  account  of  so  bold  and  glo- 
rious an  expedition  as  he  had  made. 


CHAP.  VI. 

How  Herod  slew  Hyrcanus,  and  then  hasted  mcay  to  CcBsar,  and  obtained  the  King- 
dom fro?n  him  also:  andhoic,  a  Utile  uhile  afterward,  he  entertained  CcBsar  in 
a  most  honourable  Alanner, 

§  1.  Hehod's  other  afTairs  were  now  very  prosperous :  and  he  was  not  to  be 
easily  assaulted  on  any  side.  Yet  did  there  come  upon  him  a  danger  that  would 
hazard  his  entire  dominions,  after  Antony  had  been  beaten  at  the  battle  of  Actium 
by  Cfesar  [Octavian  ;]  for  at  that  time  both  Herod's  enemies  and  friends  despaired 
of  his  affairs;  for  it  was  not  probable  that  he  would  remain  without  punishment, 
who  had  showed  so  much  friendship  for  Antony.  So  it  happened  that  his  friends 
despaired,  and  had  no  hopes  of  his  escape  ;  but  for  his  enemies,  they  all  out- 
wardly appeared  to  be  troubled  at  his  case,  but  were  privately  very  glad  of  it,vas 
hoping  to  obtain  a  change  for  the  better.  As  for  Herod  himself,  he  saw  that  there 
was  no  one  of  royal  dignity  left  but  Hyrcanus,  and  therefore  he  thought  it  would  be 
for  his  advantage  not  to  sutler  him  to  be  an  obstacle  in  his  way  any  longer  ;  for 
that  in  case  he  himself  survived,  and  escaped  the  danger  he  was  in,  he  thought 
it  the  safest  way  to  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  such  a  man  to  make  any  attempt 
against  him,  at  such  junctures  of  affairs,  as  was  more  worthy  of  the  kingdom  than 
himself:  and  in  case  he  should  be  slain  by  Ca;sar,  his  envy  prompted  him  to  do- 
sire  to  slay  him  that  would  otherwise  be  king  after  him. 

2.  While  Herod  had  these  things  in  his  mind,  there  was  a  certain  occasion  af- 
forded him;  for  Hyrcanus  was  of  so  mild  a  temper,  both  then  and  at  other  times, 
that  he  desired  not  to  meddle  with  public  affairs,  nor  to  concern  himself  with  in- 
novations, but  left  all  to  fortune,  and  contented  himself  with  what  that  afforded 
him  :  but  Alexandra  [his  daughter]  was  a  lover  of  strife,  and  was  exceeding  de- 
sirous of  a  change  of  the  government,  and  spake  to  her  father  not  to  bear  for  ever 
Herod's  injurious  treatment  of  their  family,  but  to  anticipate  their  future  hopes, 
as  he  safely  might ;  and  desired  him  to  write  about  those  matters  to  Malchus, 
who  was  then  governor  of  Arabia,  to  receive  them,  and  to  secure  them  [from 
Herod  ;]  for  that  if  they  went  away,  and  Herod's  affairs  proved  to  be  as  it  was  likely 
they  would  be,  by  reason  of  Caesar's  enmity  to  him,  they  should  then  be  the  only  per- 
sons that  could  take  the  government;  and  this,  both  on  account  of  the  royal  family 
they  were  of,  and  on  account  of  the  good  disposition  of  the  multitude  to  them. 
While  she  used  these  persuasions,  Hyrcanus  put  off'  her  suit ;  but  as  she  showed 
that  she  was  a  woman,  and  a  contentious  woman  too,  and  would  not  desist  either 
night  or  day,  but  would  always  be  speaking  to  him  about  these  matters,  and  about 
Herod's  treacherous  designs,  she  at  last  prevailed  with  him  to  intrust  Dositheus, 
one  of  his  friends,  with  a  letter,  wherein  his  resolution  was  declared  ;  and  he  de- 
sired  the  Arabian  governor  to  send  to  him  some  horsemen,  who  should  receive  him 
and  conduct  him  to  the  lake  Asphaltites,  which  is  from  the  bounds  of  .lerusalem 
three  hundred  furlongs  ;  and  he  did  therefore  trust  Dositheus  with  this  letter,  be- 
cause  he  was  a  careful  attendant  on  him  and  on  Alexandra,  and  had  no  small  oc- 
casions to  bear  ill  will  to  Herod  :  for  he  was  a  kinsman  of  one  Joseph  whom  he 


526  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV. 

had  slain,  and  a  brother  of  those  who  were  formerly  slain  at  Tyre  by  Antony; 
vet  could  not  these  motives  induce  Dositheus  to  serve  Hyrcanus  in  this  affair  ; 
ibr,  preferring  the  hopes  he  had  from  the  present  king  to  those  he  had  from  him, 
he  cave  Herod  the  letter.  So  lie  took  his  kindness  in  good  part,  and  bid  him 
besides  do  what  he  had  already  done;  that  is,  go  on  in  serving  him,  by  rolling  up 
the  epistle  and  sealing  it  again,  and  delivering  it  to  Malchus ;  and  then  to  bring 
back  his  letter  in  answer  to  it ;  for  it  would  be  much  better  if  he  could  know 
Malchus's  intentions  also.  And  when  Dositheus  was  very  ready  to  serve  him  in 
this  point  also,  the  Arabian  governor  returned  back  for  answer,  that  he  would  re- 
ceive Hyrcanus,  and  all  that  should  come  with  him,  and  even  all  the  Jews  that 
were  of  his  party:  that  he  would  moreover  send  forces  sufficient  to  secure  them 
in  their  journey,  and  that  he  should  be  in  no  want  of  any  thing  he  should  desire. 
Now  as  soon  as  Herod  had  received  this  letter,  he  immediately  sent  for  Hyrca- 
nus, and  questioned  him  about  the  league  he  had  made  with  Malchus :  and  when 
he  denied  it,  he  showed  his  letter  to  the  sanhedrim,  and  put  the  man  to  death 
immediately. 

3.  And  this  account  we  give  the  reader,  as  it  is  contained  in  the  commentaries 
of  king  Herod :  but  other  historians  do  not  agree  with  them  ;  for  they  suppose 
that  Herod  did  not  find,  but  rather  make,  this  an  occasion  for  thus  putting  him  to 
death,  and  that  by  treacherously  laying  a  snare  for  him  ;  for  thus  do  they  write : 
that  Herod  and  he  were  once  at  a  treat,  and  that  Herod  had  given  no  occasion 
to  suspect  [that  he  was  displeased  at  him,]  but  put  this  question  to  Hyrcanus^ 
whether  he  had  received  any  letters  from  Malchus?  And  when  he  answered, 
that  he  had  received  letters,  but  those  of  salutation  only  :  and  when  he  asked  far. 
ther,  whether  he  had  not  received  any  presents  from  him  ?  and  when  he  had  re- 
plied,  that  he  had  received  no  more  than  four  horses  to  ride  on,  which  Malchus 
had  sent  him.  And  they  pretend  that  Herod  charged  these  things  upon  him  as 
the  crimes  of  bribery  and  treason,  and  gave  order  that  he  should  be  led  away 
and  slain.  And  in  order  to  demonstrate  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  no  oflence, 
when  he  was  thus  brought  to  his  end,  they  alleged  how  mild  his  temper  had  been, 
and  that  even  in  his  youth  he  had  never  given  any  demonstration  of  boldness  or 
rashness  ;  and  that  the  case  was  the  same  when  he  came  to  be  king,  but  that  he 
even  then  comm.itted  the  management  of  the  greatest  part  of  public  aflairs  to  An- 
tipater;  and  that  he  was  now  above  four-score  years  old,  and  knew  that  Herod's 
government  was  in  a  secure  state.  He  also  came  over  Euphrates,  and  left  those 
who  greatly  honoured  him  beyond  that  river,  though  he  were  to  be  entirely  under 
Herod's  government,  and  that  it  was  a  most  incredible  thing  that  he  should  en- 
terprise any  thing  by  Mny  of  innovation,  and  not  at  all  agreeable  to  his  temper  j 
but  that  this  Avas  a  plot  of  Herod's  own  contrivance. 

4.  And  this  was  the  fate  of  Hyrcanus ;  and  thus  did  he  end  his  life,  after  he  had 
endured  various  and  manifold  turns  of  his  fortune  in  his  lifetime  :  for  he  was  made 
high  priest  of  the  Jewish  nation  in  the  beginning  of  his  mother  Alexandra's  reign, 
Avho  held  the  government  nine  years:  and  when,  after  his  mother's  death,  he  took 
the  kingdom  himself,  and  held  it  three  months,  he  lost  it  by  the  means  oi^his  bro- 
ther Aristobulus.  He  was  then  restored  by  Pompey,  and  received  all  sorts  of 
honour  from  him,  and  enjoyed  them  forty  years;  but  when  he  was  again  deprived 
by  Antigonus,  and  was  maimed  in  his  body,  he  was  made  a  captive  by  the  Par- 
thians,  and  thence  returned  home  again  after  sometime,  on  account  of  the  hopes 
that  Herod  had  given  him;  none  of  which  came  to  pass  according  to  his  expecta- 
tion ;  but  he  still  conflicted  with  many  misfortunes  through  the  whole  courGe  of 
his  life;  and  what  was  the  heaviest  calamity  of  all,  as  we  have  related  already,  he 
came  to  an  end  which  was  undeserved  by  him.  His  character  appeared  to  be 
that  of  a  man  of  a  mild  and  moderate  disposition,  and  suffered  the  administration 
of  afiiiirs  to  be  generally  done  by  others  under  him.  He  was  averse  to  much 
meddlmg  with  the  public,  nor  had  shrewdness  enough  to  govern  a  kingdom:  and 
both  Antipatcr  and  Herod  came  to  their  greatness  by  reason  of  his  mildness;  and 


G.  VI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  527 

at  last  he  met  with  such  an  end  from  them  as  was  not  agreeable  either  to  justice 
or  piety. 

5.  Now  Herod,  as  soon  as  he  had  put  Hyrcanus  out  of  the  way,  made  haste  to 
Caesar;  and  because  he  could  not  have  any  hopes  of  kindness  I'rom  him,  on  ac- 
count of  the  friendship  he  had  for  Antony,  he  had  a  suspicion  of  Alexandra,  lest 
she  should  take  this  opportunity  to  bring  the  multitude  to  a  revolt,  and  introduce 
a  sedition  into  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom ;  so  lie  committed  the  care  of  every  thing 
to  his  brother  Pheroras,  and  placed  his  mother  Cypres,  and  his  sister  [Salome,]  and 
the  vviiole  family,  at  Massada;  and  gave  him  a  charge,  that  if  he  should  hear  any 
ead  news  about  him,  he  should  take  care  of  the  government:  but  as  to  Mariamne 
his  wife,  because  of  the  misunderstanding  between  her  and  his  sister,  and  his  sis. 
ter's  mother,  which  made  it  in)possible  lor  them  to  live  together,  he  placed  her  at 
Alcxandrium,  with  Alexandra  her  mother,  and  left  his  treasurer  Joseph,  and  So- 
hemus  of  Iturea,  to  take  care  of  that  fortress.  These  two  had  been  very  faithful 
to  him  from  the  beginning,  and  were  now  left  as  a  guard  to  the  women.  They 
also  had  it  in  charge,  that  if  they  should  hear  any  mischief  had  befallen  him,  they 
should  kill  the-m  both,  and,  as  far  as  they  were  able,  to  preserve  the  kingdom  for 
his  sons,  and  for  his  brother  Pheroras. 

C.  When  he  had  given  them  this  charge,  he  made  haste  to  Rhodes,  to  meet 
Csesar  ;  and  when  he  had  saiicd  to  that  city,  he  took  offhis  diadem,  but  remitted 
nothing  else  of  his  usual  dignity  :  and  when,  upon  his  meeting  him,  he  desired 
that  he  would  let  him  speak  to  him,  he  therein  exhibited  a  much  more  noble  spe- 
cimen of  a  great  soul  ;  for  he  did  not  betake  himself  to  supplications,  as  men  usu- 
ally  do  upon  such  occasions,  nor  olTered  him  any  petition,  as  if  he  were  an  often- 
der,  but  after  an  undaunted  manner,  gave  an  account  of  what  he  had  done  ;  for 
he  spake  thus  to  Cassar,  that  "  he  had  the  greatest  friendship  for  Antony,  and  did 
every  thing  he  could  that  he  might  attain  the  government :  that  he  was  not  indeed 
in  the  army  with  him,  because  the  Arabians  had  diverted  him,  but  that  he  had 
sent  him  both  money  and  corn,  which  was  but  too  little  in  comparison  of  what  he 
ought  to  have  done  for  him  ;  for,  if  a  man  owns  himself  to  be  another's  friend, 
and  knows  him  to  be  a  benefactor,  he  is  obliged  to  hazard  every  thing,  to  use  every 
faculty  of  his  soul,  every  member  of  his  body,  and  all  the  wealth  he  hath,  for 
him  ;  in  which  I  confess  I  have  been  too  deficient.  However,  I  am  conscious 
to  myself,  that  so  far  I  have  done  right,  that  I  have  not  deserted  him  upon 
his  defeat  at  Actium  :  nor  upon  the  evident  change  of  his  fortune  have  I  trans- 
ferred my  hopes  from  him  to  another,  but  have  preserved  myself,  thoutrh  not 
as  a  valuable  fellow-soldier,  yet  certainly  as  a  faithful  counsellor  to  Antony, 
when  I  demonstrated  to  him  that  the  only  w^ay  that  he  had  to  save  himself,  and 
not  to  lose  all  his  authority,  was  to  slay  Cleopatra ;  for  when  she  was  once  dead, 
there  Avould  be  room  for  him  to  retain  his  authority,  and  rather  to  bring  thee  to 
make  a  com])osition  with  him,  than  to  continue  at  enmity  any  longer.  None  of 
which  advices  would  he  attend  to,  but  prei'erred  his  own  rash  resolutions  before 
them  ;  which  have  happened  unprofttably  for  him,  but  profitably  for  thee.  Novv, 
theref  )re,  in  case  thou  determinest  about  me,  and  my  alacrity  in  serving  Antony, 
according  to  thy  anger  at  him,  I  own  there  is  no  room  for  me  to  deny  what  I 
have  done,  nor  will  [  be  ashamed  to  own,  and  that  publicly  too,  that  I  had  a  great 
kindness  for  him  ;  but  if  thou  wilt  put  him  out  of  the  case,  and  only  examine  how 
I  behave  myself  to  ray  benefactors  in  general,  and  what  sort  of  friend  I  am,  thou 
wilt  find  by  experience  that  we  shall  do  and  be  the  same  to  thyself;  for  it  is  but 
changing  the  names ;  and  the  firmness  of  friendship  that  we  shall  bear  to  thee 
will  not  be  disapproved  by  thee." 

7.  By  this  speech,  and  by  his  behaviour,  which  showed  Citesar  the  frankness 
of  his  mmd,  he  greatly  gained  upon  him,  who  was  himself  of  a  generous  and 
magnificent  temper,  insomuch  that  those  very  actions  which  were  the  foundation 
of  the  accusation  against  him,  procured  him  Caesar's  good  will.  Accordingly  he 
restored  him  his  diadem  again  ;  and  encouraged  him  to  exhibit  himself  as  great  a 


528  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV* 

friend  to  himself  as  he  had  been  to  Antony  ;  and  then  had  him  in  great  esteem. 
Moreover,  he  added  this,  that  Quintus  Didius  had  written  to  him,  that  Herod  had 
very  readily  assisted  him  in  the  affair  of  the  gladiators.  So  when  he  had  obtain- 
ed such  a  kind  reception,  and  had,  beyond  all  his  hopes,  procured  his  crown  to 
be  more  entirely  and  firmly  settled  upon  him  than  ever,  by  Ca;sar's  donation,  as 
well  as  by  that  decree  of  the  Romans,  which  Ceesar  took  care  to  procure  for  his 
greater  security,  he  conducted  Cassar  on  his  way  to  Egypt,  and  made  presents, 
even  beyond  his  ability,  to  both  him  and  his  friend,  and  in  general  behaved  him- 
self with  great  magnanimity.  He  also  desired  that  Caesar  would  not  put  to  death 
one  Alexander,  who  had  been  a  companion  of  Antony's  ;  but  Csesar  had  sworn 
to  put  him  to  death,  and  so  he  could  not  obtain  that  his  petition.  And  now  he  re- 
turned to  Judea  again  with  greater  honour  and  assurance  than  ever,  and  afi'right- 
ed  those  that  had  expectations  to  the  contrary,  as  still  acquiring  from  his  very 
dangers  greater  splendour  than  before,  by  the  favour  of  God  to  him.  So  he  pre- 
pared  for  the  reception  of  Cajsar,  as  he  was  going  out  of  Syria  to  invade  Egypt ; 
and  when  he  came,  he  entertained  him  At  Ptolemais  with  all  royal  magnificence. 
He  also  bestowed  presents  on  the  arm}',  and  brought  them  provisions  in  abun- 
dance. He  also  proved  to  be  one  of  Caesar's  most  cordial  friends,  and  put  the 
army  in  array,  and  rode  along  with  Ca?sar,  and  had  a  hundred  and  fifty  men, 
well  appointed  in  all  respects,  after  a  rich  and  sumptuous  manner,  for  the  better 
reception  of  him  and  his  friends.  He  also  provided  them  with  what  they  should 
want,  as  they  passed  over  the  dry  desert,  insomuch  that  they  lacked  neither  wine 
nor  water,  which  last  the  soldiers  stood  in  the  greatest  need  of;  and  besides,  he 
presented  Cassar  with  eight  hundred  talents,  and  procured  to  himself  the  good 
will  of  them  all,  because  he  was  assisting  them  in  a  much  greater  and  more 
splendid  degree  than  the  kingdom  he  had  obtained  could  afford  ;  by  which  means 
he  more  and  more  demonstrated  to  Caesar  the  firmness  of  his  friendship,  and  his 
readiness  to  assist  him  ;  and  what  was  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  him  was  this, 
tiiat  his  liberality  came  at  a  seasonable  time  also.  And  when  they  returned 
again  out  of  Egypt,  his  assistances  were  no  way  inferior  to  the  good  oflices  he 
had  formerly  done  them. 


CHAP.  VH. 

Haw  Herod  slew  Sohemtis  and  Mariamnc,  and  afterward  Alexandra  and  Costo* 
harus,  and  his  most  intimate  Friends,  and  at  last  the  Sons  of  Baba  also. 

§  I.  However,  when  he  came  into  his  kingdom  again,  he  found  his  house  all  in 
disorder,  and  his  wife  Mariamne  and  her  mother  Alexandra  very  uneasy ;  for,  as 
they  supposed,  what  was  easy  to  be  supposed,  that  they  were  not  put  into  that 
fortress  [Alexandrium]  for  the  security  of  their  persons,  but  as  into  a  garrison 
for  their  imprisonment,  and  that  they  had  no  power  over  any  thing  either  of 
others  or  of  their  own  affairs,  they  were  very  uneasy:  and  Mariamne,  suppo- 
sing that  the  king's  love  to  her  was  but  hypocritical,  and  rather  pretended,  as  ad- 
vantageous to  himself,  than  real,  she  looked  upon  it  as  fallacious.  She  also  was 
grieved  that  he  would  not  allow  her  any  hopes  of  surviving  him,  if  he  should 
come  to  any  harm  himself.  She  also  recollected  what  commands  he  had  for- 
meriy  given  to  Joseph,  insomuch  that  she  endeavoured  to  please  her  keepers, 
and  especially  Sohemus,  as  well  apprized  how  all  was  in  his  power.  And  at  the  , 
first  Sohemus  was  faithful  to  Herod,  and  neglected  none  of  the  things  he  had 
given  him  in  charge  ;  but  when  the  women,  by  kind  words  and  liberal  presents, 
had  gained  his  aflcctions  over  to  the^n,  he  was  by  degrees  overcome,  and  at 
length  discovered  to  them  all  the  king's  injunctions  ;  and  this  on  that  account 
prmcipully,  that  he  did  not  so  much  as  hope  he  would  come  back  with  the  same 
authority  he  had  before  ;  so  that  he  thought  he  should  both  escape  any  danger 


C.  IX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  J  t:\VS.  fc^D 

from  him,  and  supposed  that  he  did  hereby  much  gratify  the  women,  who  were 
]ikely  not  to  be  overlooked  in  the  settling  of  the  government;  nay,  that  tliey 
would  be  able  to  make  him  abundant  recompense,  since  they  must  either  reio-n 
themselves,  or  bo  very  near  to  him  that  should  reign.  He  had  a  farther  ground 
of  hope  also,  that  though  Herod  should  have  all  the  success  he  could  wish  for, 
nmi  should  return  again,  he  could  not  contradict  his  wife  in  what  she  desired,  for 
he  knew  that  tlie  king's  fondness  for  his  vviie  was  inexpressible.  These  were 
the  motives  that  drew  Sohemus  to  discover  what  injunctions  had  been  given  him. 
So  Mariamne  was  greatly  displeased  to  hear  that  there  was  no  end  to  the  dano-ers 
she  v.-as  under  from  Herod,  and  v.as  greatly  uneasy  at  it,  and  wished  that  he 
might  obtain  no  favours  [from  Ccesar,]  and  esteemed  it  almost  an  insupportable 
task  to  live  with  him  any  longer  ;  and  this  she  afterwards  openly  declared,  with- 
out concealing^her  reisenlment. 

2.  And  now  Herod  sailed  home  with  joy,  at  the  unexpected  good  success  he 
had  had  ;  and  went  first  of  all,  as  was  proper,  to  this  his,  wife,  and  told  her, 
and  her  only,  the  good  news,  as  preferring  her  before  the  rest,  on  account  of  his 
fondness  for  her,  and  the  intimacy  there  had  been  between  them,  and  saluted 
her  ;  but  so  it  happened,  that  as  he  told  her  of  the  good  success  he  had  had,  she 
was  so  far  from  rejoicing  at  it,  that  she  rather  was  sorry  for  it ;  nor  was  she  able 
to  conceal  her  resentments  ;  but,  depending  on  her  dignity,  and  the  nobility  of 
her  birth,  in  return  for  his  salutations  she  gave  a  groan,  and  declared  evidently 
that  she*  rather  grieved  than  rejoiced  at  his  success  ;  and  this  till  Herod  v/as  dis- 
turbed  at  her,  as  affording  him  not  only  marks  of  her  suspicion,  but  evident 
signs  of  her  dissatisfaction.  This  much  troubled  him,  to  see  that  this  surprising 
hatred  of  his  wife  to  him  was  not  concealed, but  open;  and  he  took  this  so  ill, 
and  yet  was  so  unable  to  bear  it,  on  account  of  the  fondness  he  had  for  her,  that 
he  could  not  continue  long  in  any  one  mind  ;  but  sometimes  was  angry  at  her, 
and  sometimes  reconciled  himeelf  to  her:  but  by  always  changing  one  passioij 
for  another,  he  v/as  still  in  groat  uncei'tainty.  And  thus  was  he  entangled  be- 
tween hatred  and  love,  and  was  I'vequently  disposed  to  inflict  punishment  on  her 
for  hei  insolence  towards  him :  but  being  deeply  in  love  with  her  in  his  soul,  he 
was  not  able  to  get  quit  of  this  woman.  In  short,  as  he  would  gladly  have  her 
punished,  so  was  he  afraid  lest,  ere  he  was  aware,  he  should,  by  putting  her 
to  death,  bring  a  heavier  punishment  upon  himself  at  the  same  time. 

3.  When  Herod's  sister  and  mother  perceived  that  he  was  in  this  temper  with 
regard  to  Mariamne,  they  thought  they  had  now  got  an  excellent  opportunity  to 
exercise  their  hatred  against  her,  and  provoked  Herod  to  wrath  by  telling  him 
such  long  stories  and  calumnies  about  her,  as  might  at  once  excite  his  hatred 
and  his  jealousy.  Now,  though  he  willingly  enough  heard  their  words,  yet  had 
not  he  the  courage  enough  to  do  any  thing  to  her,  as  if  he  believed  them  ;  but 
still  he  became  worse  and  worse  disposed  to  her;  and  these  ill  passions  were 
more  and  more  inflamed  on  both  sides,  Avhile  she  did  not  hide  her  disposition  to- 
wards him,  and  he  turned  his  love  to  her  into  wrath  against  Iier.  But  when  he 
was  just  going  to  put  this  matter  past  all  remedy,  he  heard  the  news  that  Caesar 
was  the  victor  in  the  war,  and  that  Antony  and  Cleopatra  were  both  dead,  arid 
that  he  had  conquered  Egypt ;  whereupon  he  made  haste  to  go  and  meet  Cajsar, 
and  left  the  affairs  of  his  family  in  their  present  state.  However,  Mariamne  re- 
commended  Sohemus  to  him,  as  he  was  setting  out  on  his  journey,  and  professed 
that  she  owed  him  thanks  for  the  care  he  had  taken  of  her,  and  asked  of  the  king 
for  him  a  place  in  the  government;  upon  v.hich  an  honourable  employment  was 
bestowed  upon  him  cccordingly.  Now,  when  Herod  was  come  into  Egypt,  he 
was  introduced  to  Caesar  with  great  freedom,  as  already  a  friend  of  his, and  re- 
ceived very  great  favours  from  him  ;  for  he  made  hiin  a  present  of  those  four 
hundred  Galatians  who  had  been  Cleopatra's  guards,  and  restored  that  countrj' 
to  liim  again,  which  by  lier  means  had  been  takoi  away  from  him.     He  also  ad- 

VOL  I.  3X 


530  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV. 

dcd  to  his  kingdom,  Gadara,  Hippos,  and  Samaria  ;  and  besides  those,  the  mari- 
time cities,  Gaza,  and  Anthedon,  and  Joppa,  and  Strato's  Tower. 

4.  Upon  these  new  acquisitions  he  grew  more  magnificent,  and  conducted 
Cajsar  as  far  as  Antioch  ;  but  upon  his  return,  as  much  as  his  prosperity  was 
augmented  by  the  foreign  additions  that  had  been  made  him,  so  much  the  greater 
were  the  distresses  that  came  upon  him  in  his  own  family,  and  chiefly  in  the 
affair  of  his  wife,  wherein  he  formerly  appeared  to  have  been  most  of  all  for- 
tunate ;  for  the  atiection  he  had  for  jMariamne  was  no  way  inferior  to  the  affec- 
tions of  such  as  are  on  that  account  celebrated  in  history,  aud  this  very  justly. 
As  for  her,  she  was  in  other  respects  a  chaste  woman,  and  faithful  to  him  ;  yet 
had  she  somewhat  of  a  woman  rough  by  nature,  and  treated  her  husband  impe- 
riously enough,  because  she  saw  he  was  so  fond  of  her  as  to  be  enslaved  to  her. 
She  did  not  also  consider  seasonably  with  herself,  that  she  lived  ixnder  a  monar- 
chy, and  that  she  was  at  another's  disposal,  and  accordingly  would  behave  her- 
self after  a  saucy  manner  to  him,  which  yet  he  usually  put  off  in  a  jesting  way, 
and  bore  with  moderation  and  good  temper.  She  would  expose  his  mother  and 
his  sister  openly,  on  account  of  the  meanness  of  their  birth  ;  and  would  speak 
unkindly  of  them,  insomuch  that  there  was  before  this  a  disagreement  and  un- 
pardonable hatred  among  the  women  ;  and  it  was  now  come  to  greater  reproaches 
of  one  another  than  formerly,  which  suspicions  increased,  and  lasted  a  whole 
year  after  Herod  returned  from  Ca;sar.  However,  these  misfortunes,  which  had 
been  kept  under  some  decency  for  a  great  while,  burst  out  all  at  once  upon  such 
an  occasion  as  now  offered  ;  for  as  the  king  was  one  day  about  noon  lain  down 
on  his  bed  to  rest  him,  he  called  for  Mariamne,  out  of  the  great  affection  he  had 
always  for  her.  She  came  in  accordingly,  but  would  not  lie  down  by  him  :  and 
when  he  was  very  desirous  of  her  company,  she  showed  her  contempt  of  him ; 
and  added,  by  way  of  reproach,  that  he  had  caused  her  father  and  her  brother*  to 
be  slain.  And  when  he  took  this  injury  very  unkindly,  and  was  ready  to  use  vio- 
lence to  her  in  a  precipitate  manner,  the  king's  sister  Salome  observing  that  he 
Avas  more  than  ordinarily  disturbed,  sent  into  the  king  his  cupbearer,  who  had 
been  prepared  long  beforehand  for  such  a  design,  and  bid  him  tell  the  king  how 
Mariamne  had  persuaded  him,  to  give  his  assistance  in  preparing  a  love  potion 
for  him.  And  if  he  appear  to  be  greatly  concerned,  and  to  ask  what  that  love 
potion  w  as,  to  tell  him  that  she  had  the  potion,  and  that  he  was  desired  only  to 
give  it  him.  But  that  in  case  he  did  not  appear  to  be  much  concerned  at  this  po- 
tion, to  let  the  thing  drop  ;  and  that  if  he  did  so,  no  harm  should  thereby  come 
to  him.  Vv^hen  she  had  given  him  these  instructions,  she  sent  him  in  at  this  time 
to  make  such  a  speech.  So  he  went  in  after  a  composed  manner,  to  gain  credit 
to  what  he  should  say,  and  yet  somewhat  hastily,  and  said,  that  "  Mariamne  had 
given  him  presents,  and  persuaded  him  to  give  him  a  love  potion."  And  when 
this  moved  tlie  king,  he  said,  that  "  this  love  potion  was  a  composition  that  she 
had  given  him  whose  efiects  he  did  not  know ;  which  was  the  reason  of  his  re- 
solving to  give  him  this  information,  as  the  safest  course  he  could  take,  both  for 
himself  and  for  the  king."  When  Herod  heard  what  he  said,  and  was  in  an  ill 
disposition  before,  his  indignation  grew  more  violent ;  and  he  ordered  that  eunuch 
of  Mariamne's  who  was  most  faitliful  to  her,  to  be  brought  to  torture  about 
this  potion,  as  well  knowing  it  was  not  possible  that  any  thing  small  or  great 
could  be  done  without  him.  And  when  the  man  was  under  the  utmost  agonies, 
he  could  say  nothing  concerning  the  thing  he  was  tortured  about ;  but  so  far  he 
knew,  that  Mariamne's  hatred  against  him  was  occasioned  by  somewhat  that  So- 
hemus  had  said  to  her.     Now  as  he  was  saying  this,  Herod  cried  out  aloud,  and 

*  Whereas  Mariamne  is  here  represented  as  reproaching  Herod  with  the  murder  of  her  father  [Alex- 
ander,] as  well  as  her  brotlier  [Aristobiiiiis,]  while  it  was  her  grandfather  Hyrcanus,  and  not  her  father 
Alexander  whom  lie  caused  to  be  slain,  (as  Josephus  himself  informs  us,  ch.  vi.  sect.  2.)  we  must  either 
take  /enora's  reading;,  wiiich  is  liere  granJJ'ather  rightly,  or  else  we  must,  as  before,  ch  i.  sect.  1,  allow 
uslip  of  Josepiius'spen  oi  memory  in  the  plcice  before  us. 


C.IX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  531 

said,  that  "  Sohemus,  'vvlio  had  been  at  all  other  limes  most  faithful  to  him  and  to 
his  government,  would  not  have  betrayed  wlmt  injunctions  he  had  given  him,  un- 
less  he  had  had  a  nearer  conversation  tlian  ordinary  with  Mariamne."  So  he  gave 
order  that  Sohemus  should  be  seized  on  and  slain  immediately  ;  but  he  allowed 
his  wile  to  take  her  trial;  and  got  togetlier  those  that  v/ere  most  failhl'ulto  him, 
and  laid  an  elaborate  accusation  against  lier  lor  this  love  potion  and  composition, 
which  had  been  charged  upon  her  by  v/ay  of  calumny  only.  However,  he  kept  no 
temper  in  what  he  said,  and  was  in  too  great  a  passion  for  judging  well  about  this 
matter.  Accordingly,  when  tlie  court  was  at  length  salishcd  that  he  was  so  re. 
solved,  they  passed  the  sentence  of  death  upon  her  ;  but  when  the  sentence  was 
passed  upon  her,  this  temper  was  suggested  by  himself,  and  by  some  others  of  the 
court,  that  she  should  not  be  thus  hastily  put  to  death,  but  be  laid  in  prison  in  one  of 
the  fortresses  belonging  to  the  kingdom :  but  Salome  and  her  party  laboured  hard  to 
have  the  woman  put  to  death  ;  and  they  prevailed  with  the  king  to  do  so ;  and 
advised  this  out  of  caution,  lest  the  multitude  should  be  tumultuous  if  she  were 
suffered  to  live;  and  thus  was  Mariamne  led  to  execution. 

5.  When  Alexandra  observed  how  things  went,  and  that  there  were  small  hopes 
that  she  herself  should  escape  the  like  treatment  from  Herod,  she  changed  her 
behaviour  to  quite  the  reverse  of  what  might  have  been  expected  from  her  former 
boldness,  and  this  after  a  very  indecent  manner :  for  out  of  her  desire  to  show 
how  entirely  ignorant  she  was  of  the  crimes  laid  against  3Iariamne,  she  leaped 
out  of  her  place,  and  reproached  her  daughter  in  the  hearing  of  all  the  people, 
and  cried  out,  that  "  she  had  been  an  ill  woman,  and  ungratetul  to  her  husband, 
and  that  her  punishment  came  justly  upon  her,  for  such  her  insolent  behaviour; 
for  that  she  had  not  made  proper  returns  to  him  who  had  been  their  common 
benefactor."  And  when  she  had  for  some  time  acted  after  this  hypocritical  man- 
ner, and  had  been  so  outrageous  as  to  tear  her  hair,  this  indecent  and  dissem- 
bling behaviour,  as  was  to  be  expected,  was  greatly  condemned  by  the  rest  of 
the  spectators,  as  it  was  principally  by  the  poor  woman  who  Vvas  to  suller;  for 
at  the  first  she  gave  her  not  a  word,  nor  was  discomposed  at  her  peevishness, 
and  only  looked  at  her  ;  yet  did  she,  out  of  a  greatness  of  soul,  discover  her  con» 
cern  for  her  mother's  offence,  and  especially  for  her  exposing  herself  in  a  manner 
so  unbecoming  her  ;  but  as  tor  herself,  she  went  to  her  death  with  an  unshaken 
firmness  of  mind,  and  without  changing  the  colour  of  her  face,  and  thereby  evi- 
dently discovered  the  nobility  of  her  descent  to  the  spectators,  even  in  the  last 
moments  of  her  life. 

C.  And  thus  died  Mariamne ;  a  woman  of  an  excellent  character,  both  for 
chastity  and  greatness  of  soul;  but  she  wanted  moderation,  and  had  too  much  of 
contention  in  her  nature  ;  yet  had  she  all  that  can  be  said  in  the  beauty  of  her 
body,  and  her  majestic  appearance  in  conversation  :  and  thence  arose  the  gi'eat- 
cst  part  of  the  occasions  why  she  did  not  prove  so  agreeable  to  the  king,  nor  live 
so  pleasantly  with  him  as  she  might  otherwise  have  done;  for  while  she  was  most 
indulgently  used  by  tlie  king,  out  of  his  fondness  for  her,  and  did  not  expect  that 
he  could  do  any  hard  thing  to  her,  sh%  took  too  unbounded  a  liberty.  Moreover, 
that  which  most  afflicted  her  was,  what  he  had  done  to  her  relations:  and  she 
ventured  to  sjieak  of  all  they  had  suffered  by  him,  and  at  last  greatly  provoked 
both  the  king's  mother  and  sister,  till  they  became  enemies  to  her;  and  even  he 
himself  also  did  tlie  same,  on  whom  alone  she  depended  for  her  expectations  of 
escaping  the  last  of  punishments. 

7.  But  when  she  was  once  dead,  the  king's  affections  for  her  were  kindled  in 
a  more  outrageous  manner  than  before,  whose  old  passion  for  her  we  have  al- 
ready described  ;  for  his  love  to  her  was  not  of  a  calm  nature,  nor  such  as  we 
usually  meet  with  among  other  husbands  ;  for  at  its  commencement  it  was  of  an 
enthusiastic  kind,  nor  was  it  by  their  long  cohabitation  and  free  conversation  to- 
gether, brought  under  his  power  to  manage  ;  but  at  this  time  his  love  to  Mari- 
amne seemed  to  seize  him  in  such  a  peculiar  manner  as  looked  like  divme  ven- 
3X3 


r32  AXTIQUrni'S  of  the  JEvVS.  b.xv. 

gcance  upon  him  for  the  taking  away  her  life,  for  lie  would  frequently  call  for 
her,  and  frequently  lament  for  her,  in  a  most  indecent  manner.  Moreover  he 
bethoutrlit  him  of  every  thing  he  could  make  use  of  to  divert  his  mind  from  think, 
ingofhor,  and  contrived  leasts  and  assemblies  for  tiiat  purpose,  but  nothing 
\vould  sulhce  ;  he  therefore  laid  aside  the  administration  of  public  atlairs,  and  was 
so  far  conquered  by  his  passion,  that  he  would  order'his  servants  to  call  for  Ma- 
riamne,  as  if  she  were  still  alive,  and  could  still  hear  them.  And  when  he  was 
in  this  way,  there  arose  a  pestilential  disease,  and  carried  off  the  greatest  part  of 
the  multitude,  and  of  his  best  and  most  esteemed  friends,  and  made  all  men  sus- 
pect that  this  distemper  was  brought  upon  them  by  the  anger  of  God,  for  the  in- 
justice tliat  had  been  done  to  Mariamne.  This  circumstance  affected  the  king 
slill  more,  till  at  length  he  forced  himself  to  go  into  desert  places,  and  there, 
under  pretence  of  going  a  hunting,  bitterly  afflicted  himself;  yet  had  he  not  borne 
his  grief  there  many  days  before  befell  into  a  most  dangerous  distemper  him- 
self:  he  had  an  inHammation  upon  him,  and  a  pain  in  the  hmder  part  of  his  head, 
joined  with  madness:  and  for  the  remedies  that  were  used,  they  did  him  no  good 
at  all,  but  proved  contrary  to  his  case,  and  so  at  length  brought  him  to  despair. 
All  the  physicians  also  that  were  about  him,  partly  because  the  medicines  they 
brought  for  his  recovery  could  not  at  all  conquer  the  disease,  and  pai'tly  because 
his  diet  could  be  no  other  than  what  his  disease  inclined  him  to,  desired  him  to 
eat  whatever  he  had  a  mind  to,  and  so  lett  the  small  hopes  they  had  of  his  re- 
covery in  the  power  of  that  diet,  and  committed  him  to  fortune.  And  thus  did 
his  distemper  go  on  while  he  was  at  Sam.aria,  now  called  Schaste. 

8.  Now  Alexandra  abode  at  this  time  at  Jerusalem,  and  being  informed  of 
^vhat  condition  Herod  was  in,  she  endeavoured  to  get  possession  of  the  fortified 
places  that  were  about  the  city,  which  were  two,  the  one  belonging  to  the  city 
itself,  the  other  belonging  to  the  temple  ;  and  those  that  could  get  them  into  their 
hands  had  the  whole  nation  under  their  power;  for  without  the  command  of  them 
it  was  not  possible  to  offer  their  sacrifices  ;  and  to  think  of  leaving  oft'  those-  sa- 
crifices is  to  every  Jew  plainly  impossible,  who  are  still  more  ready  to-lose  their 
hves  than  to  leave  oft"  that  divine  worship  which  they  have  been  wont  to  pay  unto 
<jod.  Alexandra,  therefore,  discoursed  with  those  that  had  the  keeping  of  these 
strong  holds,  that  it  was  proper  for  thcjn  to  deliver  the  same  to  her,  and  to  Herod's 
sons,  lest,  upon  his  death,  any  other  person  should  seize  upon  the  government ; 
and  that  upon  his  recovery,  none  could  keep  them  more  safely  for  him  than  those 
of  his  ov>n  family.  These  words  were  not  by  them  at  all  taken  in  good  part  ;  and 
as  tiiey  had  been  in  former  times  faithful  [to  Herod,]  they  resolved  to  continue 
so  more  than  ever,  both  becau?:e  they  hated  Alexandra,  and  because  they  thought 
it  a  sort  of  impiety  to  despair  of  Herod's  recovery  while  he  was  yet  alive,  for 
they  had  been  his  old  {"nends  ;  and  one  of  them,  wliose  name  was  Achiahns,  was 
his  cousin-gcrman.  They  sent  messengers  therefore  to  acquaint  him  with  Alex» 
andra's  design;  so  he  made  no  longer  delay,  but  gave  orders  to  have  her  slain ^ 
yet  was  it  still  with  difficulty,  and  after  he  had  endured  great  pain,  that  he  got 
clear  of  his  distemper.  He  was  still  sorely  afflicted  both  in  mind  and  body,  and 
made  very  uneasy,  and  readier  than  ever  upon  all  occasions  to  inflict  punishment 
upon  those  that  fell  under  Ids  hand.  He  also  slew  the  most  intimate  of  his  friends, 
Costobarus,  Lvsimachus,  and  G'adias,  who  was  called  Antipater;  as  also  Dosi- 
liieus,  and  that  upon  the  following  occasion  :' — 

9.  Costobarus  was  an  idumean  by  birth,  and  one  of  principal  dignity  among 
them,  and  one  whose  ancestors  had  been  priest  to  the  Koze,  whom  tlie  Idumeans 
l)!;d  [formerly]  e:^teemed  as  a  god  ;  but  after  Hyrcanus  had  made  a  change  in 
Ijieir  |,'olitical  government,  and  made  them  receive  the  Jewish  customs  and  law, 
lierod  made  Costobarus  governor  of  Idiimca  and  Gaza,  and  gave  him  his  sister 
Salonic  to  wife  ;  and  this  was  upon  the  slaughter  of  [his  uncle]  Joseph,  who  had 
Liat  government  before,  as  we  have  related  alreadj'-.  When  Costobarus  had 
goiteii  to  l>e  so  higlffy  advanced,  it  pleased  him,  and  was  more  than  he  hoped  for* 


C,  Vir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  533 

and  ho  was  more  and  more  puffed  up  by  his  good  success,  and  in  a  little  while  he 
exceeded  all  bounds,  and  did  not  think  tit  to  obey  what  Herod,  as  their  ruler, 
commanded  him;  or  tliat  the  Lkuneans  should  make  use  of  the  Jewish  customs, 
or  be  subject  to  them.  He  therefore  sent  to  Cleopatra,  and  informed  her  that 
the  Idumeans  had  been  al\va.ys  under  her  prog-enitors,  and  that  for  the  same  rea- 
son  it  was  but  just  that  she  should  desire  that  country  from  him  of  Antony,  for 
that  he  was  ready  to  transfer  his  friendsliip  to  her;  and  tliis  be  did,  not  because 
he  was  better  pleased  to  be  under  Cleopatra's  government,  but  because  he  thought 
that,  upon  the  diminution  of  Herod's  power,  it  would  not  be  difficult  for  him  to 
obtain  himself  the  entire  government  over  the  Idumeans,  and  somewhat  more 
also  ;  for  he  raised  bis  hopes  still  higlier,  as  having  no  small  pretences,  both  by 
his  birth  and  by  these  riches  which  he  had  gotten  by  his  constant  attention  to 
filthy  lucre  ;  and  accordingly  it  was  not  a  small  matter  that  he  aimed  at.  So 
Cleopatra  desired  this  country  of  Antony,  but  failed  of  her  purpose.  An  account 
of  this  was  brought  to  Herod,  who  was  thereupon  ready  to  kill  Costobarus,  yet, 
upon  the  entreaties  of  his  sister  and' mother,  he  forgave  him,  and  vouchsafed  to 
pardon  him  cntirel}',  though  he  still  had  a  suspicion  of  him  afterward  for  this  his 
attempt. 

xO.  But  some  time  afterward,  when  Salome  happened  to  quarrel  with  Costo- 
barus, she*  sent  him  a  bill  of  divorce,  and  dissolve^  her  marriage  with  him, 
though  this  was  not  according  to  the  Jewish  laws  ;  for  with  us  it  is  lawful  for  a 
husband  to  do  so,  but  a  wife,  if  she  departs  from  her  husband,  cannot  of  herself 
be  married  to  another,  unless  her  former  husband  put  her  away.  However,  Sa- 
lome chose  to  follow  not  the  law  of  her  country,  but  the  law  of  her  authority, 
and  so  renounced  her  wedlock  ;  and  told  her  brother  Herod,  that  she  lefl  her 
luisband  out  of  her  good  will  to  him,  because  she  perceived  that  he,  with  Anti- 
puter,  and  Lysimachus,  and  Dositheus,  were  raising  a  sedition  against  him ;  as 
an  evidence  whereof,  she  alleged  the  case  of  the  sons  of  Babas,  that  they  had 
been  by  him  preserved  alive  already  for  the  interval  of  twelve  years ;  which 
proved  to  be  true.  But  wlien  Herod  thus  unexpectedly  heard  of  it,  he  was  greatly 
surprised  at  it,  and  was  the  more  surprised,  because  the  relation  appeared  incre- 
dible to  him.  As  for  the  fact  relating  to  the  sons  of  Babas,  Herod  had  ibrmerly 
ta.ken  great  pains  to  bring  them  to  punishment,  as  being  enemies  to  his  govern- 
ment, but  they  were  now  forgotten  b}'^  him  on  account  of  the  length  of  time 
[since  he  had  ordered  them  to  be  slain.]  Now,  the  cause  of  his  ill  will  and 
hatred  to  them  arose  hence  :  that  while  Antigonus  was  king,  Herod,  with  his 
army,  besieged  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  where  the  distress  and  miseries  which  the 
besieged  endured  were  so  pressing,  that  the  greater  number  of  them  invited  He- 
rod into  the  city,  and  already  placed  their  hopes  on  him.  Now,  the  sons  of  Ba- 
bas were  of  great  dignity,  and  had  power  among  the  multitude,  and  were  faith- 
f\d  to  Antigonus,  and  Avere  always  raising  calumnies  against  Herod,  and  encou- 
raged the  people  to  pi-eserve  the  government  to  that  royal  family  which  held  it 
by  inheritance.  So  these  men  acted  thus  politicall)^  and,  as  they  thought,  for 
their  own  advantage  ;  but  when  the  city  was  taken,  and  Herod  had  gotten  the 
government  into  his  hands,  and  Costobarus  was  ap{)ointed  to  hinder  men  from 

*  Here  is  a  plain  example  of  a  Jewish  larly  f;ivin5  a  bill  of  divorce  to  her  husband,  though  ii)  the  days 
of  Josephus  it  was  not  by  the  Jews  esteemed  lawful  for  a  woman  to  do.     See  the  like  among  the   Par- 
I    thians,  Antiq.  I'.,  xviii.  chap.  ix.  sect.  0.     However,  the  Christian  law,  when  it  allowed  rhvorce  for  adul- 
i    tery,  iMat.  v.  32,  allowed  tlie  innoccn'  wife  to  divorce  her  guilty  husband,  as  well  as  the  innocent  hus- 
>    hand  to  divorce  his  guilty  wife,  as  we  learn  from  the  shepherd  of  liermas,  INland.  1>.  iv.  and  from  the 
;    second  apology  of  Justin  Martyr,  where  a persec»uion  was  brought  upon  tlic  Christians  upon  such  a 
divorce  ;  and  I  think  the  Roman  laws  permitted  it  at  that  time,  as  well  as  the  laws  of  Christianity.  Now 
this  Babas,  whriwasone  of  the  race  of  the  Asamoneans  or  Maccabees,  as  the  latter  end  of  this  section  in- 
forms us,  is  related  by  the  Jews,  as  Dr.   Hudson  here  remarks,  to  have  been  so  eminently  religious  in 
the  Jewish  way,  that,  except  the  day  following  the  tenth  of  Tisri,  the  great  day  of  atonement,  when  he 
seems  to  have  supposed  all  his  sins  entirely  forgiven,  he  used  every  day  of  the  whole  year  to  offer  a  sa- 
/?rifice  for  his  shis  of  ignorance,  or  sucli  as  he  supposed  he  had  been  guilty  of,  but  did  not  distinctly  re- 
member.     See  somewhat  like  it  of  Agiippa  the  Great,  Antiq.  B.  xix.  ch.  hi.  sect.  3  ;  and  Job,  i.  4,  5. 


534  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS,  B.  XV. 

passing  out  at  the  gates,  and  to  guard  the  city  that  those  citizens  that  were  guilty, 
and  Avere  of  the  party  opposite  lo  the  king  might  not  get  out  of  it ;  Costobarus 
beinor  sensible  that  the  sons  of  Babas  were  had  in  respect  and  honour  by  the 
whole  multitude,  and  supposing  that  their  preservation  might  be  of  great  advan- 
tage to  him  in  the  changes  of  government  afterward,  he  set  them  by  themselves, 
and  concealed  them  in  his  own  farms ;  and  when  the  thing  was  suspected,  he 
assured  Herod  upon  oath,  that  he  really  knew  nothing  of  that  matter,  and  so 
overcame  the  suspicions  that  lay  upon  him  ;  nay,  after  that,  when  the  king  had 
publicly  proposed  a  reward  for  the  discovery,  and  had  put  in  practice  all  sorts  of 
methods  for  searching  out  this  matter,  he  would  not  confess  it ;  but  being  per- 
suaded that  when  he  had  at  iirst  denied  it,  if  the  men  were  found,  he  should  not 
escape  unpunished,  he  was  forced  to  keep  them  secret,  not  only  out  of  his  good 
will  to  them,  but  out  of  a  necessary  regard  to  his  own  preservation  also.  But 
when  the  king  knew  the  thing,  by  his  sister's  information,  he  sent  men  to  the 
places  where  he  had  the  intimation  they  were  concealed,  and  ordered  both  them, 
and  those  that  were  accused  as  guilty  with  them,  to  be  slain :  insomuch  that  there 
were  now  none  at  all  left  of  the  kindred  of  Hyrcanus,  and  the  kingdom  was  en- 
tirely in  Herod's  own  power ;  and  there  was  nobody  remaining  of  such  dignity 
as  could  put  a  stop  to  what  he  did  against  the  Jewish  laws. 


CHAP.  vni. 

How  Ten  Men  of  the  Citizens  of  IJenisaleni]  7nade  a  Consjnracy  against  Herodf 

for  the  foreign  Practices  he  had  introduced,  which  was  a  Transgression  of  the 

Laws  of  their  Country.  Concerning  the  Building  of  Sebaste  and  Cesarea, 

and  oilier  Edifces  of  Herod. 

§  1.  Oiv  this  account  it  was  that  Herod  revolted  from  the  laws  of  his  country, 
and  corrupted  their  ancient  constitution  by  the  introduction  of  foreign  practices, 
v.'hich  constitution  yet  ought  to  l)ave  been  preserved  inviolable  ;  by  which  means 
we  became  guilty  of  great  wickedness  afterward  ;  while  those  religious  obser- 
vances, which  used  to  lead  the  multitude  to  piety,  were  now  neglected  ;  for,  in 
the  first  place,  he  appointed  solemn  games  to  be  celebrated  every  fifth  year,  in 
honour  of  Csesar,  and  built  a  theatre  at  Jerusalem,  as  also  a  very  great  am- 
phitheatre in  the  plain.     Botli  of  them  were  indeed  costly  works,  but  opposite 
to  the  Jewish  customs ;  for  we  have  had  no  such  shows  delivered  down  to  us 
as  fit  to  be  used  and  exhibited  by  us;  yet  did  he  celebrate  these  games  every  five 
years,  in  the  most  solemn  and  splendid  manner.     He  also  made  proclamation  to 
the  neighbouring  countries,  and  called  men  together  out  of  every  nation.     The 
wrestlers  also,  and  the  rest  of  those  that  strove  for  the  prizes  in  such  games,  were 
invited  out  of  every  land,  both  by  the  hopes  of  the  rewards  there  to  be  bestowed, 
and  by  the  glor}^  of  victory  to  be  there  gained.     So  the  principal  persons  that 
were  the  most  eminent  in  these  sorts  of  exercises  were  gotten  together;  for  there 
were  very  great  rewards  for  victory  proposed,  not  only  to  those  that  performed 
their  exercises  naked,  but  to  those  that  played  as  musicians  also,  and  were  called 
Thymelici ;  and  he  spared  no  pains  to  induce  all  persons,  the  most  famous  for  such 
exercises,  to  come  to  this  contest  for  victory.     He  also  proposed  no  small  rewards 
to  those  who  ran  for  the  prizes  in  chariot  races,  when  they  were  drawn  by  two,  or 
three,  or  four  pair  of  horses.    He  also  imilj.ted  every  thing,  though  never  so  costly 
or  magnificent,  in  other  nations,  out  of  an  ambition  that  he  might  give  most  public 
demonstration  of  his  grandeur.     Inscriptions  also  of  the  great  actions  of  Csesar, 
and  trophies  of  those  nations  which  he  had  conquered  in  his  wars,  and  all  made 
of  the  purest  gold  and  silver,  encompassed  the  theatre  itself.     Nor  was  there  any 
thing  that  could  be  subservient  to  his  design,  whether  it  were  precious  garments, 


m 


C.  Vni.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS  535 

or  precious  stones  set  in  order,  which  was  not  also  exposed  to  siijlit  in  these 
games.  He  had  also  made  a  great  preparation  of  wild  beasts,  and  ol"  lions  them- 
selves in  great  abundance,  and  of  such  other  beasts  as  were  either  of  uncommon 
strength,  or  of  such  a  sort  as  were  rarely  seen.  These  were  prepared  either  to 
light  with  one  another,  or  that  men  who  were  condemned  to  death  were  to  fight 
with  them.  And  truly  foreigners  were  greatly  surprised  and  delighted  at  the 
vastness  of  the  expenses  here  exhibited,  and  at  the  great  dangers  that  were  here 
seen  ;  but  to  natural  Jews*  this  was  no  better  than  a  dissolution  of  those  customs 
for  which  they  had  so  great  a  veneration.  It  appeared  also  no  better  than  an  in- 
stance of  baretkced  inii)iety,  to  throw  men  to  wild  beasts,  for  the  affording  delight 
to  the  spectators;  and  it  appeared  an  instance  of  no  less  impiety,  to  change  their 
own  laws  ibr  such  foreign  exercises:  but,  above  all  the  rest,  the  trophies  gave 
most  distaste  to  the  Jews  ;  lor  as  they  imagined  tiiem  to  be  images,  included  within 
the  armour  that  hung  round  about  them,  they  were  sorely  displeased  at  them,  be- 
cause it  was  not  the  custom  of  their  country  to  pay  honours  to  such  images. 

2.  Nor  was  Herod  unacquainted  with  the  disturbance  thev  were  under;  and  as 
he  thought  it  unseasonable  to  use  violence  with  them,  so  he  spake  to  some  of  them 
by  way  of  consolation,  and  in  order  to  free  them  from  that  superstitious  fear. they 
were  under;  yet  could  not  he  satisfy  them,  but  they  cried  out,  with  one  accord, 
out  of  their  great  uneasiness  at  the  offences  they  thought  he  had  been  guilty  of, 
that  although  they  should  think  of  bearing  all  the  rest,  yet  would  they  never  bear 
images  of  men  in  their  cit}',  meaning  the  trophies  ;  because  this  was  disagreeable 
to  the  laws  of  their  country.  Now  when  Herod  saw  them  in  such  a  disorder,  and 
that  they  would  not  ea[sily  change  their  resolution  unless  they  received  satisfaction 
in  this  point,"  he  called  to  him  the  most  eminent  men  among  them,  and  brought 
them  upon  the  theatre,  and  showed  them  the  trophies,  and  asked  them,  what  sort 
of  things  they  took  these  trophies  to  be?  and  when  they  cried  out,  that  they  were 
the  images  of  men,  he  gave  order  that  they  should  be  stripped  of  these  outward 
ornaments  which  were  about  them,  and  showed  them  the  naked  pieces  of  wood; 
which  pieces  of  wood,  now  without  any  ornament,  became  matter  of  great  sport 
and  laughter  to  them  because  they  had  before  always  had  the  ornaments  of  images 
themselves  in  derision. 

3.  When  therefore  Herod  had  thus  got  clear  of  the  multitude,  and  had  dissi- 
pated the  vehemency  of  passion  under  which  they  had  been,  the  greatest  part  of 
the  people  were  disposed  to  change  their  conduct,  and  not  to  be  displeased  at  him 
any  longer;  but  still  some  of  them  continued  in  their  displeasure  against  him,  for 
his  introduction  of  new  customs;  and  esteemed  the  violation  of  the  laws  of  their 
country  as  likely  to  be  the  origin  of  very  great  mischiefs  to  them,  so  that  they 
deemed  it  an  instance  of  piety  rather  to  hazard  themselves  [to  be  put  to  death,} 
than  to  seem  as  if  they  took  no  notice  of  Herod ;  who,  upon  the  change  he  had 
made  in  their  government,  introduced  such  customs,  and  that  in  a  violent  manner, 
which  they  had  never  been  used  to  before:  as  indeed  in  pretence  a  king,  but  in 
reality  one  that  showed  himself  an  enemy  to  their  whole  nation  ;  on  which  account 
ten  men  that  were  citizens  [of  Jerusalem]  conspired  together  against  him,  and 
sware  to  one  another  to  undergo  any  dangers  in  the  attempt ;  and  took  daggers 
with  them  under  their  garments  [for  the  purpose  of  killing  Herod.]  Now  there 
was  a  certain  blind  man  among  those  conspirators  who  had  thus  sworn  to  one 
another,  on  account  of  the  indignation  he  had  against  what  he  heard  to  have  been 
done  ;  he  was  not  indeed  able  to  atlord  the  rest  any  assistance  in  the  undertaking, 
but  was  ready  to  undergo  any  sutTering  with  them,  if  so  be  they  should  come  to 

*  These  grand  plays,  and  sliows,  and  Thymelici  or  music  meetings,  and  chariot  races,  when  the  cha- 
riots weie  drawn  by  two,  three,  or  four  pair  oi' horses,  &c.  instituted  by  Herod  in  his  theatres,  were  still, 
as  we  see  here,  lookGd  on  by  the  sober  Jews  as  heatlicnish  sports,  and  tcnehng  to  corrupt  the  manners  of 
the  Jewish  n;ition,  and  to  l)rin;;  them  into  love  with  Paganish  idolatry,  and  i'aganish  conduct  of  life,  l)ut 
10  the  dissolmioii  of  the  law  of  Moses  ;  and  accordingly  were  greailv  and  justly  coiidemned  by  them,  as 
a])pcars  here  ;\nd  ev(My  where  else  in  Josephiis.  Nor  is  the  case  of  our  morlern  nias(|uerades,  plays, 
ojjeras,  and  the  like  pomps  and  vanities  of  ibis  wicked  world,  of  any  better  tendency  under  Chiisliaajty. 


536  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV, 

any  harm;  insomuch,  that  he  became  a  very  great  encourager  of  the  rest  of  the 
undertakers. 

4.  Wlien  they  had  taken  this  resohition,  and  that  by  common  consent,  they  went 
into  the  tlieatre,  hoping  that,  in  the  first  place,  Herod  himself  could  not  escape 
them,  as  they  should  fall  upon  him  so  unexpectedly ;  and  supposing,  however, 
that  if  they  missed  him,  they  should  kill  a  great  many  of  those  that  were  about 
him  ;  and  this  resolution  they  took  thougii  they  should  die  for  it,  in  order  to  sug- 
gest to  the  king  what  injuries  he  had  done  to  the  multitude.  These  conspirators, 
therefore,  standing  thus  prepared  beforehand,  went  about  their  design  with  great 
alacrity  ;  but  there  was  one  of  those  spies  of  Herod's  that  were  appointed  for  sucli 
purposes,  to  fish  out  and  inform  him  of  any  conspiracies  that  should  be  made 
against  him ;  who  found  out  the  whole  aflair,  and  told  the  king  of  it,  as  he  was 
about  to  go  into  the  theatre.  So  when  he  reflected  on  the  hatred  which  he  knew 
the  greatest  part  of  the  people  bore  him,  and  on  the  disturbances  that  arose  upon 
every  occasion,  he  thought  this  plot  against  him  not  to  be  improbable.  Accor- 
dingly he  retired  into  his  paliice,  and  called  those  that  were  accused  of  this  con- 
spiracy  before  him  by  their  several  names ;  and  as  upon  the  guards  falling  upon 
them,  they  w'ere  caught  in  the  very  fact,  and  knew  they  could  not  escape,  tiiey 
prepared  themselves  for  their  ends  with  all  the  decency  they  could,  and  so  as  not 
at  all  to  recede  from  their  resolute  behaviour  ;  for  they  showed  no  shame  for  what 
they  were  about,  nor  denied  it ;  but  Vv'hen  they  were  seized,  they  showed  their 
daggers,  and  professed,  that  "the  conspiracy  they  had  sworn  to  was  a  holy  and 
pious  action  ;  that  what  they  intended  to  do  was  not  for  gain,  or  out  of  any  indul- 
gence to  their  passions,  but  principally  for  those  common  customs  of  their  country 
which  all  the  Jcv/s  were  obliged  to  observe,  or  to  die  for  them."  This  was  what 
these  men  said,  out  of  their  undaunted  courage  in  this  conspiracy.  So  they  were 
led  away  to  execution  by  the  king's  guards  that  stood  about  them,  and  patiently 
underwent  all  the  torments  inflicted  on  them  till  they  died.  Nor  was  it  long  be- 
fore that  spy  who  had  discovered  them  was  seized  on  by  some  of  the  people,  out 
of  the  hatred  they  bore  to  him,  and  was  not  only  slain  by  them,  but  pulled  to 
pieces  limb  from  limb,  and  given  to  the  dogs.  This  execution  vvas  seen  by  many  of 
the  citizens  ;  yet  would  not  one  of  tliem  discover  the  doers  of  it ;  till  upon  Herod's 
making  a  strict  scrutiny  after  them,  by  bitter  and  severe  tortures,  certain  women 
that  were  tortured  confessed  what  they  had  seen  done  ;  the  authors  of  which  fact 
were  so  terribly  punished  by  the  king,  that  their  entire  families  were  destroyed, 
for  this  their  rash  attempt;  yet  did  not  the  obstinacy  of  the  people,  and  that  un- 
daunted constancy  they  showed  in  the  defence  of  their  laws,  make  Herod  any 
easier  to  them;  but  he  still  strengthened  himself  after  a  more  secure  manner,  and 
resolved  to  encompass  the  multitude  everyway,  lest  such  innovations  should  end 
in  an  open  rebellion. 

5.  Since,  therefore,  he  had  now  the  city  fortified  by  the  palace  in  which  he 
lived,  and  by  the  temple,  which  had  a  strong  fortress  by  it,  called  Antonia,  and 
Avas  rebuilt  by  himself;  he  contrived  to  make  Samaria  a  fortress  for  himself  also 
against  all  the  people,  and  called  it  Sebaste  ;  supposing  that  this  place  would  be 
a  strong  hold  against  the  country,  not  inferior  to  the  former.  So  he  fortified  that 
l)lace,  which  was  a  day's  journey  distant  from  Jerusalem,  and  which  would  be 
useful  to  him  in  common,  to  keep  both  the  country  and  the  city  in  awe.  He  also 
built  another  fortress  for  the  whole  nation ;  it  was  of  old  called  Strato's  Tower,  but 
was  by  him  named  Cesarea.  Moreover,  he  chose  out  some  select  horsemen,  and 
placed  them  in  the  great  plain ;  and  built  [for  them]  a  place  in  Galilee  called  Gaba, 
■with  Hesebonitis,  in  Perea.  And  these  were  the  places  which  he  particularly 
built,  while  he  always  was  inventing  somewhat  farther  for  his  own  security,  and 
encompassing  the  whole  nation  with  guards,  that  they  might  by  no  means  get 
from  under  his  power,  nor  fall  into  tumults,  which  they  did  continually  upon  any 
small  conunolion  ;  and  that  if  they  did  make  any  commotions  he  might  know  of  it,* 
while  some  of  iiis  spies  njight  be  upon  them  from  the  neighbourhood,  and  migiit 


C  IX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  537 

both  be  able  to  know  what  they  were  attempting,  and  to  prevent  it.  And  when 
ho  went  about  building  the  wall  of  Samaria,  he  contrived  to  brmg  thither  many  oi 
those  that  had  been  assisting  to  iiim  in  his  wars,  and  many  ot  the  people  in  that 
lieiohbourhood  also,  whom  he  made  I'ellow-citizens  with  the  rest.  This  he  did 
out'^of  an  ambitious  desire  of  building  a  temple,  and  out  of  a  desire  to  make  the 
city  more  eminent  than  it  had  been  betbre,  but  principally  because  he  contrived 
that  it  mioht  at  once  be  for  his  own  security,  and  a  monument  of  his  magnificence. 
lie  also  dianged  its  name,  and  called  it  Scbaste.  Moreover,  he  parted  the  ad- 
joining country,  which  was  exeellcnt  in  its  kind,  among  the  inhabitants  of  Sa. 
mariaj'^that  they  might  be  in  a  happy  condition,  upon  their  first  coming  to  inhabit. 
Besides  all  which  ho  encompassed  the  city  with  a  wall  of  great  strength,  and 
made  use  of  the  acclivity  of  the  place  for  making  its  fortifications  stronger;  nor 
was  the  compass  of  the  "place  made  now  so  small  as  it  had  been  before,  but  was 
such  as  rendered  it  not  inferior  to  the  most  tamoiis  cities;  for  it  was  twenty  fur- 
lono-3  in  circumference.  Now  within,  and  about  the  middle  of  it,  he  built  a  sacred 
place,  of  a  furlong  and  a  half  [in  circuit,]  and  adorned  it  with  all  sorts  of  decora- 
tions,'and  therein  erected  a  temple,  which  was  illustrious  on  account  of  both  its 
largeness  and  beauty.  And  as  to  the  several  parts  of  the  city,  he  adorned  them 
with  decorations  of  all  sorts  also ;  and  as  to  what  was  necessary  to  provide  lor  his 
own  security,  he  made  the  walls  very  strong  for  that  purpose,  and  made  itforthe 
greatest  part  a  citadel ;  and  as  to  the  elegance  of  the  buildings,  it  was  taken  care 
of  also,  that  he  might  leave  monuments  of  the  fineness  of  his  taste,  and  of  his 
beneficence  to  future  ages. 


CHAP.  TX. 

Concerning  ike  Famine  that  happened  in  Judea  and  Syria ;  and  how  Herod,  after 
he  had  married  another  Wife,  rebuilt  Cesarea,  and  other  Grecian  Cities. 

§  1.  Now  on  this  very  year,  which  was  the  thirteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Herod, 
very  great  calamities  came  upon  the  country  ;  whether  they  were  derived  from 
the  anger  of  God,  or  whether  this  misery  return  again  naturally  in  certain  periods 
of  time  :*  for,  in  the  first  place,  there  were  perpetual  droughts,  and  for  that  rea- 
son the  ground  was  barren,  and  did  not  bring  fortii  the  same  quantity  of  fruits  that 
it  used  to  produce  ;  and  after  this  barrenness  of  the  soil,  the  change  of  food  which 
the  want  of  corn  occasioned  produced  distempers  in  the  bodies  of  men,  and  a 
pestilential  disease  prevailed,  one  misery  following  upon  the  back  of  another; 
and  these  circumstances,  that  they  were  destitute  both  of  methods  of  cure  and  of 
food,  made  the  pestilential  distemper,  which  began  after  a  violent  manner,  the 
more  lasting.  The  destruction  of  men  also  after  such  a  manner  deprived  those 
that  survived  of  all  their  courage,  because  they  had  no  way  to  provide  remedies 
sulticicnt  tor  the  distresses  they  wore  in.  When,  theretbre,  the  fruits  of  that  year 
were  spoiled,  and  whatsoever  they  had  laid  up  beforehand  was  spent,  there  was 
no  foundation  of  hope  tor  relief  remaining,  but  the  misery  contrary  to  what  they 
expected  still  increased  upon  them  ;  and  this  not  only  on  that  year,  while  they 
had  nothing  for  themselves  left  [at  the  end  of  it,]  but  what  seed  they  had  sown 
perished  also,  by  reason  of  the  ground  not  yielding  its  fruits  on  the  second  year.]" 
This  distress  they  were  in  made  them  also  out  of  necessity  to  eat  many  things 

*  Here  we  have  an  eminent  cxainple  of  the  lan'j;un£;c  of  Josophus  in  his  writinj;  to  firntiles,  fliftercnt 
from  lh;it  when  lie  wiDte  to  .Jews;  in  his  wiitiiiii;  to  whom  lie  still  derives  all  such  jiiii^menls  from  the 
anaier  of  (iod  ;  but  hecausu  lie  knew  mmiv  of  the  Gentiles  thr)nglit  they  niii^ht  natm-ally  come  in  certain 
periods,  lie  complies  with  them  in  the  following  sentence.  See  the  note  on  the  War,  B.  i.  ch.  xxxiii. 
sect.  ;;. 

t  This  famine  for  two  years  that  affected  .fudca  and  .^yria,  the  Tilth  and  )4th  yciirs  of  Herod,  which 
n'Q  the  1?A  and  ..'-Itli  years  b'.'fore  tlie  t.'hristiati  era,  seems  to  have  been  more  terrible  dnriiiq  this  time  than 
wu--  that  in  i!ie  davs  of  Jacob,  Gen.  xli.  .\lii.  And  what  inak.£;s  the  comparison  the  more  remarkable  is 

VOL.  I.  3  Y 


533  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV. 

that  did  not  use  to  I>g  eaten  ;  nor  was  the  king  himself  free  from  this  distress  any 
more  tiian  other  men,  as  being  deprived  of  that  tribute  he  used  to  have  from  the 
fruits  of  the  ground,  and  having  ah'eady  expended  what  money  he  had  in  his  hbe- 
i-alitvto  those  whose  cities  he  had  built;  nor  had  he  any  people  that  were  worthy 
of  his  assistance,  since  this  miserable  state  of  things  had  procured  him  the  hatred 
of  his  subjects ;  for  it  is  a  constant  rule,  that  misfortunes  are  still  laid  to  the  ac- 
count of  those  that  govern. 

2.  In  these  circumstances,  he  considered  with  himself  how  to  procure  some 
seasonable  help;  but  this  was  a  hard  thing  to  be  done,  while  their  neiglibours  had 
no  food  to  sell  them,  and  their  money  also  was  gone,  had  it  been  possible  to  pur- 
chase a  little  food  at  a  great  price.  However,  he  thought  it  his  best  way,  by  all 
means,  not  to  leave  otfhis  endeavours  to  assist  his  people  ;  so  he  cut  off"  the  rich 
fiu-niture  that  was  in  his  palace,  both  of  silver  and  gold,  insomuch  that  he  did  not 
spare  the  finest  vessels  he  had,  or  those  that  were  made  with  the  most  elaborate 
skill  of  the  artificers^  but  sent  the  money  to  Petronius,  who  had  been  made  prefect 
of  Egypt  by  Caesar  :  and  as  not  a  few  had  already  fled  to  him  under  their  necessi- 
ties, and  as  he  was  particularly  a  friend  to  Herod,  and  desirous  to  have  his  subjects 
preserved,  he  gave  leave  to  tl;em,  in  the  first  place,  to  export  corn,  and  assisted 
them  every  way,  both  in  purchasing  and  exporting  the  same  ;  so  that  he  was  the 
principal,  if  not  the  only  person  who  afforded  them  what  help  they  had.  And 
Herod,  taking  care  the  people  should  understand  that  this  help  came  from  himself, 
did  tliereby  not  only  remove  from  him  the  ill  opinion  of  those  that  formerly  hated 
him.  but  gave  them  the  greatest  demonstration  possible  of  his  good  will  to  them, 
and  care  of  them  ;  for,  in  the  first  place,  as  for  those  who  were  able  to  provide  their 
own  food,  he  distributed  to  them  their  proportion  of  coi*n  in  the  exactest  manner  ; 
but  for  those  many  that  were  not  able,  either  by  reason  of  their  old  age  or  any 
other  infirmity,  to  provide  food  for  themselves,  he  made  this  provision  for  them 
that  the  bakers  should  make  their  bread  ready  for  them.  He  also  took  care  that 
they  might  not  be  hurt  by  the  dangers  of  winter,  since  they  were  in  great  want  of 
clochiiig  also,  by  reason  of  the  utter  destruction  and  consumption  of  their  sheep 
and  goats,  till  they  had  no  wool  to  make  use  of,  nor  any  thing  else  to  cover  them- 
selves withal.  And  when  he  had  procured  these  things  for  his  own  subjects,  he 
went  farther,  in  order  to  provide  necessaries  for  their  neighbours,  and  gave  seed 
to  the  Syrians,  which  thing  turned  greatly  to  his  own  advantage  also  ;  this  chari- 
table assistance  being  aiforded  most  seasonably  to  their  fruitful  soil,  so  that  every 
one  had  now  a  plentiful  provision  of  food.  Upon  the  whole,  when  the  harvest  of  the 
land  vv-as  approaching,  he  sent  no  fewer  than  fifty  thousand  men  whom  he  had  sus- 
tained into  the  country  ;  by  which  means  he  both  repaired  the  afflicted  condition 
of  his  own  kingdom  with  great  generosity  and  diligence,  and  lightened  the  af- 
flictions of  his  neighbours,  who  were  under  the  same  calamities  ;  for  there  was 
nobody  who  had  been  in  want  that  was  left  destitute  of  a  suitable  assistance  by 
him:  nay,  farther,  there  were  neither  any  people,  nor  any  cities,  nor  any  private 
men,  who  were  to  make  provision  for  the  multitudes,  and  on  that  account  were  in 
want  of  support,  and  had  recourse  to  him,  but  received  what  they  stood  in  need  of^ 
insomuch  that  it  appeared  upon  a  computation  that  the  number  of  cori  of  wheat, 
often  attick  medimni  apiece,  that  were  given  to  foreigners,  amounted  to  ten 
thousand  ;  and  the  number  that  was  given  in  his  own  kingdom  was  about  fourecore 
thousand.  Now  it  happened  that  this  care  of  his,  and  this  seasonable  benefaction, 
had  such  influence  on  the  Jews,  and  was  so  cried  up  among  other  nations,  as 
to  wipe  ofl'that  old  hatred  which  his  violation  of  some  of  their  customs,  during  his 
reign,  had  procured  him  among  all  the  nation  ;  and  that  this  liberality  of  his  a&- 

this,  that  now  as  well  as  th?n,  thn  relief  tlipy  had  was  from  E:;ypt  also  ;  then  froin  Joseph  the  governor 
of  l/^vpt,  under  Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt,  and  now  from  Petronius  the  prefect  of  Egypt,  under  Augustus  the 
Roman  emperor.  See  almost  the  like  case,  Antiq.  B.  xx.  ch.  ii.  sect.  6.  It  is  also  well  worth  our 
obsi-rvaiion  here,  that  these  two  years  were  a  Sabbatic  year,  and  a  year  of  jubilee,  for  which  Providence, 
during  the  theocracy,  used  to  provide  a  triple  crop  beforehand,  bulbccame  now,  when  the  Jews  had  for- 
feited tliat  blessing,  iho  greatctt  \'\2arsof  (a]»iine  to  them  ever  since  the  davsof  Ahab.  1  Kings,  xvii.  xviii. 


C.  IX.  ANTIQUITIKS  OF  TilE  JE\\S.  539 

sistance,  in  this  their  greatest  necessity,  was  full  satisfaction  for  all  that  he  had 
done  of  that  nature,  as  it  also  procured  liini  great  fame  among  foreigners  ;  and  it 
looked  as  if  these  cahunitics,  that  afflicted  his  land  to  a  degre(i>  plainly  incredible, 
came  in  order  to  raise  his  glory,  and  to  be  to  his  great  advantage  ;  I'or  the  greatness 
of  his  liberality  in  these  distresses,  wliich  he  now  demonstrated  beyond  all  expec- 
tation, did  so  change  the  disposition  of  the  multitude  towards  him,  that  they  were 
ready  to  suppose  he  had  been  from  the  beginning  not  such  a  one  as  they  had 
found  him  to  be  by  experience,  but  such  a  one  as  the  care  he  had  taken  of  them 
in  supplying  their  necessities  proved  him  now  to  be. 

3.  About  this  time  it  was  that  he  sent  five  hundred  chosen  men  out  of  the 
guards  of  his  body  as  auxiliaries  to  Caisar,  whom  iElius  Gallus*  led  to  the  Red 
•Sea,  and  who  were  of  great  service  to  him  there.  When,  therefore.,  his  affuirs 
were  tiuis  improved,  and  were  again  in  a  flourishing  condition,  he  built  himself 
a  palace  in  the  upper  city,  raising  the  rooms  to  a  very  great  height,  and  adorning 
them  with  the  most  costly  furniture  of  gold,  and  marble  seats  and  beds  ;  and 
these  were  so  large  that  they  could  contain  very  many  companies  of  men.  These 
apartments  were  also  of  distinct  magnitudes,  and  had  particular  names  given 
ihem  ;  for  one  apartment  was  called  Coesar's,  another  Agrippa's.  He  also  tell  in 
love  again,  and  married  another  wife,  not  suflering  his  reason  to  hinder  him  from 
living  as  he  pleased.  The  occasion  of  this  his  marriage  was  as  follows  : — there 
was  one  Simon,  a  citizen  of  Jerusalem,  the  son  of  one  Boethus,  a  citizen  of  Alex- 
andria, and  a  priest  of  great  note  there ;  this  man  had  a  daughter  who  was  es- 
teemed the  most  beautiful  woman  of  that  time;  and  when  the  people  of  Jerusa- 
lem began  to  speak  much  in  her  commendation,  it  happened  that  Herod  was  much 
affected  with  what  was  said  of  her;  and  when  he  saw  the  damsel,  he  was  smit- 
ten with  her  beauty,  yet  did  he  entirely  reject  the  thoughts  of  using  his  authority 
to  abuse  her,  as  believing  what  was  the  truth,  that  by  so  doing  he  should  be  stig- 
matised for  violence  and  tyranny  ;  so  he  thought  it  best  to  take  thf  damsel  to  wife. 
And  while  Simon  was  of  a  dignity  too  inferior  to  be  allied  to  him,  but  still  too 
considerable  to  be  despised,  he  governed  his  inclinations  after  the  most  prudent 
manner,  by  augmenting  the  dignity  of  the  family,  and  making  them  more  honour- 
able ;  so  he  immediately  deprived  Jesus  the  son  of  Phabet  of  the  high  priestiiood, 
and  conferred  that  dignity  on  Simon,  and  so  joined  in  aflinity  with  him  [by  mar- 
rying of  his  daughter.] 

4.  Wiien  this  wedding  was  over,  he  built  another  citadel  in  that  place  Vv'here 
he  had  conquered  the  Jews  when  he  was  driven  out  of  his  government,  and  An- 
tigonus  enjoyed  it.  This  citadel  is  distant  from  Jerusalem  about  threescore  fur- 
longs. It  was  strong  by  nature,  and  fit  for  such  a  building.  It  is  a  sort  of  a  mode- 
rate hill,  raised  to  a  farther  height  by  the  hand  of  man,  till  it  was  of  the  shape 
of  a  woman's  breast.  It  is  encompassed  with  circular  towers,  and  hath  a  straight 
ascent  up  to  it,  which  ascent  is  composed  of  steps  of  polished  stones,  in  number 
two  hundred.  Within  it  are  royal  and  very  rich  apartments,  of  a  str'icture  that 
provided  both  for  security  and  for  beauty.  About  the  bottom  there  are  habita- 
tions of  such  a  structure  as  are  well  worth  seeing,  both  on  other  accounts  and  al- 
so on  account  of  the  water  which  is  brought  thither  from  a  great  way  off,  and  at 
vast  expenses  ;  for  the  place  itself  is  destitute  of  water.  The  plain  that  is  about 
this  citadel  is  full  of  edifices,  not  inferior  to  any  city  in  largeness,  and  having 
the  hill  above  it  in  the  nature  of  a  caslle. 

5.  And  now,  when  all  Herod's  designs  had  succeeded  according  to  his  hopes, 
he  had  not  tlie  least  suspicion  that  any  troubles  could  arise  in  his  kingdom,  be- 
cause he  kept  his  people  obedient,  as  well  by  the  fear  they  stood  in  of  him,  for  he 
was  implacable  in  the  inlliction  of  his  punishments,  as  by  the  provident  care  he 
had  showed  towards  them,  after  the  most  magnanimous  manner,  when  they  were 

*  This  TElius  Gallus  seems  to  be  no  other  tlian  that  j^Eliii!!  Larfjus  whom  Dio  speaks  of  as  conducting 
an  expedition  that  was  about  this  time  tnade  into  Arabia  Felix,  according  to  Pctaviiis,  who  is  here  cited 
by  Spaiiheini.    See  a  full  account  of  this  expedition  in  Pridsaux,  at  the  years  21  and  i23. 
3  Y  2 


e.40 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV. 


\)..der  their  distresses.  But  still  he  took  care  to  liave  external  security  for  liis 
government,  as  a  fortress  against  his  subjects  ;  for  the  orations  he  made  to  tlie 
cities  were  very  fine,  and  full  of  kindness  :  and  he  cultivated  a  seasonable  good 
understanding  with  their  governors,  and  bestowed  presents  on  every  one  of  them, 
inducing  th.em  thereby  to  be  more  friendly  to  him,  and  using  his  magnificent  dis- 
position,  so  as  his  kingdom  might  be  the  better  secured  to  him;  and  this  till  all  his 
atrairs  were  every  way  more  and  more  atigmented.  But  then,  this  magnificent 
temper  of  his,  and  that  submissive  behaviour  and  liberality  which  he  exercised 
towards  Cffisar  and  the  most  powerful  men  of  Rome,  obliged  him  to  trangress 
the  customs  of  his  nation,  and  to  set  aside  many  of  their  laws;  and  by  building 
cities  after  an  extravagant  manner,  and  erecting  temples  ;*  not  in  Judea  indeed, 
for  that  would  not  have  been  borne,  it  being  forbidden  for  us  to  pay  any  honour 
to  images,  or  representations  of  animals,  after  the  manner  of  the  Greeks,  but  still 
he  did  thus  in  the  countrj^  [properly]  out  of  our  bounds,  and  in  the  cities  thereof. 
The  apology  which  he  made  to  the  Jews  for  these  things  was  this  :  that  all  was 
done,  not  out  of  his  own  inclinations,  but  by  the  commands  and  injunctions  of 
others,  in  order  to  please  Caesar  and  the  Romans,  as  though  he  had  not  the  Jew- 
ish  customs  so  much  in  his  eye  as  he  had  the  honour  of  those  Romans,  while  yet 
he  had  himself  entirely  in  view  all  the  while,  and  indeed  was  very  ambitious  to 
leave  great  monuments  of  his  government  to  posterity  ;  whence  it  was  that  he 
was  so  zealous  in  building  such  fine  cities,  and  spent  such  vast  sums  of  money 
upon  them. 

6.  Now  upon  his  observation  of  a  place  near  the  sea,  which  was  very  proper 
for  containing  a  citv,  and  was  before  called  Strato's  Tower,  he  set  about  getting 
a  plan  for  a  magnificent  city  there,  and  erected  many  edifices  with  great  diligence 
all  over  it ;  and  this  of  white  stone.  He  also  adorned  it  with  most  sumptuous  pa- 
laces, and  large  edifices  for  containing  the  people  ;  and,  what  was  the  greatest 
and  most  laborious  work  of  all,  he  adorned  it  with  a  haven,  that  was  always  free 
from  the  waves  of  the  sea.  Its  largeness  was  not  less  than  the  Pyra^um  [at 
Athens,]  and  had  towards  the  city  a  double  station  for  the  ships.  It  was  of  excel- 
lent workmanship  ;  and  this  was  the  more  remarkable  for  its  being  built  in  a 
place  that  of  itself  was  not  suitable  to  such  noble  structures,  but  was  to  be  brought 
to  perfection  bj^  materials  from  other  places,  and  at  very  great  expenses.  This 
city  is  situate  in  Phoenicia,  in  the  passage  by  sea  to  Egypt,  between  .Toppa  and 
Dora,  which  are  lesser  maritime  cities,  and  not  fit  for  havens,  on  account  of  the 
impetuous  south  winds  that  beat  upon  them  ;  w-hich,  rolling  the  sands  that  come 
from  the  sea  against  the  shores,  do  not  admit  of  ships  lying  in  their  station;  but 
the  merchants  arc  generally  there  forced  to  ride  at  their  anchors  in  the  sea  itself. 
So  Herod  endeavoured  to  rectify  this  inconvenience,  and  laid  out  such  a  compass 
towards  the  land  as  might  be  sutficient  for  a  haven,  wherein  the  great  ships  might 
lie  in  safety;  and  this  he  ellected  by  letting  down  vast  stones  of  above  fifty  feet 
In  length,  not  less  than  eighteen  in  breadth,  and  nine  in  depth,  into  twenty  fa- 
thoms deep  ;  and  as  some  were  lesser,  so  were  ethers  bigger  than  those  dimen- 

*  One  TTiny  here  take  notice,  that  liow  tj-rannical  and  extravagant  goever  Herod  were  in  himself,  find 
in  his  Grecian  cities,  as  to  those  plays,  and  shows,  and  temples  for  idolatry,  mentioned  above,  ch.  viii. 
sect.  1,  and  liere  also,  yet  durst  even  he  introduce  very  few  of  them  into  the  cities  of  the  Jews,  who,  as 
Josephu^  here  notes,  would  not  even  then  have  borne  them,  so  zealous  were  they  still  for  many  of  tlie 
laws  of  INlofes,  even  tnider  so  tyrannical  a  government  as  this  was  of  Herod  the  Great ;  whicii  tyrannical 
Rovernment  puts  me  naturally  in  mind  of  Dean  I'rideaiiz's  iionest  rcfiection  upon  the  like  ambition,  after 
sucli  tviannical  power  in  I-'ompey  and  C<Esar  :  "  One  of  these,"  sa}'s  he,  a't  the  year  IJO,  "  coidd  not  bear 
an  equal,  nor  tlie  other  a  superior  ;  and  tiirough  this  ambitious  humoiu',  and  tbirtt  after  more  power  iiri 
tliPii' two  men,  the  wlioie  Unman  empire  being  divided  into  two  opposite  factions,  tiiere  was  produced 
•  hereby  the  most  destructive  war  that  »ver  afflicted  it ;  and  the  like  folly  too  much  reigns  in  all  other  pla- 
ces. C'ouW  about  tliirty  men  be  persuaded  to  live  at  home  in  ])eace,  without  enterprising  upon  the  rights 
of  ea/;ij  other,  iot  tlie  vain  glory  of  conquest,  and  the  enlargement  of  power,  tlie  whole  world  might  beat 
<|uiet ;  but  their  ambition,  their  follies,  and  their  humour,  leading  them  constantly  to  encroach  upon  and 
<]uarifil  witln'ach  other,  they  involve  all  that  are  under  them  in  the  mischiefs  thereof;  and  many  thou- 
.sandsar*  tjicy  which  yearly  perish  by  it  ;  so  that  it  may  almost  raise  a  doubt,  whether  the  benefit  which 
the  world  receives  from  government  be  sufiicient  to  make  amends  for  the  calamities  which  it  suffers  from 
V-£  fuUici,  mistakes,  aiid  nialadministrations  of  those  that  manage  it." 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  ^  541 

sions.  Tliis  mole  which  he  built  by  the  sea  side  was  two  hundred  feet  wide:  the 
half  ofwliich  was  opposed  to  the  current  of  the  waves,  so  as  to  keep  oft' those 
waves  which  were  to  break  upon  thcrii,  and  so  was  called  Procymatia,  or  the  first 
breaker  of  the  waves  ;  but  the  olhcr  half  had  upon  it  a  wall,  with  several  towers, 
the  lar<TC!st  of  which  was  named  Drusus,  and  was  a  work  of  very  great  excellence, 
and  had  its  name  from  Drusus,  the  son-in-law  of  Ctcsar,  who  died  young.  There 
were  also  a  great  number  of  arches  where  the  mariners  dwelt.  There  was  also 
before  them  a  quay  [or  landing-place,]  which  ran  round  the  entire  haven,  and  was 
a  most  agreeable  walk  to  such  as  had  a  mind  to  that  exercise  ;  but  the  entrance 
or  mouth  of  the  port  was  made  on  the  north  quarter,  on  which  side  was  the  stil- 
lest of  the  winds  of  all  in  this  place.  And  the  basis  of  the  whole  circuit  on  the 
left  hand,  as  you  enter  the  port,  supported  a  round  turret,  which  was  made  very 
strong,  in  order  to  resist  the  greatest  waves;  while  on  the  right  hand,  as  you  en- 
ter, stood  two  vast  stones,  and  those  each  of  them  larger  than  the  turret  which 
was  over  against  them  ;  these  stood  upright,  and  were  joined  together.  Now 
there  were  edifices  all  along  the  circular  haven,  made  of  the  politest  stone,  with  a 
certain  elevation,  whereupon  was  erected  a  temple  that  was  seen  a  great  way  off 
by  those  that  were  sailing  for  that  haven,  and  had  in  it  two  statues,  the  one  of 
Rome,  the  other  of  Cossar ;  as  the  city  itself  was  called  Cesarea  :  which  was  also 
itself  built  of  fine  materials,  and  was  one  of  a  fine  structure  ;  nay,  the  very  sub- 
terranean  vaults  and  cellars  had  no  less  of  architecture  bestowed  on  them  than 
had  the  building  above  ground.  Some  of  these  vaults  carried  things  at  even  dis- 
tances to  the  haven  and  to  the  sea,  but  one  of  them  ran  obliquely,  and  bound  all 
the  rest  together,  that  both  the  rain  and  the  filth  of  the  citizens  were  together  car- 
ried oft"  with  ease  ;  and  the  sea  itself,  upon  the  flux  of  the  tide  from  without,  came 
into  the  city,  and  washed  it  all  clean.  Herod  also  built  therein  a  theatre  of  stone  ; 
and  on  the  south  qunrter,  behind  the  port,  an  amphitheatre  also,  capable  of  hold- 
ing  a  vast  number  of  men,  and  conveniently  situated  for  a  prospect  to  the  sea. 
So  this  city  was  thus  finished  in  twelve  years:*  during  wliicb  time  the  king  did 
not  fail  both  to  go  on  with  the  work,  and  to  pay  the  charges  that  were  necessary. 


CHAP.  X. 

How  Herod  sent  his  Sojis  to  Rome ;  how  also  he  was  accused  hi/  Zenodorus  and  the 

Gadarens,  hat  was  cleared  of  vdiat  they  accused  him.  of,  and  withal  gained  to 

himself  the  good  will  of  Cccsar.     Concerning  the  Pharisees,  the  Essencs. 

and  Manalieni. 

§  1.  WiiEX  Herod  was  engaged  in  such  matters,  and  when  he  had  already  re- 
edified  Sebaste  [Samaria,]  he  resolved  to  send  his  sons  Alexander  and  Aristobu- 
lus  to  Rome,  to  enjoy  the  company  of  Csesar ;  who,  when  they  came  thither, 
lodged  at  the  house  of  PoIlio,f  who  was  very  fond  of  Herod's  friend  ship  :  and 
they  had  leave  to  lodge  in  Caesar's  own  palace  ;  for  he  received  these  sons  of 
Herod  with  all  humanity,  and  gave  Herod  leave  to  give  his  kingdom  to  which  of 
his  sons  he  pleased  ;  and  besides  all  this,  he  bestowed  on  him  Trachon,  and  Ba- 
tanea,  and  Auraniiis,  which  he  gave  him  on  the  occasion  following  : — One  Zeno- 
dorus;};  had  hired  what  was  called  the  house  of  Lysanias,  who,  as  he  was  not  sa- 

*  Cesarna  being  here  said  to  be  rebuilt  and  arlorned  in  twelve 3ear.=,  and  soon  afterwards,  in  ten  years, 
Antiq.  B.  xvi.  cii.  v.  sect.  1,  there  must  be  a  mistake  in  one  of  tlie  places  as  to  the  true  number,  but  in 
wliicb  of  thetii  it  is  liard  positively  to  dcturniine. 

f  This  I'nllio,  with  whom  Herod's  sons  lived  at  Rome,  was  not  Pollio  the  Pharisee,  ahead)'  mentioned 
l)y  .foseplr.is,  ch.  i.  sect.  1,  and  again  presently  after  this,  ch.  x.  sect.  4,  but  Ausinius  Pollio  the  Roman, 
as  Spanlicim  here  observes. 

t  Tlie  charart-er  of  this  Zenodorus  is  so  like  tliat  of  a  famous  robber  of  the  same  name  in  Strabo,  and 
that  about  this  very  coimtrv,  and  aliout  liiis  very  time  also,  that  I  tliink  Dr.  Hudson  hardly  needed  to 
have  put  &  perlwps  to  his  determinaticn  that  they  were  the  same. 


542  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV. 

tisfied  with  its  revenues,  became  a  partner  with  the  robbers  that  inliabited  the 
Trachonites,  and  so  procured  hunself  a  larger  income ;  for  the  inhabitants  of 
those  phices  hved  in  a  mad  way,  and  pillaged  the  country  of  the  Damascenes, 
while  Zenodorus  did  not  restrain  them,  but  partook  of  the  prey  they  acquired. 
Now,  as  tlie  neighbouring  people  were  hereby  great  sufferers,  they  complained 
to  Varro,  who  was  then  president  [of  Syria,]  and  entreated  him  to  write  to  Caesar 
about  this  injustice  of  Zenodorus.  When  these  matters  were  laid  before  Caisar, 
he  wrote  back  to  Varro  to  destroy  those  nests  of  robbers,  and  to  give  the  land  to 
Herod  ;  that  so  by  his  care  the  neighbouring  countries  might  be  no  longer  dis- 
turbed with  these  doings  of  the  Trachonites  ;  for  it  was  not  an  easy  thing  to  re- 
strain them,  since  this  way  of  robbery  had  been  their  usual  practice,  and  they  had 
no  otlier  way  to  get  their  living  ;  because  they  had  neither  any  city  of  their  own, 
nor  lands  in  their  possession,  but  only  some  receptacles  and  dens  in  the  earth  : 
and  there  they  and  their  cattle  lived  in  common  together.  However,  they  had 
made  contrivances  to  get  pools  of  water,  and  laid  up  corn  in  granaries  for  them- 
selves, and  were  able  to  make  great  resistance,  by  issuing  out  on  the  sudden 
against  any  that  attacked  them  ;  for  the  entrances  of  their  caves  were  narrow,  m 
which  but  one  could  come  in  at  a  time,  and  the  places  within  incredibly  large, 
and  made  very  wide  ;  but  the  ground  over  their  habitations  was  not  very  high,  but 
rather  on  a  plain,  while  the  rocks  are  altogether  hard  and  difficult  to  be  entered 
upon,  unless  any  one  gets  into  the  plain  road  by  the  guidance  of  another ;  for 
these  roads  are  not  straight,  but  have  several  revolutions.  But  when  these  men 
are  hindered  from  their  wicked  preying  upon  their  neighbours,  their  custom  is  to 
prey  upon  one  another,  insomuch  that  no  sort  of  injustice  comes  ami«s  to  them. 
But  Avhen  Herod  had  received  this  grant  from  Cffisar,  and  was  come  into  this  coun- 
try, he  procured  skilful  guides,  and  put  a  stop  to  their  wicked  robberies,  and  pro- 
cured peace  and  quietness  to  the  neighbouring  people. 

2.  Hereupon  Zenodorus  was  grieved,  in  the  first  place,  because  his  principality 
was  taken  away  from  him,  and  still  more  so,  because  he  envied  Herod,  who  had 
gotten  it ;  so  he  went  up  to  Rome  to  accuse  him,  but  returned  back  again  v.  ithout 
buccess.  Now  Agi'ippa  was  [about  this  time]  sent  to  succeed  Csesar  in  the  go- 
vernment of  the  countries  beyond  the  Ionian  sea  ;  upon  whom  Herod  lighted 
when  he  was  wintering  about  Mitylene,  for  he  had  been  his  particular  friend  and 
companion,  and  then  returned  into  Judea  again.  However,  some  of  the  Gada- 
rens  came  to  Agrippa,  and  accused  Hei'od,  whom  he  sent  back  bound  to  the  king, 
without  giving  them  the  hearing.  But  still  the  Arabians,  who  of  old  bare  ill  will 
to  Herod's  government,  were  nettled,  and  at  that  time  attempted  to  raise  a  sedi- 
tion  in  his  dominions,  and,  as  they  thought,  upon  a  more  justifiable  occasion  ;  for 
Zenodorus,  despairing  already  of  success  as  to  his  own  affairs,  prevented  [his 
enemies]  by  selling  to  those  Arabians  a  part  of  his  principality,  called  Auranitis, 
for  the  value  of  fifty  talents,  but  as  this  was  included  in  the  donations  of  Caesar, 
they  contested  the  point  with  Herod,  as  unjustly  deprived  of  what  they  had  bought. 
Sometimes  they  did  this  by  making  incursions  upon  him,  and  sometimes  by  at- 
tempting force  against  him,  and  sometimes  by  going  to  law  with  him.  Moreover, 
they  persuaded  the  poorer  soldiers  to  help  them,  and  were  troublesome  to  him, 
out  of  a  constant  hope  that  they  should  reduce  the  people  to  raise  a  sedition ;  in 
which  designs  those  that  are  in  the  most  miserable  circumstances  of  life  are  still 
the  most  earnest :  and  although  Herod  had  been  a  great  -while  apprized  of  these 
attempts,  yet  did  not  he  indulge  any  severity  to  them,  but  by  rational  methods 
aimed  to  mitigate  things,  as  not  willing  to  give  any  handle  for  tumults. 

3.  Now  when  Herod  had  already  reigned  seventeen  years,  Caesar  came  into 
Syria;  at  which  time  the  greatest  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Gadara  clamoured 
against  Herod,  as  one  that  was  heavy  in  his  injunctions,  and  tyrannical.  These 
reproaches  they  mainly  ventured  upon  by  the  encouragement  of  Zenodorus,  who 
took  his  oath  that  he  would  never  leave  Herod  till  he  had  procured  that  they 
should  be  severed  from  Herod's  kingdom  and  joined  to  Caesar's  province.     The 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  543 

Gadarens  were  induced  hereby,  and  made  no  small  cry  against  him;  and  that  the 
more  boldly,  because  those  that  had  been  delivered  up  by  Agrippa  were  not  pu- 
nished by  Herod  ;  who  let  them  go,  and  did  them  no  harm  ;  for  indeed  he  was  the 
principal  man  in  the  world  who  appeared  almost  inexorable  in  punishing  crimes 
in  his  own  family,  but  very  generous  in  remitting  the  offences  that  were  com- 
mitted elsewhere.  And  while  they  accused  Ilerod  of  injuries  and  plunderings, 
and  subversions  of  temples,  he  stood  unconcerned,  and  was  ready  to  make  his 
defence.  However,  Ca3sar  gave  him  his  right  hand,  and  remitted  nothing  of  his 
kindness  to  him,  upon  this  disturbance  by  the  multitude  ;  and  indeed  these  things 
were  alleged  the  first  day,  but  the  hearing  proceeded  no  llirther;  for  as  the 
Gadarens  saw  the  inclination  of  Csesar  and  of  his  assessors,  and  expected,  as 
they  had  reason  to  do,  that  they  should  be  delivered  up  to  the  king,  some  of  them, 
out  of  a  dread  of  the  torments  they  might  undergo,  cut  their  own  throats  in  the 
night  time,  and  some  of  them  threw  themselves  down  precipices,  and  others  of 
them  cast  themselves  into  the  river,  and  destroyed  themselves  of  their  own  ac- 
cord :  which  accidents  seemed  a  sufficient  condemnation  of  the  rashness  and 
crimes  they  had  been  guilty  of;  whereupon  Caesar  made  no  longer  delay,  but 
cleared  Herod  from  the  crimes  he  was  accused  of.  Another  happy  accident 
there  was,  which  was  a  farther  great  advantage  to  Herod  at  this  time  ;  for  Ze- 
nodorus's  belly  burst,  and  a  great  quantity  of  blood  issued  from  him  in  his  sick- 
ness, and  he  thereby  departed  this  life  at  Antioch  in  Syria  ;  so  Cajsar  bestowed 
his  country,  which  was  no  small  one,  upon  Herod;  it  lay  between  Trachon  and 
Galilee,  and  contained  Uhitha,  and  Paneas,  and  the  country  round  about.  He 
also  made  him  one  of  the  procurators  of  Syria,  and  commanded  that  they  should 
do  every  thing  with  his  approbation,  and,  in  short,  he  arrived  at  that  {)itch  of  feli- 
city, that  whereas  there  were  but  two  men  that  governed  tho  vast  Roman  empire ; 
first  CiEsar,  and  then  Agrippa,  who  was  his  principal  favourite  ;  Ctesar  preferred 
no  one  to  Herod  besides  Agrippa:  and  Agrippa  made  no  one  his  greater  friend 
than  Herod,  beside  Cffisar.  And  when  he  had  acquired  such  freedom,  he  begged 
of  Caesar  a  tetrarchy*  lor  his  brother  Pheroras,  v/hile  he  did  himself  bestow  upon 
him  a  revenue  of  a  hundred  talents  out  of  his  own  kingdom,  that  in  case  he  came 
to  any  harm  himself,  his  brother  might  be  in  safety,  and  that  his  sons  might  not 
have  dominion  over  him.  So  when  he  had  conducted  Cajsar  to  the  sea,  and  was 
returned  home,  he  built  him  a  most  beautiful  temple,  of  (he  whitest  stone,  in  Zeno- 
dorus's  country,  near  the  place  called  Panium.  This  is  a  very  fine  cave  in  a 
mountain,  under  which  there  is  a  great  cavity  in  the  earth ;  and  the  cavern  is  abrupt, 
and  prodigiously  deep,  and  full  of  still  water  ;  over  it  hangs  a  vast  mountain  ;  and 
under  the  caverns  arise  the  springs  of  the  river  Jordan.  Herod  adorned  this 
place,  which  was  already  a  very  remarkable  one,  still  farther,  by  the  erection  of 
this  temple,  which  he  dedicated  to  Caesar. 

4.  At  which  time  Herod  released  to  his  subjects  the  third  part  of  their  taxes, 
under  pr^^tence  indeed  of  relieving  them,  after  the  dearth  they  had  had  ;  but  the 
main  reason  was,  to  recover  their  good  will,  which  he  now  wauled  ;  for  they  were 
uneasy  at  him,  because  of  the  innovations  he  had  introduced  in  their  practices,  of 
the  dissolution  of  their  religion,  and  of  the  disuse  of  their  own  customs  :  and  the 
people  every  where  talked  against  him,  like  those  that  were  still  more  provoked 
and  disturbed  at  his  procedure.  Against  which  discontents  he  greatly  guarded 
himself,  and  took  away  the  opportunities  they  might  have  to  disturb  him,  and  en- 
joined them  to  be  always  at  work  ;  nor  did  he  permit  tbe  citizens  either  to  meet 
together,  or  to  walk,  or  eat  together,  but  watched  every  thing  tliey  did  ;  and  when 
any  were  caught,  they  were  severely  punished  :  and  many  there  were  who  were 
brought  to  the  citadel  Hyrcania,  both  openly  and  secretly,  and  were  there  put  to 

*  A  ielrarchy  pvoperlv  and  oriajinnlly  dcnotetl  the  fourth  pnrt  of  an  entire  kiii^doni  or  country,  and  a 
tetrarch  one  that  was  rider  of  such  a  fourth  part,  which  always  implies  somewhat  less  extent  of  domi- 
nion and  power  than  belong  to  a  kingdom  and  to  a  kinj. 


544  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEAVS.  B,  XV. 

death ;  and  there  were  spies  set  every  where,  both  in  the  city  and  in  the  roads, 
Avlio  watched  those  tliat  met  togteher  :  nay,  it  is  reported,  that  he  did  not  himseit' 
neo-lect  tiiis  part  ot"  caution,  but  that  he  would  oftentimes  himself  lake  the  habit 
of  a  private  man,  and  mix  among  the  multitude,  in  the  night  time,  and  make  trial 
what  opinion  they  had  of  his  government :  and  as  for  those  that  could  no  way  be 
reduced  to  acquiesce  under  his  scheme  of  government,  he  prosecuted  them  all 
manner  of  ways;  but  lor  the  rest  of  the  multitude,  he  required  that  they  should 
be  obliged  to  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  him,  and  at  the  same  time  compelled  them 
to  sv/ear  that  they  would  bear  him  good  will,  and  continue  certainly  so  to  do  in 
his  management  of  the  government  ;  and  indeed  a  great  part  of  tiiem,  either  to 
please  him  or  out  of  fear  of  him,  yielded  to  what  he  required  of  them ;  but  for 
such  as  were  of  a  more  open  and  generous  disposition,  and  had  indignation  at 
the  force  he  used  to  them,  lie  by  one  means  or  other  made  away  with  them.  Ho 
endeavoured  also  to  persuade  PoUio  the  Pharisee,  and  Sameas,  and  the  greatest 
part  of  their  scholars,  to  take  the  oath  ;  but  these  would  neither  submit  so  to  do, 
nor  were  they  punished  together  with  the  rest,  cut  of  tiie  reverence  he  bore  to 
Pollio.  The  Essenes  also,  as  we  call  a  sect  of  ours,  were  excused  from  this  im- 
position. These  men  live  the  same  kind  of  life  as  do  those  whom  the  Greeks  call 
Pylliagoreans,  concerning  whom  I  shall  discourse  more  fully  elsewhere.  How- 
ever, it  is  but  fit  to  set  down  here  the  reasons  wherefore  Herod  had  these  Essenes 
in  such  honour,  and  thought  higher  of  them  than  their  mortal  nature  required  ; 
nor  will  this  account  be  unsuitable  to  the  nature  of  this  history,  as  it  will  show 
the  opinion  men  had  of  these  Essenes. 

5.  Now  there  was  one  of  these  Essenes,  whose  name  was  Manahem,  who  had 
this  testimony,  that  he  not  only  conducted  his  life  after  an  excellent  manner,  but 
liad  the  ibreknowledge  of  future  events  given  him  by  God  also.  This  man  once 
saw  Herod  when  he  was  a  child,  and  going  to  school,  and  saluted  him  as  king  o-f 
the  Jews ;  but  he  thinking  that  either  he  did  not  know  him,  or  that  he  was  in  jest, 
put  him  in  mind  that  he  was  but  a  private  man  ;  but  Manahem  smiled  to  himself, 
and  clapped  him  on  his  backside  with  his  hand,  and  said,  "  However  that  be,  thou 
wilt  be  king,  and  wilt  begin  thy  reign  happily  ;  for  God  finds  thee  worthy  of  it. 
And  do  thou  remember  the  blows  that  Manahem  hath  given  thee,  as  being  a  sig- 
nal of  the  change  of  thy  fortune.  And  truly  this  will  be  the  best  reasoning  for 
thee,  that  thou  love  justice  [towards  men,]  and  piety  towards  God,  and  clemency 
towards  thy  citizens ;  yet  do  I  know  how  thy  whole  conduct  will  be,  that  thou 
wilt  not  be  such  a  one  ;  for  thou  wilt  excel  all  men  in  happiness,  and  obtain  an 
everlasting  reputation,  but  will  forget  piety  and  righteousness  ;  and  these  crimes 
v.ill  not  be  concealed  from  God,  at  the  conclusion  of  thy  life,  when  thou  wdt  find 
that  he  will  be  mindlul  of  them,  and  punish  thee  for  them."  Now  at  that  time 
Hci-od  did  not  at  all  attend  to  what  Manahem  said,  as  having  no  hopes  of  such 
advancement  ;  but  a  little  afterward,  when  he  was  so  tbrtunate  as  to  be  advanced 
to  the  dignity  of  king,  and  was  in  the  height  of  his  dominion,  he  sent  for  Mana- 
licm,  and  asked  him  how  long  he  should  reign  1  Manahem  did  not  tell  him  the 
lull  length  of  his  reign  ;  wherefore  upon  that  silence  of  his,  he  asked  him  farther, 
whether  he  should  reign  ten  years,  or  not  ?  he  replied,  "  Yes,  twenty,  nay,  thirty 
years,"  but  did  not  assign  the  just  determinate  limit  of  his  reign.  Herod  was  sa- 
tisfied with  these  replies,  and  gave  RIanahem  his  hand  and  dismissed  him  ;  and 
from  that  time  he  continued  to  honour  all  the  Essenes.  We  have  thought  it  pro 
per  to  relate  these  facts  to  our  readers,  how  strange  soever  they  be,  and  to  declare 
what  hath  happened  among  us,  because  many  of  these  Essenes  have  by  their  ex- 
cellent virtue,  been  thought  worthy  of  this  knowledge  of  divine  revelations. 


C,  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  545 


CHAP.  XL 

ILno  Herod  rchidll  the  Temjile,  and  raised  if.  higher,  and   made  it  more 

magnificent  than  it  was  before;  as  also  concerning  that  Tower  which  he 

called  Antonia. 

§  1.  And  now  Herod,  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  reign,  and  after  the  acts  al- 
ready  mentioned,  undertook  a  very  great  work,  that  is,  to  build  of  himself  the 
temple  of  God,*  and  to  make  it  larger  in  compass,  and  to  raise  it  to  a  most  mag- 
niticent  altitude,  as  esteeming  it  to  be  the  most  glorious  of  all  his  actions,  as  it 
really  was,  to  bring  it  to  perfection,  and  that  tiiis  would  be  sulhcient  for  an  ever- 
lasting memorial  of  him  ;  but  as  he  knew  the  multitude  were  not  ready"  nor  willing 
to  assist  him  in  so  vast  a  design,  he  thought  to  prepare  them  first  by  making  a 
speech  to  them,  and  then  to  set  about  the  work  itself;  so  he  called  them  together, 
and  spake  thus  to  them  :  "  I  think  I  need  not  speak  to  you,  my  countrymei;,  about 
such  other  works  as  I  have  done  since  I  came  to  the  kingdom,  although  I  may 
say  they  have  been  performed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  bring  moi-e  security  to  you 
than  glory  to  myself;  for  I  have  neither  been  negligent  in  the  most  ditiicult  times 
about  what  tended  to  ease  your  necessities,  nor  have  the  buildings  I  have  made 
been  so  proper  to  preserve  me  as  yourselves  from  injuries  ;  and  I  imagine  that, 
with  God's  assistance,  I  have  advanced  the  nation  of  the  Jews  to  a  degree  of  hap- 
piness which  they  never  had  before  ;  and  for  the  particular  edifices  belonging  to 
your  own  country  and  to  your  oAvn  cities,  as  also  to  those  cities  that  we  have 
lately  acquired,  which  we  have  erected,  and  greatly  adorned,  and  thereby  aug- 
mented the  dignity  of  your  nation,  it  seems  to  me  a  needless  task  to  enumerate 
them  to  you,  since  you  well  know  them  yourselves  ;  but  as  to  that  undertaking 
which  I  have  a  mind  to  set  about  at  present,  and  which  will  be  a  work  of  the 
greatest  piety  and  excellence  that  can  possibly  be  undertaken  by  us,  I  will  now 
declare  it  to  you.  Our  fathers,  indeed,  when  they  were  returned  from  Babylon, 
built  this  temple  to  God  Almighty ;  yet  does  it  want  sixty  cubits  of  its  largeness 
in  altitude  :  for  so  much  did  that  first  temple  which  Solomon  built  exceed  this 
temple  :  nor  let  any  one  condemn  our  fathers  for  their  negligence  or  want  of  pietv 
therein,  for  it  was  not  their  fault  that  the  temple  was  no  higher  ;  tor  they  were 
Cyrus  and  Darius  tlie  son  of  Hystaspes,  who  determined  the  measure  for  its  re- 
building ;  and  tt  hath  been  by  reason  of  the  subjection  of  those  fathers  of  ours  to 
them  and  to  their  jjosterity,  and  after  them  to  the  Macedonians,  that  they  had  not 
the  opportimity  to  follow  the  original  model  of  this  pious  edifice,  nor  coidd  raise 
it  to  its  ancient  altitude  ;  but  since  I  am  now  by  God's  will  your  governor,  and  I 
have  had  peace  a  long  time,  and  have  gained  great  riches  and  large  revenues, 
and  what  is  the  principal  thing  of  all,  I  am  in  amity  with  and  well  regarded  by 
the  Romans,  who,  if  I  may  so  say,  are  the  rulers  of  the  whole  world,  I  will  do  my 
endeavour  to  correct  that  imperfection,  which  hath  arisen  from  the  necessity  of 
our  afl^airs,  and  the  slavery  we  have  been  under  formerly  ;  and  to  make  a  thank- 
iul  ri'turn,  after  the  most  pious  manner,  to  God,  for  what  blessings  I  have  re- 
ceived from  him,  by  giving  me  this  kingdom,  and  that  by  rendering  his  temple 
as  complete  as  I  am  able." 

2.  And  this  was  the  speech  which  Herod  made  to  them  ;  but  still  this  speech 

*  We  may  liorc  olifprvc,  tluit  the  fancy  of  the  moilcni  Jews,  in  calling  this  feitiple.  which  was  really 
the  third  of  their  temples,  the  xerond  temple,  followed  so  long  by  later  Christians,  seems  to  be  without  any 
solid  fmmfiatinn.  The  reason  why  the  (  hristians  here  follow  the  Jews  is,  because  the  prophecy  of  Ha?- 
pai,  ii,  fi— 0,  wlilch  thev  expoimd  of  the  Messiali'j  coniinp;  to  the  second  of  Zorobubcrs  tempk','of  which 
they  suppose  this  of  Herod's  to  be  only  a  continuaticm.  which  is  iiuant,  t  thiid<,  (if  liis  comin'j;  to  thfi 
Jhurl/i  and  lust  temple,  or  to  that  future  largest  and  most  glorious  one  described  liy  Ezekiul.  Whence  I 
take  the  former  notion,  huw  ijeneral  soever,  to  t^e  a  i^reat  inibtake.     bee  Lit.  Accomp.  of  Troph.  p.  Z-L 

VOL.  I.  3  Z 


546  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.XV 

affrio-hted  many  of  the  people,  as  being  uncxpectea  by  them,  and  because  it 
seemed  incredible,  it  did  not  encourage  them,  but  put  a  damp  upon  them  :  for 
they  were  afraid  that  he  would  pull  down  the  whole  edifice,  and  not  be  able  to 
brill"-  his  intentions  to  perfection  for  its  rebuilding;  and  this  danger  appeared  to 
thcni  to  be  very  great,  and  the  vastness  of  the  undertaking  to  be  such  as  could 
hardly  be  accomplished.  But  while  they  were  in  this  disposition  the  king  en- 
couraged them  and  told  them,  "  He  would  not  pull  down  their  temple  till  all 
things  were  gotten  ready  for  building  it  up  entirely  again."  And  as  he  promised 
them  this  beforehand,  so  he  did  not  break  his  word  with  them;  but  got  ready  a 
thousand  wagons,  that  were  to  bring  stones  for  the  building,  and  chose  out  ten 
thousand  of  the  most  skilful  workmen,  and  bought  a  thousand  sacerdotal  garments 
for  as  many  of  the  priests,  and  had  some  of  them  taught  the  arts  of  stonecutters, 
and  others  of  carpenters,  and  then  began  to  build :  but  this  not  till  every  thing 
was  well  prepared  for  the  work. 

3.  So  Herod  took  away  the  old  foundations,  and  laid  others,  and  erected  the 
temple  upon  them,  being  in  length  a  hundred  cubits,  and  in  height  twenty  addi- 
tional  cubits,  which  [twenty]  upon  the  sinking  of  their  foundations*  fell  down ; 
and  this  part  it  was  that  we  resolved  to  raise  again  in  the  days  of  Nero.  Now 
the  temple  was  buiU  of  stones  that  were  white  and  strong,  and  each  of  their 
length  was  twentv-five  cubits,  their  height  was  eight,  and  their  breadth  about 
twelve  ;  and  the  whole  structure,  as  was  also  the  structure  of  the  royal  cloister, 
Avas  on  each  side  much  lower;  but  the  middle  was  much  higher,  till  they  were 
visible  to  those  that  dwelt  in  the  country  for  a  great  many  furlongs,  but  chielly 
to  such  as  lived  over  against  them,  and  those  that  approached  to  them.  The 
temple  had  doors  also  at  the  entrance,  and  lintels  over  them,  of  the  same  height 
with  the  temple  itself.  They  were  adorned  with  embroidered  vails,  with  their 
flowers  of  purple,  and  pillars  interwoven ;  and  over  these,  but  under  the  crown 
work,  was  spread  out  a  golden  vine,  with  its  branches  hanging  down  from  a 
great  height,  the  largeness  and  fine  workmanship  of  which  was  a  surprising  sight 
to  the  spectators,  to  see  what  vast  materials  there  were,  and  with  what  great 
skill  the  workmanship  was  done.  He  also  encompassed  the  entire  temple  with 
very  large  cloisters,  contriving  them  to  be  in  a  due  proportion  thereto;  and  he 
laid  out  larger  sums  of  money  upon  them  than  had  been  done  before  him,  till  it 
seemed  that  no  one  else  had  so  greatly  adorned  the  temple  as  he  had  done. 
There  was  a  large  wall  to  both  the  cloisters,  which  wall  was  itself  the  most  pro- 
digious work  that  was  ever  heard  of  by  man.  The  hill  was  a  rocky  ascent,  that 
declined  by  degrees  towards  the  east  parts  of  the  city,  till  it  came  to  an  elevated 
level.  This  hill  it  was  which  Solomon,  who  was  the  first  of  our  kings,  by  divine 
revelation  encompassed  with  a  wall ;  it  was  of  excellent  w^orkmanship  upwards, 
and  round  the  top  of  it.  He  also  built  a  wall  below,  beginning  at  the  bottom, 
which  was  encompassed  by  a  deep  valley ;  and  at  the  south  side  he  laid  rocks 
together,  and  bound  them  one  to  another  with  lead,  and  included  some  of  the  in- 
ner parts,  till  it  proceeded  to  a  great  height,  and  till  both  the  largeness  of  the 
square  edifice  and  its  altitude  were  immense,  and  till  the  vastness  of  the  stones 
in  the  front  were  plainly  visible  on  the  outside,  yet  so  that  the  inward  parts  were 
fastened  together  with  iron,  and  preserved  the  joints  immoveable  for  all  future 

*  Some  of  our  modern  students  in  architecture  have  made  a  strange  bhinder  here,  when  they  imagine 
tliat  Joscphus  alTirms  tlie  entire  foundations  of  the  teuipie  or  holy  house  sunk  down  into  the  rocl\y  moun- 
tain on  which  it  stood,  no  lesslhan  twenty  cubits,  whereas  he  is  clear  that  tiiey  were  tiie  foimdations  of 
the  (iJtlillotKil  twputv  cubits  t)nly  above  the  hundred  (uiade  perhaps  weali  on  purpose,  and  only  for  show 
and  (iraiuleur.)  tliat  sunk  or  fell  down,  as  Dr.  Hudson  rightly  understands  iiiin.  Nor  is  the  thing  iteelf 
iinssilile  in  tin;  other  sense.  Agrippa's  preparation  for  building  the  ir.ner  j)arts  of  the  temple  twenty  cu- 
i)iis  higher  (History  of  tlie  War,  15.  v.  cf..  i.  sect.  5)  must,  in  all  probability,  refer  to  this  matter,  since 
.'oseplius  says  here,  that  tliis  wliich  had  fallen  down  was  designed  to  be  raised  up  again  imder  Nero,  un- 
der whom  Agrippa  math;  trial  preparation.  I5ut  what  Jose|)hus  says  presently,  that  .Solomon  was  the 
first  king  of  the  .lews,  appears  Ijy  the  parallel  place,  Anticj.  B.  xx.  ch.  ix.  sect.  7,  and  other  places,  to 
be  meant  only  the  lirst  of  David's  posterity,  and  tlie  first  builder  of  the  temple. 


C.  Xi.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  547 

times.  When  this  work  [for  the  foundation]  was  done  in  this  manner,  and  join- 
ed together  as  part  of  the  hill  itself  to  the  very  top  of  it,  he  wrought  it  all  into 
one  outward  suriace,  and  filled  up  the  hollow  places  which  were  about  the  wall, 
and  made  it  a  level  on  the  external  upper  surface,  and  a  smooth  level  also.  This 
hill  was  walled  all  round,  and  in  compass  tour  furlongs,  [the  distance  of]  each 
angle  containing  in  length  a  furlong ;  but  within  this  wall,  and  on  the  very  top 
of  all,  there  ran  another  wall  of  stone  also,  having  on  the  east  quarter  a  double 
cloister,  of  the  same  length  with  the  wall :  in  the  midst  of  which  was  the  temple 
itself.  This  cloister  looked  to  the  gates  of  the  temple  ;  and  i,'  had  been  adorned 
by  many  kings  in  former  times  :  and  round  about  the  entire  temple  were  fixed 
the  spoils  taken  from  barbarous  na'^lons;  all  these  had  been  dedicated  to  the  tem- 
ple by  Hei'od,  with  the  addition  of  those  ho  had  taken  from  the  Arabians. 

4.  Now  on  the  north  side  [of  the  temple]  was  built  a  citadel,  whose  walls  were 
square,  and  strong,  and  of  extraordinary  tirmness.  Tliis  citadel  was  built  by  the 
kings  of  the  Asamoneau  race,  who  were  also  high  priests  before  Herod,  and  they 
called  it  the  Tower ;  in  which  were  reposited  the  vestments  of  the  high  priest, 
which  the  high  priest  only  put  on  at  the  time  when  he  was  to  offer  sacrifice. 
Those  vestments  king  Herod  kept  in  that  place  ;  and  after  his  death  they  were 
under  the  power  of  the  Romans  until  the  time  of  Tiberius  Caesar  ;  under  whose 
reign  Vitellius,  the  pi'esidcnt  of  Syria,  when  he  once  came  to  Jerusalem,  and  had 
been  most  magnificently  received  by  the  multitude,  he  had  a  mind  to  make  them 
some  requital  for  the  kindness  they  had  showed  him  ;  so,  upon  their  petition  to 
have  those  holy  vestments  in  their  own  power,  he  wrote  about  them  to  Tiberius 
Ca;sar,  who  granted  his  request ;  and  this  their  power  over  the  sacerdotal  vest- 
nients  continued  wUh  the  Jews  till  the  death  of  king  Agrippa  ;  but  after  that,  Cas- 
sius  Longinus,  who  v/as  president  of  Syria,  and  Cuspius  Fadus,  who  was  procu- 
rator of  Judea,  enjoined  the  Jews  to  reposit  those  vestments  in  the  tower  of  An- 
tonia  ;  for  that  they  ought  to  have  them  in  their  power,  as  they  formerly  had. 
However  the  Jews  sent  ambassadors  to  Claudius  Cirsar  to  intercede  with  him  for 
them;  upon  whose  coming,  king  Agrippa,  jun.  being  then  at  Rome,  asked  for 
and  obtained  the  power  over  them  from  the  emperor ;  who  gave  command  to  Vi- 
tellius,  who  was  then  commander  in  Syria,  to  give  it  them  accordingly.  Before 
that  time  they  were  kept  under  the  seal  of  the  high  priest  and  of  the  treasurers 
of  the  temple  ;  which  treasurers,  the  day  before  a  festival,  went  up  to  the  Roman 
captain  of  the  temple  guards,  and  viewed  their  own  seal,  and  received  the  vest, 
ments  ;  and  again,  when  the  festival  was  over,  they  brought  it  to  the  same  place, 
and  showed  the  captain  of  the  temple  guards  their  seal,  which  corresponded  with 
his  seal,  and  reposited  them  there.  And  that  these  things  were  so,  the  afflictions 
that  happened  to  us  afterward  [about  them]  are  sufficient  evidence.  But  for  the 
tower  itself,  when  Herod  the  king  of  the  Jews  had  fortified  it  more  firmly  than 
before,  in  order  to  secure  and  guard  the  temple,  he  gratified  Antonius,  who  was 
his  friend,  and  the  Roman  ruler,  and  then  gave  it  the  name  of  the  tower  of  An- 
tonia. 

5.  Now  in  the  western  quarters  of  the  enclosure  of  the  temple  there  were  four 
gates  ;  the  first  led  to  the  king's  palace,  and  went  to  a  passage  over  the  interme- 
diate valley  ;  two  more  led  to  the  suburbs  of  the  city  ;  and  the  last  led  to  the  other 
city,  where  the  road  descended  down  into  the  valley  by  a  great  number  of  steps, 
and  thence  up  again  by  the  ascent ;  for  the  city  lay  over  against  the  temple  in  the 
manner  of  a  theatre,  and  was  encompassed  with  a  deep  valley  along  the  entire 
south  quarter;  but  the  fourth  front  of  the  tem])le,  which  was  southwiird,  had  in- 
deed itself  gates  in  its  middle,  as  also  it  had  the  royal  cloisters,  with  three  walks 
which  reached  in  length  from  the  east  valley  unto  that  on  the  west,  for  it  was  im- 
possible it  should  reach  any  farther  ;  and  this  cloister  deserves  to  be  mentioned 
better  than  any  other  under  the  sun  ;  for  while  the  valley  was  very  deep,  and  its 
bottom  could  not  be  seen,  if  you  looked  from  above  into  the  depth,  tliis  farther 

3Z2 


548  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XV. 

vastly  hio-h  elevation  of  the  cloister  stood  upon  that  height,  insomuch  that  if  any 
one  looked  down  from  the  top  of  the  battlements,  or  down  both  those  altitudes,  he 
would  be  giddy,  while  his  sight  could  not  reach  to  such  an  immense  depth.  This 
cloister  had  pillars  that  stood  in  four  rows  one  over  against  the  other  all  along, 
for  the  fourth  row  was  interwoven  into  the  \vall,  which  [also  was  built  of  stone] ; 
and  the  thickness  of  each  pillar  w^as  such,  that  three  men  might,  with  their  arms 
extended,  fathom  it  round,  and  join  their  hands  again,  white  its  length  was  twenty- 
seven  feet,  with  a  double  spiral  at  its  basis;  and  the  number  of  all  the  pillars  [in 
that  court]  was  a  Imndred  and  sixty-two.  Their  chapiters  were  made  with  sculp- 
tures after  the  Corinthian  order,  and  caused  an  amazement  [to  the  spectators,] 
by  reason  of  the  grandeur  of  the  whole.  These  four  rows  of  pillars  included 
three  intervals  for  walking  in  the  middle  of  this  cloister;  two  of  which  walks 
■were  made  parallel  to  each  other,  and  w^ere  contrived  after  the  same  manner  :  the 
breadtli  of  each  of  them  was  thirty  feet,  the  length  was  a  furlong,  and  the  height 
fifty  feet ;  but  the  breadth  of  the  middle  part  of  the  cloister  was  one  and  a  half  of 
the  breadth  of  the  other,  and  the  height  was  double,  for  it  w^as  much  higher  than 
those  on  each  side  ;  but  the  roofs  were  adorned  -with  deep  sculptures  in  wood, 
representing  many  sorts  of  figures:  the  middle  was  much  higher  than  the  rest; 
and  the  wall  of  the  front  was  adorned  with  beams,  resting  upon  pillars  that  were 
interwoven  into  it ;  and  that  front  was  all  of  polished  stone,  insomuch  that  its  fine- 
ness,  to  such  as  had  not  seen  it,  was  incredible,  and  to  such  as  had  seen  it  was 
greatly  amazing.  Thus  was  the  first  enclosure.  In  the  midst  of  which,  and  not 
far  from  it,  was  the  second,  to  be  gone  up  to  by  a  few  steps ;  this  was  encompas- 
sed  by  a  stone  wall  for  a  partition,  with  an  inscription,  which  forbade  any  Ib- 
reigner  to  go  in  under  pain  of  death.  Now  this  inner  enclosure  had  on  its  south- 
ern and  northern  quarters  three  gates  [equally]  distant  from  one  another  ;  but  on 
the  east  quarter,  towards  the  sunrising,  there  was  one  large  gate,  through  which 
such  as  were  pure  came  in,  together  with  their  wives  ;  but  the  temple  farther  in- 
ward in  that  gate  was  not  allowed  to  the  women ;  but  still  more  inward  was  there 
a  third  [court  of  the]  temple,  whereinto  it  was  not  lawful  for  any  but  the  priests 
alone  to  enter.  The  temple  itself  was  within  this ;  and  before  that  temple  was 
the  altar,  upon  which  we  offer  our  sacrifices  and  burnt  ofierings  to  God.  Into 
none  of  these  three  did  kin^^erod  enter,*  for  he  was  forbidden,  because  he  was 
not  a  priest.  However,  he  took  care  of  the  cloisters  and  the  outer  enclosures  ; 
and  these  he  built  in  eight  5'ears, 

6.  But  the  temple  itself  was  built  by  the  priests  in  a  year  and  six  months ;  upon 
Avhich  all  the  people  were  full  of  joy;  and  presently  they  returned  thanks,  in  the 
first  i)lace,  to  God,  and  in  the  next  place  for  the  alacrity  the  king  had  showed. 
They  feasted,  and  celebrated  this  rebuilding  of  the  temple:  and  for  the  king,  he 
sacrificed  three  hundred  oxen  to  God,  as  did  the  rest  every  one  according  to  his 
ability;  the  number  of  which  sacrifices  it  is  not  possible  to  set  down,  for  it  can- 
not  be  that  we  should  truly  relate  it;  for  at  the  same  time  with  this  celebration 
tor  the  work  about  the  temple  fell  also  the  day  of  the  king's  inauguration,  which 
he  kept  of  an  old  custom  as  a  festival,  and  it  now  coincided  with  the  other;  which 
coincidence  of  them  both  made  the  festival  most  illustrious. 

7.  There  was  also*an  occult  passage  built  for  the  king ;  it  led  from  Antonio  to 
the  inner  temple,  at  its  eastern  gate ;  over  which  he  also  erected  for  himself  a 
tower,  that  he  might  have  the  opportunity  of  a  subterraneous  ascent  to  the  temple, 
in  order  to  guard  against  any  sedition  which  might  be  made  by  the  people  against 
their  kings.     It  is  also  reported,f  that  during  the  time  that  the  temple  was  build. 

*  Jnlo  none  of  these  three  did  king  Herod  enter,  i.  e.  1.  Not  into  the  court  of  the  priest ;  2.  nor  into  the 
holy  house  itself;  3.  nor  into  the  separate  place  belonging  to  the  altar,  as  the  words  following  imply  :  for 
noneliut  priests,  or  their  attendants  the  Levites,  might  come  into  any  of  them.  See  Antiq.  B.  xvi.  ch.iv. 
sect,  fi,  wliere  Herod  goes  into  the  temple,  and  makes  a  speech  in  it  to  the  people  ;  but  that  could  only  be 
into  the  coiut  oflsracl,  whither  the  people  could  come  to  hear  him. 

+   The  iraihtion  which  Josephus  liere  mentions,  as  delivered  down  from  fathers  to  their  children,  of 


C.  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  649 

ing,  it  did  not  rain  in  the  daytime,  but  that  the  showers  fell  in  the  nights,  so  that 
the  work  was  not  hindered.  And  this  our  lathers  have  dehvered  to  us;  nor  is  it 
incredible,  if  any  one  have  regard  to  the  other  manifestations  of  God.  And  thus 
was  performed  the  work  of  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple. 

tliis  particular  remarkable  circumstance  relating  to  the  building  of  Herod's  temple,  is  a  demonstration 
tliat  sucli  its  building  was  a  known  tiling  in  Judea  in  liis  I'me.  He  was  Ijorn  about  46  year;;  after  it  is  re- 
lated to  liave  been  linished,  and  niiglit  iiiniself  liavc  teen  and  spoken  with  some  of  tlie  builderstliem- 
sclves,  and  with  a  great  number  of  those  that  had  seen  it  building.  The  doubt  tliercforc  about  tlie  truth 
of  this  history  of  the  [)ulling  down  and  rebuilding  this  temple  by  Herod,  which  some  weak  iieople  have 
indulged,  was  not  tlien  much  greater  than  it  soon  may  be,  whetlier  or  no  om-  St.  i'aul's  church  in  London 
was  burnt  down  in  the  fire  of  London,  A.  D.  ItJGtj,  and  rebuilt  by  Sir  Christopher  Wren  a  little  afterward. 


550.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TIIE  JEWS.  B.VVl: 


BOOK  XVI. 


CONTAINING  THE  INTERVAL  OF  TWELVE  YEARS. 

FROM  THE  FIJ^'-ISHIjYG  OF  THE  TEMPLE  BY  HEROD  TO  THE  DEATH  OF 
ALEXANDER  AJVD  ARISTOBULUS. 


CHAP.  I. 

A  Law  of  Herod's  about  Thieves.    Salome  and  Pheroras  calumniate  Alexander  and 
Arisiobidus  iq:)on  their  Return  from  Rome,  for  whom  yet  Herod  ^provides  Wives. 

§  1.  As  King  Herod  was  very  zealous  in  the  administration  of  his  entire  govern- 
ment, and  desirous  to  put  a  stop  to  particular  acts  of  injustice  which  were  done 
by  criminals  about  the  city  and  country,  he  made  a  law,  no  way  like  our  original 
laws,  and  which  he  enacted  of  himself,  to  expose  house-breakers  to  be  ejected 
out  of  his  kingdom  ;  which  punishment  was  not  only  grievous  to  be  borne  by  the 
offenders,  but  contained  in  it  a  dissolution  of  the  customs  of  our  forfathers ;  for 
this  slavery  to  foreigners,  and  such  as  did  not  live  after  the  manner  of  the  Jews, 
and  this  necessity  that  they  were  under  to  do  whatsoever  such  men  should  com- 
mand,  was  an  otience  against  our  religious  settlement,  rather  than  a  punishment 
to  such  as  were  found  to  have  offended,  such  a  punishment  being  avoided  in  our 
original  laws  ;  for  those  laws  ordain  that  the  thief  shall  restore  fourfold  ;  and  that 
if  he  have  not  so  much,  he  shall  be  sold  indeed,  but  not  to  foreigners,  nor  so  that 
he  be  under  perpetual  slavery,  for  he  must  have  been  released  after  six  years. 
But  this  law,  thus  enacted,  in  order  to  introduce  a  severe  and  illegal  punishment, 
seemed  to  be  a  piece  of  insolence  in  Herod,  when  he  did  not  act  a§  a  king  but  as 
a  tyrant,  and  thus  contemptuously,  and  without  any  regard  to  his  subjects,  did  he 
venture  to  introduce  such  a  punishment.  Now  this  penalty,  thus  brought  into 
practice,  was  like  Herod's  other  actions,  and  became  a  part  of  his  accusation, 
and  an  occasion  of  the  hatred  he  lay  under. 

2.  Now  at  this  time  it  was  that  he  sailed  to  Italy,  as  very  desirous  to  meet  with 
CaGsar,  and  to  :-ee  his  sons  who  lived  at  Rome :  and  Ca3sar  was  not  only  very 
obliging  to  him  in  other  respects,  but  delivered  him  his  sons  again,  that  he  might 
take  them  home  with  him,  as  having  already  completed  themselves  in  the  scien- 
ces ;  but  as  soon  as  the  young  men  were  come  Irom  Italy,  the  multitude  were- 
very  desirous  to  see  them,  and  they  became  conspicuous  among  them  all,  as 
adorned  with  great  blessings  of  fortune,  and  having  the  countenances  of  persons 
of  royal  dignity.  So  they  soon  appeared  to  be  the  objects  of  envy  to  Salome,  the 
king's  sister,  and  to  such  as  had  raised  calumnies  against  Mariamne :  for  they 
were  suspicious,  that  when  these  came  to  the  government,  they  should  be  pu- 
nished for  the  wickedness  they  had  been  guilty  of  against  their  mother ;  so  they 
made  this  very  fear  of  theirs  a  motive  to  raise  calumnies  against  them  also.  They 
gave  it  out  that  they  were  not  pleased  with  their  father's  company,  because  he 
had  put  their  mother  to  death,  as  if  it  were  not  agreeable  to  piety  to  appear  to 
converse  with  their  mother's  murderer.  Now,  by  carrying  these  stories,  that  had 
indeed  a  true  foundation  [in  the  fact,]  but  were  only  built  on  probabilities  as  to  the 
present  accusation,  Xhcy  were  able  to  do  them  mischief;  and  to  make  Herod  take 
away  that  kindness  from  his  sons  which  he  had  before  borne  to  them ;  for  they 
did  not  say  these  things  to  him  openly,  but  scattered  abroad  such  words  among 
the  rest  of  the  multitude  :  from  which  words,  when  carried  to  Herod,  he  was  in-  1 


C.  ir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  55I 

duced  [at  last]  to  hate  them ;  and  which  natural  affection  itself,  even  in  length 
of  time,  was  not  able  to  overcome  ;  yet  was  the  king  at  that  time  in  a  condition 
to  prcler  the  natural  aflection  of  a  father  before  all  the  suspicions  and  calumnies 
his  .sons  lay  under  :  so  he  respected  them  as  he  ought  to  do;  and  married  them  to 
wives,  now  tliey  were  of  an  age  suitable  thereto.  To  Aristobulus  he  gave  for  a 
wife  Bernice,  Salome's  daughter ;  and  to  Alexander,  Glaphyra,  the  daughter  of 
Archelaus,  king  of  Cappadocia. 


CHAP.  II. 

How  Herod  titice  sailed  to  Agi-ippa ;  and  hoiv,  vpon  the  Complaint  of  the  Jews  in 
Ionia,  against  the  Greeks,  Agrippa  conjirmed  the  Laws  of  the  Jews  to  them. 

§  1.  When  Herod  had  dispatched  these  affairs,  and  he  understood  that  Marcus 
Agrippa  had  sailed  again  out  of  Italy  into  Asia,  he  made  haste  to  him,  and  be- 
souglit  him  to  come  to  him  into  his  kingdom  ;  and  to  partake  of  what  he  might 
justly  expect  from  one  tliat  had  been  his  guest,  and  was  his  friend.  This  request 
he  greatly  pressed  ;  and  to  it  Agrippa  agreed,  and  came  into  Judea :  whereupon 
Herod  omitted  nothing  that  miglit  please  him.  He  entertained  him  in  his  new 
built  cities,  and  showed  him  tiie  edifices  he  had  built ;  and  provided  all  sorts  of 
the  best  and  most  costly  dainties  for  him  and  his  friends  ;  and  that  at  Sebaste  and 
Cesarea,  about  that  port  that  he  had  built,  and  at  the  fortresses  which  he  had  erected 
at  great  expenses  ;  Alexandrium,  and  Ilerodium,  and  Hyrcania.  He  also  con- 
ducted him  to  the  city  of  Jerusalem;  where  all  the  people  met  him  in  their  festival 
garments,  and  received  him  with  acclamations.  Agrippa  also  offered  an  hecatomb 
of  sacrifices  to  God  ;  and  feasted  the  people,  without  omitting  any  of  the  greatest 
dai»itios  that  could  be  gotten.  He  also  took  so  much  pleasure  there,  that  he  abode 
many  days  with  them,  and  would  willingly  have  staid  longer,  but  that  the  season 
of  the  year  made  him  make  haste  away;  for,  as  winter  was  coming  on,  he  thought 
it  not  safe  to  go  to  sea  later ;  and  yet  he  was  of  necessity  to  return  again  to 
Ionia. 

2.  So  Agrippa  went  away,  when  Herod  had  bestowed  on  him,  and  on  the  prin- 
cipal of  those  that  were  with  him,  many  presents  :  but  king  Herod,  when  he  had 
passed  the  winter  in  his  own  dominions,  made  haste  to  get  to  him  again  in  tlie 
spring ;  wlien  he  knew  he  designed  to  go  to  a  campaign  at  tlie  Cosphorus.  So  when 
he  had  sailed  by  Rhodes  and  by  Cos,  he  touched  at  Lesbos,  as  thinking  he  should 
have  overtaken  Agrippa  there ;  but  he  was  taken  short  here  by  a  north  wind, 
wliich  hinde^d  his  ship  from  going  to  the  shore :  so  he  continued  many  days  at 
Cliius;  and  there  he  kindly  treated  a  great  man}!  that  came  to  him,  and  obhged 
them  by  giving  them  royal  gifts.  And  when  he  saw  that  the  portico  of  the  city 
was  fallen  down ;  which,  as  it  was  overthrown  in  the  Mithridatic  war,  and  was  a 
very  large  and  fine  building,  so  was  it  not  so  easy  to  rebuild  that  as  it  was  the 
rest  ;  yet  did  he  furiii.sh  a  sum  not  only  large  enough  for  that  purpose,  but  what 
was  more  than  sufficient  to  finish  tlie  building;  and  ordered  them  not  to  overlook 
that  portico,  but  to  rebuild  it  quickly;  that  so  the  city  might  recover  its  proper 
ornaments.  And  when  the  high  winds  were  laid,  he  sailed  to  Mitylenc,  and  thence 
to  IJyzantium  ;  and  when  he  heard  that  Agrippa  was  sailed  beyond  the  Cyanean 
rorks,  he  made  all  the  haste  possible  to  overtake  liim;  and  came  up  with  him 
about  Sinope,  in  Pontus.  He  was  seen  sailing  by  the  shi]imen  most  unexpectedly, 
bftt  appeared  to  their  great  joy :  and  many  friendly  salutations  there  were  l)et\veen 
them;  insomuch  iliat  Agrip|)a  thought  he  had  received  the  greatest  marks  of  the 
king's  kindness  and  humanity  towards  him  possible  ;  since  the  king  had  come  so 
long  a  vo3'age,  and  at  a  very  proper  season  for  his  assistance  ;  and  had  left  the 
government  of  his  own  dominions,  and  thought  it  more  worth  his  while  to  come  to 
biin.  Accordingly  Herod  was  all  in  all  to  Agrippa  in  the  njanagcment  of  the  war, 


552  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XVL 

and  a  great  assistant  in  civil  affairs,  and  in  giving  him  counsel  as  to  particular 
matters.  He  was  also  a  pleasant  companion  for  him  when  he  relaxed  himself,  and 
a  joint  partaker  with  him  in  all  things ;  in  troubles  because  of  his  kindness,  and 
in  prosperity  because  of  the  respect  Agrippa  had  for  him.  Now  as  soon  as  those 
artuirs  of  Pontus  were  finished,  for  whose  sake  Agrippa  was  sent  thithei',  they  did 
not  think  fit  to  return  by  sea,  but  passed  through  Paphlagonia  and  Cappadocia  : 
they  then  travelled  thence  over  Great  Phrygia,  and  came  to  Ephesus ;  and  then 
they  sailed  from  Ephesus  to  Samos.  And  indeed  the  king  bestowed  a  great  many 
benefits  on  every  city  that  he  came  to,  according  as  the)-  stood  in  need  of  them  :  fur 
as  for  those  that  wanted  either  money  or  kind  treatment,  he  was  not  wanting  to 
them ;  but  he  supplied  the  former  himself  out  of  his  own  expenses  :  he  also  became 
an  intercessor  with  Agrippa  for  all  such  as  sought  after  his  favour ;  and  he  brought 
things  so  about  that  the  petitioners  failed  in  none  of  their  suits  to  him  ;  Agrippa 
being  himself  of  a  good  disposition,  and  of  great  generosity;  and  ready  to  grant 
all  such  requests  as  might  be  advantageous  to  the  petitioners,  provided  they  wei-e 
not  to  the  detriment  of  others.  The  inclination  of  the  king  was  of  great  weight 
also,  and  still  excited  Agrippa,  who  was  himself  ready  to  do  good  ;  for  he  made 
a  reconciliation  between  the  people  of  Ilium,  at  whom  he  was  angry,  and  paid 
what  money  the  people  of  Chius  owed  Caesar's  procurators,  and  discharged  them 
of  their  tributes  ;  and  helped  all  others  according  as  their  several  necessities 
'•equired. 

3.  But  now,  when  Agrippa  and  Herod  were  in  Ionia,  a  great  multitude  of  Jews, 
who  dwelt  in  their  cities,  came  to  them,  and,  laying  hold  of  the  opportunity  and 
the  liberty  now  given  them,  laid  before  them  the  injuries  which  they  suffered ;  while 
they  were  not  permitted  to  use  their  own  laws,  but  were  compelled  to  prosecute 
their  lawsuits,  by  the  ill  usage  of  the  judges,  upon  their  holy  days  ;  and  were  de- 
prived of  the  money  they  used  to  lay  up  at  Jerusalem;  and  were  forced  into  the 
army,  and  upon  such  other  oflices  as  obliged  them  to  spend  their  sacred  money  : 
iVom  such  burdens  they  always  used  to  be  freed  by  the  Romans,  who  had  still  per- 
mitted them  to  live  according  to  their  own  laws.  When  this  clamour  was  made, 
the  king  desired  of  Agrippa  that  he  would  hear  their  cause,  and  assigned  Nico- 
laus,  one  of  his  friends,  to  plead  for  those  their  privileges.  Accordingly,  when 
Agrippa  had  called  the  principal  of  the  Romans,  and  such  of  the  kings  and  rulers 
as  were  there,  to  be  his  assessors,  Nicolaus  stood  up,  and  pleaded  for  the  Jews, 
as  follows :  "It  is  of  necessity  incumbent  on  such  as  are  in  distress  to  have  re- 
course to  those  that  have  it  in  their  power  to  free  them  from  those  injuries  they 
lie  under;  and  for  those  that  now  are  complaints,  they  approach  you  with  great 
assurance  ;  for  as  they  have  formerly  often  obtained  your  favour,  so  far  as  they 
have  even  wished  to  have  it,  they  now  only  entreat  that  you  who  have  been  the 
donors,  will  take  care  that  those  favours  5"ou  have  already  granted  tfiem  may  not 
be  taken  away  from  them.  We  have  received  these  favours  from  you,  who  alone 
have  power  to  grant  them  ;  but  liave  them  taken  from  us  by  such  as  are  no  greater 
than  ourselves,  and  by  such  as  we  know  are  as  much  subjects  as  we  are :  and 
certainly,  if  we  have  been  vouchsafed  great  favours,  it  is  to  our  commendation, 
who  have  obtained  them,  as  having  been  found  deserving  of  such  great  favours  ; 
and  if  tliose  favours  be  but  small  ones,  it  would  be  barbarous  for  tlie  donors  not 
to  confirm  them  to  us :  and  for  those  that  are  the  hinderance  of  the  Jews,  and  use 
them  reproaclifully,  it  is  evident  that  they  affront  both  the  receivers,  while  they 
will  not  allow  those  to  be  worthy  men  to  whom  their  excellent  rulers  themselves 
have  borne  their  testimony;  and  the  donors,  while  they  desire  those  favours  al- 
ready granted  may  be  abrogated.  Now,  if  any  one  should  ask  these  Gentil^es 
fhemselves,  which  of  the  two  things  they  would  choose  to  part  with,  their  lives,  or 
the  customs  of  their  forefathers;  their  solemnities,  their  sacrifices,  their  festivals, 
wliicli  thoy  celcbrntcd  in  honour  of  those  they  suppose  to  be  gods  ?  I  know  very 
well  tliat  they  would  choose  to  siiller  any  thing  whatsoever  rather  than  a  dissolu- 
ion  of  any  of  the  customs  of  their  forefathers;  for  a  great  many  of  them  have' 


C.  U.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  553 

rather  chosen  to  go  to  war  on  that  account,  as  very  solicitous  not  to  transgress  in 
those  matters :  and  indeed  we  take  an  estimate  of  that  happiness  which  all  man- 
kind do  now  enjoy  by  your  means  from  this  very  thing ;  that  we  are  allowed  every 
one  to  worship  as  our  own  institutions  require,  and  yet  to  live  [in  peace :]  and  al- 
though they  would  not  be  thus  treated  themselves,  yet  do  they  endeavour  to  compel 
others  to  comply  with  them;  as  if  it  were  not  as  great  an  instance  of  impiety  pro- 
fanely to  dissolve  the  religious  solemnities  of  any  others,  as  to  be  negligent  in  the 
observation  of  their  own  toward  their  gods.  And  let  us  now  consider  the  one  of 
these  practices:  Is  there  any  people,  or  city,  or  community  of  men,  to  whom  your 
government  and  the  Roman  power  does  not  appear  to  be  the  greatest  blessing  ? 
Is  there  any  one  that  can  desire  to  make  void  the  favours  they  have  granted? 
No  one  is  certainly  so  mad ;  for  there  are  no  men  but  such  as  have  been  partakers 
of  their  favours,  both  public  and  private  ;  and  indeed  those  that  take  away  what 
you  have  granted  can  have  no  assurance,  but  every  one  of  their  own  grants  made 
them  by  you  may  be  taken  from  them  also  ;  which  grants  of  yours  can  yet  never 
be  sufficiently  valued;  for  if  they  consider  the  old  government  under  kings,  to- 
gether with  your  present  government,  besides  the  great  number  of  benefits  which 
this  government  hath  bestowed  on  them,  in  order  to  their  happiness,  this  is  instead 
of  all  the  rest,  that  they  appear  to  be  no  longer  in  a  state  of  slavery,  but  of  free- 
dom.  Now  the  privileges  we  desire,  even  when  we  are  in  the  best  circumstances, 
are  not  such  as  deserve  to  be  envied ;  for  we  are  indeed  in  a  prosperous  state  by 
your  means,  but  this  is  only  in  common  with  others ;  and  it  is  no  more  than  this 
which  we  desire,  to  preserve  our  religion  without  any  prohibition  ;  which  as  it  ap- 
pears not  in  itself  a  privilege  to  be  envied  us,  so  it  is  for  the  advantage  of  those 
that  grant  it  to  us :  for  if  the  divinity  delights  in  being  honoured,  it  must  delifht 
in  those  that  permit  them  to  be  honoured  :  and  there  are  none  of  our  customs 
which  are  inhuman;  but  all  tending  to  piety,  and  devoted  to  the  preservation  of 
justice  :  nor  do  ^ve  conceal  those  injunctions  of  ours,  by  which  we  govern  our 
lives;  they  being  memorials  of  piety,  and  of  a  friendly  conversation  amonu-  men. 
And  the  seventh  day*  we  set  apart  from  laboijr;  it  is  dedicated  to  the  learnino-of 
our  customs  and  laws  :  we  thinking  it  proper  to  reflect  on  them,  as  well  as  on  any 
[good]  thing  else,  in  order  to  our  avoiding  of  sin.  If  any  one  therefore  examine 
into  our  observances,  he  will  find  they  are  good  in  themselves,  and  that  they  are 
ancient  also,  though  some  think  otherwise  ;  insomuch  that  those  who  have  received 
them  cannot  easily  be  brought  to  depart  from  them,  out  of  that  honour  they  pay 
to  the  length  of  time  they  have  religiously  enjoyed  them  and  observed  them. 
Now  our  adversaries  take  these  our  privileges  away  in  the  way  of  injustice  :  they 
violently  seize  upon  that  money  of  ours  whjch  is  oflered  to  God,  and  called  sacred 
money;  and  this  openly,  after  a  sacrilegious  manner:  and  they  impose  tributes 
upon  us  ;  and  bring  us  before  tribunals  on  holy  days :  and  then  require  other  like 
debts  of  us :  not  because  the  contracts  require  it,  and  tor  their  own  advantage ; 
but  because  they  would  put  an  affront  on  our  religion,  of  which  they  are  conscious 
as  well  as  we;  and  have  indulged  themselves  in  an  unjust,  and,  to  them,  involun- 
tary  hatred.  For  your  government  over  all  is  one  tending  to  the  establishing  of 
benevolence,  and  abolishing  of  ill  will  among  such  as  are  disposed  to  it.  This  is 
therefore  what  we  implore  from  thee,  most  excellent  Agrippa,  that  we  may  not 
be  ill  treated ;  that  we  may  not  be  abused :  that  we  may  not  be  hindered  from 
making  use  of  our  own  customs  ;  nor  be  despoiled  of  our  goods ;  nor  be  forced  by 
these  men  to  do  what  we  ourselves  force  nobody  to  do ;  for  these  privileges  of 
ours  are  not  only  according  to  justice,  but  have  formerly  been  granted  us  by  you  : 
and  we  are  able  to  read  to  you  many  decrees  of  the  senate,  and  the  tables  that 
contain  them  ;  which  are  still  extant  in  the  Capitol,  concerning  these  things,  which 
it  is  evident  were  granted  after  you  had  experience  of  our  fidelity  towards  you, 

*  We  may  lieie  obsprve  tlie  ancient  prar^tine  of  the  Jews,  of  dedicating;  tlie  Sabbath  day  not  to  idleness, 
hut  to  liie  learning  their  sacred  riles  and  religions  customs,  and  to  the  meditation  on  the  law  of  Moses 
The  like  to  which  we  meet  with  elsewhere  in  Josephus  also  against  Appion,  B.  i.  sect.  22. 

VOL.  1.  4  A 


554  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS  B.  XVI. 

■which  ought  to  be  valued,  though  no  such  fidelity  had  been  ;  for  you  have  hitherto 
preserved  what  people  were  in  possession  of,  not  to  us  only,  but  almost  to  all  men ; 
and  have  added  greater  advantages  than  they  could  have  hoped  for,  and  thereby 
your  government  is  become  a  great  advantage  to  them.     And  if  any  one  were- 
able  to  enumerate  the  prosperity  you  have  conferred  on  every  nation,  which  they 
possess  by  your  means,  he  could  never  put  an  end  to  his  discourse;   but  that  we 
may  demonstrate  that  we  are  not  unworthy  of  all  those  advantages  we  have  ob- 
tained, it  will  be  sufficient  for  us  to  say  nothing  of  other.things,  but  to  speak  freely 
of  this  king  who  now  governs  us,  and  is  now  one  of  thy  assessors  :  and  indeed  in 
what  instance  of  good  will,  as  to  your  house,  hath  he  been  deficient  ?    What  mark 
of  fidelity  to  it  hath  he  omitted  ?     What  token  of  honour  hath  he  not  devised  ? 
What  occasion  for  his  assistance  of  you  hath  he  not  regarded  at  the  very  first  ? 
What  hindereth,  therefore,  but  that  your  kindnesses  may  be  as  numerous  as  his  so 
great  benefits  to  you  have  been  ?     It  may  also,  pez'haps,  be  fit  not  here  to  pass 
over  in  silence  the  valour  of  his  father  Antipater,  who,  when  Csesar  made  an  ex- 
pedition into  Egypt,  assisted  him  with  two  thousand  armed  men,  and  proved  in- 
ferior to  none,  either  in  the  battles  on  land,  nor  in  the  management  of  the  navy  : 
and  what  need  I  say  any  thing  of  the  great  weight  those  soldiers  were  at  that  junc- 
ture ?  or  how  many,  and  how  great  presents  they  were  vouchsafed  by  Ca;sar  1 
And  truly  I  ought  before  now  to  have  mentioned  the  epistles  which  Caesar  wrote 
to  the  senate  ;  and  how  Antipater  had  honours,  and  the  freedom  of  the  city  of 
Rome  bestowed  upon  him ;  for  these  are  demonstrations  both  that  we  have  re- 
ceived these  favours  by  our  own  deserts,  and  do  on  that  account  petition  thee  for 
thy  confirmation  of  them,  from  whom  we  have  reason  to  hope  for  thera,  though 
they  had  not  been  given  us  before,  both  out  of  regard  to  our  king's  disposition 
towards  you,  and  your  disposition  towards  him.     And  farther,  we  Jiave  been  in- 
formed by  those  Jews  that  were  there,  with  what  kindness  thou  earnest  into  oui 
country,  and  how  thou  offeredst  the  most  perfect  sacrifices  to  God,  and  honouredst 
him  with  remarkable  vows,  and  how  thou  gavest  the  people  a  feast,  and  acceptedst 
of  their  own  hospitable  presents  to  thee.     We  ought  to  esteem  all  these  kind  en- 
tertainments, made  both  by  our  nation  and  our  citj',  to  a  man  who  is  the  ruler  and 
manager  of  so  much  of  the  public  affairs,  as  indications  of  that  friendship  which 
thou  hast  returned  to  the  Jewish  nation,  and  which  hath  been  procured  them  by 
the  family  of  Herod.     So  we  put  thee  in  mind  of  these  things  in  the  presence 
of  the  king,  now  sitting  by  thee,  and  make  our  request  for  no  more  but  this 
tliat  what  you  have  given  us  yourselves  you  will  not  see  taken  away  by  others 
from  us." 

4.  When  Nicolaus  had  made  this  speech,  there  was  no  opposition  made  to  it 
1)}^  the  Greeks,  for  this  was  not  an  inquiry  made,  as  in  a  court  of  justice,  but  an 
intercession  to  prevent  violence  to  be  offered  to  the  Jews  any  longer  ;  nor  did  the 
Greeks  make  any  defence  of  themselves,  or  deny  what  it  was  supposed  they  had 
done.  Their  pretence  was  no  more  than  this,  that  while  the  Jews  inhabited  in' 
their  country  they  were  entirely  unjust  to  them  [in  not  joining  in  their  worship ;]. 
but  they  demonstrated  their  generosity  in  this,  that  though  they  worshiped  accord- 
ing to  their  own  institutions,  they  did  nothing  that  ought  to  grieve  them.  So  when 
Agrippa  perceived  that  they  had  been  oppressed  by  violence,  he  made  this  an- 
swer :  "  That  on  account  of  Herod's  good  will  and  friendship,  he  was  ready  to 
grant  the  Jews  whatsoever  they  should  ask  him,  and  that  their  requests  seemed , 
to  Wini  in  themselves  just ;  and  that  if  they  requested  any  thing  farther,  he  should, 
not  scruple  to  grant  it  them,  provided  they  were  no  way  to  the  detriment  of  the.' 
Roman  government ;  but  that,  while  their  request  was  no  more  than  this,  what 
privileges  they  had  already  given  them  might  not  be  abrogated ;  he  confirmed  this 
to  them  that  they  might  continue  in  the  observation  of  their  own  customs,  without 
any  one's  ofiering  them  the  least  injury."  And  when  he  had  said  thus,  he  dis- 
Bolvcd  the  assembly:  upon  which  Herod  stood  up  and  saluted  him,  and  gave  hirfl 
thanks  for  the  kind  disposition  he  showed  to  them.     Agrippa  also  took  this  in  a 


C.  in.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  555 

very  obliging  manner,  and  saluted  him  again,  and  embraced  him  in  liis  arms ;  af- 
ter  which  he  went  away  from  Lesbos,  but  the  king  determined  to  sail  from  Samos 
to  his  own  country  ;  and  when  he  had  taken  his  leave  of  Agrippa,  he  pursued 
his  voyage,  and  landed  at  Cesarca  in  a  few  days  time,  as  having  favourable 
winds;  from  whence  he  went  to  Jerusalem,  and  tliere  gathered  all  the  people  to- 
gether to  an  assembly,  not  a  few  being  tlicre  out  of  the  country  also.  So  he  came 
to  them,  and  gave  them  a  particular  account  of  all  his  journey,  and  of  the  aflairs 
of  all  the  Jews  in  Asia,  how  by  this  means  they  would  live  without  injurious 
treatment  for  the  time  to  come.  He  also  told  them  of  the  entire  good  fortune  he 
liad  met  with,  and  how  he  administered  the  government,  and  had  not  neglected 
any  thing  which  was  for  their  advantage ;  and  as  he  was  very  joyful,  he  now  re- 
mitted to  them  the  fourth  part  of  their  taxes  for  the  last  jear.  Accordingly,  they 
were  so  pleased  with  his  favour  and  speech  to  them,  that  they  went  their  wavs 
with  great  gladness,  and  wished  the  king  all  manner  of  happiness. 


CHAP.  HI. 

liow  greed  Disturbances  arose  in  Herod's  Fainily  on  his  preferring  Antipater,  his 
eldest  Sou  before  the  Rest,  till  Alexander  took  tliat  Injury  very  heinously. 

§  1.  But  now  the  affairs  in  Herod's  family  were  in  more  and  more  disorder, 
and  became  more  severe  upon  him,  by  the  hatred  of  Salome  to  the  younf 
men  [Alexander  and  Aristobulus,]  which  descended  as  it  were  by  inheritance 
[from  their  mother  Mariamne :]  and  as  she  fully  had  succeeded  against  their  mo- 
ther, so  she  proceeded  to  that  degree  of  madness  and  insolence,  as  to  endeavour 
that  none  of  her  posterity  might  be  left  alive,  who  might  have  it  in  their  power  to 
revenge  her  death.  The  young  men  had  also  somewhat  of  a  bold  and  uneasy  dispo- 
sition towards  their  father,  occasioned  by  the  remembrance  of  what  their  mother 
had  unjustly  suffered,  and  by  their  own  affectation  of  dominion.     The  old  o-rudoe 
was  also  renewed  ;  and  they  cast  reproaches  on  Salome  and  Pheroras,  who  re- 
quited the  young  men  with  malicious  designs,  and  actually  laid  treacherous  snares 
for  them.     Now,  as  for  this  liatred,  it  was  equal  on  both  sides,  but  the  manner  of 
exerting  that  hatred  was  different :  for  as  for  the  young  men,  they  were  rash  re- 
proaching and  affronting  the  others  openly,  and  were  unexperienced  enouo-h  to 
tiiink  it  the  most  generous  to  declare  their  minds  in  that  undaunted  manner  •  but 
the  others  did  not  take  that  method,  but  made  use  of  calumnies  after  a  subtile  and 
a  spiteful  manner,  still  provoking  the  young  men,  and  imaginino-  that  their  bold- 
ness might  in  time  turn  to  the  offering  violence  (o  their  father;  for  inasmuch  as 
they  were  not  ashamed  of  the  pretended  crimes  of  their  mother,  nor  tliouo-ht  she 
sulferod  justly,  these  supposed  that  it  might  at  length  exceed  all  i)ounds,  and  in- 
duce them  to  think  they  ought  to  be  avenged  on  their  father,  though  it  were  by 
dispatching  him  with  their  own  hands.     At  length  it  came  to  this,  that  the  whole 
city  was  full  of  these  discourses  ;  and,  as  is  usual  in  such  contests,  the  unskilful- 
ness  of  the  young  men  was  pitied  ;  but  the  contrivance  of  Salome  was  too  hard 
for  them,  and  what  imputations  she  laid  uj)on  them  came  to  be  believed,  bv  means 
of  tlieir  own  conduct,  for  they  who  were  so  deeply  aflccted  with  the  deatli  of  their 
mother,  that  while  they  said  l)oth  she  and  themselves  were  in  a  miserable  case 
Ihey  veliemently  complained  of  her  pitiable  end,  which  indeed  was  truly  such 
and  said  that  they  were  themselves  in  a  pitiable  case  also,  because  they  were 
forced  to  live  with  those  that  had  been  her  murderers,  and  to  be  partakers  with 
them. 

2.  Tiiesc  disorders  increased  greatly,  and  the  king's  absence  abroad  had  af- 
forded a  fit  opportunity  for  that  increase  ;  i)ut  as  soon  as  Herod  was  returned 
and  had  made  the  forcmentioned  speech  to  the  multitude,  Pheroras  and  Salome' 
4A2 


556  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS,  B.  XVI. 

let  fall  words  immediately  as  if  he  were  in  great  danger,  and  as  if  the  young  men 
openly  threatened  that  they  would  not  spare  him  any  longer,  but  revenge  their 
mother's  death  upon  him.  They  also  added  another  circumstance,  that  their  hopes 
were  fixed  on  Archelaus,  the  king  of  Cappadocia,  that  they  should  be  able  by  his 
means  to  come  to  Caesar,  and  accuse  their  father.  Upon  hearing  such  things, 
Herod  was  immediately  disturbed :  and  indeed  was  the  more  astonished,  because 
the  same  things  were  related  to  him  by  some  others  also.  He  then  called  to  mind 
his  former  calamity,  and  considered  that  the  disorders  in  his  family  had  hindered 
him  from  enjoying  any  comfort  from  those  that  were  dearest  to  him,  or  from  his 
wife  whom  he  loved  so  well ;  and  suspecting  that  his  future  troubles  would  soon 
be  heavier  and  greater  than  those  that  were  passed,  he  was  in  great  confusion  of 
mind  ;  for  divine  Providence  had  in  reality  conferred  upon  him  a  great  many  out- 
ward advantages,  for  his  happiness,  even  beyond  his  hopes,  but  the  troubles  he 
had  at  home  were  such  as  he  never  expected  to  have  met  with,  and  rendered 
him  unfortunate  ;  nay,  both  sorts  came  upon  him  to  such  a  degree  as  no  one 
could  imagine,  and  made  it  a  doubtful  question,  whether,  upon  the  comparison 
of  both,  he  ought  to  have  exchanged  so  great  a  success  of  outward  good  things 
for  so  great  misfortunes  at  home,  or  whether  he  ought  not  to  have  chosen  to 
avoid  the  calamities  relating  to  his  family,  though  he  had,  for  a  compensation, 
never  been  possessed  of  the  admired  grandeur  of  a  kingdom. 

3.  As  he  was  thus  disturbed  and  afflicted,  in  order  to  depress  these  young  mei. 
he  brought  to  court  another  of  his  sons,  that  was  born  to  him  when  he  was  a  pri 
vate  man:  his  name  was  Antipater ;  yet  did  he  not  then  indulge  him  as  he  did  af- 
terwards, when  he  was  quite  overcome  by  him,  and  let  him  do  every  thing  as  lu 
pleased,  but  rather  with  a  design  of  depressing  the  insolence  of  the  sons  of  M;: 
riamne,  and  managing  this  elevation  of  his  son,  that  it  might  be  for  a  warnio, 
to  them,  for  this  bold  behaviour  of  theirs  [he  thought]  would  not  be  so  great,  is 
they  were  once  persuaded  that  the  succession  to  the  kingdom  did  not  apperiaii. 
to  them  alone,  or  must  of  necessity  come  to  them.  So  he  introduced  Antipatei 
as  their  antagonist,  and  imagined  that  he  made  a  good  provision  for  discouraging 
their  pride,  and  that  after  this  was  done  to  the  young  men,  there  might  be  a  pro- 
per season  for  expecting  these  to  be  of  a  better  disposition  :  but  the  event  proved 
otherwise  than  he  intended,  for  the  young  men  thought  he  did  them  a  very  great 
injury  ;  and  as  Antipater  was  a  shrewd  man,  when  he  had  once  obtained  this  de- 
gree of  freedom,  and  began  to  expect  greater  things  than  he  had  before  hoped 
for  ;  he  had  but  one  single  design  in  his  head,  and  that  was  to  distress  his  bre- 
thren, and  not  at  all  to  yield  to  them  the  preeminence,  but  to  keep  close  to  his  fa- 
ther,  who  was  already  alienated  from  them  by  the  calumnies  he  had  heard  about 
them,  and  ready  to  be  wrought  upon  in  any  way  his  zeal  against  them  should  ad- 
vise him  to  pursue,  that  he  might  be  continually  more  and  more  severe  against 
them.  Accordingly  all  the  reports  that  were  spread  abroad  came  from  him, 
while  he  avoided  himself  the  suspicion  as  if  those  discoveries  proceeded  from 
him  ;  but  he  rather  chose  to  make  use  of  those  persons  for  his  assistants  that  were 
unsuspected,  and  such  as  might  be  believed  to  speak  truth  by  reason  of  the  good 
will  they  bore  to  the  king;  and  indeed  there  were  already  not  a  few  who  cultivated 
friendship  with  Antipater,  in  hopes  of  gaining  somewhat  by  him  ;  and  these  were 
the  men  who  most  of  all  persuaded  Herod,  because  they  appeared  to  speak  tlius 
out  of  their  good  will  to  him:  and  while  these  joint  accusations,  which  from  va- 
rious foundations  supported  one  another^s  veracity,  the  young  men  themselves 
afforded  farther  occasions  to  Antipater  also:  for  they  were  observed  to  shed  tears 
often,  on  account  of  the  injury  that  was  offered  them,  and  had  their  mother  in 
their  mouths;  and  among  their  friends  they  ventured  to  reproach  their  father,  as 
not  acting  justly  by  them:  all  which  things  were  with  an  evil  intention  reserved 
m  memory  by  Antipater  against  a  proper  opportunity ;  and  when  they  were  told 
to  Herod,  with  aggravations,  increased  the  disorders  so  much,  that  it  brought  a 
great  tumult  into  the  family  ;  for  while  the  king  was  very  angry  at  imputations 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  557 

that  were  laid  upon  the  sons  of  Mariamne,  and  was  desirous  to  humble  them,  he 
still  increased  the  honour  that  he  had  bestowed  on  Antipater,  and  was  at  last  so 
overcome  by  his  persuasions,  that  he  brought  his  mother  to  court  also.  He  also 
wrote  frequently  to  Caesar  in  favour  of  him,  and  more  earnestly  recommended 
him  to  his  care  particularly.  And  when  Agrippa  was  returning  to  Rome,  after 
he  had  finished  his  ten  years  government  in  Asia,*  Herod  sailed  from  Judea  ; 
and  when  he  met  with  him  he  had  none  with  him  but  Antipater,  whom  he  deli- 
vered to  Agrippa,  that  he  might  take  him  along  with  hun,  together  with  many 
presents,  that  so  he  might  become  Caesar's  friend,  insomuch  that  things  already 
looked  as  if  he  had  all  his  father's  favour,  and  that  the  young  men  were  alieady 
entirely  rejected  from  any  hopes  of  the  kingdom. 


CHAP.  IV 

How,  during  Antipater's  Abode  at  Rome,  Herod  brought  Alexander  and  Aristobulus 

bejore  Ccesar,  and  accused  them.     Alexander's  Defence  of  himself  before 

Ccesar,  and  Reconciliation  to  his  Father. 

§  1.  And  now  what  happened  during  Antipater's  absence  augmented  the  honour 
to  which  he  had  been  promoted,  and  his  apparent  eminence  above  his  brethren, 
for  he  had  made  a  great  figure  in  Rome,  because  Herod  had  sent  recommenda- 
tions  of  him  to  all  his  friends  there  :  only  he  was  grieved  that  he  was  not  at  home, 
nor  had  proper  opportunities  of  perpetually  calumniating  his  brethren  ;  and  his 
chief  fear  was,  lest  his  father  should  alter  his  mind,  and  entertain  a  more  favour- 
able opinion  of  the  sons  of  Mariamne ;  and  as  he  had  this  in  his  mind,  he  did 
not  desist  from  his  purpose,  but  continually  sent  from  Rome  any  such  stories  as 
he  hoped  might  grieve  and  irritate  his  father  against  his  brethren,  under  pretence 
indeed  of  a  deep  concern  for  his  preservation  ;  but  in  truth,  such  as  his  malicious 
mind  dictated,  in  order  to  purchase  a  greater  hope  of  the  succession,  which  yet 
was  already  great  in  itself:  and  thus  he  did  till  he  had  excited  such  a  degree  of 
anger  in  Herod,  that  he  was  already  become  very  ill  disposed  towards  the  young 
men;  but  still,  while  he  delayed  to  exercise  so  violent  a  disgust  against  them, and 
that  he  might  not  either  be  too  remiss  or  too  rash,  and  so  ofiend,  he  thought  it 
best  to  sail  to  Rome,  and  there  accuse  his  sons  before  Caesar,  and  not  indulge 
himself  in  any  such  crime  as  might  be  heinous  enough  to  be  suspected  of  im- 
piety :  but  as  he  was  going  up  to  Rome,  it  happened  that  he  made  such  haste  as 
to  meet  with  Caesar  at  the  city  Aquilei  :f  so  when  he  came  to  the  speech  of  (  ae- 
sar,  he  asked  for  a  time  for  hearing  this  great  cause,  wherein  he  thought  himself 
very  miserable,  and  presented  his  sons  there,  and  accused  them  of  their  mad  ac- 
tjons,  and  of  their  attempts  against  him:  that  "they  were  enemies  to  him  ;  and 
by  all  the  means  they  were  able  did  their  endeavours  to  show  their  hatred  to 
their  own  father,  and  would  take  away  his  life,  and  so  obtain  his  kingdom 
after  the  most  barbarous  manner ;  that  he  had  power  from  Caesar  to  dispose 
of  it,  not  by  necessity,  but  by  choice,  to  him  who  shall  exercise  the  greatest  piety 
towards  him,  while  these  my  sons  are  not  so  desirous  of  ruling,  as  they  are,  upon 
a  disappointment  thereof,  to  expose  their  own  life,  if  so  they  may  but  deprive  their 
father  of  his  life,  so  wild  and  polluted  is  their  mind  by  time  become  out  of  their 
hatred  to  him  ;  that  whereas  he  had  along  time  borne  this  his  misfortune,  he  was 

*  Although  Herod  met  Augustus  at  Aquilei,  yet  was  this  accusation  of  his  sons  deferred  till  they  can)C 
to  Rome,  as  sect.  3  assures  us  ;  and  as  we  are  particularly  informed  in  the  history  of  the  V^'ar,  U.  i.  ch. 
xxiii.  sect.  3;  though  vvli;it  he  there  says  belonged  distinctly  to  Alexander  the  elder  brother,  1  mean  his 
beitig  brought  to  Rome,  is  here  justly  extended  to  .both  the  brothers,  and  tiiatnot  only  in  our  copies,  hut 
in  tlint  of  Zonara's  also  •,  nor  is  there  reason  to  doubt  but  they  were  both  at  tiiis  soIcmmi  hearing  by  Au- 
gustus, although  the  defence  was  made  by  Alexander  alone,  who  was  the  elder  brother,  and  one  that  could 
speak  very  well. 

t  This  interval  of  ten  yeais  for  the  duration  of  Marcus  Agrippa's  government  in  Asia,  seems  to  bo 
•rue,  and  agreeable  to  the  Roman  history.     See  Uslier's  Annals  at  A.  M.  3392. 


558  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XVL 

now  compelled  to  lay  it  before  Caesar,  and  to  pollute  his  ears  with  such  language, 
while  he  himself  wants  to  know  what  severity  they  ever  suffered  from  him?  or 
what  hardships  he  hath  ever  laid  upon  them  to  make  them  complain  of  him?  and 
how  they  can  think  it  just  that  he  should  not  be  lord  of  that  kingdom,  which  he 
in  a  long  time  and  with  great  dangers  had  gained,  and  not  allow  him  to  keep  it 
and  to  dispose  of  it  to  him  who  should  deserve  it  best  ?  And  this,  with  other  ad- 
vantao-es,  he  proposes  as  a  reward  for  the  piety  of  such  a  one  as  will  hereafter 
imitate  the  care  he  hath  taken  of  it,  and  that  such  a  one  may  gain  so  great  a  re- 
quital  as  that  is  :  and  that  it  is  an  impious  thing  tor  them  to  pretend  to  meddle 
with  it  beforehand,  for  he  who  hath  ever  the  kingdom  in  his  view,  at  the  same 
time  he  reckons  upon  procuring  the  death  of  his  father,  because  otherwise  he 
cannot  come  at  the  government ;  that  as  for  himself,  he  had  hitherto  given  them 
all  that  he  was  able,  and  what  was  agreeable  to  such  as  are  subject  to  the  royal 
authority,  and  the  sons  of  a  king ;  what  ornaments  they  wanted,  with  servants 
and  delicate  fare  ;  and  had  married  them  into  the  most  illustrious  families,  the  one 
[Aristobulus)  to  his  sister's  daughter,  but  Alexander  to  the  daughter  of  king  Ar. 
chelaus :  and  what  was  the  greatest  favour  of  all,  when  their  crimes  were  so 
very  bad,  and  he  had  authority  to  punish  them,  yet  had  he  not  made  use  of  it 
against  them,  but  had  brought  them  before  Cassar  their  common  benefactor,  and 
had  not  used  the  severity  which,  either  as  a  father  who  had  been  impiously  abu- 
sed,  or  as  a  king  who  had  been  assaulted  treacherously,  he  might  have  done,  he 
made  them  stand  upon  the  level  with  him  in  judgment ;  that,  however,  it  was  ne- 
cessary that  all  this  should  not  be  passed  over  without  punishment,  nor  himself 
live  in  the  greatest  fears  ;  nay,  that  it  was  not  for  their  own  advantage  to  see  the 
light  of  the  sun  after  what  they  had  done,  although  they  should  escape  at  this 
time,  since  they  had  done  the  vilest  things,  and  would  certainly  suffer  the  great, 
est  punishments  that  ever  were  known  among  mankind." 

2.  These  were  the  accusations  which  Herod  laid  with  great  vehemency  against 
his  sons  before  Caesar.  Now  the  young  men,  both  while  he  was  speaking,  and 
chiefly  at  his  concluding,  wept  and  were  in  confusion.  Now  as  to  themselves, 
they  knew  in  their  own  conscience  they  were  innocent;  but  because  they  were 
accused  by  their  father,  they  were  sensible,  as  the  truth  was,  that  it  was  hard  for 
them  to  make  their  apology,  since,  though  they  were  at  liberty  to  speak  their 
minds  freely  as  the  occasion  required,  and  might  with  force  and  earnestness  re- 
fute the  accusation,  yet  it  was  not  now  decent  so  to  do.  There  was  therefore  a 
difficulty  how  they  should  be  able  to  speak  :  and  tears,  and  at  length  a  deep 
groan  followed,  Avhile  they  were  afraid,  that  if  they  said  nothing,  they  should 
seem  to  be  in  this  difficulty  from  a  consciousness  of  guilt,  nor  had  they  any  de- 
fence ready,  by  reason  of  their  youth,  and  the  disorder  they  were  under  ;  yet  was 
not  Caesar  unapprized,  when  he  looked  upon  them  in  the  confusion  they  were  in, 
that  their  delay  to  make  their  defence  did  not  arise  from  any  consciousness  of 
great  enormities,  but  from  their  unskilfulness  and  modesty.  They  were  also 
commiserated  by  those  that  were  there  in  particular,  and  they  moved  their  father's 
affections  in  earnest  till  he  had  much  ado  to  conceal  them. 

3.  But  when  they  saw  there  was  a  kind  of  disposition  arisen  both  in  him  and 
in  Caesar,  and  tiiat  every  one  of  the  rest  did  either  shed  tears,  or  at  least  did  all 
grieve  with  them,  the  one  of  them,  whose  name  was  Alexander,  called  to  his  fa- 
ther, and  attempted  to  answer  his  accusation,  and  said,  "  O  father,  the  benevo- 
lence thou  hast  showed  to  us  is  evident,  even  in  this  very  judicial  procedure :  for 
had  thou  any  pernicious  intentions  about  us,  thou  hadst  not  produced  us  here  be- 
fore the  common  saviour  of  all ;  for  it  was  in  thy  power,  both  as  a  king,  and  as  a 
father,  to  punish  the  guilty  ;  but  by  thus  bringing  us  to  Rome,  and  making  Caesar 
himself  a  Avitness  to  what  is  done,  thou  intimatest  that  thou  intendest  to  save  us ; 
for  no  one  that  hath  a  design  to  slay  a  man  will  bring  him  to  the  temples,  and  to 
the  altars ;  yet  are  our  circumstances  still  worse,  tor  we  cannot  endure  to  live 
ourselves  any  longer,  if  it  be  believed  that  we  have  injured  such  a  father ;  nay, 


C.  IV.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  559 

perhaps  it  would  be  worse  for  us  to  live  with  this  suspicion  upon  us,  that  we  have 
injured  him,  than  to  die  without  such  guilt ;  and  if  our  open  defence  may  be  taken 
to  be  true,  we  shall  be  happy,  both  in  pacifying  thee,  and  in  escaping  the  danger 
we  ai'e  in  ;  but  if  this  calumny  so  prevails,  it  is  more  than  enough  for  us  that  we 
have  seen  the  sun  this  day  ;  which  why  should  we  see,  if  this  suspicion  be  fixed 
upon  us?  Now  it  is  easy  to  say  of  young  men  that  they  desire  to  reign ;  and  to 
say  farther,  that  this  evil  proceeds  from  the  case  of  our  unhappy  mother.     This 
IS  abundantly,  sufficient  to  produce  our  present  misfortune  out  of  the  former  ;  but 
consider  well,  whether  such  an  accusation  does  not  suit  all  such  young  men,  and 
may  not  be  said  of  them  all  promiscuously  ?    for  nothing  can  hinder  him  that 
reigns,  if  he  have  children,  and  their  motiier  be  dead  ;  but  the  father  may  have 
a  suspicion  upon  all  his  sons,  as  intending  some  treachery  to  him  :  but  a  suspi- 
cion is  not  sufficient  to  prove  such  an  impious  practice.     Now  let  any  man  say, 
whether  we  have  actually  and  insolently  attempted  any  such  thing,  whereby  ac 
tions  otherwise  incredible  used  to  be  made  credible  ?     Can  any  body  prove  that 
poison  hath  been  prepared  1  or  prove  a  conspiracy  of  our  equals,  or  the  corrup- 
tion of  servants,  or  letters  written  against  thee  ?     Though  indeed  there  are  none 
of  those  things  but  have  sometimes  been  pretended  by  way  of  calumnj^   when 
they  were  never  done  :  for  a  royal  family  that  is  at  variance  with  itself  is  a  ter- 
rible thing;  and  that  which  thou  callest  a  reward  of  piety,  often  becomes  among 
very  wicked  men,  such  a  foundation  of  hope,  as  makes  them  leave  no  sort  of 
mischief  untried  :  nor  does  any  one  lay  any  wicked  practices  to  our  charge ;  but 
as  to  calumnies  by  hearsay,  how  can  lie  put  an  end  to  them,  who  will  not  hear 
what  we  have  to  say  ]     Have  we  talked  with  too  great  freedom  ?     Yes;  but  not 
against  thee,  for  that  would  be  unjust,  but  against  those  that  never  conceal  any 
thing  that  is  spoken  to  them.     Hath  either  of  us  lamented  our  mother?     Yes; 
but  not  because  she  is  dead,  but  because  she  was  evil  spoken  of  by  those  that 
had  no  reason  so  to  do.     Are  we  desirous  of  that  dominion  which  we  know  our 
father  is  possessed  of?     For  what  reason  can  we  do  so?     If  we   already  have 
royal  honours,  as  we  have,  should  not  we  labour  in  vain?  And  if  we  have  them  not, 
yet  are  not  we  in  hopes  of  them?     Or  supposing  that  we  had  killed  thee,  could 
we  expect  to  obtain  thy  kingdom  ?  while  neither  the  earth  would  let  us  tread  up- 
on it,  nor  the  sea  let  us  sail  upon  it,  after  such  an  action  as  that  :  nay,  the  religion 
of  all  your  subjects,  and  the  piety  of  the  whole  nation,  would  have  prohibited 
parricides  from  assuming  the  government,  and  from  entering  into  that  most  holy 
temple  which  was  built  by  thee.""     But  suppose  we  had  made  light  of  other  dan- 
gers, can  any  murderer  go  ofl"  unpunished  while  Cajsar  is  alive?     We  are  thy 
sons,  and  not  so  impious  or  so  thoughtless  as  that  comes  to,  though  perhaps  more 
unfortunate  than  is  convenient  for  thee.     But  in  case  thou  neither  findest  any 
causes  of  complaint,  nor  any  treacherous  designs,  what  sufficient  evidence  hast 
thou  to  make  such  a  wickedness  of  ours  credible  ?     Our  mother  is  dead  indeed, 
but  when  what  befell  her  miglit  be  an  instruction  to  us  to  caution,  and  not  an  in- 
citement to  wickedness.     We  are  willing-to  make  a  larger  apology  for  ourselves, 
but  actions  never  done  do  not  admit  of  discourse  :  nay,  we  will  make  this  agree- 
ment with  thee,  and  that  before  Caesar,  the  lord  of  all,  who  is  now  a  mediator 
between  us,  if  thou,  O  father,  canst  bring  thyself,  by  the  evidence  of  truth,  to  have 
a  mind  free  from  suspicion  concerning  us,  let  us  live,  though  even  then  we  shall 
live  in  an  unhappy  way;  for  to  be  accused  of  great  acts  of  wickedness,  though 
falsely,  is  a  terrible  thing  :  but  if  thou  hast  any  fear  remaining,  continue  thou  on 

*  Since  some  prejudiced  men  have  indiilj^ed  a  wild  fiispicion,  as  we  have  supposed  already,  Antiq.  B. 
XV.  cli.  xi.  sect.  7,  tliat  Joscphus's  history  of  Herod's  rebuilding  the  temple,  is  no  beUcr  tliiui  a  fable,  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  take  notice  of  this  occasional  clause  in  the  speech  of  .Alexander  before  his  father 
Herod,  in  his  and  his  brother's  vindication,  which  mentions  the  temple  as'known  by  every  body  to  have 
been  built  by  Herod.  See  John,  ii.  20.  See  also  another  speech  of  Herod's  own  to  the  young  men  that 
pulleit  down  his  golden  eagle  from  the  front  of  the  temple,  where  he  takes  notice,  "  How  the  building  of 
the  temple  cost  him  avast  sum  ;  and  that  the  Asamoneans,  in  those  125  years  they  held  the  government, 
were  not  able  to  perform  so  great  a  work,  to  the  honour  of  God,  as  this  was."  Anticj.  B.  xvii.  ch.  vi 
sect.  3. 


560 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XVI. 


in  thy  pious  life,  we  will  give  this  reason  for  our  own  conduct,  our  life  is  not  so 
desirable  to  us  as  to  desire  to  have  it,  if  it  tend  to  the  harm  of  our  father  who  gave 

it  us." 

4.  When  Alexander  had  thus  spoken,  Caesar,  who  did  not  before  believe  so  gross 
a  calumny,  was  still  more  moved  by  it,  and  looked  intently  upon  Herod,  and  per- 
ceived  he  was  a  little  confounded,  the  persons  there  present  were  under  an  anx- 
iety about  the  young  men,  and  the  fame  that  was  spread  abroad  made  the  king 
hated,  for  the  very  incredibility  of  the  calumny,  and  the  commiseration   which 
the  flower  of  youth,  and  beauty  of  body,  which  were  in  the  young  men,  pleaded 
for  assistance,  and  the  more  so  on  this  account,  that  Alexander  had  made  their 
defence  with  dexterity  and  prudence;  nay,  they  did  not  themselves  any  longer 
continue  in  their  former  countenances,  which  had  been  bedewed  with  tears,  and 
cast  downwards  to  the  ground,  but  now  there  arose  in  them  hope  of  the  best : 
and  the  king  himself  appeared  not  to  have  had  foundation  enough  to  build  such 
an  accusation  upon,  he  having  no  real  evidence  wherewith  to  convict  them.    In- 
deed  he  wanted  some  apology  for  making  the  accusation  :  but  Csesar,  after  some 
delay,  said,  that  "  although  the  young  men  were  thoroughly  innocent  of  that  for 
which  they  were  calumniated,  yet  had  they  been  so  far  to  blame,  that  they  had 
not  demeaned  themselves  towards  their  father  so  as  to  prevent  that   suspicion 
which  was  spread  abroad  concerning  them."      He  also  exhorted  Herod  to  lay 
all  such  suspicions  aside,  and  to  be  reconciled  to  his  sons,  for  that  it  was  not  just 
to  give  any  credit  to  such  reports  concerning  his  own  children  ;  and  that  this  re- 
pentance  on  both  sides  might  still  heal  those  breaches  that  had  happened  between 
them,  and  might  improve  that  their  good  will  to  one  another,  whereby  those  on 
both  sides,  excusing  the  rashness  of  their  suspicions,  might  resolve  to  bear  a  greater 
degree  of  perfection  towards  each  other  than  they  had  before.     After  Caesar  had 
given  them  this  admonition,  he  beckoned  to  the  young  men.     When  therefore 
they  were  disposed  to  fall  down  to  make  intercession  to  their  father,  he  took 
them  up,  and  embraced  them,  as  they  were  in  tears,  and  took  each  of  them  dis- 
tinctly in  his  arms,  till  not  one  of  those  that  were  present,  whether  freeman  or 
slave,  but  was  deeply  afl'ected  with  what  they  saw. 

5.  Then  did  they  return  thanks  to  Caesar,  and  went  away  together ;  and  with  them 
went  Antipater,  with  an  hypocritical  pretence  that  he  rejoiced  at  this  reconcilia- 
tion.  And  in  the  last  days  they  were  with  Caesar,  Herod  made  him  a  present  of 
three  hundred  talents,  as  he  was  then  exhibiting  shows  and  largesses  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Rome  :  and  Caesar  made  him  a  present  of  half  the  revenue  of  the  cop- 
per  mines  in  Cyprus,  and  committed  the  care  of  the  other  half  to  him,  and 
honoured  him  with  other  gifts  and  incomes  ;  and  as  to  his  own  kingdom,  he  left 
it  in  his  own  power  to  appoint  which  of  his  sons  he  pleased  for  his  successor,  or 
to  distribute  it  in  parts  to  every  one,  that  the  dignity  might  thereby  come  to  them 
all.  And  when  Herod  was  disposed  to  make  such  a  settlement  immediately, 
Caesar  said,  "  He  would  not  give  him  leave  to  deprive  himself,  while  he  was  alive, 
of  the  power  over  his  kingdom,  or  over  his  sons." 

6.  After  this  Herod  returned  to  Judea  again :  but  during  his  absence,  no 
small  part  of  his  dominions  about  Trachon  had  revolted,  whom  yet  the  com- 
manders he  left  there  had  vanquished,  and  compelled  to  a  submission  again. 
Now,  as  Herod  was  sailing  with  his  sons,  and  was  come  over  against  Cilicia,  to 
[the  island]  Eleusa,  which  hath  now  changed  its  name  for  Sebaste,  he  met  with 
Archelaus,  king  of  Cappadocia,  who  received  him  kindly,  as  rejoicing  that  he 
was  reconciled  to  his  sons,  and  that  the  accusation  against  Alexander,  who  had 
married  his  daughter,  was  at  an  end.  They  also  made  one  another  such  pre- 
sents  as  it  became  kings  to  make.  From  thence  Herod  came  to  Judea  and  to 
the  ternple,  where  he  made  a  speech  to  the  people  concerning  what  had  been 
done  in  this  his  journey :  "  He  also  discoursed  to  them  about  Caesar's  kindness 
to  him,  and  about  as  many  of  the  particulars  he  had  done,  as  he  thought  it  for 
his  arlvantage  other  people  should  be  acquainted  with.  At  last  he  turned  his  speech 


1 


C.  \.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  561 

to  the  admonition  of  his  sons ;  and  exhorted  those  that  lived  at  court,  and  the 
muhitude,  to  concord :  and  informed  them,  that  his  sons  were  to  reign  after  him ; 
Antipater  first,  and  then  Alexander,  and  Aristobulus,  the  sons  of  Mariamne  :  but 
he  desired,  that  at  present  they  should  all  have  regard  to  himself,  and  esteem 
him  king  and  lord  of  all,  since  he  was  not  yet  hindered  by  old  age,  but  was  in 
that  period  of  life  when  he  must  be  the  most  skilful  in  governing;  and  that  he 
was  not  deficient  in  other  arts  of  management  that  might  enable  him  to  govern 
the  kingdom  well,  and  to  rule  over  his  children  also.  He  further  told  the  rulers 
under  him,  and  the  soldiery,  that  in  case  they  would  look  upon  him  alone,  their 
life  would  be  led  in  a  peaceable  manner,  and  they  would  make  one  auotlier  hap- 
py." And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  dismissed  the  assembly.  Which  speech 
was  acceptable  to  the  greatest  part  of  the  audience,  but  not  so  to  them  all,  for 
the  contention  among  his  sons,  and  the  hopes  he  had  given  them,  occasioned 
thoughts  and  desires  of  innovations  among  them. 


CHAP.  V. 

How  Herod  celebrated  the  Games  thai  were  to  return  every  Fifth  Year,  upon  tJie 

Building  of  Cesarea ;  and  how  he  built  and  adorned  many  other  Places 

after  a  magnificent  Manner  ;  and  did  many  other  actions  gloriously. 

§  1.  About  this  time  it  was  that  Cesarea  Sebaste,  which  he  had  built,  was  fi- 
nished. The  entire  building  being  accomplished  in  the  tenth  year,  the  solemnity 
of  it  fell  into  the  twenty-eighth  year  of  Herod's  reign,  and  into  the  hundred  and 
ninety-second  olympiad  :  there  was  accordingly  a  great  festival,  and  most  sump- 
tuous preparations  made  presently,  in  order  to  its  dedication  ;  for  he  had  ap- 
pointed  a  contention  in  music,  and  games  to  be  performed  naked  :  he'  had  also 
gotten  ready  a  great  number  of  those  that  fight  single  combats,  and  of  beasts  for 
the  like  purpose  ;  horse  races  also,  and  the  most  chargeable  of  such  sports  and 
shows  as  used  to  be  exhibited  at  Rome,  and  in  other  places.  He  consecrated 
his  combat  to  Caesar,  and  ordered  it  to  be  celebrated  every  fifth  year.  He  also 
sent  all  sorts  of  ornaments  for  it  out  of  his  own  furniture,  that  it  might  want  no- 
thing to  make  it  decent :  nay,  Julia,  Caesar's  wife,  sent  a  great  part  of  her  most 
valuable  furniture  [from  Rome,]  insomuch  that  he  had  no  want  of  any  thing  :  the 
sum  of  them  all  was  estimated  at  five  hundred  talents.  Now  when  a  great  mul- 
titude was  come  to  that  city,  to  see  the  shows,  as  well  as  the  ambassadors  whom 
other  people  sent  on  account  of  the  benefits  they  had  received  [from  Herod,]  he 
entertained  them  all  in  the  public  inns,  and  at  public  tables,  and  with  perpetual 
feasts  ;  this  solemnity  having  in  the  daytime  the  diversions  of  the  fights,  and  in 
the  night  time  such  merry  meetings  as  cost  vast  sums  of  money,  and  publicly  de- 
monstrated the  generosity  of  his  soul  ;  for  in  all  his  undertakings  he  was  ambi- 
tious to  exhibit  what  exceeded  whatsoever  had  been  done  before  of  the  same 
kind.  And  it  is  related,  that  Caesar  and  Agrippa  often  said,  that  "the  dominions 
of  Herod  were  too  little  for  the  greatness  of  his  soul,  for  that  he  deserved  to  have 
both  all  the  kingdom  of  Syria,  and  that  of  Egypt  also." 

2.  After  this  solemnity  and  these  festivals  wer6  over,  Herod  erected  another  city 
in  the  plain  called  Capharsaba,  where  he  chose  out  a  fit  place,  both  for  plenty  of 
water,  and  goodness  of  soil,  and  proper  for  the  production  of  what  was  there 
planted,  where  a  river  encompassed  the  city  itself,  and  a  grove  of  the  best  trees 
for  magnitude  Avas  round  about  it  :  this  he  named  Antipatris,  from  his  father  An- 
tipater.  He  also  built  upon  another  spot  of  ground  above  Jericho,  of  the  same 
name  with  his  mother,  a  place  of  great  security,  and  very  ])lcasant  for  habitation, 
and  called  it  Cypres.  He  also  dedicated  tlie  finest  monuments  to  his  brother 
Phasaelas,  on  account  of  the  great  natural  aflection  there  liad  been  between  them, 
by  erecting  a  tower  in  the  citv  itself,  not  less  than  the  tower  of  Pharos,  which  he 

VOL.  I.  4  C 


562  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XVI. 

named  Phasaelus,  which  was  at  once  a  part  of  the  strong  defences  of  the  city, 
and  a  memorial  for  him  that  was  deceased,  because  it  bare  his  name.  He  alsa 
built  a  city  of  the  same  name  in  the  valley  of  Jericho,  as  you  go  from  it  north- 
ward,  whereby  he  rendered  the  neighbouring  country  more  fruitful,  by  the  culli- 
vation  its  inhabitants  introduced ;  and  this  also  he  called  Phasaelis. 

3.  But  as  for  his  other  benefits,  it  is  impossible  to  reckon  them  up,  those  which 
he  bestowed  on  cities,  both  in  Syria  and  in  Greece,  and  in  all  the  places  he  came 
to  in  his  voyages  ;  for  he  seems  to  have  conferred,  and  that  after  a  most  plentiibl 
manner,  what  would  minister  to  many  necessities,  and  the  building  of  public 
works,  and  gave  them  the  money  that  was  necessary  to  such  Avorks  as  wanted  it, 
to  support  them  upon  the  failure  of  their  other  revenues  :  but  what  Avas  the 
greatest  and  most  illustrious  of  all  his  works,  he  erected  Apollo's  temple  at 
Rhodes,  at  his  own  expenses,  and  gave  them  a  great  number  of  talents  of  silver 
for  the  repair  of  their  fleet.  He  also  built  the  greatest  part  of  the  public  edifices 
for  the  inhabitants  of  Nicopolis,*  at  Actium :  and  for  the  Antiochians,  the  inha- 
bitants of  the  principal  city  of  Syria,  where  a  broad  street  cuts  tLrough  the  place 
lenfTtliways,  he  built  cloisters  along  it  on  both  sides,  and  laid  the  open  road  with 
polished  stone,  and  was  of  very  great  advantage  to  the  inhabitants.  And  as  to 
the  Olympic  games,  which  were  in  a  very  low  condition,  by  reason  of  the  failure 
of  their  revenues,  he  recovered  their  reputation,  and  appointed  revenues  for  their 
maintenance,  and  made  that  solemn  meeting  more  venerable,  as  to  the  sacrifices 
and  other  ornaments  ;  and  by  reason  of  this  vast  liberality,  he  was  generally  de- 
clared in  their  inscriptions  to  be  one  of  the  perpetual  managers  of  those  games. 

Now  some  there  are  who  stand  amazed  at  the  diversity  of  Herod's  nature  and 
purposes  ;  for  when  we  have  respect  to  his  magnificence,  and  the  benefits  which 
he  bestowed  on  all  mankind,  there  is  no  possibility  for  even  those  that  had  the 
least  respect  for  him,  to  deny,  or  not  openly  to  confess  that  he  had  a  nature  vastly 
beneficent ;  but  when  any  one  looks  upon  the  punishments  he  inflicted,  and  the 
injuries  he  did,  not  only  to  his  subjects,  but  to  his  nearest  relations,  and  takes 
notice  of  his  severe  and  unrelenting  disposition  there,  he  will  be  forced  to  allow, 
that  it  was  brutish,  and  a  stranger  to  all  humanity  ;  insomuch  that  these  men  sup- 
pose his  nature  to  be  difi'erent,  and  sometimes  at  contradiction  with  itself;  but  I 
am  myself  of  another  opinion,  and  imagine  that  the  occasion  of  both  these  sorts 
of  actions  Avasone  and  the  same  ;  for  being  a  man  ainbitious  of  honour,  and  quite 
overcome  by  that  passion,  he  was  induced  to  be  magnificent  wherever  there  ap- 
peared  any  hopes  of  a  future  memorial,  or  of  reputation  at  present;  and  as  his 
expenses  were  beyond  his  abilities,  he  was  necessitated  to  be  harsh  to  his  sub- 
jrcts  ;  for  the  persons  on  whom  he  expended  his  money  were  so  many,  that  they 
made  him  a  very  bad  procurer  of  it :  and  because  he  was  conscious  that  he  was 
hated  by  those  under  him,  for  the  injuries  he  did  them,  he  thought  it  not  an  easy 
thing  to  amend  his  offences,  for  that  was  inconvenient  for  his  revenue  ;  he  there- 
tiire  strove  on  the  other  side  to  make  their  ill  will  an  occasion  of  his  gains.  As  to 
liis  own  court  therefore,  if  any  one  was  not  very  obsequious  to  him  in  his  Ian- 
guage,  and  would  not  confess  himself  to  be  his  slave,  or  but  seemed  to  think  of 
any  innovation  in  his  government,  he  was  not  able  to  contain  himself,  but  prose- 
cuted his  very  kindred  and  friends,  and  punished  them  as  if  they  were  enemies  ; 
and  this  wickedness  he  undertook  out  of  a  desire  that  he  might  be  himself  alone 
honoured.  Now  for  this  my  assertion  about  that  passion  of  his,  we  have  the 
greatest  evidence,  by  what  he  did  to  honour  Cajsar  and  Agrippa,  and  his  other 
friends ;  for  with  what  honours  he  paid  his  respects  to  them  who  were  his  superiors, 
the  same  did  he  desire  to  be  paid  to  himself:  and  what  he  thought  the  most  ex 
cellenl  present  he  could  make  another,  he  discovered  an  inclination  to  have  the 
like  presented  to  himself.  But  now  the  Jewish  nation  is  by  their  law  a  stranger 

*  Dr.  Hudson  here  gives  us  the  words  of  Sueton'uis  concerii'ng  this  Nicopolis,  when  Augustus  rebuilt 
it:  "  And  that  the  memory  of  the  victory  at  .\ctiuni  mi£;ht  lie  celebrated  the  more  afler«'ard,  Tie  built  Nico 
I  oliF  at  Aciium,  and  appoiutod  public  sliows  to  be  there  e\liibjted  ever}  IJitli  year."    In  August,  sect.  18. 


C  VL  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  563 

to  all  such  things,  and  accustomed  to  prefer  righteousness  to  glory ;  for  which 
reason  that  nation  was  not  agreeable  to  him,  because  it  was  out  of  their  power  to 
flatter  the  king's  ambition  with  statues,  or  temples,  or  any  other  such  performan- 
ces. And  this  seems  to  me  to  have  been  at  once  the  occasion  of  Herod's  crimes 
as  to  his  own  courtiers  and  counsellors,  and  of  his  benefactions  as  to  foreigners 
and  those  that  had  no  relation  to  him. 


CHAP.  VL 

An  Embassage  of  the  Jews  in  Cyrene  and  As^ia  to  Cmsar,  concerning  the  Com- 

plaints  they  had  to  make  against  the  Greeks :  with  Copies  of  the  Epistles 

which  CcBsar  and  Agrippa  wrote  to  the  Cities  for  them. 

§  1.  Now  the  cities  ill  treated  the  Jews  in  Asia,  and  all  those  also  of  the  same 
nation  which  lived  in  Libya,  which  joins  to  Cyrene,  while  the  former  kings  had 
given  them  equal  privileges  with  the  other  citizens ;  but  the  Greeks  affronted 
them  at  this  time,  and  that  so  far  as  to  take  away  their  sacred  money,  and  to 
do  them  miscliief  on  other  particular  occasions.  When  therefore  they  were  thus 
afflicted,  and  found  no  end  of  their  barbarous  treatment  they  met  with  among  the 
Greeks,  they  sent  ambassadors  to  Caesar  on  those  accounts  ;  who  gave  them  the 
same  privileges  as  they  had  before,  and  sent  letters  to  the  same  purpose  to  the 
governors  of  the  provinces,  copies  of  which  I  subjoin  here,  as  testimonials  of  the 
ancient  favourable  disposition  the  Roman  emperors  had  towards  us. 

2.  "  Ca3sar  Augustus,  high  priest,  and  tribune  of  the  people,  ordains  thus  : 
Since  the  nation  of  the  Jews  hath  been  found  grateful  to  the  Roman  people,  not 
only  at  this  time,  but  in  time  past  also,  and  chiefly  Hyrcanus  the  high  priest,  un- 
der  my  father*  Csesar  the  emperor,  it  seemed  good  to  me  and  my  counsellors, 
according  to  the  sentence  and  oath  of  the  people  of  Rome,  that  the  Jews  have 
liberty  to  make  use  of  their  own  customs,  according  to  the  laws  of  their  fathers, 
as  they  made  use  of  them  under  Hyrcanus  the  higl)  priest  of  Almighty  God  ;  and 
that  their  sacred  money  be  not  touched,  but  be  sent  to  Jerusalem,  and  that  it  be 
committed  to  the  care  of  the  receivers  at  Jerusalem  :  and  that  they  be  not  obliged 
to  go  before  any  judge  on  the  Sabbath  day,  nor  on  the  daj^  of  the  preparation  f  to 
it,  after  the  ninth  hour :  but  if  any  one  be  caught  stealing  their  holy  books,  or 
their  sacred  money,  whether  it  be  out  of  the  synagogue,  or  public  school,  he 
shall  be  deemed  a  sacrilegious  person,  and  his  goods  shall  be  brought  into  the 
public  treasury  of  the  Romans.  And  I  give  order,  that  the  testimonial  wliich 
they  have  given  me,  on  account  of  my  regard  to  that  piety  which  I  exercise  to- 
wards all  mankind,  and  out  of  regard  to  Caius  Marcus  Censorinus,  together  with 
the  present  decree,  be  proposed  in  that  most  eminent  place  which  hath  been  con- 
secrated to  me  by  the  community  of  Asia  at  Ancyra.  And  if  any  one  transgress 
any  part  of  what  is  above  decreed,  he  shall  be  severely  punished."  This  was  in- 
scribed upon  a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  Caesar. 

3.  "  Caisar  to  Norbanus  Flaccus,  sendeth  greeting :  Let  those  Jews,  how  many 
soever  they  be,  who  have  been  used  according  to  their  ancient  custom,  to  send 
their  sacred  money  to  Jerusalem,  do  the  same  freely."  These  were  the  decrees 
of  Ca?sar. 

4.  Agrippa  also  did  himself  write  after  the  manner  following,  on  behalf  of  the 
Jews:  "Agrippa,  to  the  magistrates,  senate,  and  people  of  the  Ephesians,  send- 
eth  greeting  :  I  will  that  the  care  and  custody  of  (he  sacred  money  that  is  carried 

*  Augustus  here  calls  Julius  Crnsar  h'lsfaihe.r,  though  by  birth  be  was  only  his  uncle,  on  account  of 
his  adoption  by  him.     See  tlie  same,  Antiq.  C.  xiv.  ch.  xiv.  sect.  4. 

t  This  if.  the  authentic  evidence,  tiiat  the  Jews,  in  tlie  days  of  Augustus,  began  to  prepare  for  the 
celebration  of  the  Sabbaih  at  the  ninth  hour  on  Friday,  as  the  tradition  of  the  elders  did,  it  seems,  then 
require  of  theui. 

4B2 


564  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XVI. 

to  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  be  left  to  the  Jews  of  Asia,  to  do  with  it  according  to 
their  ancient  custom ;  and  that  such  as  steal  that  sacred  money  of  the  Jews,  and 
fly  to  a  sanctuary,  shall  be  taken  thence  and  delivered  to  the  Jews,  by  the  same 
law  that  sacrilegious  persons  are  taken  thence.  I  have  also  written  to  Sylvanus 
the  pretor,  that  no  one  compel  the  Jews  to  come  before  a  judge  on  the  Sabbath 
day." 

5.  "  Marcus  Agrippa,  to  the  magistrates,  senate,  and  people  of  Cyrene,  send- 
eth  greeting :  The  Jews  of  Cyrene  have  interceded  with  me  for  the  performance 
of  what  Augustus  sent  orders  about  to  Flavius,  the  then  pretor  of  Lybia,  and  to 
the  other  procurators  of  that  province,  that  the  sacred  money  may  be  sent  to  Je- 
rusalem freel)',  as  hath  been  their  custom  from  their  forefathers,  they  complaining 
that  they  are  abused  by  certain  informers,  and,  under  pretence  of  taxes  which 
were  not  due,  are  hindered  from  sending  them,  which  I  command  to  be  restored 
without  any  diminution  or  disturbance  given  to  them  :  and  if  any  of  that  sacred 
money  in  the  cities  be  taken  from  their  proper  receivers,  I  farther  enjoin,  that  the 
same  be  exactly  returned  to  the  Jews  in  that  place." 

6.  "  Caius  Norbanus  Flaccus,  proconsul  to  the  magistrates  of  the  Sardinians, 
sendeth  greeting :  Caesar  hath  written  to  me,  and  commanded  me  not  to  forbid 
the  Jews,  how  many  soever  they  be,  from  assembling  together  according  to  the 
custom  of  their  forefathers,  nor  from  sending  their  money  to  Jerusalem  :  I  have 
therefore  written  to  you,  that  you  may  know  that  both  Caesar  and  I  would  have 
you  act  accordingly." 

7.  Nor  did  Julius  Antonius  the  proconsul  write  otherwise  :  "  To  the  magis- 
trates,  senate,  and  people  of  the  Ephesians,  sendeth  greeting :  As  I  was  dispen- 
sing justice  at  Ephesus,  on  the  ides  of  February,  the  Jews  that  dwell  in  Asia  de- 
monstrated to  me,  that  Augustus  and  Agrippa  had  permitted  them  to  use  their 
own  laws  and  customs,  and  to  offer  those  their  first  fruits  which  every  one  of 
them  freely  offers  to  the  Deity  on  account  of  piety,  and  to  carry  them  in  a  com- 
pany  together  to  Jerusalem  without  disturbance.  They  also  petitioned  me,  that 
I  would  confirm  what  had  been  granted  by  Augustus  and  Agrippa,  by  my  own 
sanction.  I  would  therefore  have  you  take  notice,  that,  according  to  the  will  of 
Augustus  and  Agrippa,  I  permit  them  to  use  and  do  according  to  the  customs  of 
their  forefathers  without  disturbance." 

8.  I  have  been  obliged  to  set  down  these  decrees,  because  the  present  histoiy 
of  our  own  acts  will  go  generally  among  the  Greeks  ;  and  I  have  hereby  demon- 
strated to  them,  that  we  have  formerly  been  in  great  esteem,  and  have  not  been 
prohibited  by  those  governors  we  were  under  from  keeping  any  of  the  laws  of 
our  forefathers;  nay,  that  we  have  been  supported  by  them,  while  we  followed 
our  own  religion,  and  the  worship  we  paid  to  God  ;  and  I  frequently  make  mention 
of  these  decrees,  in  order  to  reconcile  other  people  to  us,  and  to  take  away  the 
causes  of  that  hatred  which  unreasonable  men  bear  to  us.  As  for  our  customs,* 
there  is  no  nation  which  always  makes  use  of  the  same,  and  m  every  city  almost 
we  meet  with  them  different  from  one  another;  but  natural  justice  is  most  agree- 
able to  the  advantage  of  all  men  equally,  both  Greeks  and  barbarians,  to  which 
our  laws  have  the  greatest  regard,  and  thereby  render  us,  if  we  abide  in  them  after 
a  pure  manner,  benevolent  and  friendly  to  all  men :  on  M'hich  account  we  have 
reason  to  expect  the  like  return  from  others,  and  to  inform  them  that  they  ought 
not  to  esteem  difi'erence  of  positive  institutions  a  sufiicient  cause  of  alienation, 
but  [join  with  us  in]  the  pursuit  of  virtue  and  probity,  for  this  belongs  to  all  men 
in  common,  and  of  itself  alone  is  sufiicient  for  the  preservation  of  human  hfe.  I 
now  return  to  the  thread  of  my  history. 

*  The  remaining  part  of  this  chapter  is  a  remarkable  one,  as  justly  distinguishing  natural  justice,  reli- 
gion, and  moralit)',  from  positive  institutions  m  all  countries,  and  evidently  preferrmg  the  former  before 
the  latter;  as  did  the  true  prophets  of  God  always  under  the  Old  Testament,  and  Christ  and  his  apostles 
always  under  the  New  ;  whence  our  Josephus  seems  lo  have  been  at  this  time  nearer  Christianity  than 
were  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  ofliis  age,  who,  as  we  know  from  the  New  Testament,  were  entirely  of  a 
difierent  opinion  and  practice. 


C.  Vir.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  505 


CHAP.  VII. 

How  upon  Herod's  going  dovm  into  David's  Sepulchre,  the  Sedition  in  his  Famil// 

greatly  increased. 

§  1.  As  for  Herod,  he  had  spent  vast  sums  about  the  cities,  both  without  and 
within  his  own  kingdom  ;  and  as  he  had  before  heard  that  Hyrcanus,  Avho  had 
been  king  before  him,  had  opened  David's  sepulchre,  and  taken  out  of  it  three 
thousand  talents  of  silver,  and  that  there  was  a  much  greater  number  left  behind, 
and  indeed  enough  to  suffice  all  his  wants,  he  had  a  great  while  an  intention  to 
make  the  attempt ;  and  at  this  time  he  opened  that  sepulchre  by  night  and  went 
into  it,  and  endeavoured  that  it  should  not  be  at  all  known  in  the  city,  but  took 
only  his  most  faithful  friends  with  him.  As  for  any  money,  he  found  none,  as 
Hyrcanus  had  done,  but  that  furniture  of  gold,  and  those  precious  goods  that  were 
laid  up  there  ;  all  which  he  took  away.  However,  he  had  a  great  desire  to  make 
a  more  diligent  search,  and  to  go  farther  in,  even  as  far  the  very  bodies  of  David 
and  Solomon;  where  two  of  his  guards  were  slain,  by  a  flame  that  burst  out  upon 
those  that  went  in  ;  as  the  report  was.  So  he  was  terribly  atlVighted,  and  went 
out,  and  built  a  propitiatory  monument  of  that  fright  he  had  been  in,  and  this  of 
white  stone,  at  the  mouth  of  the  sepulchre,  and  that  at  a  great  expense  also.  And 
even  Nicolaus*  his  historiographer  makes  mention  of  this  monument  built  by 
Herod,  though  he  does  not  mention  his  going  down  into  the  sepulchre,  as  know, 
ingthat  action  to  be  of  ill  repute  ;  and  many  other  things  he  treats  of  in  the  same 
manner  in  his  book  ;  for  he  wrote  in  Herod's  lifetime,  and  under  his  reign,  and 
so  as  to  please  him,  and  as  a  servant  to  him,  touching  upon  nothing  but  what 
tended  to  his  glory,  and  openly  excusing  many  of  his  notorious  crimes,  and  very 
diligently  concealing  them.  And  as  he  was  desirous  to  put  handsome  colours 
on  the  death  of  Mariamne,  and  her  sons,  which  were  barbarous  actions  in  the 
king,  he  tells  falsehoods  about  the  incontinence  of  Mariamne,  and  the  treacherous 
designs  of  his  sons  upon  him  ;  and  thus  he  proceeded  in  his  whole  work,  making 
a  pompous  encomium  upon  what  just  actions  he  had  done,  but  earnestly  apologi- 
zing  for  his  unjust  ones.  Indeed  a  man,  as  I  said,  may  have  a  great  deal  to  say 
by  way  of  excuse  for  Nicolaus ;  for  he  did  not  so  properly  wrife  this  as  a  history 
for  others,  as  somewhat  that  might  be  subservient  to  the  king  himself.  As  for 
ourselves,  who  come  of  a  family  nearly  allied  to  the  Asamonean  kings,  and  on 
that  account  having  an  honourable  place,  which  is  the  priesthood,  we  think  it  in- 
decent to  say  any  thing  that  is  false  about  them,  and  accordingly  we  have  de- 
scribed their  actions  after  an  unblemished  and  upright  manner.  And  although 
we  reverence  many  of  Herod's  posterity,  who  still  reign,  yet  do  we  pay  a  greater 
regard  to  truth  than  to  them,  and  this  though  it  sometimes  happens  that  we  incur 
their  displeasure  by  so  doing. 

2.  And  indeed  llcrod's  troubles  in  his  family  seemed  to  be  augmented,  by 
reason  of  this  attempt  he  made  upon  David's  sepulchre,  whether  divine  vengeance 
increased  the  calamities  he  lay  under,  in  order  to  render  them  incurable,  or 
whether  fortune  made  an  assault  upon  him,  in  those  cases,  wherein  the  season- 
ableness  of  the  cause  made  it  strongly  believed  that  the  calamities  came  upon  him 
for  his  impiety  ;  for  the  tumult  was  like  a  civil  war  in  his  palace,  and  their  hatred 
towards  one  another  was  like  that  where  each  one  strove  to  exceed  one  another 
in  calumnies.  However,  Antipater  used  stratagems  perpetually  against  his  bre- 
thren, and  that  very  cunningly :  while  abroad  he  loaded  them  with  accuaations, 

»  It  is  here  worth  our  observation,  how  careful  Josephus  was  as  to  the  (iiscovcry  of  truth  in  Herod's 
history,  since  he  would  not  follow  Nicolaus  of  Damascus  himself,  so  great  an  historian,  where  there  was 
great  reason  to  suspect  that  he  flattered  Herod;  which  impartiality  in  history  Josephus  here  solemnly 
professes,  and  of  which  impartiality  he  has  given  more  demonstration  than  "almost  any  other  historian 
whomsoever.  But  as  to  Herod's  taking  great  wealth  out  of  David's  sepulchre,  though  I  cannot  prove  it, 
yet  do  I  strongly  suspect  it  from  this  very  history. 


5(56  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XVI. 

but  still  took  upon  him  frequently  to  apologize  for  them,  that  this  apparent 
benevolence  to  them  might  make  him  be  believed,  and  forward  his  attempts 
against  them,  by  which  means  he,  after  various  manners,  circumvented  his 
lather,  who  believed  that  all  he  did  was  for  his  preservation.  Herod  also  recom- 
mended Ptolemy,  who  was  a  great  director  of  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom,  to  An- 
tipater,  and  consulted  with  his  mother  about  the  public  aftairs  also.  And  indeed 
these  were  all  in  all,  and  did  what  they  pleased,  and  made  the  king  angry  against 
any  other  persons,  as  they  thought  it  might  be  to  their  own  advantage ;  but  still 
the  sons  of  Mariamne  were  in  a  worse  and  worse  condition  perpetually,  and 
wliile  they  were  thrust  out,  and  set  in  a  more  dishonourable  rank,  who  yet  by 
birth  were  the  most  noble,  they  could  not  bear  the  dishonour.  And  for  the  wo- 
men,  Glaphyra,  Alexander's  wife,  the  daughter  of  Archelaus,  hated  Salome, 
both  because  of  her  love  to  her  husband,  and  because  Glaphyra  seemed  to  be- 
have herself  somewhat  insolently  towards  Salome's  daughter,  who  was  the  wife  of 
Aristobulus,  which  equality  of  hers  to  herself  Glaphyra  took  very  impatiently 
3.  Now  besides  this  second  contention  that  had  fallen  among  them,  neither  did 
the  king's  brother  Pheroras  keep  himself  out  of  trouble,  but  had  a  particular 
foundation  for  suspicion  and  hatred,  for  he  was  overcome  b)^  the  charms  of  his 
wife  to  such  a  degree  of  madness,  that  he  despised  the  king's  daughter,  to  whom 
he  had  been  betrothed,  and  wholly  bent  his  mind  to  the  other,  who  had  been  but 
a  servant.  Herod  also  was  grieved  by  the  dishonour  that  was  done  him,  because 
he  had  bestowed  many  favours  upon  him,  and  had  advanced  him  to  that  height  of 
power  that  he  was  almost  a  partner  Avith  him  in  the  kingdom,  and  saw  that  he 
had  not  made  him  a  due  return  for  his  favours,  and  esteemed  himself  unhappy 
on  that  account.  So  upon  Pheroras's  unworthy  refusal,  he  gave  the  damsel  to 
Phasaelus's  son ;  but  after  some  time,  when  he  thought  the  heat  of  his  brother's 
affections  was  over,  he  blamed  him  for  his  former  conduct,  and  desired  him  to 
take  his  second  daughter,  whose  name  was  Cypros.  Ptolemy  also  advised  him 
to  leave  ofl'  afironting  his  brother,  and  to  forsake  her  whom  he  had  loved,  for 
that  it  was  a  base  thing  to  be  so  enamoured  of  a  servant  as  to  deprive  himself  of 
the  king's  good  will  to  him,  and  become  an  occasion  of  his  trouble,  and  make 
himself  hated  by  him.  Pheroras  knew  that  this  advice  would  be  for  his  own 
advantage,  particularly  because  he  had  been  accused  befoi*e,  and  forgiven  :  so 
he  put  his  wife  away,  although  he  already  had  a  son  by  her,  and  engaged  to  the 
king,  that  he  would  take  his  second  daughter,  and  agreed  that  the  thirtieth  day 
arter  should  be  the  day  of  marriage ;  and  sware  he  would  have  no  farther  con- 
versation with  her  whom  he  had  put  away  ;  but  when  the  thirty  davs  were  over, 
he  was  such  a  slave  to  his  affections,  that  he  no  longer  performed  any  thing  he 
had  promised,  but  continued  still  with  his  former  wife.  This  occasioned  Herod 
to  grieve  openly,  and  made  him  angry,  while  the  king  dropped  one  word  or  other 
against  Pheroras  perpetually;  and  many  made  the  king's  anger  an  opportunity 
for  raising  calumnies  against  him.  Nor  had  the  king  any  longer  a  single  quiet 
day  or  hour,  but  occasions  of  one  fresh  quarrel  or  another  arose  among  his  rela- 
tions, and  those  that  were  dearest  to  him  ;  for  Salome  was  of  a  harsh  temper, 
and  ill  natured  to  Marjainne's  sons,  nor  would  she  suffer  her  own  daughter,  wno 
was  the  wife  of  Aristobulus,  one  of  those  young  men,  to  bear  a  good  will  to  her 
husband,  but  persuaded  her  to  tell  her,  if  he  said  any  thing  to  her  in  private ; 
and  when  any  misunderstandings  happened,  as  is  common,  she  raised  a  great 
many  suspicions  out  of  it;  by  Avhich  means  she  learned  all  their  concerns,  and 
niade  the  damsel  ill  natured  to  the  young  man.  And  in  order  to  gratify  her 
mother,  she  often  said,  that  the  young  men  used  to  mention  Mariamne  when 
they  were  by  themselves  ;  and  that  they  had  hated  (heir  father,  and  were  con- 
tinually threatening,  that  if  they  had  once  got  the  kingdom,  they  would  make 
Herod's  sons  by  his  other  wives  country  schoolmasters,  for  that  the  present  edu- 
cation which  was  given  them,  and  their  diligence  in  learning,  fitted  them  for 
Euch  an  employment.     And  as  for  the  women,  whenever  they  saw  them  adorned 


C.  VII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  567 

with  their  mother's  clothes,  they  threatened  that,  instead  of  their  present  gaudy- 
apparel,  they  should  be  clothed  in  sackcloth,  and  confined  so  closely  that  they 
should  not  see  the  light  of  the  sun.  These  stories  were  presently  carried  by 
Salome  to  the  king,  who  was  troubled  to  hear  them,  and  endeavoured  to  make 
up  matters :  but  these  suspicions  afflicted  him,  and  becoming  more  and  more 
uneasy,  he  believed  every  body  against  every  body.  However,  upon  his  re- 
buking his  sons,  and  hearing  the  defence  they  made  for  themselves,  he  was 
easier  for  a  while,  though  a  little  afterwards  much  worse  accidents  came 
upon  him. 

4.  For  Pheroras  came  to  Alexander,  the  husband  of  Glaphyra,  who  was  the 
daughter  of  Archelaus,  as  we  have  already  told  you,  and  said,  that  he  had  heard 
from  Salome,  that  Herod  was  enamoured  of  Glaphyra,  and  that  his  passion  for 
her  was  incurable.  When  Alexander  heard  that,  he  was  all  on  fire,  from  his 
youth  and  jealousy  ;  and  he  interpreted  the  instances  of  Herod's  obliging  beha- 
viour to  her,  which  were  very  frequent,  for  the  worse,  which  came  from  those  sus- 
picions he  had  on  account  of  that  word  which  fell  from  Pheroras ;  nor  could  he 
conceal  his  grief  at  the  thing,  but  informed  him  what  words  Pheroras  had  said. 
Upon  which  Herod  was  in  a  greater  disorder  than  ever  ;  and  not  bearing  such  a 
false  calunm}^,  Vv-liich  was  to  his  shame,  was  much  disturbed  at  it ;  and  often  did 
he  lament  the  wickedness  of  his  domestics,  and  how  good  he  had  been  to  them, 
and  how  ill  reriuitals  they  had  made  him.  So  he  sent  for  Pheroras,  and  reproach- 
ed him,  and  said,  "  Thou  vilest  of  all  men  !  art  thou  come  to  that  unmeasurable  and 
extravagant  degree  of  ingratitude,  as  not  only  to  suppose  such  things  of  me,  but 
to  speak  of  them?  I  now  indeed  perceive  Avhat  thy  intentions  are  :  it  is  not  thy 
only  aim  to  reproach  me,  when  thou  usest  such  words  to  my  son,  but  thereby  to 
persuade  him  to  plot  against  me,  and  get  me  destroyed  by  poison.  And  who  is 
there,  if  he  had  not  a  good  genius  at  his  elbow,  as  hath  my  son,  but  would  not 
bear  such  a  suspicion  of  his  father,  but  would  revenge  himself  upon  him  ?  Dost 
thou  suppose  that  thou  hast  only  dropped  a  word  for  him  to  think  of,  and  not  ra- 
ther hast  put  a  sword  into  his  hand  to  slay  his  fatlier  ?  And  what  dost  thou  mean, 
when  thou  really  hatest  both  him  and  his  brother,  to  pretend  kindness  to  them, 
only  in  order  to  raise  a  reproach  against  me,  and  talk  of  such  things  as  no  one 
but  such  an  impious  wretch  as  thou  art  could  either  devise  in  tlieir  mind,  or  de- 
clare in  their  words.  Be  gone,  thou  art  sucli  a  plague  to  thy  benefactor  and  thy 
brother  ;  and  may  that  evil  conscience  of  thine  go  along  with  thee  ;  while  I  still 
overcome  my  relations  by  kindness,  and  am  so  far  trom  avenging  myself  of  them, 
as  they  deserve,  that  I  bestow  greater  benefits  upon  them  than  they  are  wor- 
thy of.'" 

5.  Thus  did  the  king  speak.  Whereupon  Pheroras,  who  was  caught  in  the 
very  act  of  his  villany,  said,  that  "  it  was  Salome  who  was  the  framer  of  this  plot, 
and  that  the  words  came  from  her."  But  as  soon  as  she  heard  that,  for  she  was 
at  hand,  she  cried  out,  like  one  that  would  be  believed,  that  no  such  thing  ever 
came  out  of  her  mouth  :  that  they  all  earnestly  endeavoured  to  make  the  king 
hate  her,  and  to  make  her  away,  because  of  the  good  will  she  bore  to  Herod,  and 
because  she  was  always  foreseeing  the  dangers  tliat  were  coming  upon  him,  and 
that  at  present  there  were  more  plots  against  him  than  usual;  for  while  she  was 
the  only  person  who  persuaded  her  brother  to  put  away  the  wife  he  now  had,  and 
to  take  the  king's  daughter,  it  was  no  wonder  if  she  wore  hated  by  him.  As  she 
said  this,  and  often  tore  her  hair,  and  often  beat  her  breast,  her  countenance 
made  her  denial  to  be  believed,  but  the  perverseness  of  her  manners  declared  at 
the  same  time  her  dissimulation  in  these  proceedings  :  but  Pheroras  was  caught 
between  them,  and  had  nothing  plausible  to  ofi'er  in  his  own  defence,  v.liile  he 
confessed  that  he  had  said  what  was  charged  upon  him,  but  was  not  believed 
when  he  said  he  had  heard  it  from  Salome:  so  the  confusion  among  them  was  in- 
creased, and  their  quarrelsome  words  one  to  another.  At  last  the  king,  out  of 
his  hatred  to  his  brother  and  sister,  sent  them  both  away  ;  and  when  he  had  com- 


568  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XVI. 

mended  the  moderation  of  his  son,  and  that  he  had  himself  told  him  of  the  re- 
port, he  went  in  the  evening  to  refresh  himself.  After  such  a  contest  as  this 
had  fallen  out  among  them,  Salome's  reputation  suffered  greatly,  since  she  was 
supposed  to  have  first  raised  the  calumny ;  and  the  king's  wives  were  grieved  at 
her,  as  knowing  she  was  a  very  ill  natured  woman,  and  would  sometimes  be  a 
friend,  and  sometimes  an  enemy  at  different  seasons  :  so  they  perpetually  said 
one  thing  or  another  against  her,  and  somewhat  that  now  fell  out  made  them  the 
bolder  in  speaking  against  her. 

6.  There  was  one  Obodas,  king  of  Arabia,  an  inactive  and  slothful  man  in  his 
nature  ;  but  Sylleus  managed  most  of  his  affairs  for  him.  He  was  a  shrewd  man, 
although  he  were  but  young,  and  was  handsome  withal.  This  Sylleus,  upon 
some  occasion  coming  to  Herod,  and  supping  with  him,  saw  Salome,  and  set  his 
heart  upon  her ;  and  understanding  that  she  was  a  widow,  he  discoursed  with 
her.  Now  because  Salome  was  at  this  time  less  in  favour  with  her  brother,  she 
looked  upon  Sylleus  with  some  passion,  and  was  very  earnest  to  be  married  to 
him ;  and  on  the  days  following  there  appeared  many,  and  those  very  great 
indications  of  their  agreement  together.  Now  the  women  carried  this  news  to 
the  king,  and  laughed  at  the  indecency  of  it ;  whereupon  Herod  inquired  about 
it  farther  of  Pheroras,  and  desired  him  to  observe  them  at  supper,  how  their 
behaviour  was  one  toward  another  ;  who  told  him,  that  by  the  signals  which  came 
from  their  heads  and  their  eyes,  they  both  were  evidently  in  love.  After  this, 
Sylleus  the  Arabian,  being  suspected,  went  away,  but  came  again  two  or  three 
months  afterwards,  as  it  were  on  that  very  design,  and  spake  to  Herod  about  it, 
and  desired  that  Salome  might  be  given  him  to  wife  ;  for  that  his  affinity  might 
not  be  disadvantageous  to  his  affairs,  by  a  union  with  Arabia,  the  government  of 
which  country  was  already  in  effect  under  his  power,  and  more  evidently  would 
be  his  hereafter.  Accordingly,  when  Herod  discoursed  with  his  sister  about  it, 
and  asked  her  whether  she  were  disposed  to  this  match  ?  she  immediately  agreed 
to  it.  But  when  Sylleus  was  desired  to  come  over  to  the  Jewish  religion,  and 
then  he  should  marry  her,  and  that  it  was  impossible  to  do  it  on  any  other  terms, 
he  would  not  bear  that  proposal,  and  went  his  way:  for  he  said,  that  if  he  should 
do  so,  he  should  be  stoned  by  the  Arabs.  Then  did  Pheroras  reproach  Salome 
for  her  incontinency,  as  did  the  women  much  more  ;  and  said  that  Sylleus  had 
debauched  her.  As  for  that  damsel,  which  the  king  had  betrothed  to  his  brother 
Pheroras,  but  he  had  not  taken  her,  as  I  have  before  related,  because  he  was 
enamoured  of  his  former  wife,  Salome  desired  of  Herod  she  might  be  given  to 
her  son  by  Costobarus  ;  which  match  he  was  very  willing  to,  but  was  dissuaded 
from  it  by  Pheroras,  who  pleaded,  that  this  young  man  would  not  be  kind  to  her, 
since  his  father  had  been  slain  by  him,  and  that  it  was  more  just  that  his  son,  who 
was  to  be  his  successor  in  the  tetrarchy,  should  have  her :  so  he  begged  his 
pardon,  and  persuaded  him  to  do  so.  Accordingly  the  damsel,  upon  this  change 
of  her  espousals,  was  disposed  of  to  this  young  man,  the  son  of  Pheroras,  the 
king  giving  for  her  portion  a  hundred  talents. 


CHAP.  vm. 

How  Herod  took  up  Alexander,  and  bound  him  ;  whom  yet  Archelaus,  King  of 
Cappadocia,  reconciled  to  his  Father  Herod  again. 

§  1.  But  still  the  affairs  of  Herod's  family  were  no  better,  but  perpetually  more 
troublesome.  Now  this  accident  happened,  which  arose  from  no  decent  occasion, 
but  proceeded  so  far  as  to  bring  great  difficulties  upon  him.  There  were  certain 
eunuchs  which  the  king  had,  and  on  account  of  their  beauty  was  very  fond  of 
them ;  and  the  care  of  bringing  him  drink  was  intrusted  to  one  of  them ;  of 
bringing  him  his  supper  to  another  ;  and  of  putting  him  to  bed  to  the  third  ;  who 


C.  VIU.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  569 

also  managed  the  principal  affairs  of  the  government;  and  there  was  one  told  the 
king  th;it  these  eunuchs  were  corrupted  by  Alexander,  the  king's  son,  with  great 
sums  of  money :  and  when  they  wei'e  asked  whether  Alexander  had  criminal 
conversation  with  them  ?  they  confessed  it,  but  they  said  they  knew  of  no  farther 
mischief  of  his  against  his  father ;  but  when  they  were  more  severelv  tortured, 
and  were  in  the  utmost  extremity,  and  the  tormentors  out  of  compliance  with 
Anti[)ater,  stretched  the  rack  to  the  very  utmost,  they  said  that  Alexander  bare 
great  ill  will  and  innate  hatred  to  his  father ;  and  that  he  told  them,  that  Herod 
despaired  to  live  much  longer ;  and  that  in  order  to  cover  his  great  age,  he 
coloured  his  hair  black,  and  endeavoured  to  conceal  what  would  discover  how  old 
he  was  ;  but  that  if  he  would  apply  himself  to  him,  when  he  should  attain  the 
kingdom,  which,  in  spite  of  his  father,  could  come  to  no  one  else,  he  should 
quickly  have  the  first  place  in  that  kingdom  under  him ;  for  that  he  was  now  ready 
to  take  the  kingdom,  not  only  as  his  birthright,  but  by  the  preparations  he  had 
made  for  obtaining  it;  because  a  great  many  of  the  rulers,  and  a  great  many  of 
his  friends,  were  of  his  side ;  and  those  no  il!  men  neither,  ready  both  to  do  and 
to  suffer  whatsover  should  come  on  that  account. 

2.  When  Herod  heard  this  confession,  he  was  all  over  anger  and  fear  :  some 
parts  seeming  to  him  reproachful,  and  some  made  him  suspicious  of  dano-ers  that 
attended  him ;  insomuch  that  on  both  accounts  he  was  provoked,  and  bitterly  afraid 
lest  some  more  heavy  plot  was  laid  against  him  than  he  should  be  then  able  to 
escape  from  ;  whereupon  he  did  not  now  make  an  open  search,  but  sent  about 
spies  to  watch  such  as  he  suspected ;  for  he  was  now  overrun  with  suspicion  and 
hatred  against  all  about  him;  and  indulging  abundance  of  those  suspicions,  in 
order  to  his  preservation,  he  continued  to  suspect  those  that  were  guiltless  ;  nor 
did  he  set  any  bounds  to  himself,  but  supposing  that  those  who  staid  with  him  had 
the  most  power  to  hurt  him,  they  were  to  him  very  frightful ;  and  for  those  that  did 
not  use  to  come  to  him,  it  seemed  enough  to  name  them  [to  make  them  suspected,] 
and  he  thought  him.self  safer  when  they  were  destroyed :  and  at  last  his  domestics 
were  come  to  that  pass,  that  being  no  way  secure  of  escaping  themselves,  they 
fell  to  accusing  one  another,  and  imagining  that  he  who  first  accused  another  was 
most  likely  to  save  himself;  yet,  when  any  had  overthrown  others,  they  were 
hated,  and  they  were  thought  to  sutler  justly,  who  unjustly  accused  others,  and 
they  only  thereby  prevented  their  own  accusation ;  nay,  they  now  executed  their 
own  private  enmities  by  this  means,  and  when  they  were  caught,  they  were 
punished  in  the  same  way.  Thus  these  men  contrived  to  make  use  of  this 
opportunity  as  an  instrument  and  a  snare  against  their  enemies  ;  yet  when  they 
tried  it,  were  themselves  caught  also  in  the  same  snare  which  they  laid  for  others : 
and  the  king  soon  repented  of  what  he  had  done,  because  he  had  no  clear  evidence 
of  the  guilt  of  those  whom  he  had  slain ;  and  yet  what  was  still  more  severe  in 
him,  he  did  not  make  use  of  his  repentance,  in  order  to  leave  off  doing  the  like 
again,  but  in  order  to  inflict  the  same  punishments  upon  their  accusers. 

3.  And  in  this  state  of  disorder  were  the  aiiairs  of  the  palace;  and  he  had  al- 
ready  told  many  of  his  friends  directly  that  they  ought  not  to  appear  before  him, 
nor  come  into  the  palace:  and  the  reason  of  this  injunction  was,  that  [when  they 
were  there]  he  had  less  freedom  of  acting,  or  a  greater  restraint  on  himself  on 
their  account:  for  at  this  time  it  was  that  he  expelled  Andromachus  and  GemeJ- 
his;  men  who  had  of  old  been  his  friends,  and  been  very  useful  to  him  in  the 
affiirs  of  his  kingdom  ;  and  been  of  advantage  to  his  family,  by  their  ambassages 
and  counsels  ;  and  had  been  tutors  to  his  sons  ;  and  had  iri  a  manner  the  first  de- 
gree  of  freedom  with  him.  He  expelled  Andromachus  because  his  son  Deme- 
trius  was  a  companion  to  Alexander;  and  Gemellus,  because  he  knew  that  he 
wished  him  well ;  which  arose  from  his  having  been  witli  him  in  his  youth,  when 
he  was  at  school,  and  absent  at  Rome.  These  he  expelled  out  of  his"  palace,  and 
was  willing  enough  to  have  done  worse  by  them  ;  but  that  he  might  not  seem  to 
take  such  liberty  against  men  of  so  great  reputation,  he  contented  himself  witli 

VOL.  I.  4  C 


570  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.XVI. 

depriving  them  of  their  dignity,  and  of  their  power  to  hinder  his  wicked  pro- 
ceedings. 

4.  Now  it  was  Antipater,  who  was  the  cause  of  all  this ;  who  when  he  knew 
what  a  mad  and  licentious  way  of  acting  his  father  was  in,  and  had  been  a  great 
while  one  of  his  counsellors,  he  hurried  him  on,  and  then  thought  he  should  bring 
him  on  to  do  somewhat  to  purpose,  when  every  one  that  could  oppose  him  was 
taken  away.     When  therefore  Andromachus  and  his  friends  were  driven  away, 
and  had  no  discourse  nor  freedom  with  the  king  any  longer,  the  king,  in  the  first 
place,  examined  by  torture  all  whom  he  thought  to  be  faithful  to  Alexander, 
whet'ier  they  knew  of  any  of  his  attempts  against  him;  but  these  died  without 
havii  ig  any  thing  to  say  to  that  matter  ;  which  made  the  king  more  zealous  [after 
discoveries,]  when  he  could  not  find  out  what  evil  proceedings  he  suspected  them 
of.     As  for  Antipater,  he  was  very  sagacious  to  raise  a  calumny  against  those 
that  were  really  innocent,  as  if  their  denial  was  only  their  constancy  and  fideUty 
[to  Alexander,]  and  thereupon  provoked  Herod  to  discover,  by  the  torture  of  great 
numbers,  what  attempts  were  still  concealed.     Now  there  was  a  certain  person 
among  the  many  that  were  tortured,  who  said,  that  he  knew  that  the  young  man 
had  often  said,  that  when  he  was  commended  as  a  tall  man  in  his  body,  and  a 
skilful  marksman,  and  that  in  his  other  commendable  exercises  he  exceeded  all 
men,  these  qualifications  given  him  by  nature,  though  good  in  themselves,  were 
not  advantageous  to  him,  because  his  father  was  grieved  at  them,  and  envied  him 
for  them ;  and  that  when  he  walked  along  with  his  father,  he  endeavoured  to 
depress  and  shorten  himself,  that  he  might  not  appear  too  tall ;  and  that  when  he 
shot  at  any  thing  as  he  was  hunting,  when  his  father  was  by,  he  missed  his  mark 
on  purpose,  for  he  knew  how  ambhious  his  father  was  of  being  superior  in  such 
exercises.     So  when  the  man  was  tormented  about  this  saying,  and  had  ease  given 
his  body  after  it,  he  added,  that  he  had  his  brother  Aristobulus  for  his  assistance  ; 
and  contrived  to  lie  in  wait  for  their  father,  as  they  were  hunting,  and  kill  him  : 
and  when  they  had  done  so,  to  fly  to  Rome,  and  desire  to  have  the  kingdom  given 
them.     There  were  also  letters  of  the  young  man  found,  written  to  his  brother ; 
wherein  he  complained  that  his  father  did  not  act  justly  in  giving  Antipater  a 
country,  whose  [yearly]  revenues  amounted  to  two  hundred  talents.     Upon  these 
confessions,  Herod  presently  thought  he  had  somewhat  to  depend  on,  in  his  own 
opinion,  as  to  his  suspicion  about  his  sons :  so  he  took  up  Alexander  and  bound 
him;  yet  did  he  still  continue  to  be  uneasy;  and  was  not  quhe  satisfied  of  the 
truth  of  what  he  had  heard;  and  when  he  came  to  recollect  himself,  he  found  that 
they  had  only  made  juvenile  complaints  and  contentions  ;  and  that  it  was  an  in- 
credible thing,  that  when  his  son  should  have  slain  him  he  should  openly  go  to 
Rome  [to  beg  the  kin£i;dom  ;]  so  he  was  desirous  to  have  some  surer  mark  of  his 
son's  wickedness;  and  Avas  very  solicitous  about  it,  that  he  might  not  appear  to 
have  condemned  him  to  be  put  in  prison  too  rashly :  so  he  tortured  the  principal 
of  Alexander's  uiends,  and  put  not  a  few  of  them  to  death  ;  without  getting  any 
of  the  things  out  of  them  which  he  suspected.     And  while  Herod  was  very  busy 
about  this  matter,  and  the  palace  was  full  of  terror  and  trouble,  one  of  the  younger 
sort,  when  he  was  in  the  utmost  agony,  confessed  that  Alexander  had  sent  to  his 
friends  at  Rome,  and  desired  that  he  might  be  quickly  invited  thither  by  Csesar ; 
and  that  he  could  discover  a  plot  against  him ;  that  Mithridates,  the  king  of 
Parthia,  was  joined  in  friendship  with  his  father  against  the  Romans ;  and  that 
he  had  a  poisonous  potion  ready  prepared  at  Askelon. 

5.  To  these  accusations  Herod  gave  credit ;  and  enjoyed  hereby,  in  his  mise- 
rable case,  some  sort  of  consolation  in  excuse  of  his  rashness,  as  flattering  himself 
with  finding  things  in  so  bad  a  condition  :  but  as  for  the  poisonous  potion  which  he 
laboured  to  find,  he  could  find  none.  As  for  Alexander,  he  was  very^  desirous  to 
aggravate  the  vast  misfortunes  he  was  under  ;  so  he  pretended  not  to  deny  the  ac- 
cusations, but  punished  the  rashness  of  his  father  with  a  greater  crime  of  his  own  ; 
and  perhaps  he  was  wilhng  to  make  his  father  ashamed  of  his  easy  belief  of  such 


C.  VIII.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  571 

calumnies  :  he  aimed  especially,  if  he  could  gain  belief  to  his  story,  to  plague  him, 
and  his  whole  kingdom;  for  he  wrote  four  letters  and  sent  (hem  to  him,  that  "  he 
did  not  need  to  torture  any  more  persons,  for  he  had  plotted  against  him  ;  and  that 
he  had  for  his  partners,  Pheroras  and  the  most  iaithtul  of  his  friends;  and  that 
Salome  came  into  him  by  night,  and  that  she  lay  with  him  whether  he  would  or 
no ;  and  that  all  men  were  come  to  be  of  one  mind,  to  make  away  with  him  as 
soon  as  they  could,  and  so  get  clear  of  the  continual  fear  they  were  in  fmm  him." 
Among  these  M'ere  accused  Ptolemy  and  Sapiuius,  who  were  the  most  faithful 
friends  to  the  king.  And  what  more  can  be  said,  but  ihat  those  who  before  were 
the  most  intimate  friends  were  become  wild  beasts  to  one  anoiher,  as  if  a  certain 
madness  had  iallen  upon  them ;  while  there  was  no  room  for  defence  or  refuta- 
tion, in  order  to  the  discovery  of  the  truth,  but  all  were  at  random  doomed  to  de- 
struction; so  that  some  lamented  those  that  were  in  prison  ;  some  those  that  were 
put  to  death ;  and  others  lamented  that  they  were  in  expectation  of  the  same  mi- 
series: and  a  melancholy  solitude  rendered  the  kingdom  detbrmed,  and  quite  the 
reverse  to  that  happy  state  it  was  formerly  in.  Herod's  own  life  also  was  entirely 
disturbed  ;  and  because  he  could  trust  nobody,  he  was  sorely  punished  by  the  ex- 
pectation of  farther  misery  ;  for  he  often  fancied  in  his  imagination,  that  his  son 
had  fallen  upon  him,  or  stood  by  him  with  a  sword  in  his  hand ;  and  thus  was  his 
mind  night  and  day  intent  upon  this  thing,  and  resolved  it  over  and  over,  no  other- 
wise than  if  he  were  under  a  distraction.  And  this  was  the  sad  condition  Herod 
was  now  in. 

6.  But  when  Archelaus,  king  of  Cappadocia,  heard  of  the  state  that  Herod  was 
in,  and  being  in  great  distress  about  his  daughter,  and  the  young  man  [her  hus- 
band,] and  grieving  with  Herod,  as  with  a  man  that  was  his  friend,  on  account  of 
so  great  a  disturbance  as  he  was  under,  he  came  [to  Jerusalem]  on  purpose  to 
compose  their  differences  :  and  when  he  found  Herod  in  such  a  temper,  he  thought 
it  wholly  unseasonable  to  reprove  him,  or  to  pretend  that  he  had  done  any  thing 
rashly ;  for  that  he  should  thereby  naturally  bring  him  to  dispute  the  point  with 
him,  and  by  still  more  and  more  apologizing  for  himself  to  be  the  more  irritated  ; 
he  went  therefore  another  way  to  work,  in  order  to  correct  the  former  misfortunes, 
and  appeared  angry  at  the  young  man ;  and  said  that  Herod  had  been  so  very 
mild  a  man  that  he  had  not  acted  a  rash  part  at  all.  He  also  said  he  would  dis- 
solve  his  daughter's  marriage  with  Alexander,  nor  could  in  justice  spare  his  own 
daughter,  if  she  were  conscious  of  any  thing,  and  did  not  inform  Herod  of  it. 
When  Archelaus  appeared  to  be  of  this  temper,  and  otherwise  than  Herod  ex- 
pected or  imagined,  and,  for  the  main,  took  Herod's  part,  and  was  angry  on  his 
account,  the  king  abated  of  his  harshness,  and  took  occasion  from  his  appearing 
to  have  acted  justly  hitherto,  to  come  by  degrees  to  put  on  the  affection  of  a  fa- 
ther, and  was  on  both  sides  to  be  pitied ;  for  when  some  persons  refuted  the  ca- 
lumnies that  were  laid  on  the  young  man,  he  was  thrown  into  a  passion  ;  but  when 
Archelaus  joined  in  the  accusation,  he  was  dissolved  into  tears  and  sorrow  after 
an  affectionate  manner.  Accordingly  he  desired  that  he  would  not  dissolve  his 
son's  marriage,  and  became  not  so  angry  as  before  at  his  offences.  So  when 
Archelaus  had  brought  him  to  a  more  moderate  temper,  he  transferred  the  calum- 
nies upon  his  friends ;  and  said,  it  must  be  owing  to  them  that  so  young  a  man, 
and  one  unacquainted  with  malice,  was  corrupted ;  and  he  supposed  that  there  was 
more  reason  to  suspect  the  brother  than  the  son.  Upon  which  Herod  was  very 
much  displeased  at  Pheroras  ;  who  indeed  now  had  no  one  that  could  make  a  re- 
conciliation between  him  and  his  brother.  So  when  he  saw  that  Archelaus  had 
the  greatest  power  with  Herod,  he  betook  himself  to  him  in  the  habit  of  a  mour- 
ner, and  like  one  that  had  all  the  signs  upon  him  of  an  undone  man.  Upon  this, 
Archelaus  did  not  overlook  the  intercession  he  made  to  him,  nor  yet  did  he  un- 
dertake to  change  the  king's  disposition  towards  him  immediately  ;  and  he  said, 
that  it  was  better  for  him  to  come  himself  to  the  king,  and  confess  himself  the  oc- 
casion of  all ;  that  this  would  make  the  king's  anger  not  to  be  so  extravagant  to- 
4C  2 


573  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.XVI. 

wards  him ;  and  that  then  he  would  be  present  to  assist  him.  When  he  had  per- 
suaded him  to  this,  he  gained  his  point  with  both  of  them  ;  and  the  calumnies 
raised  against  the  young  man  were,  beyond  all  expectation,  wiped  off.  And  Ar- 
chelaus,  as  soon  as  he  had  made  the  reconciUation,  went  then  away  to  Cappa- 
docia,  having  proved  at  this  juncture  of  time  the  most  acceptable  person  to  Heroa 
in  the  world;  on  which  account  he  gave  him  the  richest  presents,  as  tokens  of 
his  respects  to  him ;  and  being  on  other  occasions  magnanimous,  he  esteemed 
him  one  of  his  dearest  friends.  He  also  made  an  agreement  with  him  that  he 
would  go  to  Rome,  because  be  had  written  to  Caesar  about  these  affairs ;  so  they 
went  together  as  far  as  Antioch,  and  there  Herod  made  a  reconciliation  between 
Archelaus  and  Titus,  the  president  of  Syria,  who  had  been  greatly  at  variance 
and  so  returned  back  to  Judea. 


CHAP.  IX. 

Concerning  the  Revolt  of  tJie  Trachonites:  how  Sylleus  accused  Herod  before 

CcBsar :  and  how  Herod,  when  CcBsar  was  angry  at  him,  resolved  to  send 

Nicolaus  to  Rome. 

§  1.  When  Herod  had  been  at  Rome,  and  was  come  back  again,  a  war  arose 
between  him  and  the  Arabians,  on  the  occasion  following :  the  inhabitants  of 
Trachonitis,  after  Caesar  had  taken  the  country  away  from  Zenodorus,  and  added 
it  to  Herod,  had  not  now  power  to  rob ;  but  were  forced  to  plough  the  land,  and 
to  live  quietly,  which  was  a  thing  they  did  not  like  ;  and  when  they  did  take  that 
pains,  the  ground  did  not  produce  much  fruit  for  them.  However,  at  the  first  the 
king  would  not  permit  them  to  rob,  and  so  they  abstained  from  that  unjust  way 
of  living  upon  their  neighbours,  which  procured  Herod  a  great  reputation  for  his 
care :  but  when  he  was  sailing  to  Rome,  it  was  at  that  time  when  he  went  to 
accuse  his  son  Alexander,  and  to  commit  Antipater  to  Caesar's  protection  ;  the 
Trachonites  spread  a  report  as  if  he  were  dead;  and  revolted  from  his  dominion; 
and  betook  themselves  again  to  their  accustomed  way  of  robbing  their  neighbours : 
at  which  time  the  king's  commanders  subdued  them  during  his  absence  ;  but 
about  forty  of  the  principal  robbers,  being  terrified  by  those  that  had  been  taken, 
left  the  country,  and  retired  into  Arabia,  Sylleus  entertaining  them,  after  he  had 
missed  of  marrying  Salome,  and  gave  them  a  place  of  strength,  in  which  they 
dwelt.  So  they  overran  not  only  Judea,  but  all  Celesyria  also,  and  carried  off 
the  prey,  while  Sylleus  afforded  them  places  of  protection  and  quietness  during 
their  wicked  practices.  But  when  Herod  came  back  from  Rome,  he  pcrceiv(  d 
that  his  dominions  had  greatly  suffered  by  them ;  and  since  he  could  not  reach  th^' 
robbers  themselves,  because  of  the  secure  retreat  they  had  in  that  country,  and 
which  the  Arabians' government  afforded  them;  and  yet  being  very  uneasy  a', 
the  injuries  they  had  done  him,  he  went  over  all  Trachonitis,  and  slew  their 
relations ;  whereupon  these  robbers  were  more  angry  than  before ;  it  being  a 
law  among  them  to  be  avenged  on  the  murderers  of  their  relations  by  all  possible 
means ;  so  they  continued  to  tear  and  rend  every  thing  under  Herod's  dominion 
with  impunity :  then  did  he  discourse  about  these  robberies  to  Saturninus  and 
Volumnius  ;  and  required  that  they  should  be  punished  :  upon  which  occasion 
they  still  the  more  confirmed  themselves  in  their  robberies,  and  became  more 
numerous;  and  made  very  great  disturbances;  laying  waste  the  countries  and 
villages  that  belonged  to  Herod's  kingdom,  and  killing  those  men  whom  they 
caught;  till  these  unjust  proceedings  came  to  be  like  a  real  war;  for  the  robbers 
were  now  become  about  a  thousand.  At  which  Herod  was  sore  displeased,  and 
required  the  robbers,  as  well  as  the  money  which  he  had  lent  Obodas,  by  Sylleus, 
which  was  sixty  talents;  and  since  the  time  of  payment  was  now  past,  he  desired 
to  have  it  paid  him ;  but  Sylleus,  who  had  laid  Obodas  aside,  and  managed  all  by 


C.  IX.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  573 

himself,  denied  that  the  robbers  were  in  Arabia,  and  put  off  the  pajrment  of  the 
money;  about  which  there  was  a  hearing  before  Saturniiius  and  Volumnius,  who 
were  then  the  presidents  of  Syria.*  At  last,  he  by  their  means  agreed  that  within 
thirty  days'  time,  Herod  should  be  paid  his  money ;  and  that  each  of  them  should 
deliver  up  the  other's  subjects  reciprocally.  Now,  as  to  Herod,  there  was  not 
one  of  the  other's  subjects  found  in  his  kingdom,  either  as  doing  any  injustice,  or 
on  any  other  account ;  but  it  was  proved  that  the  Arabians  had  the  robbers 
amongst  them. 

2.  When  the  day  appointed  for  the  payment  of  the  money  was  past,  without 
Sylleus's  performing  any  part  of  his  agreement,  and  he  was  gone  to  Rome, 
Herod  demanded  the  payment  of  the  money,  and  that  the  robbers  that  were  in 
Arabia  should  be  delivered  up;  and,  by  the  permission  of  Saturninus  and  Volum- 
nius,  executed  the  judgment  himself  upon  those  that  were  refractory.  He  took 
an  army  that  he  had,  and  led  it  into  Arabia,  and  in  throe  days'  time  marched 
seven  mansions ;  and  when  he  came  to  the  garrison  wherein  the  robbers  were, 
he  made  an  assault  upon  them,  and  took  them  all ;  and  demolished  the  place, 
which  was  called  Raepta,  but  did  no  harm  to  any  others ;  but  as  the  Arabians 
came  to  their  assistance,  under  Naceb  their  captain,  there  ensued  a  battle,  wherein 
a  few  of  Herod's  soldiers,  and  Naceb,  the  captain  of  the  Arabians,  and  about 
twenty  of  his  soldiers  fell,  while  the  rest  betook  themselves  to  flight.  So  when 
he  had  brought  these  to  punishment,  he  placed  three  thousand  Idumeans  in 
Trachonitis,  and  thereby  restrained  the  robbers  that  were  there.  He  also  sent 
an  account  to  the  captains  that  were  about  Phenicia,  and  demonstrated  that  h© 
had  done  nothing  but  what  he  ought  to  do,  in  punishing  the  refractory  Arabians; 
which,  upon  an  exact  inquiry,  they  found  to  be  no  more  than  what  was  true. 

3.  However,  messengers  were  hasted  away  to  Sylleus  to  Rome,  and  informed 
him  what  had  been  done,  and,  as  is  usual,  aggravated  every  thing.  Now  Sylleus 
had  already  insinuated  himself  into  the  knowledge  of  Ccesar,  and  was  then  about 
the  palace  ;  and  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  these  things,  he  changed  his  habit  into 
black,  and  went  in  and  told  Caesar,  that  "  Arabia  was  afflicted  with  war,  and  that 
all  his  kingdom  was  in  great  confusion,  upon  Herod's  laying  it  waste  with  his 
army;  and  he  said,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  that  two  thousand  five  hundred  of  the 
principal  men  among  the  Arabians  had  been  destroyed,  and  that  their  captain, 
Nacebus,  his  familiar  friend  and  kinsman,  was  slain;  and  that  the  riches  that 
were  at  Raepta  were  carried  off;  and  that  Obodas  was  despised,  whose  infirm 
state  of  body  rendered  him  unfit  for  war  :  on  which  account  neither  he  nor  the 
Arabian  army  were  present."  When  Sylleus  said  so,  and  added  invidiously,  that 
"he  would  not  himself  have  come  out  of  the  country,  unless  he  had  believed  that 
Caesar  would  have  provided  that  they  should  all  have  peace  one  with  another, 
and  that,  had  he  been  there,  he  would  have  taken  care  that  the  war  should  not 
have  been  to  Herod's  advantage."  Caesar  was  provoked  when  this  was  said  ; 
and  asked  no  more  than  this  one  question,  both  of  Herod's  friends  that  were 
there,  and  of  his  own  friends,  who  were  come  from  Syria,  "  Whether  Herod  had 
led  an  army  thither  ?"  and  when  they  were  forced  to  confess  so  much,  Caesar, 
without  staying  to  hear  for  what  reason  he  did  it,  and  how  it  was  done,  grew  very 
angry,  and  wrote  to  Herod  sharply.  The  sum  of  his  epistle  was  this :  that 
"  whereas  of  old  he  had  used  him  as  his  friend,  he  should  now  use  him  as  hi3 
subject."  Sylleus  also  wrote  an  account  of  this  to  the  Arabians;  who  were  so 
elevated  with  it,  that  they  neither  delivered  up  the  robbers  that  had  fled  to  them, 
nor  paid  the  money  that  was  due:  they  retained  those  pastures  also  which  they 
had  hired,  and  kept  them  without  paying  their  rent,  and  all  this  because  the  king 
of  the  Jews  was  now  in  a  low  condition,  by  reason  of  Caesar's  anger  at  him. 
Those  of  Trachonitis  also  made  use  of  this  opportunity,  and  rose  up  against  the 

*  These  joint  presidents  of  Syria,  Saturninus  and  Volumnius,  were  not  perhaps  of  equal  authority;  but 
the  latter  like  a  procurator  under  the  former ;  as  the  very  learned  Nuris  and  I'agi,  and  with  them  Dr 
Hudson,  determine 


»,--4  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XVI. 

Idumean  garrison,  and  follow€«i  the  same  way  of  robbing  with  the  Arabians,  who 
had  pillaged  their  country,  and  were  more  rigid  in  their  unjust  proceedings,  not 
only  in  order  to  get  by  it,  but  by  way  of  revenge  also. 

4.  Now  Herod  was  forced  to  bear  all  this,  that  confidence  of  his  being  quite 
gone  with  which  Caesar's  favour  used  to  inspire  him  ;  for  Ctesar  would  not  admit 
so  much  as  an  embassage  from  him,  to  make  an  apology  for  him  :  and  when  they 
came  again,  he  sent  them  away  without  success.     So  he  M'as  cast  into  sadness 
and  fear ;  and  Sylleus's  circumstances  grieved  him  exceedingly,  who  was  now 
believed  by  Ca3sar,  and  was  present  at  Rome,  nay,  sometimes  aspiring  higher. 
Now  it  came  to  pass  that  Obodas  was  dead :  and  Eneas,  whose  name  was  after 
ward  changed  to  Aretas,*  took  the  government,  for  Sylleus  endeavom-ed  by  ca 
lumnies  to  get  him  turned  out  of  his  principality,  that  he  might  himself  take  it , 
Avith  which  design  he  gave  much  money  to  the  courtiers,  and  promised  much 
money  to  Csesar,  who  indeed  was  angry,  that  Aretas  had  not  sent  to  him  first  be- 
fore he  took  the  kingdom  ;  yet  did  Eneas  send  an  epistle  and  presents  to  CsBsar, 
and  a  golden  crown  of  the  weight  of  many  talents.     Now  that  epistle  accused 
Sylleus  as  having  been  a  wicked  servant,  and  having  killed  Obodas  by  poison; 
and  that  while  he  was  alive,  he  had  governed  him  as  he  pleased  ;  and  had  also 
debauched  the  wives  of  the  Arabians  ;  and  had  borrowed  money,  in  order  to  ob- 
tain the  dominion  for  himself;  yet  did  not  Csesar  give  heed  to  these  accusations, 
but  sent  his  ambassadors  back,  without  receiving  any  of  his  presents :  but  in  the 
meantime  the  afiairs  of  Judea  and  Arabia  became  worse  and  worse,  partly  be- 
cause of  the  anarchy  they  were  under,  and  partly  because,  bad  as  they  were,  no- 
body had  power  to  govern  them  ;  for  of  the  two  kings  the  one  was  not  yot  con- 
firmed in  his  kingdom,  and  so  had  not  authority  sufl^icient  to  restrain  the  evil 
doers  ;    and  as  for  Herod,  Csesar  was  immediately  angry  at  him,  for  having 
avenged  himself,  and  so  he  was  compelled  to  bear  all  the  injuries  that  were  of- 
fered him.     At  length,  when  he  saw  no  end  of  the  mischief  which  surrounded 
him,  he  resolved  to  send  ambassadors  to  Rome  again,  to  see  whether  his  friends 
had  prevailed  to  mitigate  Caesar,  and  to  address  themselves  to  Caesar  himself: 
and  the  ambassador  he  sent  thither  was  Nicolaus  of  Damascus. 


CHAP.  X. 

How  Eurydes  falsely  accused  Herod's  Sons ;  and  how  their  Father  hound  them,  and 
wrote  to  C(Bsar  about  them.     Of  Sylleus,  and  how  he  was  accused  by  Nicolaus. 

§  1 .  The  disorders  about  Herod's  family  and  children  about  this  time  grew  much 
worse  ;  for  it  now  appeared  certain,  nor  was  it  unforeseen  beforehand,  that  for- 
tune threatened  the  greatest  and  most  unsupportable  misfortunes  possible  to  his 
kingdom.  Its  progress  and  augmentation  at  this  time  arose  on  the  occasion  fol- 
lowing :  one  Eurydes,  a  Lacedemonian  (a  person  of  note  there,  but  a  man  of  a 
perverse  mind,  and  so  cunning  in  his  ways  of  voluptuousness  and  flattery,  as  to 
indulge  both,  and  yet  seem  to  indulge  neither  of  them,)  came  in  his  travels  to 
Herod,  and  made  him  presents,  but  so  that  he  received  more  presents  from  him. 
He  also  took  such  proper  seasons  for  insinuating  himself  into  his  friendship,  that 
he  became  one  of  the  most  intimate  of  the  king's  friends.  He  had  his  lodging  in 
Antipater's  house ;  but  he  had  not  only  access,  but  free  conversation  with  Alexan- 
der,  as  pretending  to  him  that  he  was  in  great  favour  with  Archelaus,  the  king 
of  Cappadocia  ;  whence  he  pretended  much  respect  to  Glaphyra,  and  in  an  oc- 
cult manner  cultivated  a  friendship  with  them  all,  but  always  attending  to  what 

•  This  Aretas  was  now  become  so  established  a  name  for  the  kings  of  Arabia  [at  Petra  and  Damas- 
cus,] that  wtien  the  crown  canie  to  this  Eneas  he  changed  his  name  to  Aretas,  as  Havercamp  here  justly 
observes.     See  Antiq.  B.  xiii.  ch.  xv.  sect.  2. 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEV\S.  575 

was  said  and  done,  that  he  might  be  furnished  with  calumnies  to  please  them  all. 
In  short,  he  behaved  himself  so  to  every  body  in  his  conversation,  as  to  appear 
to  be  his  particular  friend,  and  he  made  others  believe  that  his  being  any  where 
was  for  that  person's  advantage.    So  he  won  upon  Alexander,  who  was  but  young, 
and  persuaded  him  that  he  might  open  his  grievances  to  him  with  assurance,  and 
with  nobody  else.     So  he  declared  his  grief  to  him,  how  his  father  was  alienated 
from  him.     He  related  to  him  also  the  affairs  of  his  mother,  and  of  Antipater  ; 
that  he  had  driven  them  from  their  proper  dignity,  and  had  the  power  over  every 
thing  himself;  that  no  part  of  this  was  tolerable,  since  his  father  was   already 
come  to  hate  them  ;  and,  he  added,  that  he  would  neither  admit  them  to  his  table, 
nor  to  his  conversation.     Such  were  the  complaints,  as  was  but  natural,  of  Alex- 
ander about  the  things  that  troubled  him  :  and  these  discourses  Eurycles  carried 
to  Antipater ;  and  told  him,  he  did  not  inform  him  of  this  on  his  own  account,  but 
that  being  overcome  by  his  kindness,  the  great  importance  of  the  thin^  obliged 
him  to  do  it :  and  he  warned  him  to  have  a  care  of  Alexander,  for  that  what  he 
had  said  was  spoken  with  vehemency,  and  that,  in  consequence  of  what  he  said, 
he  would  certainly  kill  him  with  his  own  hand.     Whereupon  Antipater,  thinkino' 
him  to  be  his  friend  by  this  advice,  gave  him  presents  upon  all  occasions,  and  at 
length  persuaded  him  to  inform  Herod  of  what  he  had  heard.     So  when  he  re- 
lated to  the  king  Alexander's  ill  temper,  as  discovered  by  the  words  he  had  heard 
him  speak,  he  was  easily  believed  by  him,  and  he  thereby  brought  the  kino-  to 
that  pass,  turning  him  about  by  his  words,  and  irritating  him,  till  he  increased  his 
hatred  to  him,  and  made  him  implacable,  which  he  showed  at  that  very  time,  for 
he  immediately  gave  Eurycles  a  present  of  fifty  talents  ;  who,  when  he  had  got- 
ten  them,  went  to  Archelaus,  king  of  Cappadocia,  and  commended  Alexander 
before  him,  and  told  him  that  he  had  beqn  many  ways  of  advantage  to  him,  in 
making  a  reconciliation  between  him  and  his  father.    So  he  got  money  from  liim 
also,  and  went  away  before  his  pernicious  practices  were  found  out :  but  when 
Eurycles  was  returned  to  Lacedemon,  he  did  not  leave  off  doing  mischief;  and 
so,  for  his  many  acts  of  injustice,  he  was  banished  from  his  own  country. 

2.  But  as  for  the  king  of  the  Jews,  he  was  not  now  in  the  temper  he  was  in 
f  n-merly  towards  Alexander  and  Aristobulus,  when  he  had  been  content  witli  the 
hearing  their  calamities  when  others  told  him  of  them,  but  he  ^vas  now  come  to 
that  pass  as  to  hate  them  himself,  and  to  urge  men  to  speak  against  them,  thouo-h 
they  did  not  do  it  of  themselves.  He  also  observed  all  that  was  said,  and  put 
questions,  and  gave  ear  to  every  one  that  would  but  speak,  if  they  could  but  say 
any  thing  against  them,  till  at  length  he  heard  that  Euratus  of  Cos  was  a  con- 
spirator  with  Alexander ;  which  thing  to  Herod  was  the  most  agreeable  and 
sweetest  news  imaginable. 

3.  But  still  a  greater  misfortune  came  upon  the  young  men  ;  while  the  calum- 
nies against  them  were  continually  increased,  and,  as  a  man  may  say,  one  would 
think  it  was  every  one's  endeavour  to  lay  some  grievous  thing  to  their  charge, 
which  might  appear  to  be  for  the  king's  preservation.  There  were  two  guards 
of  Herod's  body,  who  were  in  great  esteem  for  their  strength  and  tallness,  Ju- 
cundus  and  Tyrannus  ;  these  men  had  been  cast  off  by  Herod,  who  was  displea- 
scd  at  them  ;  these  now  used  to  ride  along  with  Alexander,  and  for  their  skill  in 
their  exorcises  were  in  great  esteem  with  him,  and  had  some  gold  and  other  gifts 
bestowed  on  them.  Now  the  king,  having  an  immediate  suspicion  of  these  men, 
had  them  tortured  :  who  endured  the  torture  courageously  for  a  long  time,  but 
at  last  confessed,  that  Alexander  would  have  persuaded  them  to  kill  Herod,  when 
he  was  in  i)ursuit  of  the  wild  beasts,  that  it  might  be  said  he  fell  from  his  horse, 
and  was  run  through  with  his  own  spear,  for  that  he  had  one  such  a  misfortune  for- 
merly. They  also  showed  where  there  was  money  hidden  in  the  stable  under 
ground  ;  and  these  convicted  the  king's  chief  hunter,  that  he  had  given  the  young 
men  the  royal  hunting  spears,  and  weapons  to  Alexander's  dependents  at  Alex- 
ander's  coinmand. 


576  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XVI. 

4.  After  these  the  commander  of  the  garrison  of  Alexandrium  was  caught  and 
tortured  ;  for  he  was  accused  tn  have  promised  to  receive  the  young  men  into  his 
fortress,  and  to  supply  them  with  that  money  of  the  king's  which  was  laid  up  in 
that  fortress ;  yet  did  not  he  acknowledge  any  thing  of  it  himself;  but  his  son 
came  in,  and  said  it  was  so,  and  delivered  up  the  writing,  which  so  far  as  could 
be  guessed,  was  in  Alexander's  hand.  Its  contents  were  these  :  "  When  we  have 
finished,  by  God's  help,  all  that  we  have  proposed  to  do,  we  will  come  to  you  ; 
but  do  your  endeavours,  as  you  have  promised,  to  receive  us  into  your  fortress." 
After  this  writing  was  produced,  Herod  had  no  doubt  about  the  treacherous  de- 
signs  of  his  sons  against  him.  But  Alexander  said,  that  Diophantus,  the  scribe, 
had  imitated  his  hand,  and  that  the  paper  was  maliciously  drawn  up  by  Antipater  ; 
for  Diophantus  appeared  to  be  very  cunning  in  such  practices,  and  as  he  was 
afterwards  convicted  of  forging  other  papei's,  he  was  put  to  death  for  it. 

5.  So  the  king  produced  those  that  had  been  tortured  before  the  multitude  at 
Jericho,  in  order  to  have  them  accuse  the  young  men  ;  which  accusers  many  of 
the  people  stoned  to  death ;  and  when  they  were  going  to  kill  Alexander  and 
Aristobukis  likewise,  the  king  would  not  permit  them  to  do  so,  but  restrained  the 
multitude,  by  the  means  of  Ptolemy  and  Pheroras.  However,  the  young  men 
were  put  under  a  guard,  and  kept  in  custody,  that  nobody  might  come  at  them ; 
and  all  that  they  did  or  said  was  watched ;  and  the  reproach  and  fear  they  were 
in  was  little  or  nothing  different  from  those  of  condemned  criminals  :  and  one  of 
them,  who  was  Aristobulus,  was  so  deeply  affected,  that  he  brought  Salome,  who 
was  his  aunt  and  his  mother-in-law,  to  lament  with  him  for  his  calamities,  and  to 
hate  him  who  had  suffered  things  to  come  to  that  pass ;  when  he  said  to  her, 
"  Art  not  thou  in  danger  of  destruction  also,  while  the  report  goes  that  thou  hadst 
disclosed  beforehand  all  our  affairs  to  Sylleus,  when  thou  wast  in  hopes  of  being 
married  to  him  ?"  But  she  immediately  carried  those  words  to  her  mother. 
Upon  this  he  was  out  of  patience  ;  and  gave  command  to  bind  him  ;  and  enjoined 
them  both,  now  they  were  kept  separate,  one  from  the  other,  to  write  down  the 
ill  things  they  had  done  against  their  father,  and  bring  the  writings  to  him.  So 
when  this  was  enjoined  them,  they  wrote  this,  that  they  had  laid  no  treacherous 
designs  nor  made  any  preparations  against  their  father :  but  that  they  had  in 
tended  to  fly  away  ;  and  that  by  the  distress  they  were  in,  their  lives  being  now 
uncertain  and  tedious  to  them. 

6.  About  this  time  there  came  an  ambassador  ont  of  Cappadocia,  from  Arche- 
laus,  whose  name  was  Melas :  he  was  one  of  the  principal  rulers  under  him. 
So  Herod,  being  desirous  to  show  Archelaus's  ill  will  to  him,  called  for  Alexan- 
der, as  he  was  in  his  bonds,  and  asked  him  again  concerning  his  flight,  whither 
and  how  they  had  resolved  to  retire?  Alexander  replied,  "To  Archelaus,  who 
had  promised  to  send  them  away  to  Rome  ;  but  that  they  had  no  wicked  nor  mis- 
chievous designs  against  their  father  ;  and  that  nothing  of  that  nature  which  their 
adversaries  had  charged  upon  them  was  true  ;  and  that  their  desire  was,  that  he 
might  have  examined  Tyrannus  and  Jucundus  more  strictly  ;  but  that  they  had 
I'lMMi  suddenly  slain  by  the  means  of  Antipater,  who  put  his  own  friends  among 
the  multitude  [for  that  purpose."] 

7.  When  this  was  said,  Herod  commanded  that  both  Alexander  and  Melas 
slinuld  be  carried  to  Glaphyra,  Archelaus's  daughter;  and  that  she  should  be 
asked,  whether  she  did  not  know  somewhat  cf  Alexander's  treacherous  designs 
against  Herod  ?  Now  as  soon  as  they  were  come  to  her,  and  she  saw  Alexan- 
der in  bonds,  she  beat  her  head,  and,  in  a  great  consternation,  gave  a  deep  and 
moving  groan.  The  young  man  also  fell  into  tears.  This  was  so  miserable  a 
spectacle  to  those  present,  that,  for  a  great  while,  they  were  not  able  to  say  or 
to  do  any  thing ;  but  at  length  Ptolemy,  who  was  ordered  to  bring  Alexander, 
bid  him  say,  whether  his  wife  were  conscious  of  his  actions  ?  He  replied, 
"  How  is  it  possible  that  she,  whom  I  love  better  than  my  own  soul,  and  by 
whom  I  have  had  children,  sliould  not  know  what  I  do  ?     Upon  which  she  cried 


C.  X.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  577 

out,  that  "  she  knew  of  no  wicked  designs  of  his  ;  but  that  yet,  if  her  accusing 
herself  falsely  would  tend  to  his  preservation,  she  would  confess  it  all."  Alex- 
ander replied,  "  There  is  no  such  wickedness  as  those  (who  ought  the  least  of 
all  so  to  do)  suspect,  which  either  I  have  imagined,  or  thou  knowest  of,  but  this 
only,  that  we  had  resolved  to  retire  to  Archelaus,  and  from  thence  to  Rome." 
Which  she  also  confessed.  Upon  which  Herod,  supposing  that  Archelaus's  ill 
will  to  him  was  fully  proved,  sent  a  letter  by  Olympus  and  Volumnius,  and  bid 
them,  as  they  sailed  by,  to  touch  at  Eleusa  of  Cilitia,  and  gave  Archelaus  the 
letter.  And  that  when  they  had  expostulated  with  him,  tliat  he  had  a  hand  in  his 
son's  treacherous  design  against  him,  they  should  from  thence  sail  to  Rome  ;  and 
that,  in  case  they  found  Nicolaus  had  gained  any  ground,  and  that  Cresar  was 
no  longer  displeased  at  him,  he  should  give  him  his  letters,  and  the  proofs  which 
he  had  ready  to  show  against  the  young  men.  As  to  Archelaus,  he  made  'this 
defence  for  himself,  that  "  he  had  promised  to  receive  the  young  men,  because 
it  was  both  for  their  own  and  their  father's  advantage  so  to  do,  lest  some  too 
severe  procedure  should  be  gone  upon  in  that  anger  and  disorder  they  were  in  on 
occasion  of  the  present  suspicions  ;  but  that  still  he  had  not  pi'omised  to  send 
them  to  Ccesar ;  and  that  he  had  not  promised  any  thing  else  to  the  young  men 
that  could  show  any  ill  will  to  him." 

8.  When  these  ambassadors  were  come  to  Rome,  they  had  a  fit,  opportunity 
of  delivering  their  letters  to  Caesar,  because  they  found  him  reconciled  to  Herod  ; 
for  the  circumstances  of  Nicolaus's  ambassage  had  been  as  follows  :  As  soon  as 
he  was  come  to  Rome,  and  was  about  the  court,  he  did  not  first  of  all  set  about 
what  he  was  come  for  only,  but  he  thought  fit  also  to  accuse  Sylleus.  Now  the 
Arabians,  even  before  he  came  to  talk  with  them,  were  quarrelling  one  Avith 
another ;  and  some  of  them  left  Sylleus's  party,  and,  joining  themselves  to  Ni- 
colaus, informed  him  of  all  the  wicked  things  that  had  been  done  ;  and  produced 
to  him  evident  demonstrations  of  the  slaughter  of  a  great  number  of  Obodas's 
friends  by  Sylleus  :  for  when  these  men  left  Sylleus,  they  had  carried  off  with 
them,  those  letters  whereby  they  could  convict  him.  When  Nicolaus  saw  such 
an  opportunity  afforded  him,  he  made  use  of  it,  in  order  to  gain  his  own  point 
afterward,  and  endeavoured  immediately  to  make  a  reconciliation  between 
Caesar  and  Herod  ;  for  he  was  fully  satisfied  that  if  he  should  desire  to  make  a 
defence  for  Herod  directly,  he  should  not  be  allowed  that  liberty;  but  that  if  he 
desire  to  accuse  Sylleus,  there  would  an  occasion  present  itself  of  speaking  on 
Herod's  behalf.  So  when  the  cause  was  ready  for  a  hearing,  and  the  day  was 
appointed,  Nicolaus,  while  Aretas's  ambassadors  were  present,  accused  Sylleus, 
and  said,  that  "  he  imputed  to  him  the  destruction  of  the  king  [Obodas,]  and  of 
many  others  of  the  Arabians  :  that  he  had  borrowed  money  for  no  good  design  ; 
and  he  proved  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  adultery,  not  only  with  the  Arabian, 
but  Roman  women  also."  And  he  added,  that  "  above  all  the  rest  he  had  alienated 
Caesar  from  Herod ;  and  all  that  he  had  said  about  the  actions  of  Herod  were 
falsities."  When  Nicolaus  was  come  to  this  topic,  Caesar  stopped  him  from  going 
on  ;  and  desired  him  only  to  speak  to  this  affair  of  Herod's  :  and  to  show  that 
"  he  had  not  led  an  army  into  Arabia,  nor  slain  two  thousand  five  hundred  men 
there,  nor  taken  prisoners,  nor  pillaged  the  country."  To  which  Nicolaus  made 
this  answer  ;  "  I  shall  principally  demonstrate,  that  either  nothing  at  all  or  but  a 
very  little  of  those  imputations  are  true,  of  which  thou  hast  been  informed ;  for 
had  they  been  true,  thou  mightest  justly  have  been  still  more  angry  at  Herod." 
At  this  strange  assertion  Caesar  was  very  attentive  :  and  Nicolaus  said,  that 
"  there  was  a  debt  due  to  Herod  of  five  hundred  talents,  and  a  bond,  wherein  it 
was  written,  that  if  the  time  appointed  be  elapsed,  it  should  be  lawful  to  make  a 
seizure  out  of  any  part  of  his  country.  As  for  the  pretended  army,  he  said  ii 
was  no  army,  but  a  party  sent  out  to  require  the  just  payment  of  the  mone_v  :  that 
this  was  not  sent  immediately,  nor  so  soon  as  the  bond  allowed,  but  that  Sylleus 
had  frequently  come  before  Saturninus  and  Volumnius,  the  president  oi  Svria ; 

VOL.1.  4D 


578  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XVT. 

and  that  at  last  he  had  sworn  at  Berytus,*  by  thy  fortune,  that  he  would  certainly 
pay  the  money  within  thirty  days,  and  dehver  up  the  fugitives  that  were  under 
his  dominion.  And  that  when  Syileus  had  performed  nothing  of  this,  Herod  came 
airain  before  the  presidents,  and  upon  their  permission  to  make  a  seizure  for  his 
money,  he  with  difficulty  went  out  of  his  country  with  a  party  of  soldiers  for  that 
purpose.  And  this  is  all  the  war  which  these  men  so  tragically  describe  ;  and 
this  is  the  aflair  of  the  expedition  into  Arabia.  And  how  can  this  be  called  a 
war  ?  when  thy  presidents  permitted  it ;  the  covenants  allowed  it ;  and  it  was  not 
executed  till  thy  name,  O  Caesar,  as  well  as  that  of  the  other  gods,  had  been  pro- 
faned.  And  now  I  must  speak  in  order  about  the  captives.  There  were  robbers 
that  dwelt  in  Trachonitis  :  at  first  their  number  was  no  more  than  forty,  but  they 
became  more  afterwards,  and  they  escaped  the  punishment  Herod  would  have  in- 
dieted  on  them,  by  making  Arabia  their  refuge.  Syileus  received  them,  and  sup- 
ported them  with  food,  that  they  might  be  mischievous  to  all  mankind ;  and  gave 
them  a  country  to  inhabit  and  himself  received  the  gains  they  made  by  robbery  : 
yet  did  he  promise  that  he  would  deliver  up  these  men,  and  that  by  the  same  oaths, 
and  by  the  same  time  that  he  sware  and  fixed  for  payment  of  his  debt ;  nor  can 
he  by  any  means  show  that  any  other  persons  have  at  this  time  been  taken  out 
of  Arabia  besides  these  ;  and  indeed  not  all  these  neither,  but  only  so  many  as 
could  not  conceal  themselves.  And  thus  does  the  calumny  of  the  captives,  which 
hath  been  so  odiously  represented,  appear  to  be  no  better  than  a  fiction  and  a  lie 
made  on  purpose  to  provoke  thy  indignation  :  for  I  venture  to  affirm,  that  when  the 
forces  of  the  Arabians  came  upon  us,  and  one  o^  two  of  Herod's  party  fell,  he 
then  only  defended  himself,  and  there  fell  Nacebus  their  general,  and  in  all  about 
twenty-five  others,  and  no  more ;  when  Syileus,  by  multiplying  every  single  sol- 
dier to  a  hundred,  he  reckons  the  slain  to  have  been  two  thousand  five  hundred." 
9.  This  provoked  Caesar  more  than  ever :  so  he  turned  to  Syileus  full  of  rage, 
and  asked  him  how  many  of  the  Arabians  were  slain?  Hereupon  he  hesitated, 
and  said  he  had  been  imposed  upon.  The  covenants  also  were  read  about  the 
money  he  had  bori'owed,  and  the  letters  of  the  presidents  of  Syria,  and  the  com- 
plaints of  the  several  cities,  so  many  as  had  been  injured  by  the  robber^.  The 
conclusion  was  this  :  that  Syileus  was  condemned  to  die,  and  that  Ca;sar  w^as  re- 
conciled to  Herod,  and  owned  his  repentance  for  what  severe  things  he  had  writ- 
ten to  him  occasioned  by  calumny ;  insomuch  that  he  told  Syileus  that  he  had 
compelled  him,  by  his  lying  account  of  things,  to  be  guilty  of  ingratitude  against 
a  man  that  was  his  friend.  At  the  last  all  came  to  this :  Syileus  was  sent  away  to 
answer  Herod's  suit,  and  to  repay  the  debt  that  he  owed,  and  after  that  to  be 
punished  [with  death  :]  but  still  Csesar  was  offended  with  Aretas,  that  he  had 
taken  upon  himself  the  government,  without  his  consent  first  obtained,  for  he  had 
determined  to  bestow  Arabia  upon  Herod  ;  but  that  the  letters  he  had  sent  hin- 
dered him  from  so  doing,  for  Olympus  and  Volumnius,  perceiving  that  Csesar 
was  now  become  favourable  to  Herod,  thought  fit  immediately  to  deliver  him  the 
letters  they  were  commanded  by  Herod  to  give  him  concerning  his  sons.  When 
Ca3sar  had  read  them,  he  thought  it  would  not  be  proper  to  add  another  govern, 
ment  to  him,  now  he  was  old,  and  in  an  ill  state  with  relation  to  his  sons,  so  he 
admitted  Aretas's  ambassadors  ;  and  after  he  had  just  reproved  him  for  his  rash- 
ness,  in  not  tarrying  till  he  received  the  kingdom  from  him,  he  accepted  of  his 
presents,  and  confirmed  him  in  his  government. 

•  This  oath,  by  the  fortune  ofCcesar,  was  put  to  Pol)'carp,  bishop  of  Smyrna,  by  the  Roman  governor, 
to  try  whether  he  were  a  Christian,  as  they  were  then  esteemed  who  refused  to  swear  that  oath.  Martyr. 
Polycarp,  sect.  9. 


C.  XI.  A.NT1QUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  579 


CHAP.  XL 

How  Herod,  by  Permission  from  CcBsar,  accused  his  Sons  before  an  Assembly  of 

Judges  at  Berylus:  and  wliat  Tero  suffered  for  using  a  boundless  and  military 

Liberty  of  Speech.     Concerning  also  the  Death  of.  the  young  Men,  and 

their  Burial  at  Alexandrium. 

§  1.  So  Cresar  was  now  reconciled  to  Herod,  and  wrote  thus  to  him,  that  "  he 
was  grieved  tor  him  on  account  of  t) is  sons  ;  and  that  in  case  they  had  been  guilty 
ol'any  profane  and  insolent  crimes  against  him,  it  would  behove  him  to  punish 
them  as  parricides,  lor  which  he  gave  him  power  accordingly;  but  if  they  had 
only  contrived  to  fly  away,  he  would  have  him  give  them  an  admonition,  and  not 
proceed  to  extremity  with  them.  He  also  advised  him  to  get  an  assembly  toge- 
ther, and  to  appoint  some  place  near  Berytus,*  which  is  a  city  belonging  to  the 
llomans,  and  to  take  the  presidents  of  Syria,  and  Archehuis,  king  of  Cappadocia, 
and  as  many  more  as  he  thought  to  be  illustrious  for  their  friendship  to  him,  and 
the  dignities  they  were  in,  and  determine  what  should  be  done  by  their  approba- 
tion." These  were  the  directions  that  Csesar  gave  him.  Accordingly  Hei'od, 
when  the  letter  was  brought  to  him,  Avas  immediately  very  glad  of  Cicsar's  recon- 
ciliation to  him,  and  very  glad  also  that  he  had  a  complete  authority  given  him 
over  his  sons.  And  it  strangely  came  about,  that  whereas  before,  in  his  adversity, 
though  he  had  indeed  showed  himself  severe ;  yet  had  he  not  been  very  rash, 
nor  hasty  in  procuring  the  destruction  of  his  sons ;  he  now,  in  his  prosperity,  took 
advantage  of  this  change  for  the  better,  and  the  freedom  he  now  had,  to  exercise 
his  hatred  against  them  after  an  unheard-of  manner  ;  he  therefore  sent  and  called 
as  many  as  he  thought  fit  to  this  assembly,  excepting  Archelaus  ;  for  as  for  him, 
he  either  hated  him,  so  that  he  would  not  invite  him,  or  he  thought  he  would  be 
an  obstacle  to  his  designs. 

2.  When  the  presidents,  and  the  rest  that  belonged  to  the  cities,  were  come  to 
Berytus,  he  kept  his  sons  in  a  certain  village  belonging  to  Sidon,  called  Platana, 
but  near  to  this  city,  that  if  they  were  called  he  might  produce  them  :  for  he  did 
not  think  fit  to  bring  them  before  tlie  assembly ;  and  when  there  were  one  bun- 
dred  and  fifty  assessors  present,  Herod  came  by  himself  alone  and  accused  his 
sons,  and  that  in  such  a  way  as  if  it  were  not  a  melancholy  accusation,  and  not 
made  but  out  of  necessity,  and  upon  the  misfortunes  he  was  under;  indeed  in  such 
a  way  as  was  very  indecent  for  a  father  to  accuse  his  sons;  for  he  was  very  ve- 
hement and  disordered  when  he  came  to  the  demonstration  of  the  crime  they 
were  accused  of,  and  gave  the  greatest  signs  of  passion  and  barbarity;  nor  would 
he  suffer  the  assessors  to  consider  of  the  weight  of  the  evidence,  but  asserted 
them  to  be  true  by  his  own  authority,  after  a  manner  most  indecent  in  a  father 
against  his  sons  ;  and  read  himself  what  they  themselves  had  written,  wherein 
there  was  no  confession  of  any  plots  or  contrivances  against  him;  but  only  how 
they  had  contrived  to  fly  away,  and  containing  withal  certain  reproaches  again.st 
him,  on  account  of  the  ill  will  he  bare  them;  and  when  he  came  to  those  re- 
proaches, he  cried  out  most  of  all,  and  exaggerated  what  they  said  as  if  they  had 
confessed  the  design  against  him,  and  took  his  oath  that  he  had  rather  lose  his 
life  than  hear  sucli  reproachful  words.  At  last  he  said,  that  "  he  had  sufficient 
authority,  both  by  nature  and  by  Caisar's  grant  to  him  [to  do  what  he  thouglit  fit.] 
He  also  added  an  allegation  of  a  law  of  their  country,  which  enjoined  this:  that 

*  AVliat  Josephus  relates  Aii2;iistns  to  liave  here  saiii,  that  Berytus  was  a  city  belonging  totlie  Romans, 
is  coiifuined  by  Spauheim's  notes  here.  "It  was,"  says  he,  "  a  colony  placed  there  by  Augubiii:-.'' 
\VI](;nce  U](}iaii,  De  cons.  I)cl.  L.  T.  xv.  The  colony  of  Berytus  wu'i  rindtrcd  famous  bij  the  heinjiis 
ofCcfutr.  .'\ntl  thence  it  is,  that  amon;;  l!ic  coins  of  .\ngiisius,  we  meet  with  some  having  this  inscrio- 
tioH  :  Tke  happy  colony  oJ\-lit^u:it7is  at  Berytus. 
4  J)2 


r,gO  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XVI. 

if  parents  laid  their  hands  on  the  head  of  him  that  was  accused,  the  standers  by 
were  obhged  to  cast  stones  at  him,  and  thereby  to  slay  him ;  which  though  he 
were  ready  to  do  in  his  own  country  and  kingdom,  yet  did  he  wait  for  their  deter- 
mination ;  that  yet  they  came  thither  not  so  much  as  judges,  to  condemn  them, 
for  such  manifest  designs  against  him,  whereby  he  had  almost  perished  by  his 
son's  means ;  but  as  persons  that  had  an  opportunity  of  showing  their  detestation 
of  such  practices,  and  declaring  how  unworthy  a  thing  it  must  be  in  any,  even  the 
most  remote,  to  pass  over  such  treacherous  designs  [without  punishment."] 

3.  When  the  king  had  said  this,  and  the  young  men  had  not  been  produced  to 
make  any  defence  for  themselves,  the  assessors  perceived  there  was  no  room  for 
equity  and  reconciliation  ;  so  they  confirmed  his  authority.  And  in  the  first  place, 
Saturninus,  a  person  that  had  been  consul,  and  of  great  dignity,  pronounced  hi.s 
sentence,  but  with  great  moderation  and  trouble  ;  and  said,  that  "he  condemned 
Herod's  sons,  but  did  not  think  they  should  be  put  to  death.  He  had  sons  of  his 
own  ;  and  to  put  one's  son  to  death  is  a  greater  misfortune  than  any  other  that 
could  befall  him  by  their  means."  After  him  Saturninus's  sons,  for  he  had  three 
sons  that  followed  him,  and  were  his  legates,  pronounced  the  same  sentence  with 
their  father.  On  the  contrary,  Volumnius's  sentence  was,  to  inflict  death  on  such 
as  had  been  so  impiously  undutiful  to  their  father;  and  the  greatest  part  of  the 
rest  said  the  same,  insomuch  that  the  conclusion  seemed  to  be,  that  the  young 
men  were  condemned  to  die.  Immediately  after  this  Herod  came  away  from 
thence,  and  took  his  sons  to  Tyre,  where  Nicolaus  met  him  in  his  voyage  from 
Rome  ;  of  whom  he  inquired,  after  he  had  related  to  him  what  had  passed  at 
Berytus,  what  his  sentiments  were  about  his  sons,  and  what  his  friends  at  Rome 
thought  of  that  matter?  His  answer  was,  "That  what  they  had  determined  to  do 
to  thee  was  impious,  and  that  thou  oughtest  to  keep  them  in  prison  ;  and  if  thou 
thinkest  any  thing  farther  necessary,  thou  mayest  indeed  so  punish  them,  that 
thou  mayest  not  appear  to  indulge  thy  anger  more  than  to  govern  thyself  by  judg- 
ment ;  but  if  thou  inclinest  to  the  milder  side,  thou  mayest  absolve  them,  lest  per- 
haps thy  misfortunes  be  rendered  incurable.  And  this  is  the  opinion  of  the  greatest 
part  of  thy  friends  at  Rome  also."  Whereupon  Herod  was  silent,  and  in  great 
thoughtfulness,  and  bid  Nicolaus  sail  along  with  him. 

4.  Now  as  they  came  to  Cassarea,  every  body  was  there  talking  of  Herod's 
sons,  and  the  kingdom  was  in  suspense,  and  the  people  in  great  expectation  of 
what  would  become  of  them ;  for  a  terrible  fear  seized  upon  all  men,  lest  the 
ancient  disorders  of  the  family  should  come  to  a  std  conclusion,  and  they  were 
in  great  trouble  about  their  sufferings  ;  nor  was  it  without  danger  to  say  any  rash 
thing  about  this  matter,  nor  even  to  hear  another  saying  it ;  but  men's  pity  was 
forced  to  be  shut  up  in  themselves,  which  rendered  the  e.xcess  of  their  sorrow 
very  irksome,  but  very  silent ;  yet  was  there  an  old  soldier  of  Herod's  whose 
name  was  Tero,  who  had  a  son  of  the  same  age  with  Alexander,  and  his  friend, 
who  was  so  very  free,  as  openly  to  speak  out  what  others  silently  thought  about 
that  matter ;  and  was  forced  to  cry  out  often  among  the  multitude,  and  said,  in 
the  most  unguarded  manner,  "  That  truth  was  perished,  and  justice  taken  away 
from  men,  while  lies  and  ill-M'ill  prevailed,  and  brought  such  a  mist  before  public 
affairs,  that  the  offenders  were  not  able  to  see  the  greatest  mischiefs  that  can 
befall  men."  And  as  he  was  so  bold,  he  seemed  not  to  have  kept  himself  out  of 
danger,  by  speaking  so  freely  ;  but  the  reasonableness  of  what  he  said  moved  men 
to  regard  him  as  having  behaved  himself  with  great  manhood,  and  this  at  a  proper 
time  also,  for  which  reason  every  one  heard  what  he  said  with  pleasure  ;  and 
although  they  first  took  care  of  their  own  safety,  by  keeping  silent  themselves,  yet 
did  they  kindly  receive  the  great  freedom  he  took  ;  for  the  expectation  they  were 
in  of  so  great  an  affliction  put  a  force  upon  them  to  speak  of  Tero  whatsoever 
they  pleased. 

b.  This  man  had  tlirust  himself  into  the  king's  oresence  with  the  greatest 


C.  XI.  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  581 

freedom,  and  desired  to  speak  with  him  by  himself  alone,  which  the  king  permitted 
him  to  do,  where  he  said  this  :  "  Since  I  am  not  able,  O  king,  to  bear  up  under 
so  great  a  concern  as  I  am  under,  I  have  preferred  the  use  of  this  bold  liberty 
that  I  now  take,  which  may  be  for  thy  advantage,  if  thou  mind  to  get  any  profit 
by  it,  before  my  own  safety.  Whither  is  thy  understanding  gone,  and  left  thy 
soul  empty?  Whither  is  that  extraordinary  sagacity  of  thine  gone,  whereby  thou 
hast  performed  so  many  and  such  glorious  actions  ?  Whence  comes  this  solitude, 
and  desertion  of  thy  friends  and  relations  ?  Of  which  I  cannot  but  determine,  that 
they  are  neither  thy  friends  nor  relations,  while  they  overlook  such  horrid  wicked- 
ness  in  thy  once  happy  kingdom.  Dost  not  thou  perceive  what  is  doing  ?  Wilt 
thou  slay  these  two  young  men,  born  of  thy  queen,  who  are  accomplished  with 
every  virtue  in  the  highest  degree,  and  leave  thyself  destitute  in  thy  old  age,  but 
exposed  to  one  son,  who  hath  very  ill  managed  the  hopes  thou  hast  given  him, 
and  to  relations  whose  death  thou  hast  so  often  resolved  on  thyself?  Dost  not 
thou  take  notice  that  the  very  silence  of  the  multitude  at  once  sees  the  crime, 
and  abhors  the  fact  ?  The  whole  army  and  the  officers  have  commiseration  on 
the  poor  unhappy  youths,  and  hatred  to  those  that  are  the  actors  in  this  matter." 
These  words  the  king  heard,  and  for  some  time  with  good  temper.  But  what  can 
one  say?  When  Tero  plainly  touched  upon  the  bad  behaviour  and  pcrfidiousness 
of  his  domestics,  he  was  moved  at  it ;  but  Tero  went  on  farther,  and  by  degrees 
used  an  unbounded  military  freedom  of  speech,  nor  was  he  so  well  disciplined  as 
to  accommodate  himself  to  the  time  :  so  Herod  was  greatly  disturbed,  and  seeming 
to  be  rather  reproached  by  this  speech,  than  to  be  hearing  what  was  for  his 
advantage  ;  while  he  learned  hereby,  that  both  the  soldiers  abhorred  the  thing  he 
was  about,  and  the  officers  had  indignation  at  it,  he  gave  order  that  all  whom 
Tero  had  named,  and  Tero  himself,  should  be  bound  and  kept  in  prison. 

6.  When  this  was  over,  one  Trypho,  who  was  the  king's  barber,  took  the 
opportunity  and  came  and  told  the  king  that  Tero  would  often  have  persuaded 
him,  when  he  trimmed  him  with  a  razor,  to  cut  his  throat ;  for  that  by  this  means 
he  should  be  among  the  chief  of  Alexandei''s  friends,  and  receive  great  rewards 
from  him.  When  he  had  said  this,  the  king  gave  order  that  Tero  and  his  son, 
and  the  barber,  should  be  tortured,  which  was  done  accordingly;  but  while  Tero 
bore  up  himself,  his  son,  seeing  his  father  already  in  a  sad  case,  and  had  no  hope 
of  deliverance,  and  perceiving  what  would  be  the  consequence  of  his  terrible  suf- 
ferings, said,  that  "  if  the  king  would  free  him  and  his  father  from  those  torments, 
for  what  he  should  say,  he  would  tell  the  truth."  And  when  the  king  had  given 
his  word  to  do  so,  he  said,  that  "  there  was  an  agreement  made  that  Tero  should 
lay  violent  hands  on  the  king,  because  it  was  easy  for  him  to  come  when  he  was 
alone ;  and  that  if  when  he  had  done  the  thing,  he  should  sutler  death  for  it,  as 
was  not  unlikely,  it  would  be  an  act  of  generosity  done  in  favour  of  Alexander." 
This  was  what  Tero's  son  said,  and.thereby  iVeed  his  father  from  the  distress  he 
was  in ;  but  uncertain  it  is  whether  he  liad  been  thus  forced  to  speak  what  was 
true,  or  whether  it  were  a  contrivance  of  his  in  order  to  procure  his  own  and  his 
father's  deliverance  from  their  miseries. 

7.  As  for  Herod,  if  he  had  before  any  doubt  about  the  slaughter  of  his  sons, 
there  was  now  no  longer  any  room  left  in  liis  soul  for  it ;  but  he  had  banished 
away  whatsoever  might  affiard  him  the  least  suggestion  of  reasoning  better  about 
this  matter,  so  he  already  made  haste  to  bring  his  purpose  to  a  conclusion.  He 
also  brought  out  three  hundred  of  the  officers  that  were  under  an  accusation,  as 
also  Tero  and  his  son,  and  tlie  barber  that  accused  them,  before  an  assembly, 
and  brought  an  accusation  against  them  all;  whom  the  multitude  stoned  with 
whatsoever  came  to  hand,  and  thereby  slew  them.  Alexander  also,,  and  Aristo- 
bulus,  were  brought  to  Sebaste,  by  their  i'atiicr's  command,  and  there  strangled ; 
but  their  dead  bodies  were  in  the  night  time  carried  to  Alexandrium,  where  their 
uncle,  by  the  mother's  side,  an!  the  greatest  part  of  their  ancestors  had  been 
deposited 


582  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  JEWS.  B.  XVI. 

8.  *And  now  perhaps  it  may  not  seem  unreasonable  to  some,  that  such  an  in- 
veterate hatred  might  increase  so  much  [on  both  sides,]  as  to  proceed  farther  and 
overcome  nature  ;  but  it  may  justly  deserve  consideration,   whether  it  be  to  be 
laid  to  the  charge  of  the  young  men  that  they  gave  such  an  occasion  to  their 
father's  anger,  and  led  him  to  do  what  he  did,  and  by  going  on  long  in  the  same 
way,  put  things  past  remedy,  and  brought  him  to  use  them  so  unmercifully  ;  or 
whether  it  be  to  be  laid  to  the  father's  charge  that  he  was  so  heardhearted,  and  so 
very  tender  in  the  desire  of  government,  and  of  other  things  that  would  tend  to 
his  glory,  that  he  would  take  no  one  into  a  partnership  with  him,  that  so  what- 
soever  he  would  have    done   himself  might  continue   immovable :    or   indeed, 
whether  fortune  have  not  greater  power  than  all  prudent  reasonings.     Whence 
we  are  persuaded  that  human  actions  are  thereby  determined  beforehand  by  an 
inevitable  necessity ;  and  we  call  her  Fale,  because  there  is  nothing  which  is 
not  done  by  her  ;  wherefore  I  suppose  it  will  be  sufiicient  to  compare  this  notion 
with  that  other,  which  attributes  somewhat  to  ourselves,  and  renders  men  not  un. 
accountable  for  tlie  different  conducts  of  their  lives,  Avhich  notion  is  no  other  than 
the  philosophical  determination  of  our  ancient  law.  Accordingly,  of  the  two  other 
causes  of  this  sad  event,  any  body  may  lay  the  blame  on  the  young  men,  who 
acted  by  youthful  vanity,  and  pride  of  their  royal  birth,  that  they  should  bear  to 
hear  the  calumnies  that   were  raised  against  their  father,  while  certainly  they 
were  not  equitable  judges  of  the  actions  of  his  life,  but  ill  natured  in  suspecting, 
and  intemperate  in  speaking  of  it ;  and  on  both  accounts  easily  caught  by  those 
that  observed  them,  and  revealed  them  to  gain  favour  :  yet  cannot  their  father  be 
thought  worthy  of  excuse,  as  to  that  horrid  impiety  which  he  was  guilty  of  about 
them,  while  he  ventured,  without  any  certain  evidence  of  their  treacherous  de- 
signs against  him,  and  without  any  proofs  that  they  had  made   preparations  for 
such  an  attempt,  to  kill  his  own  sons,  who  were  of  ^  ery  comely  bodies,  and  the 
great  darlings  of  other  men  ;  and  no  way  deficient  in  their  conduct,  whether  it 
were  in  hunting,  or  in  warlike  exercises,  or  in  speaking  upon  occasional  topics 
of  discourse ;  for  in   all  these  they  were  skilful,  and  especially  Alexander,  who 
was  the   eldest ;  for  certainly  it  had   been  sufficient,  even  though  he  had  con- 
demned them,  to  have  kept  them  alive  in  bonds,  or  to  let  them  live  at  a  distance 
from  his  dominions  in  banishment,  while  he  was  surrounded  by  the  Roman  forces, 
which  were  a  strong  security  to  him,  whose  help  would  prevent  his  suffering  any 
thing  by  a  sudden  onset  or  by  open  force ;  but  for  him  to  kill  them  on  the  sudden, 
in  order  to  gratify  a  passion  that  governed  him,  was  a  demonstration  of  insuf- 
ferable impiety.     He  also  was  guilty  of  so  great  a  crime   in   his  elder  age  ;  nor 
will  the  delays  that  he  made,  and  the  length  of  time  in  which  the  thing  was  done 
plead  at  all  tor  his  excuse;  for  when  a  man  is  on  a  sudden  amazed,   and  in  com- 
motion of  mind,   and  then  commits  a  wicked  action,   although  this  be  a  heavy 
crime,  yet  it  is  a  thing  that  frequently  happens;  but  to  do  it  upon  deliberation, 
and  after  frequent  attempts,  and  as  frequent  puttings  off,  to  undertake  it  at  last, 
and  accomplish  it,  was  the  action  of  a  murderous   mind,   and   such  as  was  not 
easily  moved  from  that  which  is  evil.     And  this  temper  he   showed  in  what    he 
did  afterward,  when  he  did  not  spare  those  that  seemed  to  be  the  best  beloved  of 
his  friends  that  were  left ;  wherein,  though  the  justice  of  the  punishment  caused 
those  that  perished  to  be  the  less  pitied,  yet  was  the   barbarity  of  the   man  here 
equal,  in  that  he  did  not  abstain  from  their  slaughter  also.     But  of  those  persons 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  discoui'se  more  hereafter. 

*  Tliu  reader  is  here  to  note,  that  this  eighth  section  is  emirely  wanting  in  the  old  F^atin  version,  as 
Spanhoiiii  truly  oljscrves ;  nor  is  there  any  other  reason  for  it,  I  suppose,  than  the  great  difficulty  of  ar- 
exact  translation. 

EXD    OP    THE    riRST   VOLIME. 


Date  Due 


,Sk2> 


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(yn^r 


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m^R  j'ly'By' 


